NHL insider believes Rangers will ‘make a call’ to highly sought-after NCAA coach
After firing Peter Laviolette on Saturday, New York Rangers general manager Chris Drury stated that he’s open to any and all options to replace the respected coach next season.
So, along with veterans with long NHL resumes like Joel Quenneville and John Tortorella, or coaches still under contract with their current teams like Mike Sullivan (Pittsburgh Penguins) and Rick Tocchet (Vancouver Canucks), the Rangers could pivot to a first-time NHL coach.
“I’m not going at this with any preset dispositions. If it’s a first-time coach and it’s the best fit, great,” Drury said Saturday. “As far as what the team needs, again, we’re just trying to find the best fit we can to do what we need to do … We’re looking at a lot of different scenarios and a lot of different candidates.”
That certainly opens the door for David Carle, coach of the Denver University Pioneers. He’s been an intriguing option for several years after guiding Denver to NCAA championships in 2022 and 2024. He also led the United States to consecutive gold medals at the World Junior Championship in 2024 and 2025.
Carle reportedly is open to an NHL opportunity, whereas in recent years, he opted to remain with Denver.
“To me, the most fascinating thing is: What exactly are they (the Rangers) looking for? And the fact that [Drury] said ‘first timer,’ says to me they make a call to Carle and will try to figure out what the rest of this is,” NHL insider Elliotte Friedman said on the latest 32 Thoughts podcast.
In James Dolan’s 26 years as Rangers owner, they’ve employed only one first-time NHL coach – David Quinn. He made the jump from Boston University and guided the Rangers through three seasons of their rebuild from 2018-21.
Drury fired Quinn upon replacing Jeff Gorton as general manager in the 2021 offseason. The two coaches he’s hired since, Gerard Gallant and Peter Laviolette, each came with plenty of NHL experience. Gallant coached three separate teams, tallying 270 wins and a Stanley Cup Final appearance before coming to the Rangers. Laviolette had already coached five teams and racked up 752 wins and three Stanley Cup Final appearances, winning one with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006.
Carle has the winning pedigree of the past two Rangers coaches, just not at the NHL level. Hired in 2018, Carle has led Denver to the Frozen Four in all but three of his seasons at the helm, with one tournament being cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Denver won it all in 2022 and 2024, tying and then breaking the NCAA record for most national championships with 10. Carle brought his winning ways to the United States WJC team — and coached two of the Rangers’ top prospects, forward Gabe Perreault and defenseman Drew Fortescue.
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Coaches will be ‘wary’ of Rangers during Drury’s search for Peter Laviolette replacement
Given how the past two coaching tenures came to an end after only two seasons with the Rangers, it might be hard to imagine why potential coaches would want to take a job with such a short leash. But there are two obvious reasons why any coach would welcome the challenge.
“The one thing is there’s only 32 of these jobs. So the idea that nobody is gonna coach the Rangers is crazy. Number two, the Rangers tend to pay pretty well,” Friedman said.
The Rangers are coming off a terribly disappointing season, missing the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in four years. However, there are a lot of good pieces on the roster, players who helped them reach the Eastern Conference Final twice in the past four seasons.
“I understand why coaches might be wary after everything that’s happened, and I think they’re going to be weary about what’s gonna happen with the roster,” Friedman said. “The one thing that has to happen with the Rangers this offseason is they have to set a tone that whoever comes back next year, you gotta be happy. You gotta be happy to be a Ranger.”
That reassurance needs to come from Drury.
“If I was in charge, I’d be going to everybody (saying) ‘If you’re not happy here, tell me now, I’ll get you out of here.’ Beginning of next year, a new tone has to be set, so I think a coach is gonna want to know that, he’s gonna want to know who’s happy here and who isn’t,” Friedman stated.
The risk vs. reward is an interesting dilemma on Broadway. One or two bad seasons could get you fired, but being the coach who wins a Stanley Cup for the Rangers will make you a hero in New York forever. Just ask Mike Keenan. He spent only one year with the Rangers, but he helped them break their 54-year Stanley Cup drought – enough to make him an all-time legend.
Perhaps that’s an intriguing enough prospect for Carle, if Drury believes he’s the man to get the Rangers over the hump.
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