Alain Vigneault
Alain Vigneault
Alain Vigneaultis a Canadian professional ice hockey head coach with the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League. Vigneault has previously coached the Montreal Canadiens and the Vancouver Canucks in the NHL, as well as in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. During his career with the Canucks, he won the Jack Adams Award as the NHL's top coach of the year in 2006–07 and has become the team's record holder for wins as a coach. Under Vigneault, Vancouver...
ProfessionCoach
Date of Birth14 May 1961
CityQuebec City, Canada
bigger challenge coming hardest league physical score supposed teams
We're going to see probably one of the hardest (working), most physical teams in the league coming in. They don't score a lot of goals, but they play hard. A lot of times, they don't even want to play the puck, they just want to play the man. It's Calgary, in-your-face, finish-checks hockey. It's going to be a big challenge for us and the bigger the challenge, the bigger we're supposed to respond.
best depends game groin improved night seen ways
We're going to take that on a day-to-day basis, it depends on how the groin reacts. He's improved every day that I've seen him. (Tuesday) night was his best game so far. Obviously, he's got a ways to go but that's only going to come with time.
careful combined games last looking played playing playoffs plus rest time year
We're looking at getting him 50 games, plus the playoffs. He didn't even play 50 last year combined with the playoffs (Flaherty played 48 total), that's why I've been careful with his playing time and rest time.
along both ends games pays plays solid strongest year
This was one of his strongest games all year long, at both ends of the rink. He made some really solid plays in our end, along the boards. And when you do that, a lot of times it pays off at the other end.
hockey ice play
You can't control the opposition, but you can control how you play, your energy level, your intensity on the ice. That's what we're going to do.
hockey guy half
Guys, I don't want to tell you half-truths, unless they're completely accurate.
player nhl cities
I played with Joey Mullen back in Salt Lake City before he got called up to St. Louis. He was the first player ever to score 20 goals in the American League and 20 in the NHL. I've kept in contact with him and he's a great guy.
attitude real hockey
We brought him [Raffi Torres] in because he was an emotional, physical player. He's had nothing but a great attitude and a great work ethic with us all year long. He comes to play, prepares himself real well. We need him to play the way he does. You know, he's a little bit sometimes outside the box, but you've got to let him be who he is.
hockey nhl luck
We're trying to work on Sami to get through that and shoot the puck. MacInnis shot the puck all the time. If there was a fool who wanted to stand in front and break an ankle, tough luck.
left signed totally
We left it totally up to the players. In Bolduc's case, he had just signed with us, so there wasn't really much sense for him (to go).
certain checks decisions finishing gritty played skill took
We played where we wanted to play and took a lot of their skill away by making the right decisions and finishing checks and being gritty in certain areas.
improvement played situation urgency
We played with the urgency and desperation that the situation demanded. We scored two and that was an improvement for us.
break far guys happy might timing
We might be a little off as far as our timing goes. But our guys are going to be fine. This was a well-deserved break for them, they should be re-energized and happy to get back to work.