Rangers would love Marty St. Louis to join Quinn’s staff
Marty St. Louis (Christopher Gregory NY Times)
The Rangers are set to introduce David Quinn to the media on Thursday at 11:30AM. Many questions will be asked of both he and GM, Jeff Gorton including who or what they are looking for as assistant coaches.
A Broadway Return?
Marty St. Louis has long been rumored to be someone the Rangers have wanted in the organization. Going back to the time of his retirement in the summer of 2015 I wrote:
[su_quote cite=”Forever Blueshirts” url=”forever blueshirts“]Through a contact in Hartford, I learned the Rangers would like to try and keep Marty in the organization in a role with the Wolf Pack. A future in Hartford would put Marty even closer to his family (Actually, it takes 10 minutes longer to drive to Hartford from Greenwich, but NYC traffic can change that easy). Something he probably thought of when he initially demanded to be traded to the Rangers, and the Rangers only. Is coaching in Marty’s future? Or a role in upper management? All these could be future roles for one of hockey’s greats.[/su_quote]
Marc Savard was recently on Hockey Central and claimed that MSL could be joining the Rangers coaching ranks soon. Larry Brooks, talked to MSL back in April and found how he was offered the Hartford coaching job but the timing wasn’t right. Brooks also noted that a job as an assistant is likely there if he wants it.
On May 17th, Marty told 31 Thoughts podcast about coaching, “I’m definitely interested, there will be a time and a place for that, hopefully it won’t be too late for me. Right now it would take a lot for me to leave my kids. I’m enjoying seeing their development and being part of their everyday life.”
The Right Situation
I’ve spoken to a few people close to the team that believe the ball is clearly in Marty’s court if he wants to join the staff as an assistant. As for the situation, it’s perfect from the standpoint that Marty gets to do what he loves and that is mentor the young players to play the right way. An added bonus is the proximity of the Rangers practice facility being close to his home in Connecticut.
David Quinn is going to have his hands full and has many directives put forth by management. As it’s been made clear, one of them will be to develop the Rangers younger players and St. Louis can help with that.
Rounding Out the Staff
Ruff (Getty Images)
One thing to keep in mind is that even though Quinn has plenty of coaching experience, he was only an assistant for one season at the NHL level. This makes me wonder why Lindy Ruff was not let go at the same time as Alain Vigneault and Scott Arneil. Could Ruff be kept on to show Quinn the ropes so he can adjust quickly to all the responsibilities at the NHL level.
This is pure speculation but an educated one at that, Ruff could be that guy. There’s no doubt that the Rangers and Quinn would love to have someone with more NHL coaching experience to round at the staff. Of course, this isn’t a time sensitive issue since it is only important to have a coach in place at the draft. Still, I don’t think the process will take all off season to complete. Expect the Rangers and Marty St. Louis to come to a decision soon, whether he joins or not. The rest will fall into place.
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