The entire coaching staff of the New York Rangers will be unavailable for the team's game against the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday as a result of them all being placed in COVID protocol. As a result, members of AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack, will populate the bench.
Those placed on the COVID list include head coach David Quinn, assistants Jacques Martin, David Oliver and Greg Brown. Hartford head coach Kris Knoblauch will be the Rangers' stand-in head coach, Hartford assistant Gord Murphy will serve as an assistant, as will associated general manager to the Rangers, Chris Drury. Below is a statement that the Rangers released, and notably turned off replies for.
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) March 17, 2021
This is not the first time such a situation has happened among an entire coaching staff in the NHL. Back in January, the Vegas Golden Knights' entire coaching staff had to be isolated after an unspecified member tested positive for the respiratory disease. Just like in the Rangers' situation, one of the members of the stand-in coaching staff was someone from the front office, with general Kelly McCrimmon stepping up as an assistant for the Knights at the time.
Knoblauch does not have any NHL head coaching experience, having mostly coached in the minor leagues for his career. Murphy and Drury are also making their respective NHL coaching debuts, though they've both played actual NHL minutes as players.
