The Rangers should hire Mark Messier as head coach … of the re-christened AHL Hartford Wolf Pack.
That is the place for Messier, passed over in his bid to start his career behind the bench at the top, to begin. That is the place for Messier to build a foundation that will take him on the path to the NHL.
That is the place general manager Glen Sather would all but certainly be happy to place Messier in conjunction with making current head man and well respected organization soldier Ken Gernander an associate coach.
That is the place for Messier to learn and to showcase himself not merely to the Rangers, but to 30 NHL teams whose coaches operate on a carousel.
It’s not about paying dues. It’s about gaining experience independent of the experience that comes with a Hall of Fame career of 25 seasons. It’s about gaining experience leading a team from behind the bench, not from within the room and on the ice.
There’s no law mandating a coach can’t start his career in the NHL, true enough, and it’s also true Messier was indeed offered the job to coach the Oilers a year ago by Kevin Lowe and Steve Tambellini before turning it down essentially because he did not wish to move to Edmonton.
But facts are facts. The ship in Edmonton has sailed with the hiring of Dallas Eakins by Craig MacTavish. And GMs around the NHL are not prone to entrust their teams — and by extension, their own jobs — to an individual without experience, no matter how gaudy his name and playing resume.
Kirk Muller was a highly-regarded assistant in Montreal for five seasons who was renowned for his ability to communicate with his players and who received much of the credit for devising the scheme that propelled the Canadiens to upsets over the Capitals and Penguins in the 2010 playoffs.
Yet in 2011, Muller was passed over by six NHL teams hiring head coaches, because even with his experience as an assistant to Jacques Martin, he had never run a bench on his own. Muller was hired by Nashville to coach Milwaukee of the AHL. Only two months into 2011-12, he was hired to replace Paul Maurice in Carolina.
At another time and in another place, the Rangers would have gone for Messier. But not now, not with the risk factor so high and not with Alain Vigneault an alternative too difficult to reject.
What Messier, a proud, proud, confident man who no doubt is wounded by the decision, should understand is he himself wasn’t rejected by the Rangers and Sather, his absence of a coaching resume was.
The Rangers didn’t need to hire someone to make a splash. They didn’t need to hire someone to steal the Back Page. They didn’t need to hire an icon. They needed to hire a coach.
And so they have done that, and for every right reason.
Now, they should hire another one.
They should hire Messier to take over the Wolf Pack as the first step in a coaching journey that could lead right back to Broadway.
* Given the change in coaches and the absence of cost-effective available talent down the middle on the free agent market, it is beginning to seem more and more likely the Rangers won’t be asking Brad Richards to clean out his locker during the amnesty buyout period that will follow the Stanley Cup Finals.
If defenseman Roman Josi is worth $28 million over seven years to re-up as a restricted free agent coming off entry level in Nashville, what does that mean for Ryan McDonagh?
Five years, $25 million enough for the Blueshirts to sign him before he can attract a Group II offer sheet — and maybe not from Philadelphia, but from, say, Edmonton?
* In 2011, it was Brad Marchand jabbing away at Daniel Sedin. A couple of weeks ago, it was Zdeno Chara glove-punching Sidney Crosby in his still tender recently shattered jaw.
And the band plays on.
But why, by the way, didn’t Crosby wear protection over the jaw against the Bruins as he did the first two rounds?
* The Penguins used Ryan Whitney to get Chris Kunitz from Anaheim and Alex Goligoski to get James Neal and Matt Niskanen from Dallas, so just imagine the bounty in return if Pittsburgh GM Ray Shero decides to move Kris Letang.
* Finally, I would be in favor of the NHL adopting a Profile in Courage Award in the name of Gregory Campbell, except I’m afraid Pittsburgh writers would find the way to nominate Matt Cooke to win it.