The New York Rangers made a few more changes to the hockey operations department as Chris Drury works to set up the organization under his leadership. Benoit Allaire has been promoted to director of New York Rangers goaltending, and Jeff Malcolm has been promoted to Hartford Wolf Pack goaltending coach. Jean-Ian Filiatrault is joining the organization as a goaltending consultant, while Matt Hunwick is also joining the player development department.
Allaire, 57, has been with the Rangers for the last 17 years and is from a royal family in goaltending instruction. He and his brother Francois Allaire have over 50 years of experience as NHL goalie coaches, both starting their careers several decades ago in the Montreal Canadiens system. In this new role, Benoit Allaire will be responsible for overseeing the development of all goaltenders across all levels of the organization, including the AHL and ECHL levels. That is in addition to continuing his role as goaltending coach for the Rangers.
Filiatrault and Malcolm will work as part of the goalie development staff, an idea several teams around the league have moved to over the last few years. No longer is a goalie coach just another member of the team’s coaching staff; there are now whole separate departments committed to goaltenders' development from the day they are drafted. The Rangers obviously have a pair of impressive young goalies in Alexandar Georgiev and Igor Shesterkin, but there will be more coming down the line that will need specific development strategies.
On the player development side comes Hunwick, who hasn’t played since the 2018-19 season when he suffered a debilitating neck injury and was forced into retirement. The veteran defenseman served as an assistant coach with the University of Michigan for the past two seasons, volunteering his time in order to continue to be involved in the game of hockey. This next move hints at a potential front office career for Hunwick in the future, as he gets his first opportunity under Jed Ortmeyer, Tanner Glass and Tuomo Ruutu, the Rangers' director and assistant directors of player development.
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