Prior to naming Peter Laviolette the 37th head coach in franchise history, reports surfaced that a few in the organization wanted Babcock to be considered for the role. That news was immediately met with some backlash.

“Not everyone in the Rangers organization wanted to do Babcock,” NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman said. “But I think there were some who wanted to pursue it.”

The question arose, who in management wanted Babcock as the next coach? At the time, I wrote that all signs seemed to point to owner James Dolan’s advisor and former GM, Glen Sather.

In a new book by now retired reporter Rick Carpiniello, this wasn’t the first time that Babcock was suggested to take over behind the Rangers’ bench.

Glen Sather wanted Mike Babcock to coach Rangers

Now let’s set the scene on Broadway in May of 2021 and David Quinn along with his coaching staff are out on COVID protocol. Hartford Wolf Pack head coach Kris Knoblauch is subbing in and the Rangers go 4-2 during that time, supposedly energized by Quinn’s absence.

That’s when Glen Sather suggested to James Dolan this team was ready to take it to the next level with Mike Babcock at the helm.

Obviously that change never took place, but was probably one of the many reasons Dolan eventually fired both Davidson and Gorton soon after.

Flash forward to this past Sunday, with Mike Babcock resigning as coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets without ever coaching a single game. Both sides mutually agreed to part ways after reports surfaced that Babcock’s request to see photos on players’ phones was not appropriate.

“Our players deserve to be treated with respect in the workplace,” NHLPA executive director Marty Walsh said. “Unfortunately that was not the case in Columbus. The clubs decision to move forward with a new head coach is the appropriate action.”

Babcock was always going to be under major scrutiny as many of his former players spoke out against his tactics in recent years. After he was fired by the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2019, allegations surfaced including Johan Franzen calling him a “bully” and “the worst person I have ever met.”

In hindsight, not hiring Babcock was the right move then. After all that’s transpired in recent days, it’s even more so today.

Franchise: New York Rangers

Rick Carpiniello has covered the Rangers for decades with his last stop coming at The Athletic prior to retiring in 2021. This book gives fans an amazing insider’s account on some of the biggest moments in Franchise history.

From the Triumph Books website:

In The Franchise: New York Rangers, take a more profound and unique journey into the history of an iconic team.

This thoughtful and engaging collection of essays captures the astute fans’ history of the franchise, going beyond well-worn narratives of yesteryear to uncover the less-discussed moments, decisions, people, and settings that fostered the team’s iconic identity.

Through wheeling and dealing, mythmaking and community building, explore where the organization has been, how it got to prominence in the modern NHL landscape, and how it’ll continue to evolve and stay in contention for generations to come.

Rangers fans in the know will enjoy this personal, local, in-depth look at hockey history.

Coming shortly after #NYR opening night in October, "The Franchise: New York Rangers" my new @TriumphBooks collection of anecdotes from 43 years spent with the team. Foreword by Brian Leetch. Pre-orders are now available at @Amazonbooks @BNBuzz etc. https://t.co/7d0uiVscUd pic.twitter.com/kVjzk5KX5j

— Rick Carpiniello (@RickCarpiniello) August 15, 2023

According to Arthur Staple of The Athletic, Peter Laviolette and Mike Babcock were interviewed recently. This news comes after Elliotte Friedman noted that the Rangers have also received permission to speak with Toronto Maple Leafs assistant Spencer Carbery.

Related: Rangers to interview Spencer Carbery

Rangers Rumors: Coaching Search updates

When the Rangers dismissed Gerard Gallant, the immediate favorite became Laviolette. The 58 year-old was fired by the Washington Capitals after they missed the playoffs this past season and appears to be the safest option. He won the Stanley Cup back in 2005-2006.

This is quite the opposite of Babcock, who is known for questionable tactics to motivate players. However, Larry Brooks of the NY Post noted in his latest Slap Shots column that the Columbus Blue Jackets are possibly close to hiring the 60 year-old bench boss.

So we’re told by a reputable source that the disgraced Mike Babcock is “far down the line with a team,” and the inference is that the team is the Blue Jackets.

NY Post

This is good news on many levels because there’s rumblings that some in the Rangers organization were against Babcock as a candidate. The question we aren’t going to get any answers to is who was and wasn’t in favor of the move.

While there are still many names tied to the Rangers job such as Seattle Kraken assistant coach Jay Leach and Hartford Wolf Pack head coach Kris Knoblauch, the latest news out of Toronto could change things quickly.

The Maple Leafs dismissed GM Kyle Dubas and are looking for his replacement. That could mean the end of Sheldon Keefe as the team’s head coach. Should he become available, I believe he’s the Blueshirts top target to take over behind the bench.

Keefe, 42, has spent four seasons as an NHL coach all with the Leafs. He’s amassed a record of 166-71-30 over that span. While he’s always had star players up front, he’s never had a goaltender of Igor Shesterkin’s caliber to cover up their mistakes. Having Shesterkin will automatically help whatever defensive system he implements.

Of course, there’s one more wrinkle to add and that’s the possibility Joel Quenneville will be allowed to coach again. Commissioner Gary Bettman will meet with the disgraced coach after the playoffs. Quenneville was forced to resign for his role in the Kyle Beach scandal at the start of last season.

A report in early May stated the Rangers would not push for Bettman to speak with Quenneville and that he wasn’t a candidate.

One has to wonder, if there’s some level of discord in management over interviewing Babcock why would it not be the same for Quenneville? Something tells me this offseason is only going to become more intriguing with each passing day.

And it came straight from the horse’s mouth.

Rangers Rumors: No Mike Sullivan

Sullivan, 55, told the NY Post that he wasn’t leaving the Penguins on Wednesday.

“No, I am under contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins, here for the long haul,” he said over the phone.

NY Post

It isn’t surprising that Sullivan wanted to set the record straight since the idea came from Post reporter Larry Brooks. In a recent article, he wrote that a Leafs elimination could lead to a complete housecleaning in Toronto. The Pens are looking for a GM and Kyle Dubas would’ve been their top candidate. His hiring may have led to Sheldon Keefe coaching the team making Sullivan available.

Since that story ran, Dubas told the press he’s either back with the Leafs or taking a break.

Sullivan has a record of 407-253-15 over 10 seasons split between the Bruins and Penguins. He’s won the Stanley Cup twice with Pittsburgh (2016 and 2017) and has a playoff record of 47-42.

The Rangers coaching search goes on.

Not everyone was interested in Mike Babcock

One name mentioned in the Rangers coaching search that has drawn the ire of fans is Mike Babcock. Despite the 60 year-old bench boss having won a Cup with the Detroit Red Wings back in 2008, his harsh tactics to motivate players was a factor in his 2019 dismissal from Toronto and subsequent inability to land a new gig.

Multiple reports stated that the Blueshirts made several calls either to or about Babcock. Elliotte Friedman updated the situation on Wednesday’s 32 Thoughts Podcast.

“Not everyone in the Rangers organization wanted to do Babcock,” Friedman said. “But I think there were some who wanted to pursue it.”

This little piece of information is extremely intriguing to me. Who wanted to look into Babcock as a potential hire? If it wasn’t President and General Manager Chris Drury, then who above him made the call?

Based on a logical organizational chart, only owner James Dolan would be able to authorize it. Which likely means Glen Sather, who remains with the Rangers in an advisory role to Dolan, played a part here.

It was noted in The Athletic after John Davidson and Jeff Gorton were fired that Sather had a hand it that.

While many believed the Tom Wilson incident triggered the dismissals, it was already decided before that ever happened to let them go. That’s why neither of them were made privy to the letter regarding the incompetence of the NHL’s Department of Player Safety leading to a hefty fine.

Sather, 79, stepped down at the team’s GM in 2015 but remained president. He eventually “retired” in 2019 and has been Dolan’s advisor ever since.

“Glen is not allowed to leave,” Dolan told the NY Post in 2015. “No, seriously, he can’t leave until we win the Cup. He’s agreed to that.”

Well, the Rangers haven’t won a Cup since Sather joined the organization after Neil Smith was fired in 2000.

For an owner that everyone feels is quick to make knee-jerk decisions, his loyalty to Sather is remarkable.

I wrote after the Rangers changed course from the 2018 rebuild by firing Gorton to expedite matters that both Sather and Dolan own what happens next.

If the Rangers win it all while Sather is here, he deserves plenty of credit. However with one Cup in 83 years and counting, it’s fair to ask just how much say he has in the team’s decision making.

“We’re not going to limit ourselves right now to any specific style or type of coach,” Drury stated on May 6. “We don’t have a set date in mind as of yet. We just want to get the right person, whenever that is.”

There’s a lot of speculation and almost a dozen names have been bandied about over the last few days. Let’s break some of them down.

Rangers Rumors: Coaching Search

Peter Laviolette (752-503-25-150)

The 58 year-old was fired by the Washington Capitals after they missed the playoffs this season but appears to be an early favorite to land the job. He’s without a doubt the safest bet and won the Stanley Cup back in 2005-2006. Mollie Walker of the NY Post also noted that Drury has a connection to Laviolette having played for him at the 2006 Olympics for Team USA. While Laviolette seems like a safe choice, a source pointed out that it’s been a long time since he had any real success and that could play against him. The last time he won a playoff series was 2017-18 with the Nashville Predators.

Mike Babcock (700-418-19-164)

He’s been fighting to get back behind an NHL bench for awhile after being dumped by the Toronto Maple Leafs during the 2019-20 season. The 60 year-old won a Cup with the Detroit Red Wings back in 2008 but his tactics to motivate players might make Mike Keenan blush. According to USA Today’s Vince Mercogliano the Rangers have made several calls and are doing their homework about bringing him in. Although it should be noted that Babcock last won a playoff series back in 2012-13 with the Wings.

Jay Pandolfo (NCAA – Boston University)

Here’s a name from out of left field, but the former New Jersey Devils gritty forward is an up-and-coming coach in the college ranks. This past season with BU, he posted a 29-11-0 record. The 48 year-old has been mentioned in several reports but Elliotte Friedman noted on his 32 Thoughts Podcast that Pandolfo is not seeking an NHL position at this time. That should be enough to rule him out.

Kris Knoblauch (AHL: 112-87-0-31)

Larry Brooks was the first to suggest Hartford Wolf Pack head coach Kris Knoblauch, who is considered a bright young mind in the game. The 44 year-old has no real NHL head coaching experience except for acting as a stand-in for both David Quinn and Gerard Gallant during bouts with COVID. He did serve as an assistant coach for Dave Hakstol with the Philadelphia Flyers from 2017 to 2019. In truth, Knoblauch might be the most logical choice but when was the last time you felt the Rangers were logical?

Patrick Roy  (130-92-24)

Chris Drury’s former teammate with the Colorado Avalanche is a proven winner as a player. Although his NHL coaching record with the Avs is solid, he and Joe Sakic did not see eye-to-eye before his departure. However, Roy did win the Jack Adams Award for coach of the year as a rookie bench boss with the Avs in 2014. He’s also been known to have a big temper, and that could be a combustible mix with the fiery Drury.

Assessing the Rangers coaching search

This really wasn’t the best time to fire a coach considering how limited the field of candidates appears to be.

Two names that have already been ruled out are Joel Quenneville and Darryl Sutter.

Regarding Quenneville, the NHL is unlikely to allow him back after he resigned due his involvement in the Kyle Beach scandal while coaching the Chicago Blackhawks. As for Sutter, who was fired by the Calgary Flames, the Rangers aren’t interested.

Another name being discussed is Jack Capuano due to his Team USA connections with Drury. One knowledgeable source pointed out to me that it’s unlikely the Rangers would bring in a coach that failed with the New York Islanders.

There ‘s also a possibility that Sheldon Keefe could become available if the Toronto Maple Leafs lose to the Florida Panthers.

At the end of the day, the Rangers coaching search is in its infancy. The biggest concern I have is how much influence does Glen Sather still have in the decision making process?

I noted after the firing of John Davidson and Jeff Gorton that Sather was counseling owner James Dolan. It wouldn’t surprise me if he isn’t giving input into this situation as well.

If that’s the case, it will only make it tougher on Drury to find a replacement he sees as a fit should Sather disagree.

Andersson scores in Pack debut

Lias Andersson played top line minutes and scored in his 1st game for the Pack.

Prospects Prospering

Backstrom out

Babcock Fired

Recently in an interview Mike Babcock brought up his argument for the NHL to make the nets bigger yet again this week, and it definitely poses an interesting question, should the league make the nets bigger to make it easier on the players to score?

The first thing I thought of was that this was a desperate attempt at an excuse for the Maple Leafs lack of scoring lately, but apparently this is also a point Babcock was trying to make while he was still coaching the Red Wings. Here is what Babcock had to say in regards to the nets being small, and the goalies being to big.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNkG-YLYI3c&w=560&h=315]

Here are some of the bigger points that Babcock made about the size of the nets.

“It’s impossible to score,” said Babcock. “All you gotta do is a math equation. You go to 1980 when the puck went in the net. You got the average size of the goalies in the NHL and the average size of the net. You keep growing the net bigger, that would make the game the same. We change the game every year because we don’t want to change the game. The net’s too small for the size of the goalies. Period.”

Here are a look at the numbers to help prove Babcock’s point.

In 1981-82, NHL teams scored 4.01 goals per game and the average save percentage was around .870. Wayne Gretzky led the league with 92 goals and 212 points. Billy Smith won the Vezina Trophy with a .900 save percentage.

In 2014-15, it was 2.73 goals per game and a .915 average save percentage. Alex Ovechkin‘s 53 goals led the league; Jamie Benn‘s 87 points gave him the Art Ross Trophy; and Carey Price won the Vezina with a .936 save percentage.

Any hockey fan that consistently watches the game today knows how hard it is to score on the goalies. Now you can either credit that to the nets being too small, the goalie equipment being larger, or simply the fact that the goalies just have gotten better over the years. Surely we probably won’t see a goal scorer come anywhere close to a 92 goal season in our lifetime again, but is that necessarily a bad thing? Me personally as a hockey fan, I don’t need to see teams score five to six goals a game for it to be an exciting game or keep my attention. Now I understand that everyone isn’t an avid hockey fan like myself, and for those who aren’t who just like to casually watch the games, they wanna see goals. So who should the NHL try to market towards?

This last off-season the NHL has made a move towards more goal scoring, and a move to reduce it. The big new move to increase the amount of goals we see was the addition of the 3 on 3 overtime to this season. With the amount of open ice and the speed of the current players in the league, the goal of this was that the game would be finished by more in-game goal scoring instead of waiting for the shootout to finish the job, and so far that has worked.

The new 3 on 3 overtime has definitely added more scoring to the game today, but what if we did make the nets bigger? Would the league have to completely get rid of shootouts all together if the nets were made bigger, simply because it is already a big disadvantage to the goalies as it is in the shootouts and if they make the nets bigger on them it becomes a near impossible task. I do believe the league is working their way towards trashing the shootouts all together, which if you’re a hockey fan is absolutely great news, but I do think that if the league were to make the nets bigger it would have to be the first order of business to take care of.

With the addition of the new overtime system taking a step forward to help the league get more scoring, we also took a step back with the new coach’s challenge. Another new rule this year was that a coach could be allowed to challenge the ruling of a goal on the ice. My only issues with the coach’s challenge so far is that it is in the hands of the referees and the calls are inconsistent across the league. The war-room in Toronto should have the final say on the goal taking the call out of the referees hands and have one governing body over the calls to gain a more consistent ruling. The biggest problem so far has also been goals being taken away due to apparent goaltender interference.

Here are three different scenarios where goals were either upheld or disallowed due to goaltender interference.

Disallowed: No Goal

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fo6LLU5jhCw&w=560&h=315]

Upheld: Good Goal

https://twitter.com/CapsGoalies/status/660266802614767616

Disallowed: No goal

https://twitter.com/myregularface/status/654090292119867393?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Now the two goals that were disallowed should have counted ten times out of ten, and there was no reason for those not to be upheld as good goals. The one goal that did get allowed seemed like the most blatant goalie interference out of the three. Taking these calls to the war-room in Toronto will help set a firm case for what is or isn’t goalie interference which should make for a more consistent call allowing the right goals to be counted and the wrong ones to be disallowed.

You also can’t take away the fact that the goalies simply have gotten better over the year, and the style of play that we see now is on a different planet as opposed to the style of play from the 80’s, 90’s and early 2000’s. Sure you can argue that the pads are bigger, the nets not big enough, and that the athletes have gotten bigger, but that’s all about the progression of the game as a whole. The small and quick butterfly style goalies that we grew up seeing just simply wouldn’t exist in this league, and that’s why we’ve seen such a drastic difference in size growth in goaltenders because simply there is a demand for them. So of course it is harder to score in the league these days, but that’s what makes it more satisfying when you do and makes the games that much more intense and exciting.

I personally do not see the need for bigger nets, but of course my opinion isn’t going to be taken into consideration due to the fact that I’m not the one lacing up my skates every night or grabbing my clipboard to be apart of the game. I don’t think the NHL will do anything about the net sizes anytime soon simply due to the fact that the game has looked the best it has in years.

The silly part is that as I am writing this blog, I am watching the Chicago Blackhawks play the St. Louis Blues, and there was just 7 goals in the first period. Obviously not every game is going to be that ridiculous with the scoring, but I just have never noticed or heralded an outcry to need more scoring. The NHL did increase the net size once already in 2009 to try to increase scoring, so it’s not out of the question that they might do it again.

What do you think, should the NHL make the nets bigger? Comment below!

The fans had to wait through the long Summer and and a winding September, but hockey is finally here, and of course the opening week did not disappoint.

So lets have a look at some of the big moments of the week. We took a look at some key players and teams who have been heavily anticipated.

• Mike Babcock had his first game behind the bench for the Toronto Maple Leafs and used the first Coach’s Challenge in NHL history; a challenge that he won I might add.
• Jack Eichel scored his first NHL goal for the Buffalo Sabres.

• Connor McDavid played in his first NHL games; he didn’t have a point, but it was great to see him on the ice after such anticipation.
• Phil Kessel and Sidney Crosby started their journey together, but were shutout in their first game, and fell to Arizona 1-0 in their second.
• The New York Rangers jumped out to a 3-0-0 start and look poised to be a contender in the East.
• And the Kings and Bruins have stumbled out of the gate again as both teams were 0-2-0 on Sunday.

The season has gotten off to a quick start and has set in motion several of the key story-line around the game. But even if your team has squirmed out of the gate, we all know that in hockey things change quick, and after-all it is only the first week of the season; remember its a marathon, not a sprint.