New York Rangers head coach David Quinn watches his team play against the Dallas Stars in Dallas, on March 10, 2020. The team has fired coach Quinn and three assistant coaches on May 12, 2021.Michael Ainsworth/The Associated Press
The New York Rangers fired coach David Quinn and three assistant coaches Wednesday after missing the playoffs with one of the NHL’s up-and-coming young teams.
The move is the first major one from new general manager Chris Drury, who took over last week after the team fired popular president John Davidson and general manager Jeff Gorton in the beginning of a major front-office overhaul.
In a brief statement issued by the team, Drury thanked Quinn and the others and said the Rangers will begin a search for a new head coach immediately.
In three years, Quinn posted a 96-87-25 record in rebuilding the Rangers with a much younger team that included No. 1 overall pick Alexis Lafrenière this past season. The roster also includes talented forwards Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad, Pavel Buchnevich, Kaapo Kakko and standout defenseman Adam Fox.
Assistant coaches Jacques Martin, David Oliver, Greg Brown were also fired. Goaltending coach Benoit Allaire was retained.
Quinn, who was hired by the Rangers after a stint at Boston University, is the fourth NHL coach fired this season, joining Claude Julien of Montreal, Ralph Krueger of Buffalo and Geoff Ward of Calgary. Contracts were also not renewed for John Tortorella of Columbus and Rick Tocchet of Arizona.
The Rangers made the expanded playoffs in the 2019-20 season but were swept in the play-in round by the Carolina Hurricanes. New York posted a 27-23-6 record in this shortened 56-game season and finished in fifth place in the tough East Division.
The past week has been wild for the Rangers.
The unexpected firings of Davidson and Gorton came a day after the team called for the removal of NHL head of player safety George Parros, who fined but did not suspend the Capitals’ Tom Wilson for a scrum that injured Panarin. The league fined the Rangers a whopping US$250,000.
The firings of Davidson and Gorton were described as unrelated to the Wilson saga.