What you see at those postgame press conferences, what you see from the head coach of the Rangers behind the bench, that is what you get from Gerard Gallant.
All day, every day.
There is no pretense. There is no hidden agenda. There is no self-aggrandizement. Gallant is simply the personification of Old School Hockey, whose approach has been embraced by his team, which will bring a stunning 30-13-4 record into its match next Tuesday at the Garden against the Bruins following the end of the Blueshirts’ winter recess.
“Teams often times take on the personality of their leader, and I think with Turk, he communicates a kind of infectious belief into our group,” Chris Kreider said, using the coach’s nickname, which he has had since he was a 4-year-old chasing turkeys in his uncle’s basement on Prince Edward Island. “The word I use is, ‘empowering.’
“He’s soft-spoken and he’s not overly robust, but everything with him has an intention. He shows up with an intention and very specific tone in mind. There is always that belief in him that we are never out of a game, that we have it in ourselves to do whatever we set out to do.
“With Turk, it’s never about what we can’t do. It’s always about what we can do if we put our minds to it. You don’t know what that means to a group.”
There is a contrast between the way Gallant has coached the team and the way David Quinn did during the previous three years, before the change was made following last season. Much of the difference relates to the manner in which Gallant interacts with his players, as opposed to systems. Quinn wanted to strike up off-ice relationships with his players the way he had with his student-athletes at Boston University. He was in their business too much of the time, albeit with the best of intentions. That is not Gallant’s way.
“I haven’t been in Turk’s office once this year,” Ryan Strome said. “I think the longest I’ve spoken to him in a one-on-one conversation is 30 seconds, like, ‘How are you feeling?’ or, ‘I’d like to see you think about trying this on the ice.’ That’s kind of it.
“It’s been different than what we’re used to in the past, for sure, but I also think that we have evolved as a team with that commitment and work ethic. I think that groundwork was laid the last few years. Guys come to work, guys are very dedicated and I think he realizes that he doesn’t have to push that button as much with our group because there’s other things to worry about.”
There is this, though. The team was different and, perhaps more importantly, so was the mandate. Quinn, in his first NHL head-coaching job, was hired as a development coach in the wake of The Letter and the rebuilding that encompassed the deadline deals of 2018 and 2019, in which the likes of Ryan McDonagh, Rick Nash, Mats Zuccarello and Kevin Hayes were sent away for futures. Gallant was hired to take the Rangers to the playoffs.
And in separate one-on-one conversations with The Post over the last six weeks, Kreider, Strome and Mika Zibanejad all acknowledged that the base that was established during Quinn’s tenure is providing concrete benefits.
“I think we’ve built a foundation where we feel like it can be successful,” Zibanejad said. “It’s not only just the plays on the ice, I think it’s how it is in the locker room, how we approach games, how we approach practices, what we reference in our effort.
“And I think because of all the stuff was going on, even in 2018 and 2019 when we were shaking things up with a lot of veteran players leaving, it’s taken a few years to build the foundation within the team. But the work started then.”
The focus shifted from development to the playoffs with the twin firings of president John Davidson and general manager Jeff Gorton last May. When Chris Drury was hired to fill both posts, the Rangers immediately turned toward focusing on adding grit and diversity to a group that was far too homogenous for its own good.
“It’s something we’ve talked about a bunch, but he asks you to play a pretty simple game,” Kreider said of Gallant, who surely will be in the running for his second coach-of-the-year award after having won it with Vegas for his work, in 2017-18, in guiding the expansion team to the Stanley Cup final. “He wants to play a man’s game, he wants you to play a playoff style.
“He knows there’s going to be opportunity for pretty plays and for your skill to come out, but he’s asking you to put the will before the skill and to control the things you can control. I think he’s got a really good pulse for the context and situation the group is in. He’s able to take a step back and appreciate where we are in the bigger picture.”
Gallant has kept the message as positive as possible from Day 1. He has only called out the Rangers twice this season during his postgame press conferences, in which he reveals as little as humanly possible. It all stays inside. Again, this is a departure from the last couple of seasons — last year, specifically — when Quinn just could not help himself, even after victories, from zeroing in on the team’s propensity to play “east-west.”
“I think that guys have also taken a step in the maturity process and I also think we’ve been doing a better job in taking a big-picture approach rather than getting so emotional over one game or one loss,” Strome said. “I think you combine that with a better record, positivity is the outcome.
“But Turk’s approach has meant tons. It’s huge. Your head coach is the one, if he’s feeling a certain way with the team, then the team is going to feel that wrath in practice or feel that energy from him. It’s obviously a little bit different this year, but we’ve had games we lost or hadn’t played great and we come in the next day and it’s, ‘What’s up boys, how are you feeling?’ I feel his attitude is pretty much the same every day, win or lose. Like I said, it’s been easier based on the record, but it’s no secret around the dressing room that we have a coach who comes in every day and is looking forward to the next game and he’s doing whatever he has to do that day to get ready.”
Again, Gallant reveals little of himself. He’s a low-profile guy in a high-profile business and higher-profile city. But what you see, yes, it is what you get.
“The guy you see is the guy we know, 100 percent,” Strome said. “He’s super laid back in practice, likes to poke fun at guys, likes to let his assistants do their jobs and run things and let the players be professionals and prepare for the games.
“He doesn’t need to push guys every day but the one thing about him that I love is that he’s really intense during the game and fiery on the bench. If you have a bad shift he doesn’t have to say anything, he’ll have that look at you and you know it. He brings that intensity to the games that I love.”
The Rangers are very much a work in progress. But as they climb the ladder to contention, as they zero in on making the playoffs for the first time since 2017, they are falling in line behind a coach who has created an environment of growth even while focused on results.
“At the end of the day, it’s the narrative that’s important and our narrative is that we’ve come out on the other side of those challenging years better for it,” Kreider said. “We have taken what Turk and the staff preaches and we have embraced it. No one here believes he’s a passenger. Everyone believes he has an important role that contributes to winning. Again, that’s ‘empowerment.’
“We’re in a good spot. I know we believe we can win, and win now. We’re going to continue to believe that.”
