The Rangers organization is facing a difficult time. Having to search for a new coach for the second time in three years, and the third time in the last five off-seasons, indicates that there have been mistakes made by the team’s leadership, whether past or present. Typically, successful sports franchises are known for their stability and consistency.

There was a time when the Rangers embodied that stability. From the start of the salary-cap era in 2005-06 until the 2017-18 season, the team had only three head coaches over a span of 13 seasons. These coaches were Tom Renney for over three years, John Tortorella for over four years, and Alain Vigneault for five years.

Unfortunately, the situation is very different for the Rangers now. The upcoming coach will be the fourth person to lead the team from behind the New York bench in just six seasons. This follows a sequence of David Quinn, Gerard Gallant, and Peter Laviolette. Laviolette was let go by president-GM Chris Drury after the team failed to secure a playoff spot, coming off a season where they had the best record in the league and made it to the conference final.

Drury’s authority and status within the organization was implicitly confirmed when he was permitted to make that decision before holding a press briefing during which he said, “It starts with me.”