Confirmed with Link: GERARD GALLANT FIRED

[JHS]

Give it a rest, Gerard. Everyone knows the players are equally to blame but unfortunately they all have no move clauses and you don’t. You still deserved to be fired.

100% wrong about deserving to be fired. The worst part is even if he did not deserve it( which is a comical conclusion because people only can point to some amorphous “the team had no structure” or “ there was no system”— ignoring the multiple players who had career years under him) the idea you’d let this guy go and then publicly state “we don’t know who we want to coach this team” and “ we don’t even know what type of coach we want” just shows how terrible the management is! They have no plan and no idea who is even a better option- they just knew Gallant was not the guy. Brilliant— you don’t get rid of a coach that at least had the team functional unless you had a clear better option. You just don’t- so it’s pretty clear how this all went down- players said there were issues with Gallant, management listened and promoted the country club attitude, told Gallant they were disappointed and he said “go F yourself, I’m out.” Remember when he stood up at the podium and said “he can’t believe he has to answer questions about the teams underperformance.” That’s the money quote to put this all together.

But worse than anything- there is no one amongst the candidate pool that will stack up favorably and the next guy will know that he’s walking into an atmosphere where the players call all the shots and have already gotten 2 coaches canned in 5 years.

This organization is so much further from taking the next step towards winning a cup it’s not even close.

 

[JHS]

Fun fact: Also the date of the last goal of Doug Lidster's career.

If that doesn't illustrate how long ago that was...

I don't understand the infatuation with Messier as a coach. Messier was a lead by example captain. That doesn't mean he'll be a good coach.

Messier is not the right next move and this is coming from someone who was alive in 94 and loves the man for what he brought to. NYC. Everyone who wanted Gallant canned pointed out a lack of system and adjustments made— Messier has never coached in the NHL and seems like a pretty poor communicator based on his TV work. He’s also not even that relevant to the modern player and would be at immediate odds with this rotten core of coach killing talent the Rangers organization seems all too willing to cater to. It would be a disaster- plain and simple.

 

[TopShelfSnipes]

100% wrong about deserving to be fired. The worst part is even if he did not deserve it( which is a comical conclusion because people only can point to some amorphous “the team had no structure” or “ there was no system”— ignoring the multiple players who had career years under him) the idea you’d let this guy go and then publicly state “we don’t know who we want to coach this team” and “ we don’t even know what type of coach we want” just shows how terrible the management is! They have no plan and no idea who is even a better option- they just knew Gallant was not the guy. Brilliant— you don’t get rid of a coach that at least had the team functional unless you had a clear better option. You just don’t- so it’s pretty clear how this all went down- players said there were issues with Gallant, management listened and promoted the country club attitude, told Gallant they were disappointed and he said “go F yourself, I’m out.” Remember when he stood up at the podium and said “he can’t believe he has to answer questions about the teams underperformance.” That’s the money quote to put this all together.

But worse than anything- there is no one amongst the candidate pool that will stack up favorably and the next guy will know that he’s walking into an atmosphere where the players call all the shots and have already gotten 2 coaches canned in 5 years.

This organization is so much further from taking the next step towards winning a cup it’s not even close.

The candidate pool is always retreads and if you look at the current consensus "best" coaches in the league - meaning based on management style and their systems - none of them came off the scrap heap. The orgs that have the Coopers and Brind'Amours went off the beaten path or took a chance on them earlier in their career and cultivated them into a head coach.

GG absolutely deserved to be fired for all the countless reasons I've detailed in previous posts. If you watch other teams in the playoffs move the puck, it is ridiculous how much better at it they are than the Rangers. That's something that's practiced (or not), and that comes from a structure provided by the coach. If the players deviate from the system, you bench them. If Panarin was such a coach killer, you bench him. Panarin was benched exactly once this whole season - for one powerplay - after a giveaway that led to a SHG against.

As for the vibes from Panarin, I get the sense he's someone who's frustrated with his inability to perform in the playoffs but doesn't fully understand why. A coach that had a clue would have looked at how bad him and Vincent Trocheck were together in October, November, December, AND January...and maybe not put them together in the playoffs. I still think that's a huge reason for his lack of playoff production. For all the time they spent together this season, Trocheck scored exactly TWO even strength goals the entire season where Panarin had an assist. That duo spent over 650 minutes on the ice together at even strength this year. You know who else scored two even strength goals the entire season where Panarin had an assist? The illustrious Vitali Kravtsov. In fact, Panarin probably breaks 100 points this season if GG just had the good sense to keep those two apart.

No one has "blossomed" under Gallant at all except Kreider - the players who've taken major strides in their game (Zibanejad, Fox) all did so under David Quinn and have largely stagnated since. Fox's puck movement has never been slower than it was this year. Zibanejad was scoring goals at nearly double the even strength rate in 2019-20 as he is now. The kids all posted career years this season, but I'd hardly consider any of them a smashing success given the expectations of fans and the org. for where they'd be at this point. Goodrow's "career year" under Gallant last year was largely a function of getting more ice time than he ever has before. Then, this year, GG badly overused the 35-year old Kane, badly underutilized Tarasenko who clearly had much more to give than playing 12 minutes a night. He eschewed X's and O's all season, then threw the team under the bus after Game 4 despite the fact that his personnel decisions were a huge part of the problem as evidenced by Game 5's result which featured no adjustments. Then, in Game 6, back against the wall, he changed things and it worked - the team won and got a Game 7. The Devils adjusted in Game 7, and he didn't. When the Devils got the lead, he went RIGHT BACK to what hadn't worked in Games 3-5 and the team got blown out the rest of the way as a result.

Right now, the best thing this org can do is scout other organizations, juniors, the AHL, and even Europe for a coach who has a habit of getting the most out of players - especially skilled forwards. Avoid the retreads, but getting rid of Gallant was ABSOLUTELY the right move.

 

[Beer League Sniper]

Your first paragraph presents a great point. The team is still being haunted by the Ghost of AV.

Say what you want about AV. He at least had an identifiable system, dreadful as it was.

I think a huge problem with the stagnation of our young players has to do with the fact that our last two coaching hires have not been "Xs and Os" type guys. How can you hold players accountable if you don't play a real system?

 

[Fitzy]

It isn't heresy to NYR lore to state the fact that Messier isn't a terribly bright or emotionally intelligent.

War is too important to be left to the generals, fellas.

 

[McRanger92]

100% wrong about deserving to be fired. The worst part is even if he did not deserve it( which is a comical conclusion because people only can point to some amorphous “the team had no structure” or “ there was no system”— ignoring the multiple players who had career years under him) the idea you’d let this guy go and then publicly state “we don’t know who we want to coach this team” and “ we don’t even know what type of coach we want” just shows how terrible the management is! They have no plan and no idea who is even a better option- they just knew Gallant was not the guy. Brilliant— you don’t get rid of a coach that at least had the team functional unless you had a clear better option. You just don’t- so it’s pretty clear how this all went down- players said there were issues with Gallant, management listened and promoted the country club attitude, told Gallant they were disappointed and he said “go F yourself, I’m out.” Remember when he stood up at the podium and said “he can’t believe he has to answer questions about the teams underperformance.” That’s the money quote to put this all together.

But worse than anything- there is no one amongst the candidate pool that will stack up favorably and the next guy will know that he’s walking into an atmosphere where the players call all the shots and have already gotten 2 coaches canned in 5 years.

This organization is so much further from taking the next step towards winning a cup it’s not even close.

Gallant fostered the country club attitude himself. Hands off approach, letting the players (Panarin) pick who he plays with, 1:45 seconds on every PP for the veterans, etc. The guy does this at every job he has. 2 years then its over. It's literally his job to make sure stuff like that doesnt happen. If he was shocked that he had to answer about his team's underperformance, he's an even bigger fool because this is the NHL, and that's how its worked forever.

And the Rangers organization knows exactly what they want at Head Coach: anyone but Gerard Gallant lol

 

[Anthony5967]

Jeff Daniels of Carolina intrigues me. He's been with Rod for years, and he has had many roles throughout the Carolina organization. You know Rod adores his assistants.

 

[JHS]

The candidate pool is always retreads and if you look at the current consensus "best" coaches in the league - meaning based on management style and their systems - none of them came off the scrap heap. The orgs that have the Coopers and Brind'Amours went off the beaten path or took a chance on them earlier in their career and cultivated them into a head coach.

GG absolutely deserved to be fired for all the countless reasons I've detailed in previous posts. If you watch other teams in the playoffs move the puck, it is ridiculous how much better at it they are than the Rangers. That's something that's practiced (or not), and that comes from a structure provided by the coach. If the players deviate from the system, you bench them. If Panarin was such a coach killer, you bench him. Panarin was benched exactly once this whole season - for one powerplay - after a giveaway that led to a SHG against.

As for the vibes from Panarin, I get the sense he's someone who's frustrated with his inability to perform in the playoffs but doesn't fully understand why. A coach that had a clue would have looked at how bad him and Vincent Trocheck were together in October, November, December, AND January...and maybe not put them together in the playoffs. I still think that's a huge reason for his lack of playoff production. For all the time they spent together this season, Trocheck scored exactly TWO even strength goals the entire season where Panarin had an assist. That duo spent over 650 minutes on the ice together at even strength this year. You know who else scored two even strength goals the entire season where Panarin had an assist? The illustrious Vitali Kravtsov. In fact, Panarin probably breaks 100 points this season if GG just had the good sense to keep those two apart.

No one has "blossomed" under Gallant at all except Kreider - the players who've taken major strides in their game (Zibanejad, Fox) all did so under David Quinn and have largely stagnated since. Fox's puck movement has never been slower than it was this year. Zibanejad was scoring goals at nearly double the even strength rate in 2019-20 as he is now. The kids all posted career years this season, but I'd hardly consider any of them a smashing success given the expectations of fans and the org. for where they'd be at this point. Goodrow's "career year" under Gallant last year was largely a function of getting more ice time than he ever has before. Then, this year, GG badly overused the 35-year old Kane, badly underutilized Tarasenko who clearly had much more to give than playing 12 minutes a night. He eschewed X's and O's all season, then threw the team under the bus after Game 4 despite the fact that his personnel decisions were a huge part of the problem as evidenced by Game 5's result which featured no adjustments. Then, in Game 6, back against the wall, he changed things and it worked - the team won and got a Game 7. The Devils adjusted in Game 7, and he didn't. When the Devils got the lead, he went RIGHT BACK to what hadn't worked in Games 3-5 and the team got blown out the rest of the way as a result.

Right now, the best thing this org can do is scout other organizations, juniors, the AHL, and even Europe for a coach who has a habit of getting the most out of players - especially skilled forwards. Avoid the retreads, but getting rid of Gallant was ABSOLUTELY the right move.

And next year when this team is far worse and these players regress because the organization brings in some "defense first, x's and o's" guy the fan base will turn on that guy too. This is a group with superior talent and you guys want a coach who will stifle their creativity and lock them into some sort of a trap system just so the coach can say " I have a system."

The only way to coach talent is to let it thrive and give it space. You guys who want a coach who crams guys into a system I guess would have wanted someone advising the color choices of the Mona Lisa because certainly Leonardo Da Vinci was not able to do that on his own.

 

[Machinehead]

I don't love the "look at all the guys who had career years" argument.

I'd rather have this

than this

I'd rather have 90 point Torts Panarin who was a monster in the playoffs than 110 point Gallant Panarin.

Kreider saw a bump in scoring but he was the only one who did it while understanding the assignment, so leave him alone I guess.

Point is, of course big guys had career years. Their only directive was to go out and score points.

 

[McRanger92]

Jeff Daniels of Carolina intrigues me. He's been with Rod for years, and he has had many roles throughout the Carolina organization. You know Rod adores his assistants.

I loved him in the Newsroom

 

[Ruggs225]

Jeff Daniels of Carolina intrigues me. He's been with Rod for years, and he has had many roles throughout the Carolina organization. You know Rod adores his assistants.

Personally i like jack Daniels of Tennessee better.

Which is why Brunnette is the better choice. I will personally pick him up in a golf cart at the airport.

 

[karljans8279]

The candidate pool is always retreads and if you look at the current consensus "best" coaches in the league - meaning based on management style and their systems - none of them came off the scrap heap. The orgs that have the Coopers and Brind'Amours went off the beaten path or took a chance on them earlier in their career and cultivated them into a head coach.

GG absolutely deserved to be fired for all the countless reasons I've detailed in previous posts. If you watch other teams in the playoffs move the puck, it is ridiculous how much better at it they are than the Rangers. That's something that's practiced (or not), and that comes from a structure provided by the coach. If the players deviate from the system, you bench them. If Panarin was such a coach killer, you bench him. Panarin was benched exactly once this whole season - for one powerplay - after a giveaway that led to a SHG against.

As for the vibes from Panarin, I get the sense he's someone who's frustrated with his inability to perform in the playoffs but doesn't fully understand why. A coach that had a clue would have looked at how bad him and Vincent Trocheck were together in October, November, December, AND January...and maybe not put them together in the playoffs. I still think that's a huge reason for his lack of playoff production. For all the time they spent together this season, Trocheck scored exactly TWO even strength goals the entire season where Panarin had an assist. That duo spent over 650 minutes on the ice together at even strength this year. You know who else scored two even strength goals the entire season where Panarin had an assist? The illustrious Vitali Kravtsov. In fact, Panarin probably breaks 100 points this season if GG just had the good sense to keep those two apart.

No one has "blossomed" under Gallant at all except Kreider - the players who've taken major strides in their game (Zibanejad, Fox) all did so under David Quinn and have largely stagnated since. Fox's puck movement has never been slower than it was this year. Zibanejad was scoring goals at nearly double the even strength rate in 2019-20 as he is now. The kids all posted career years this season, but I'd hardly consider any of them a smashing success given the expectations of fans and the org. for where they'd be at this point. Goodrow's "career year" under Gallant last year was largely a function of getting more ice time than he ever has before. Then, this year, GG badly overused the 35-year old Kane, badly underutilized Tarasenko who clearly had much more to give than playing 12 minutes a night. He eschewed X's and O's all season, then threw the team under the bus after Game 4 despite the fact that his personnel decisions were a huge part of the problem as evidenced by Game 5's result which featured no adjustments. Then, in Game 6, back against the wall, he changed things and it worked - the team won and got a Game 7. The Devils adjusted in Game 7, and he didn't. When the Devils got the lead, he went RIGHT BACK to what hadn't worked in Games 3-5 and the team got blown out the rest of the way as a result.

Right now, the best thing this org can do is scout other organizations, juniors, the AHL, and even Europe for a coach who has a habit of getting the most out of players - especially skilled forwards. Avoid the retreads, but getting rid of Gallant was ABSOLUTELY the right move.

Awesome post

 

[JimmyG89]

I don't love the "look at all the guys who had career years" argument.

I'd rather have this

View attachment 704628

than this

View attachment 704629

I'd rather have 90 point Torts Panarin who was a monster in the playoffs than 110 point Gallant Panarin.

Kreider saw a bump in scoring but he was the only one who did it while understanding the assignment, so leave him alone I guess.

Point is, of course big guys had career years. Their only directive was to go out and score points.

Need to get one of two things for him to get back to that point:

A gritty winger that will win board battles so that he doesn't have to do it all himself OR a defensively responsible winger that can allow him to forecheck and be aggressive. There is a reason that over his career he did best with Buchnevich (not initially, but eventually), Kreider, Zuccarello, Kakko and Fast. All 4 of those players have one of those two skillsets. You put him with Panarin, Tarasenko, and Kane then you get to watch him have to be F3 most of the time and dig the team out of their own zone.

Zibanejad is a strong passer, but his best tool is his shot. When he plays with Kreider, he doesn't have a winger with high end passing ability, but has the grit and speed to make plays down low.

Kakko, Vesey, and Kreider. Two of those three need to be his linemates based on last season and finding another winger like that should be the priority, because if Panarin is on this team, that's what he needs too (his best combo with Torts was PLD and Atkinson). There are plenty of guys that fit the mold, and some that will be free agents or available in the offseason.

 

[will1066]

I loved him in the Newsroom

Dumb and Dumber should have brought him home an Oscar.

 

[nsvoyageurs]

All seems to be shaking out really well. Geez I wonder if there are any Bantam coaches out there who might want to give the NHL a shot- probably not as big a jump as you might expect. Maybe they could hire a JV high school coach- that’s probably even less of a jump. Maybe my old coach is available?!?

I mean seriously- it’s now pretty obvious Gallant told them they could go “f” themselves when they told him he was not performing up to their standards and they were left with their pants down with literally no idea.

Again joke of an organization. Proud of Gallant for throwing these clowns to the wind like they deserve.

I wonder if Drury told Gallant he could stay but had to make changes on his coaching staff; then Gallant said; "Bleep that", and they agreed to part ways. If Drury told him this, he likely knew what Gallant's answer would be. Good on Gallant to be loyal to his guys, but the assistant coaching staff had to be changed.

 

[Machinehead]

Need to get one of two things for him to get back to that point:

A gritty winger that will win board battles so that he doesn't have to do it all himself OR a defensively responsible winger that can allow him to forecheck and be aggressive. There is a reason that over his career he did best with Buchnevich (not initially, but eventually), Kreider, Zuccarello, Kakko and Fast. All 4 of those players have one of those two skillsets. You put him with Panarin, Tarasenko, and Kane then you get to watch him have to be F3 most of the time and dig the team out of their own zone.

Zibanejad is a strong passer, but his best tool is his shot. When he plays with Kreider, he doesn't have a winger with high end passing ability, but has the grit and speed to make plays down low.

Kakko, Vesey, and Kreider. Two of those three need to be his linemates based on last season and finding another winger like that should be the priority, because if Panarin is on this team, that's what he needs too (his best combo with Torts was PLD and Atkinson). There are plenty of guys that fit the mold, and some that will be free agents or available in the offseason.

This is the second year in a row the Zibanejad line was going pretty good at even strength during the regular season and they tried to put him with a scoring RW who doesn't play defense. This year it was Tarasenko who is fine, I guess, but the line mostly sucked, and last year it was Frank Vatrano who does absolute f*** to the all outside of his 20 goals.

I got news for the Rangers: there's already a scoring winger on Zibanejad's line - it's Mika Zibanejad.

Despite Zibanejad's pedestrian analytics I do think he's an asset, but we lean on him way too much.

He's solid defensively but we give him usage that would make Patrice Bergeron call in sick. Instead of giving him checkers and letting him be the trigger off the cycle, we force him to babysit shoot-first wingers who don't compliment his game at all.

There's very few players in this game that are good at everything and work in every situation - McDavid and Matt Tkachuk come to mind. Other than that you have to look at things with nuance and find a fit. The Rangers are very bad at that the last few years.

With Kreider as the checker and Buchnevich as the playmaker, the line worked. They've been trying to replace Buchnevich on that line and it doesn't work because the Rangers keep bringing in players that are nothing like Buchnevich. They seem to think every player who scores points is the same player.

I would go in a different direction and stick with Kakko. He's right there.

 

[Larrybiv]

Yea and he wasn't arrested either, he and the NYPD just mutually agreed to put him in handcuffs

One of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard. agree with your sarcasm. What coach "agrees" to parting ways? How did that conversation go? Come on, now.
Rangers organization is KNOWN to be one of "class", but no one would ridicule him being FIRED. THAT is the common term. Don't try and sugarcoat it, unless........

Drury; Hey GG, you know I gave you a really good team to at least get you to the Cup, if not winning it all.

GG; Well Mr. Drury, our top guns Mika, Panarin and Trochek didn't exactly set the world afire, But we "played good". We just couldn't stop that damned Hughes.
Our 3 kids just couldn't match what that kid did to us. Wish we had him.

Drury; Good? You call that good? that's not a good evaluation. I beg to differ. So, what do you say about us "parting ways", they sinply didn't perform for you. You get to keep that extra years salary, and an added bonus, will NOT make you take a cab.

GG; Okay Mr. Drury. It's been a rough year for me. I'll take the paid vacation, and then look for another job. Work 2 years and then history will, probably repeat itself.

Drury; Okay then, it' mutual.

 

[EdJovanovski]

One of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard. agree with your sarcasm. What coach "agrees" to parting ways? How did that conversation go? Come on, now.
Rangers organization is KNOWN to be one of "class", but no one would ridicule him being FIRED. THAT is the common term. Don't try and sugarcoat it, unless........

Drury; Hey GG, you know I gave you a really good team to at least get you to the Cup, if not winning it all.

GG; Well Mr. Drury, our top guns Mika, Panarin and Trochek didn't exactly set the world afire, But we "played good". We just couldn't stop that damned Hughes.
Our 3 kids just couldn't match what that kid did to us. Wish we had him.

Drury; Good? You call that good? that's not a good evaluation. I beg to differ. So, what do you say about us "parting ways", they sinply didn't perform for you. You get to keep that extra years salary, and an added bonus, will NOT make you take a cab.

GG; Okay Mr. Drury. It's been a rough year for me. I'll take the paid vacation, and then look for another job. Work 2 years and then history will, probably repeat itself.

Drury; Okay then, it' mutual.

The guy literally said he “couldn’t believe” that he had to answer questions about potentially getting fired in his last interview LOL

 

[TopShelfSnipes]

And next year when this team is far worse and these players regress because the organization brings in some "defense first, x's and o's" guy the fan base will turn on that guy too. This is a group with superior talent and you guys want a coach who will stifle their creativity and lock them into some sort of a trap system just so the coach can say " I have a system."

The only way to coach talent is to let it thrive and give it space. You guys who want a coach who crams guys into a system I guess would have wanted someone advising the color choices of the Mona Lisa because certainly Leonardo Da Vinci was not able to do that on his own.

When have I ever said I wanted a defensive coach???

I have consistently said I want an offensive minded coach who understands the modern game, breakouts, and transitions, and has a reputation for working well with young players and scorers.

Every good coach, even the best offensive ones, has systems. Systems =/= defensive minded.
X's and O's are offense too.

 

[JimmyG89]

I got news for the Rangers: there's already a scoring winger on Zibanejad's line - it's Mika Zibanejad.

Pretty much and the Rangers need a cerebral RWfor that line. As you said, Kakko is staring them in the face and does a lot of the things Buchnevich did and can do, but refuse to use him that way. If they decided that due to the cap crunch that it needs to be Vesey, it's at least someone that will help.

Even with Vatrano, at least he was someone that could skate and wouldn't be afarid to throw the body around a little bit. You put Tarasenko or Kane there and they're not doing those things, on top of not being as sound defensively as you need.

RW is probably holding back the team in general. Kakko needs to be elevated and another worker type needs to be added to the group.

 

[DanielBrassard]

This is the second year in a row the Zibanejad line was going pretty good at even strength during the regular season and they tried to put him with a scoring RW who doesn't play defense. This year it was Tarasenko who is fine, I guess, but the line mostly sucked, and last year it was Frank Vatrano who does absolute f*** to the all outside of his 20 goals.

I got news for the Rangers: there's already a scoring winger on Zibanejad's line - it's Mika Zibanejad.

Despite Zibanejad's pedestrian analytics I do think he's an asset, but we lean on him way too much.

He's solid defensively but we give him usage that would make Patrice Bergeron call in sick. Instead of giving him checkers and letting him be the trigger off the cycle, we force him to babysit shoot-first wingers who don't compliment his game at all.

There's very few players in this game that are good at everything and work in every situation - McDavid and Matt Tkachuk come to mind. Other than that you have to look at things with nuance and find a fit. The Rangers are very bad at that the last few years.

With Kreider as the checker and Buchnevich as the playmaker, the line worked. They've been trying to replace Buchnevich on that line and it doesn't work because the Rangers keep bringing in players that are nothing like Buchnevich. They seem to think every player who scores points is the same player.

I would go in a different direction and stick with Kakko. He's right there.

This is spot on. Especially the part about how he needs to be the shooter off the cycle. If you want to get the most out of him that's his role in the offensive zone at 5v5.

 

[Filip Chytil]

Personally i like jack Daniels of Tennessee better.

Which is why Brunnette is the better choice. I will personally pick him up in a golf cart at the airport.

Jack Daniels should be coach considering this franchise's insanity has driven their fan base to stock up on JD whiskey.

 

[Baby Punisher]

For all this talk about Messier not being a good communicator, or motivate, I shall offer this. Back in January there was a Q&A at MSG with Messier where he went into the nuances of leadership and playing to win etc...he said before he came out for his segment he visited the locker room and spoke to the players. They responded by playing and winning what many considered the best game of tje season. That game was against the Calgary Flames.

I'm not saying that one locker room visit makes him qualified to coach the team, but his presence still has an impact. If the Rangers are going to hire another re-tread I would rather give Mess the shot.

 

[Crease]

From Drury’s perspective, Messier comes with risks, particularly his existing relationship with Sather. I can easily envision a scenario where Messier starts going around Drury and undercutting him.

 

[Machinehead]

From Drury’s perspective, Messier comes with risks, particularly his existing relationship with Sather. I can easily envision a scenario where Messier starts going around Drury and undercutting him.

I can also see a scenario where coach Messier tries to also be the GM.

This scenario is called "Messier existing."