Over two years after the New York Rangers fired him, Gerard Gallant is still searching for another head coaching job.
Gallant just spent two years with the Rangers from 2021-23.
In his first season with the expectations not overly high, Gallant led the Rangers to the Eastern Conference Final for the first time since 2015.
However, in his second season, the Blueshirts had an underwhelming year and despite all of the talent on the roster, they lost in the first round of the playoffs to the New Jersey Devils.
After losing to the Devils, Gallant said something about this Rangers core that still rings true today.
“Talent doesn't mean a thing,” Gallant said. "It's great to have talent, but when you gotta play together and work together…”
Gallant was used as the scapegoat. Rangers president and general manager Chris Drury decided to relieve him of his duties after that playoff loss against the Devils.
The 61-year-old coach is reportedly still under the impression that he is not entirely to blame for the Rangers’ past failures.
“I don’t know if he’s (Gallant) been in any of these particular interviews this year, I just don’t know,” Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said. “I have heard he’s eager to prove that when he got let go by the Rangers, It wasn’t only about him, and he wants an opportunity to show people that. We’ll see if he gets an opportunity with teams to talk about that.”
The Rangers fired Gallant’s successor, Peter Laviolette after just two seasons as well and recently replaced him with Mike Sullivan.
Sullivan will attempt to break the two-year trend that Gallant and Laviolette have set.
Meanwhile, Gallant is just looking for another opportunity to prove himself, but it seems that his Rangers days still haunt him to this day.