Rangers GM must make a decision soon on Vigneault

RALEIGH, N.C. — This was back on Feb. 1, which now seems like a lifetime ago.

Then, the Rangers were in third place in the Metropolitan Division, a position coach Alain Vigneault optimistically described as “a few wins out of second place, so we’re in a good spot.” He was then asked if any outside talk about management possibly selling off assets before the Feb. 26 trade deadline affected his team, and he balked.

“I don’t, really,” Vigneault had said.

More tellingly, Vigneault then voluntarily brought up the fact that all the early season conversation was on his own job status, which was in question as the Blueshirts had gotten out to a 1-5-0 then a 3-7-2 start.

“At the beginning of the year, the chatter was on me, and now it’s on something else,” he said that day. “I think as coaches and players, you have to focus on the job you have in front of you.”

Well the Rangers could never reestablish focus, and could not convince management to halt a full-on rebuild, which was declared in a letter to the fans exactly a week later. Now, the Blueshirts continued playing meaningless regular-season games for the first time since 2003-04, making their fourth-to-last game a tidy 2-1 victory over the Hurricanes on Saturday night.

And in some strangely cyclical way, the chatter has returned to Vigneault and his job status going into next season.

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The admirable headman who took over in 2013-14 has led the Rangers during one of the most successful runs in franchise history — just happens that it’s one without a Stanley Cup to show for it. Yet now with an influx of youth, the question is if he is the man for the job going forward.

His buttoned-up, hands-off style seemed to work with a team full of strong-voiced veterans. It also seemed that with lineup and ice-time decisions, he often leaned in the direction of experience. Yet Vigneault has had to admit that this has been a challenging time for his coaching staff, as they tried to figure out how to draw out new leaders from this very young group — for now, and going forward.

“There’s obviously right now a lot more input from the whole coaching staff as far as the direction we need to take here,” Vigneault said Saturday. “But I do think that this gives guys in this dressing room an opportunity that they hadn’t had before, to step up and assume more responsibility.”

Vigneault was quick to cite the increased leadership of Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider to go along with the just two regulars who have surpassed their 30th birthdays in Mats Zuccarello and Marc Staal. So the leadership void has been filled to some extent for now, but this is not exactly the way Vigneault has been able to do things in the past.

Since the dismantling of the roster, Vigneault has had no choice but to play all of the young kids, including first-round picks Filip Chytil and Lias Andersson, both up with the big club after their collective recall from AHL Hartford this past Sunday. Both teenagers were solid contributors in the first three games since they came up.

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The hope from general manager Jeff Gorton was just that they were both going to “fit in,” he said this past Tuesday, “that they take the most of this opportunity and continue to get better. I like the enthusiasm, I like the skill level, the work ethic.”

The organization has also gotten extended looks at some of the young defensemen, including Neal Pionk and John Gilmour — both up since Feb. 9 — along with Rob O’Gara, who came from the Bruins as part of the Rick Nash trade and made his Rangers debut on Feb. 22.

“I think they’ve settled in pretty nicely,” Gorton said of the young blueliners. “A guy like Pionk has really emerged as good young player. He’s done well. I think Gilmour and O’Gara and these guys, they’ve all done well in their limited time.”

Yet Gorton’s biggest decision is going to be the fate of Vigneault, which could be determined in part by how he can coach a team that is young and getting younger.

“There’s no doubt that as a coaching staff we have to develop that leadership,” Vigneault said, “and work with our players to understand their responsibilities and their accountability. That’s what we’re trying to do.”