Gerard Gallant wanted to go to Dallas

Dose
Crédit: Gerard Gallant, New York Rangers head coach, watches game vs. Philadelphia Flyers.

Every off-season in the National Hockey League, there’s a merry-go-round of new coaches, and every summer, as many teams fire their head coaches and bring in a new one, either recently fired or from elsewhere. In general, we’re used to the same names coming back and forth across the NHL from one team to the next.

The NHL still remains a clique with a small variety of head coaches, but things are changing with hires like Martin St-Louis in the last few years. Still, we often hear the same names coming back, and one of those we expected to see return to the NHL was Gerard Gallant.

The former assistant coach of the Montreal Canadiens, and former head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets, Florida Panthers, Vegas Golden Knights and New York Rangers, was hoping to return to the NHL as head coach after two years without a job, and it was recently revealed that he was very interested in the position in Dallas.

[content-ads] Indeed, Gallant was hoping for his chance to lead the Dallas Stars, but in the end, it was Glen Gulutzan who stole the job, after spending the last seven seasons as an assistant with the Edmonton Oilers.

“The last available NHL job was in Dallas and I was hoping for an opportunity for that, but it didn’t happen.”

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Gerard Gallant

The 61-year-old coach was disappointed, as he explained in an interview on TSN radio, but quickly came around as he evaluated the other options he had on the table. He knew he had an offer in the KHL, and took a few days to think it over, before his desire to coach a team again drove him to accept.

Gallant has signed a two-year contract (with possible release after one season) with the Shanghai Dragons in the KHL, and he’s excited about this new challenge, as he knows it’s different to coach a KHL team.

Inshort, Gallant will be looking to take a team that usually finishes at the bottom of the KHL standings to the playoffs, which will be quite a challenge for the 61-year-old head coach. Let’s see if his potential success in St. Petersburg (where the Dragons play), could help him return to the NHL before long. [spacer title=’En Rafale’] – To be continued today.

– These will be two cases (Rossi and McTavish) to watch closely.

– Check it out.

– A good shower!