The New York Rangers on Tuesday announced that Ken Gernander has been relieved of his duties as head coach of the Hartford Wolf Pack.
In addition, Rangers senior vice president and assistant general manager Jim Schoenfeld has relinquished his duties as GM of the Wolf Pack and will focus solely on his duties in New York. Rangers assistant GM Chris Drury will assume the role of general manager of the Wolf Pack.
Gernander, 47, has been a member of the Rangers organization since signing as a free agent in 1994. He played 11 seasons with New York’s AHL affiliates in Binghamton and Hartford, captaining the Wolf Pack to a Calder Cup championship in 2000, and then spent 12 seasons behind the Hartford bench as assistant coach (2005-07) and head coach (2007-17).
Among the players coached by Gernander in Hartford are Ryan McDonagh, Mats Zuccarello, J.T. Miller, Chris Kreider, Dan Girardi, Marc Staal, Jesper Fast, Cam Talbot, Ryan Callahan, Carl Hagelin, Brandon Dubinsky, Jonathan Marchessault, P.A. Parenteau, Artem Anisimov, Dale Weise, Lauri Korpikoski and Al Montoya.
A 2013 inductee into the American Hockey League Hall of Fame, Gernander ranks sixth all-time in coaching victories with 388 and eighth in games coached (776). He is also one of the highest-scoring American-born players in league history with 624 career points, and his 973 games played rank ninth all-time. Gernander was also a two-time recipient of the AHL’s Fred T. Hunt Award for sportsmanship, determination and dedication to hockey.
Drury completed his first season as assistant general manager of the Rangers in 2016-17 after being promoted to the post on September 2, 2016. He served as the team’s director of player development for one season after rejoining the Rangers organization on September 4, 2015.
