Who Will the Rangers and Ducks Hire as Their Next Head Coaches?
The Anaheim Ducks announced Saturday that coach Greg Cronin will not return next season. Cronin had been signed through the 2025-26 season. The Ducks were 35-37-10 with a .488 points percentage and 80 points. While that was an improvement over last season’s 27-50-5 record and 59 points, it wasn't enough to bring Cronin back after two seasons behind the bench. Anaheim missed the playoffs for the seventh straight season. Cronin was hired in June 2023 to take over a rebuilding roster, having served as head coach of the AHL’s Colorado Eagles before that. As head coach of the AHL’s Colorado Eagles, Cronin brought the Eagles to three playoff appearances in his five-year tenure.
The New York Rangers announced Saturday that they have fired coach Peter Laviolette after the team failed to make the playoffs for the first time since the 2020-21 season. New York entered the season hoping to win the Stanley Cup following a run to the 2024 Eastern Conference Final and Presidents’ Trophy win, but it finished with a 39-36-7 record and did not have a multi-goal comeback all season until Monday against the Florida Panthers, its first game after elimination. With the Rangers’ regression this season, Laviolette, who won the Stanley Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006, ends his time with the Rangers with a 94-59-11 record. The 60-year-old Laviolette is seventh in NHL history with 846 coaching wins. Laviolette also has Stanley Cup experience in 2017 with the Nashville Predators.
There are two main candidates emerging early for the Rangers’ head coaching position. These two are Mike Sullivan and Jay Leach. Sullivan is currently the head coach for the Pittsburgh Penguins, but has missed the playoffs for three straight seasons in Pittsburgh. However, he led the Penguins to two straight Stanley Cup wins in 2016 and 2017. Jay Leach has served as an assistant coach for the Seattle Kraken and the Boston Bruins. Leach's last head coaching gig was in the AHL with the Providence Bruins during the 2020-2021 season. His record to end the shortened year was 25-15-6-4, with a .688 winning percentage. While no candidates have emerged for Anaheim’s head coaching vacancy, the Ducks may look to hire Peter Laviolette.
