Elliotte Friedman reported today that the Rangers and Peter Laviolette look to be inching closer to a deal. Laviolette has been rumored to be one of the finalists - along with John Hynes - for the job for a while. I have been fairly clear that I preferred one of the neophyte candidates, such as Kris Knoblauch or Jay Leach, or possibly Patrick Roy, but Chris Drury looks to be going for a known, experienced candidate.
There is word this afternoon the NYR and Peter Laviolette are gaining momentum. Nothing is done until it’s done, but, barring a swerve, looking like Laviolette as next Rangers head coach.
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) June 12, 2023
Gerard Gallant was fired May 6. Drury quite likely was waiting to see what happened in Pittsburgh, meaning if Mike Sulllivan became available. Same in Toronto with Sheldon Keefe and then with Hynes. Laviolette has Cup winning experience, hoisting the silver chalice with the 2005-06 Carolina Hurricanes. But he had a mixed bag in Carolina, then Philly and Nashville with the bloom fully off the rose with the Capitals, resulting in Laviolette being shown the door this offseason.
It's hard to be excited with the selection. Drury possibly waiting to see if a better option became available does not inspire confidence. Gallant clearly lost the confidence of management and the players, but is Laviolette a bold choice or more of the same with just a slight pivot? I wanted the team to be bold and hire a coach that could inspire the team and be a leader for years, not just the latest in a short-term type fix.
Laviolette needs to create a clear structure in New York and also do a better job with in-game and series improvements. In addition, he needs to further incorporate the kids to make them an even greater part of the offense. I hope to be proven wrong on Laviolette and Drury better be right, because if not and the team struggles, we know that owner James Dolan isn't the most patient man.
The mock draft is still a work in progress. Below is where we stand. I am hopefully close to having owners for Chicago (update - owner confirmed), Arizona and Washington. If that proces to be the case, we will have 20 or so of the 32 picks handled. The draft would start Thursday or Friday and we would go with 2-3 picks a day to complete the draft before the actual draft. If you are interested in taking a team, please let me know.
2023 NHL DRAFT ORDER 1 Chicago - Zach Jarom, HB Blackhawks blogger 2 Anaheim - Ryan Armstrong - climbdenali12 3 Columbus - Zak McMillian, HB Blue Jackets blogger 4 San Jose - Ken Peterson, Hockeygm 5 Montreal - Karine Hains, HB Canadiens blogger 6 Arizona - slimtj, TJ Reilly 7 Philadelphia - Bill Meltzer, HB Flyers blogger 8 Washington 9 Detroit - Feds91Stammer 10 St. Louis - aecliptic
11 Vancouver - David Wong, OrcaBlue 12 Arizona via OTT - slimtj, TJ Reilly 13 Buffalo - Paul Schott, lonsabres, 14 Pittsburgh 15 Nashville - eichiefs9 16 Calgary 17 Detroit via NYI - Feds91stammer 18 Winnipeg - Jacob Billingham, HB Jets blogger 19 Chicago via TB - Zach Jarom, HB Blackhawks blogger 20 Seattle - NYRangers1124
21 Minnesota 22 Philadelphia via Columbus via LA - Bill Meltzer, HB Flyers blogger 23 NY Rangers 24 Nashville via EDM 25 St. Louis via TOR - aecliptic 26 San Jose via NJ 27 Colorado 28 Toronto via BOS - Michael Augello, HB Maple Leafs blogger 29 St. Louis via DAL - aecliptic 30 Carolina
31 Montreal via FLA - Karine Hains, HB Canadiens blogger 32 Vegas