In introducing Mike Sullivan as the 38th head coach in franchise history Thursday, Rangers president and general manager Chris Drury acknowledged in his opening remarks his immediate pursuit of the veteran coach when he became available.
The well-documented relationship between the two former NHL forwards presumably prompted Drury to do so.
Their familiarity with one another originated approximately 28 years ago when they were competing for Team USA at the 1997 World Championships in Finland.
“I was reminiscing with Mike about it. I remember — I think I was a junior at BU — sitting in the second or third seat on the bus and scared out of my mind, we’re in Finland or something,” Drury recalled. “Am I good enough to be here? Should I be here? I’m in college. On comes Mike Sullivan and he sits down next to me and spends the hour bus ride to the rink with me, talking with me about my life at BU and what my goals are. To me, that’s a little bit of a sense of what I thought of him for a long time. And certainly getting to play for him here as an assistant coach and then working with him at international events the last couple years.
“It’s already a great relationship, but I think it’s only going to get better each and every day.”
Asked if he expects this partnership to be better than it has been in years past just because of the nature of their relationship, Drury said he does.
But he also noted that he wouldn’t describe his relationships with the past coaches he’s hired as poor.
In addition to serving as teammates with Team USA, Drury played under Sullivan during his last two seasons as a player in 2009-10 and 2010-11.
Sullivan was an assistant coach at the time and continued in that role for two more seasons after Drury retired.
The two worked together with Team USA at the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament in February, when Sullivan was head coach and Drury was assistant general manager.
They also share a Boston University heritage.
“The opportunity to work with Dru, Chris and I have got to know one another over the last few years through a number of different endeavors,” Sullivan said in his opening statement. “In particular, the international events, whether it be the Olympic team build-up before that got canceled and then most recently the 4 Nations experience that we had the privilege to work together. Chris and I got to know one another through that process.
“I’m really excited about the opportunity to build a partnership with Chris. Really excited about potentially what we could build here moving forward that we can all be proud of.”
The jury is still out on whether the Rangers will name another captain next season after Jacob Trouba was traded to Anaheim on Dec. 6.
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“I think that’s a discussion that I’ll have with Chris here moving forward. We haven’t got that far, quite honestly,” Sullivan said when asked if he’d prefer to have one. “We’ll work through those challenges here over the next little while.”
In speaking with several members of the team already, however, Sullivan believes there are many leaders within the Rangers locker room.
“Whether you wear a letter or you don’t wear a letter, leadership manifests itself in so many different ways,” he said. “I think there’s a lot of character in that room, just based on the initial conversations that I’ve had with these guys. Chris and I will work through some of those challenges.”
