Without any coaches on expiring contracts without club options, it’s likely to be a quieter summer than normal on the coaching carousel. The one name on most radars is Rangers bench boss Peter Laviolette, who has one year left on his deal. Speaking on Insider Trading Thursday, Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic called Laviolette’s future “low-hanging fruit,” adding, “The expectations from a lot of people I’ve talked to is that Peter Laviolette could get fired.”
There’s no denying New York’s nightmarish season. After a 55-win 2023-24 campaign that saw them win the President’s Trophy, they’re just two games over .500 with three contests remaining on their schedule and have just a 0.3% chance of leapfrogging the Canadiens for the final playoff spot in the East, per MoneyPuck. Goaltending certainly isn’t to blame — star starter Igor Shesterkin ranks fourth in the league with 21.9 goals saved above expected. Nor is poor finishing luck — the Rangers’ 10.7% shooting rate this year is 0.1% above the league average.
A limping power play and poor team defense jump out as the Rangers’ limiting factors this season. The latter could be attributed to the team’s blue line overhaul, but the same issues persisted before New York’s midseason retool on defense. It’s easy to see why, with limited roster maneuverability available this summer, the Rangers might view a coaching change as their best chance to return to postseason action in 2025-26. Barring another cap-clearing trade, the club won’t be a major player in free agency — they have just $9.67M in cap space for next year with pending RFAs William Cuylle and K’Andre Miller in need of new deals.
That means Laviolette’s seat is the hottest of them all as the end of the regular season draws nigh. The same can’t be said for general manager Chris Drury, whom LeBrun expects to remain in his post.
“My sense there is that he should be okay. I think there’s a lot of loyalty from Jim Dolan, the owner,” LeBrun said. “He was pretty busy out of the trade deadline, too, really kind of setting up his offseason with a lot of moves he made. I think he plans to be aggressive in trying to retool the Rangers again here this summer.”
There won’t be many recently fired options for the Rangers unless they’re interested in pursuing a reunion with John Tortorella. Bruce Boudreau could be a realistic option for high-profile names who spent this year on the sidelines. The veteran bench boss expressed an interest in taking over the Devils last year but was passed over for Sheldon Keefe.
Looking internally would risk deepening their hole as a non-dominant possession team. Associate head coach Phil Housley would theoretically be next in line, but his previous shot as an NHL head coach didn’t go well. He posted a 58-84-22 record over seasons with the Sabres from 2017 to 2019.
