The Rangers fire Alain Vigneault
By admin - 2019-02-20 02:21:05

The New York Rangers fired coach Alain Vigneault this past Saturday night.

The announcement of the coach’s sacking came after the Rangers ended their season with a 5-0 loss to the Flyers in Philadelphia. The Rangers, in addition to ranking last in the Metropolitan Division with 77 points, are now missing the playoffs for the first time since the 2009-10 season.

The team’s general manager, Jeff Gorton, told ESPN that Vigneault’s replacement will be scouted for immediately, with both assistant coach Scott Arniel and assistant coach Darryl Williams being sacked as well.

The team themselves released a statement in a letter to fans before the NHL trade deadline that they hoped to “[reshape] the team.” In addition to this change, the team has previously dealt captain Ryan McDonagh and forward J.T. Miller to the Tampa Bay Lightning, forward Rick Nash to the Boston Bruins and Michael Grabner to the New Jersey Devils.

He was hired to serve as head coach for five years on $10 million contract in 2013, and he signed a two-year extension in January 2017. Vigneault ends his tenure as the Rangers’ head coach having earned the third highest number of games won by a head coach in the team’s history, with 226 wins in his repertoire.

Vigneault is the first coach to be fired in the NHL this season