Just like Alain Vigneault before him, it appears Scott Arniel’s time in the Vancouver Canucks organization could be done.
According to Katie Strang of ESPN New York, Arniel is expected to join the Rangers and Alain Vigneault’s coaching staff, along with Ulf Samuelsson.
Samuelsson has been confirmed to be joining the Rangers’ coaching staff, according to Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News.
Arniel, who spent the last season as bench boss of the American Hockey League’s Chicago Wolves, the Canucks minor league affiliate, had been a candidate for the head coaching position in Vancouver after Vigneault was fired.
From 2006 to 2010, Arniel coached the AHL Manitoba Moose - previously based out of Winnipeg before the NHL returned there - before moving on to become head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Under his watch, the Blue Jackets struggled, going 45-60-18 in not even two full seasons.
Should Arniel be hired in New York, he would be reunited with Vigneault, someone he knows very well from their time in the Canucks organization.
It would also reunite him with a pair of former Columbus Blue Jackets - Rick Nash and Derick Brassard.