The last time Alain Vigneault was coaching in the Stanley Cup Final, his team, the Vancouver Canucks, was the favorite. That was only in 2011. The Canucks didn’t win.
He comes back to the championship series in his first season with the New York Rangers, and he’s playing the underdog card as his team prepares to face the Western Conference champion L.A. Kings, a team that has gone to and won Game 7 on the road in each of their first three playoff series this spring.
The Kings, the host team in the first two games of this series, dispatched California rivals from San Jose and Anaheim and then beat the defending Stanley Cup champions from Chicago to advance to this point.
“The experts probably favor the L.A. Kings quite a bit,” Vigneault told reporters.
“That’s not going to change our approach, what we think we need to do. We know we have to play a certain way. There’s a couple areas that we think we can do real well on the ice. That’s what we’re going to try and do starting tomorrow.”
It’s clear that the Rangers won the great swap of head coaches from last spring. New York fired John Tortorella and then hired Vigneault.
The Canucks fired Vigneault and then hired Tortorella. The Canucks didn’t qualify for the playoffs, didn’t even come close, really. Oh, and Torts lasted only one season in Vancouver.
It’s worked out for the Rangers, even if they got off to a slow start in the regular season, losing six of their first nine games - all on the road.
“He’s obviously a very good coach. I’ve known a lot about his history. I can’t make a comment why it didn’t work. It did work
with Torts for a while,” said Rangers general manager Glen Sather.
“I’m glad the opportunity was there to make a deal. We’ve had nothing but fun with each other. We continue to do it. It’s been a good relationship. Coaches sometimes run out of time wherever they are.”
Seems like Vigneault’s time in New York is really just getting started. The focus for right now is on the Kings.