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Grading the Rangers: Alain Vigneault, The Final Grade in the Series

September 16, 2016, 1:11 AM ET [293 Comments]
Jan Levine
New York Rangers Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Including this blog, to date, I have now covered 13 F, 5D, 2G and all of the coaches, ended the grading cycle. Moving forward, I will post a schedule analysis blog as well as blogs related to the World Cup and Training camp. In addition, if anything breaks, like it did with the Chris Drury news, I will post a blog on that immediately. Also, as you have likely seen, I am covering Team Sweden in the World Cup blogs, so will still be keeping a close eye on Henrik Lundqvist.

Blog parameters:

Each person covered will be given a rating. Factoring into that rating will of course be his performance but another input is going to be performance versus expectation coming into the season. Much of the background I likely covered in my tear down blogs, so don't expect massive chapter and verse but possibly some quick hitting information if not already covered in those blogs. In addition, to create some parameters, a player will have had to play 20 games to get a grade. Anything less means there isn't a representative sample for which to make a decision, so Brady Skjei and Marek Hrivik, to name two, will not get grades.

Here is where it gets really funky and interactive. I want you the reader to comment on the blog as to the rating. But not just hey I think you are right on or you are crazy but to provide your own rating and rationale for it. So if you agree with what I wrote, great, say that. But if the belief is the rating should be higher or lower, then you have to provide the rationale accordingly. Plus and minus grades are allowed to enable a broader opinion. Before the next blog, we will see if the blog comments consensus rating mirrors mine.

In addition, to shake it up, I will jump around a bit, so not all the players of the same rating are listed in a row, same with positions. So in the immortal words of Forrest Gump, you never know what you're going to get.

Covered in this blog: Alain Vigneault

This is what I wrote on Part I of my Rangers tear down and post-mortem blogs.
The special teams were their own level of stink this year while the defense regressed dramatically, as the team never seemed to adjust to moving to a zone system from the man-to-man defense employed previously. In addition, the forwards appeared to not realize that picking up forwards coming down the slot was part of their jobs. Add in the constant chasing by two d-men to behind the net, leaving the forward in front wide open and it's no surprise how many more goals New York allowed and why Henrik Lundqvist might have been mildly worn out late in the season. New York was unable to adjust to what the opponents threw at them. Last, the blind loyalty to veterans at the expense of rookies and inability to maximize the talent of the players by finding the right combinations are major black marks against the coach. Alain Vigneault seemed to realize this in his post game comments as well as what he said on breakup day.

Post-game. “I can tell you that without a doubt, like any organization, we’re going to go through all the steps — from coaches to management, what we’re thinking, the player evaluation and what we think this team needs to do to take the next step.”

Breakup day: “I think we’re at the stage now that we need to look at some changes,” Vigneault said days after the crash-and-burn, five-game first-round defeat to the Penguins. “For any NHL team, status quo is not possible and it is not what’s needed.

“We want to bring in different players to add to the dynamic. The core guys have been together for a while. Certainly it’s time to look at what we can do to improve.”


While AV might be in trouble, it's clear that if he does remain, which I expect to happen , changes must be made. That could include system as well as adjustments to the coaching staff. Goaltending coach Benoit Allaire should be same and immune from whatever happens to the rest of the staff. Scott Arniel, who coaches the aforementioned special teams, and Ulf Samuelsson, who oversees the defense, might pay for the team's issues with their jobs. Jeff Beukeboom, the former Ranger who has gotten rave reviews for his work with the d-men at Hartford, could replace Ulfie is a chance is made.


Overall Grade: C-.
While the Rangers did net 101 points, the issues that existed most of the year failed to be remediated. A large portion of the blame has to sit with the players, but AV and his coaches have to take on some of the burden as well. The inability to fix those mistakes coupled with the mental and physical lapses impact the grade. One major bug-a-boo was the team's seeming lack of effort to start contests and then for stretches throughout. We saw this issue in the 2014-15 playoffs, yet it appeared to be even more of a problem this past season.

The defensive lapses were staggering. Each time we thought it couldn't get worse, it did. How the same mistakes can be made for 82 games and five playoff contests is almost unfathomable. Forwards and defensemen not communicating; two players going behind the net, leaving the front uncovered, the failure of forwards to backcheck or pick up players streaming down the slot; all occurred repeatedly. That has to fall to the coaches and ultimately AV.

For all of the questions that arise about AV's handling of young players, it's hard to argue with his treatment of some. J.T. Miller was pushed and prodded to be better and he responded with the best year of his career. But the failure to play youth and sit veterans when warranted also was a common occurrence/ Dylan McIlrath rode the pine when Dan Girardi clearly needed to be benched. The same with not promoting Brady Skjei for G. Kevin Hayes regressed as sophomore while other veterans (see Glass, Tanner) dressed when they shouldn't have. Plus, AV couldn't figure out how to deploy Eric Staal. AV has a young team that will experience growing pains, so he needs to manage that properly and not sit a rookie or young player to go with experience.

The penalty kill was a nightmare, which may have paved the way for Samuelsson to go. Jeff Beukeboom has been brought up to oversee the defense and possibly the pk, which you would hope couldn't get worse. On the flip side, the power play had 30-35 good games while it was invisible the rest. Carp put it best: "(the power play) also went long stretches of the season completely inept, with poor entries, poor setups, poor decisions and an absolute refusal to shoot pucks, instead choosing the fancy-boy pass." Scott Arniel is back but he may be on shaky ground, especially seeing the talent that may be available now for the two man-advantage lines.

GM Jeff Gorton gave AV some new pieces to work with this season. While AV isn't in any specific danger, another poor season with similar issues could result in his ouster. He needs to use his timeouts more, find a way to avoid late-game collapses, change the power play to enable better zone entries, have the players use the system to go from D to O quicker and implement a system that allows for easier breakouts or even zone clearances.

Players covered in prior blogs, My grade, Consensus Grade

Henrik Lundqvist B-/C+
J.T. Miller B+/B+
Dylan McIlrath B/B-
Oscar Lindberg B-/B
Marc Staal C-/C-
Jesper Fast B/B
Dominic Moore C-/C-
Ryan McDonagh - C+/C+
Derek Stepan C+/B-
Eric Staal D/D
Antti Raanta B+/B+
Kevin Hayes D/D
Viktor Stalberg C+/B-
Chris Kreider C+/C
Mats Zuccarello B+/B+
Kevin Klein C+/C+
Tanner Glass C/D
Rick Nash C-/C
Assistant Coaches C/C
Dan Girardi D+/C or C-
Derick Brassard, B/ B+

Time to move on to 2016-17.
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