NY Rangers Insider Reveals Latest on Quenneville/Laviolette Rumors

The word began emanating last week that recently reinstated NHL head coach Joel Quenneville was getting close to making a return to the bench, and that the New York Rangers and Detroit Red Wings were among his top suitors.

The Rangers, of course, are teetering on the edge of disaster, losers of five of their last six games, and the team in turmoil over a recent memo sent around the league by GM Chris Drury about name players being available in an attempt to shake things up. Does that mean that head coach Peter Laviolette's job is on the line, and that Quenneville is poised to nab it?

Not a chance, according to Rangers insider Larry Brooks of The New York Post. He snuffed out any talk about Quenneville and the Blueshirts.

There has been no contact between the parties and there will be no contact between the parties.

In addition, Brooks made Laviolette's job security quite clear as well, saying that the Rangers are not going to be ditching their head coach and says they are “committed” to him.

It was only recently that Brooks made it clear why Laviolette's job should not, and will not, be on the line this season:

Regarding Laviolette, Larry Brooks said it best. “This core doesn’t get to fire another coach.”
— Peter Fegan (@PeterFegan8) November 28, 2024

“This core doesn’t get to fire another coach.”

Laviolette is the 4th head coach of the current Rangers core, since 2017-18, when Alain Vigneault was fired. After that, David Quinn spent three years at the helm, followed by Gerard Gallant for two years, and now Laviolette is in his second season behind the bench. Last year, he went 55-23-4 and led the team to the Presidents Trophy with the best record in the NHL.

It's been a slog so far this season, as the Rangers are 13-10-1 and in 4th place in the Metropolitan Division.

Something is going to give at some point, it's just a matter of what, who and when.