Alain Vigneault
Alain Vigneault ( born May 14, 1961 in Quebec City, Quebec ) is a retired Canadian ice hockey player (defender) who played from 1981 to 1983 for the St. Louis Blues in the National Hockey League. Since July 2013 he has been head coach of the New York Rangers.
Career
As a junior Vigneault played in the QMJHL Hull Olympiques and for the Trois- Rivières Draveurs. The St. Louis Blues selected him in the NHL Entry Draft in 1981 in the eighth round at 167th position. In the following two seasons, he was mostly for their farm team, the Salt Lake Golden Eagles, active in the Central Hockey League, but also came up with 42 appearances in the NHL. There was a season in which he played for the Montana Magic in the CHL and Maine Mariners in the American Hockey League before the Canadians ended his active career.
Two years later he returned as head coach to his former junior team, the Trois- Rivières Draveurs back. After a year he inherited Pat Burns as a coach of his other former junior team, the Hull Olympiques. There Vigneault remained for five years, before joining the 1992/93 season in the role of assistant coach for the Ottawa Senators. During his fourth season with the Senators, he returned to the QMJHL and coached the Beauport Harfangs.
For the season 1997/98 he committed the Montreal Canadiens, where he was the youngest head coach in club history. Although they separated for financial reasons by numerous players, Vigneault was doing very successful work and was nominated in 2000 for the Jack Adams Award.
After his release in 2001 in Montreal, he took over in 2003 with the Prince Edward Iceland Rocket again a team in the QMJHL and moved in 2005 to the Manitoba Moose in the AHL. In the season 2006/ 07 he was hired as head coach of the Vancouver Canucks and was nominated in 2007 for the Jack Adams Award, which he won this time. After the Vancouver Canucks in the NHL playoffs were subject to the 2012/13 season in the first round with a sweep of the San Jose Sharks, Vigneault was dismissed. Mid- June 2013, he assumed the position of head coach with the New York Rangers, which had previously separated from the American John Tortorella.