For the third time since 2021 the Rangers have fired their head coach. 

First it was David Quinn, then it was Gerard Gallant and now it’s Peter Laviolette as Rangers president and general manager Chris Drury is tasked with finding the right fit behind the bench once again. 

Is it just that the Rangers haven't found the right coach or is there a problem with the team’s core?

We’ve seen this same core go through multiple coaches and while there have been some extreme highs, this team seems to run into the same issues time and time again. 

Is another coaching change really going to bring out a different version of the Rangers that we haven’t already seen? 

Peter Laviolette was no perfect angel this season by any means, but it feels like he is being used as the scapegoat for problems that go way deeper than him. 

“It’s tough,” Vincent Trocheck said about Laviolette’s firing. “Obviously in a place like New York, you know what our expectations are after a season like last year to not perform the way we needed to make another run, you always have worries. Coaches are often looked at and blamed, so it’s tough. I loved Lavi (Laviolette). Obviously, another coaching change is always hard.”

There was a lot of sympathy coming from the players to Laviolette during exit interviews on Monday with the team not dropping any hints that they had any problem with their former coach. 

In terms of Laviolette’s coaching approach and messaging, it wasn’t necessarily off-point at least according to the players. 

“It’s hard not to look at us as players and say why is that happening,” Adam Fox said of the Rangers’ constant coaching changes. “I don’t think us as players at any point didn’t like Lavi, or thought his message wasn’t getting through. It just seemed the execution was not there. We want to be able to come in with a coach that is here for as long as we are all here, even outlast us as players because that means we are having a lot of success. 

“I think you look around the league whenever a coach gets fired, players wear that pretty hard because if we did our job, those coaches would still be here. Whoever the next coach is, obviously it’s on us to make sure there’s sustained success, not just a quick bust and then back to being mediocre.”

You look at the coaches who have been with their teams for a long period of time including Jon Cooper with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Jared Bednar with the Colorado Avalanche, and ​​Rod Brind'Amour with the Carolina Hurricanes, those are the gold standard of teams.

A stable coach is able to build a culture around an organization that could last for years and years.

In order to thrive with a coach, the Rangers will also need to fix their problems internally regarding the trust level and communication between players and management, something that must be addressed this offseason.

“Us players, we have to take ownership in what we do and how we go about things, but I think it has to be cohesive with everyone,” Zibanejad said. “This organization doesn't work without the players. This organization for us players doesn't work for the people that work above us. We have to work together as well… We have to communicate about things.”