Gerard Gallant steers Golden Knights back into playoffs

The Golden Knights’ inaugural season was a dream ride for coach Gerard Gallant. Every move, large or small, seemed to translate into success until it finally ended in Game 5 of the 2018 Stanley Cup Final.

Potholes appeared immediately in the team’s second season. A contract dispute. A suspension. Injuries.

Through it all the weathered 55-year-old coach from the small Canadian maritime province of Prince Edward Island never wavered. He stuck by his players and again found a way to steer his team into the playoffs.

“He’s our rock,” defenseman Jon Merrill said. “He’s the captain of the ship, so he has to make sure he’s under control and composed.”

Gallant started the preseason with one defenseman, Shea Theodore, not at training camp while waiting for a new contract and another, Nate Schmidt, absent because of a 20-game suspension.

Then free-agent signee Paul Stastny was injured three games into the season and missed two months. Forward Erik Haula injured his knee in November and didn’t play again. Offseason trade acquisition Max Pacioretty missed 18 games.

Still, the Knights’ playoff chances were almost never in doubt, because Gallant didn’t flinch and more often than not put a winning lineup together.

“I’m happy,” Gallant said. “Our goal was to make the playoffs. We made the playoffs. Would I like to finish first overall? One-hundred percent. But it’s an 82-game battle.”

Through all the season’s turbulence, the Knights rarely noticed a change in their coach. He kept his dry sense of humor, brought energy to his high-tempo practices and focused on process rather than results.

A win wasn’t always celebrated. A loss wasn’t always decried. And a few bad results weren’t necessarily cause for concern or massive line changes.

“When we’re winning, he does a good job of keeping us grounded,” Stastny said. “He doesn’t want guys to get too comfortable, because he knows how hard it is to win in this league. When we’re losing, he holds us accountable if we’re not playing the right way, but if it’s just not going our way, he understands that.

“And he just keeps pushing us and motivating us to keep playing that same way, and eventually it’s going to come.”

That consistency goes a long way with players, who know what they’re getting from their coach every day. Gallant mixes things up when necessary — like when he called team meetings on Nov. 2 and Feb. 12 to address concerns — but otherwise he trusts his players to do their jobs.

“He doesn’t really change much,” forward Alex Tuch said. “If he gets mad at you, it’s fine two seconds later. If he’s happy with you, he forgets that he’s happy with you two seconds later. It’s easy. He’s a players’ coach.”

That style has taken Gallant’s teams to the playoffs three of the past four seasons, including 2015-16 with the Florida Panthers, and earned him the Jack Adams Award as the league’s best coach last year. He isn’t the favorite to win this June — the honor is likely to go to the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Jon Cooper or the New York Islanders’ Barry Trotz — but the way he handled the Knights’ second season should catch voters’ attention.

Just don’t expect Gallant to campaign for himself.

“There’s too many good coaches out there,” Gallant said. “I don’t get a vote, and I don’t need one.”

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Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.