2021 Stanley Cup playoffs skating thread

I really want to like Lindy Ruff. I liked him as a player. I remember him getting slashed by Billy Smith when I was a kid and then trying to rip Smith's head off, except Smith had all the goalie gear on protecting him.

Buffalo was always pretty good with him as the coach. So when the Rangers brought him on as an assistant coach in Alain Vigneault's last year, I thought it was great. He was supposed to run the defense and penalty kill, which were both turning into major weaknesses. Except things only got worse under him. I get that the players need to do their part, but they frequently looked lost out there. Then, when Vigneault got canned they got rid of the whole staff. ... but kept Ruff on as an assistant under David Quinn, I guess because of his NHL head coaching experience cause Quinn had none. . ... And defensively they got even worse -- again, their roster sucked, but the breakdowns defensively were ridiculously amateurish sometimes.

So when NJ hired him, I totally didn't get it, either.

As for Gallant. ... the Rangers have a lot of talent. Enough to score a scary number of goals. They need to round out the roster with the right role players now. It will be interesting to see what moves Drury makes. I am not saying that lightly, getting that part right is what separates talented teams. One thing I do like about Gallant is that the Rangers are a soft team, and Gallant had a nasty streak as a player. Hopefully that part of his personality translates to the team. I don't expect him to turn a bunch of highly-skilled 20 year olds into a goon squad, but they were way too easily pushed around last season, and other teams (i.e. Boston, Washington and the Isles) knew it and took way too many liberties. If he gets them to push back better, I'll be happy. I don't think he's known as a great Xs and Os coach, but players love playing for him and he gets them to play hard.