It’s likely of little surprise to many hockey fans that the New York Rangers landed Mike Sullivan as their next head coach. He wasn’t even on the market for an entire week.
Even after the nightmare season the Rangers just had, it’s very on brand for them to chase the biggest fish. They chased big fish during their rebuild years, chasing and failing to catch then-University of Denver head coach Jim Montgomery. They were successful in landing one of the best free agent signings in league history in winger Artemi Panarin in July 2019 — another common Ranger tactic .
The Rangers also chased Sullivan, even when he wasn’t available. Vince Mercogliano of Lohud.com has reported on multiple occasions that Sullivan was the New York’s first choice in its previous two coaching searches in 2021 and 2023. Inconveniently, Sullivan already had one of the best jobs in hockey sending Sidney Crosby over the boards every game.
