John Hynes was let go by the Nashville Predators on Tuesday, May 30th. I have been told that today, May 31st, after being granted permission to speak with Hynes, the conversation has moved in a very positive direction for him to be the next head coach of the New York Rangers.
As most people know by now, John Hynes is a former college teammate of the Rangers GM, Chris Drury. Hynes and Drury played three seasons together at Boston University and won the National Championship in 1995.
When the Rangers first announced they had parted ways with Gerard Gallant, the initial thoughts were that Drury was going to want to bring in one of his own guys to be the next head coach. At that time, Hynes was not available, so he was never a part of the conversation.
The Rangers are certainly doing their due diligence during this interviewing process, as they have now spoken to a ton of different coaches around the league.
Hynes hasn't had a ton of success as an NHL head coach thus far in his career. Considering the fact that the furthest he has taken a team is simply to the first round of the playoffs, it appears that on paper, there may be better choices out there for the job.
With that being said, after speaking with some people around the league, Hynes is the kind of guy that everyone wants to work for. He is a very detail-oriented coach, that communicates extremely well with his players. Communication appeared to be an issue toward the end of last season.
Artemi Panarin was very outspoken about not being confident in the playoffs, stating "I feel terrible in playoffs. Every game I come in excited, I try again and again and again. And it not work, not work, not work. I don't know."
Hynes went into Nashville in a time of need and re-instilled a culture in that group, while also being able to get through to the young players. This is the kind of personality that the Rangers are looking for, even if the results haven't necessarily been there to back it up.
I spoke to a former player of Hynes and he said "He's detail-oriented in every single aspect of what he does. You can tell he cares about every single player, not just the big names, he was amazing with me and the younger guys."
Say what you will about the lack of success that Hynes has had, but he led a beaten-up Nashville Predators team this season that was struggling with injuries, to finish just three points shy of making the playoffs is somewhat impressive.
I'm not saying that the Rangers have made a decision just yet, but it is now safe to assume that John Hynes is in fact the front-runner at this very moment.