Gallant excited to get back behind the bench in the KHL

Gerard Gallant is looking forward to a new experience coaching in Russia in the Kontinental Hockey League next season.

The 61-year-old veteran coach last appeared behind the bench with the New York Rangers during the 2022-23 campaign and was eager to get back to work.

Gallant was in the running for the few NHL head coaching jobs after last season but after none of them panned out, the KHL's Shanghai Dragons came calling and he felt it was a great opportunity to get back to coaching.

"The last NHL job that was available was the Dallas Stars and I was hoping to get an opportunity for that, but it didn't work out," Gallant told TSN 1050's First Up on Thursday. "The NHL jobs were full and the KHL gave me a call [a month ago] and I told them to let me think about it for a couple of days. I thought about it with my family, and I felt I had to get back to coaching. I've been out of coaching for two years, I'm 61-years-old and I got to get back at it and be a coach again."

The team recently went through a rebrand, going from the Kunlun Red Star based out of Beijing, China to becoming the Shanghai Dragons. The organization has not operated out of China since before the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and won't be playing there during the 2025-26 campaign.

The Dragons will be based out of SKA Arena in St. Petersburg, Russia next season and Gallant along with his long-time assistant coach Mike Kelly are looking forward to adding KHL experience as part of the resumes.

"I've been spoiled the last 30 years because most of the time I've been in the NHL and this is a different beast all together," said Gallant. [The job] will require a little bit of everything like recruiting players, putting a team on the ice, and getting ready for training camp. I got into this pretty late, so a lot of the free agents are gone but a coach from North America and the NHL can recruit some good players that he's had before. It's all new to me in the KHL, but I'm looking forward to it."

Gallant has had a successful coaching career in the NHL, putting up a 269-262-70 record with four ties in 705 games split between the Columbus Blue Jackets, Florida Panthers, Vegas Golden Knights, and Rangers. He was named the Jack Adams Award winner in 2018 after helping the expansion Golden Knights make the playoffs and went on to make a Stanley Cup appearance in their inaugural season.

Despite still having an interest in coaching in the NHL, Gallant says he's joining the Dragons with the intent to honour his two-year deal with the team. The Summerside, P.E.I., native says that he has no intention to leaving the club mid-season if an NHL job becomes available, but says he has an out-clause after the first year where he can evaluate his options.

"I've been out for two seasons and nothing has happened yet. Am I a little pissed off? Yes, but that's the way it goes, you wait for your turn and your opportunities," said Gallant. "I took this job with the mindset that I'm going to Russia and St. Petersburgh and I'm going to coach there. After the first year there's an out-clause and I'll look at something if something comes up. Otherwise, I'm going over there with the focus on the St. Petersburgh team and get the Shanghai Dragons in the playoffs."

Gallant has also worked as part of Hockey Canada's coaching staff in various tournaments. He served as head coach of Team Canada's 2021 gold-medal winning team at the World Championship and was an assistant coach at the 2007 and 2017 World Championships, as well as the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

Gallant most recently served as head coach of Canada at the 2024 Spengler Cup, where the team lost to the Germany-based Straubing Tigers in the semifinals.

Through his international experience with Hockey Canada, Gallant says he has had a great experience working in Russia before and everyone he has spoken to has given high praise for St. Petersburg and the arena his team will play in.

"I've been to Moscow a couple of times and had success over there, so I'm looking forward to it." said Gallant. "Everyone I talked to, like North American players who has played in St. Petersburgh said it's a great city and there should be no issues. they're all telling me that it's really nice and I'll enjoy it. The arena is beautiful from what they tell me, and we have a practice rink in the same building so it should be real good."

While Gallant expects there will be some adjustments on the ice going from the NHL to the KHL, he isn't expecting to change his systems. He says he plans on relying on his experiences from coaching in the NHL and Team Canada and expects that he will be successful the same way he was in North America.

"I'm going to go over there with some systems and put them in place," said Gallant. "We have a lot of North American players on our team. so we'll play that style of hockey and hopefully it works well. Everyone I've spoken to said to put my own systems that I use and they'll be fine over there. I'm sure there will be a few adjustments, but I think I've had some success in the NHL and with Team Canada in different situations. So, I'm going to coach the same way I coached my NHL teams."