For the first time since 2004, Benoît Allaire won’t be serving as the Rangers’ goaltending coach. He’s transitioning away from day-to-day duties. Jeff Malcolm, previously the goaltending coach of their AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack, has been promoted to the NHL bench, per Arthur Staple of The Athletic.
The news ends Allaire’s 20-year run as the Rags’ goalie coach, during which he’s presided over one of the best runs of play between the pipes for any team in league history. Allaire’s arrival in New York coincided with Henrik Lundqvist’s as the league exited the 2004-05 lockout. He played a crucial role in developing one of the best netminders of all time, who started off his career with five Vezina Trophy nominations (one win) in 10 years. Lundqvist, who finished his time in the Big Apple with a 459-310-96 record and .918 SV% in 887 appearances, was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on his first try in 2023.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, King Henrik’s reign in the New York crease has been continued seamlessly by Igor Shesterkin, an established top-five netminder in the league. Allaire has coached the 28-year-old Russian to a .921 SV% through 213 appearances over the past five seasons, good enough for a Vezina win and a Hart nomination in 2021-22.
They’re big shoes for the 35-year-old Malcolm to fill. He’s familiar with the organization, spending three years with the Rangers as a goaltending consultant before being named the Wolf Pack’s goalie coach in 2021. Allaire also oversaw his brief playing career, suiting up in 36 games for Hartford between 2013 and 2017.
Thus far, Malcolm’s biggest impact has been felt in developing 2020 fourth-round pick Dylan Garand. The 22-year-old has struggled in his first two regular seasons with Hartford, but he’s warded off competition and taken over the starter’s crease in the playoffs in back-to-back years. The former Canadian Hockey League Goaltender of the Year has shined with a .927 SV% and 2.21 GAA in 17 AHL postseason appearances.
Staple adds that Brendan Burke will replace Malcolm in the AHL. Burke, the son of former NHL netminder and Golden Knights goaltending director Sean Burke spent last season as the goaltending coach of the Western Hockey League’s Portland Winterhawks.
Someday some enterprising journalist should do a deep dive into goalie coaches, and what (if any) impact they have on a team’s goalie situation. Any goof could stumble into a HOF goalie, but I feel like there are coaches out there who have worked to turn C- goalies into B+ goalies and we never hear about them.
Well NYR hasn’t had a bad goalie or goalie issue since Benoît Allaire was hired in 2004. Henrik called Allaire the coach you could ask for. Jonathan Quick this past year stated Allaire was the reason he had his best season
Lundqvist was taken in the 7th round and Shesterkin in the 4th. You think they accomplish what they have without a good goaltending coach?
They’ve also had solid back up goaltending from players that did not play well before coming to the Rangers (Biron, Halak, Quick) and they also traded away late round goalie picks that the Rangers developed (Talbot, Georgiev)
I get what you’re trying to say. However, Allaire is one goaltending coach that you probably wouldn’t question. Well, I would say both Allaire brothers. But yeah, I’m sure there are other goaltending coaches out there who haven’t had as much of an effect on their goalies as you would think.
I’m not saying Allaire is trash, but plenty of great goalies have been late-rounders (Billy Smith was a 5th-rounder, Khabibulin was a 9th-rounder, Nik Backstrom and Ed Belfour were both undrafted, etc.) And while “I like my goalie coach” is a great sentiment, it doesn’t speak to their intrinsic worth (are they valuable to a different netminder on a different team?) And I know goalies are weird, so maybe all it takes is a friend/confidant, but this is what I want to examine. So someone write a book and I will buy it.
Benoît Allaire will be in the Hockey HOF soon. Will be interesting to see if Rangers continue to have goaltending success each year or if something changes
Alliare scaled back his duties. He didn’t resign or retire. If Igor or Quick have setbacks you can be assured that Alliare will be on SPEED DIAL.