The New York Rangers officially fired head coach Alain Vigneault on Saturday night.
The news comes hours after the Rangers wrapped up their regular season with a 5-0 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers, dropping New York's record to 34-39-9, good for last in the Metropolitan Division.
Hired in 2013, Vigneault coached the Rangers to a regular-season record of 226-147-37 during his five-year tenure, leading the club to the Stanley Cup Final in 2014 and a Presidents' Trophy campaign the next season that resulted in another Eastern Conference Finals appearance.
The team stumbled in 2017-18, however, and as the Rangers continue to rebuild on the fly, Vigneault appears to have lost favor as the bench boss to right the ship.
Alain Vigneault signed a contract extension with the Rangers on Jan. 31, 2017. It begins next season. That gets wiped away if he finds a new job. #NYR
— Dan Rosen (@drosennhl) April 8, 2018
Vigneault is the first head coach to be fired this season - on the second-to-last day, no less.
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