The first day of the Rangers’ offseason came and went without any news of the coaching staff’s fate moving forward.
Access the Rangers beat like never before
Join Post Sports+ for exciting member-only features, including real-time texting with Mollie Walker about the inside buzz on the Rangers.
tRY IT NOWThere has been a strong belief that head coach Peter Laviolette would not survive the disaster that was this 2024-25 season.
Though there was no word on the matter from the Blueshirts on Friday, multiple coaches around the NHL addressed their status with their current teams that could have an effect on the organization’s search should Laviolette ultimately be relieved of his duties.
Rangers president and general manager Chris Drury and longtime Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan have a preexisting relationship.
Not only are they Boston University alums, the two were U.S. teammates in the 1997 World Championships. Drury also played under Sullivan, who was an assistant with the Rangers, for his last two seasons playing in the NHL in 2009-10 and 2010-11.
They were reunited at the NHL’s 4 Nations Faceoff with Team USA, with Sullivan serving as head coach and Drury as assistant general manager to Bill Guerin.
If Sullivan had been available in May 2023, when Drury was looking to replace Gerard Gallant, there’s no question he would’ve been the No. 1 choice.
Coming off signing a three-year extension with Pittsburgh in 2022, Sullivan told The Post that summer that he was in it for the long haul with the Penguins.
On Friday at the Penguins’ breakup day, Sullivan shared a similar sentiment to presumably set the record straight and avoid offseason speculation again.
“My intentions are to be the head coach moving forward,” he told reporters.
In wrapping up Sullivan’s 10th season with the Penguins, Pittsburgh has failed to qualify for the playoffs for three straight years.
The strong relationship between Sullivan and captain Sidney Crosby is well-known, however, which makes the former’s immediate departure seem unlikely.
After the Canucks endured a second-round exit in the playoffs last season before missing the postseason entirely this season, Rick Tocchet is another currently employed bench boss who could be available.
Asked point-blank if he wanted to remain in Vancouver, the 61-year-old Tocchet was frank.
“Of course, you want to be back here, but there’s a process you have to go through, right?” Tocchet told reporters Friday. “All year I haven’t breathed. During the time off, I was at 4 Nations [as an assistant coach for Team Canada]. You’re trying to get this team into the playoffs, dealing with all that stuff. So I haven’t really thought about myself. I know people don’t believe that. Sure, at nighttime, you think, ‘Hey, what am I going to do?’ You think of those thoughts. I do have to take a breath and I think out of respect for both sides you have to go through the process. You have to. I understand, I know the next question is, ‘Well, how much time do you need?’
“I’m not an idiot, I can’t sit on the couch. I’ll decide when I decide. I mean, obviously, there’s a time frame. But right now, for me, there’s a process I got to go through with [president and hockey operations] Jim [Rutherford] and [general manager] Patrick [Allvin]. That’s really where it’s at.”
