Benoît Allaire gets promotion in wave of changes made in Rangers hockey operations

New York Rangers general manager Chris Drury has made a few noteworthy changes to the team’s hockey operations.

Resident goaltending guru Benoît Allaire has been promoted to Director of New York Rangers Goaltending. In this new role, Allaire will oversee the development of all goaltenders in the Rangers’ organization — in the NHL, AHL, and ECHL — in addition to remaining the goaltending coach in New York.

Allaire has been the Rangers’ goaltending coach since the 2004-05 season. Before joining the Blueshirts, he was the Coyoyes’ coach for seven years. He also was the goalie coach of the Montreal Canadiens for the 1996-97 season.

From the Rangers’ press release:

Benoit Allaire has been promoted to Director of New York Rangers Goaltending, and Jeff Malcolm has been promoted to Hartford Wolf Pack Goaltending Coach. In addition, Jean-Ian Filiatrault joins the Rangers’ player development department as Goaltending Consultant, and Matt Hunwick also joins the hockey operations’ player development department.

Working directly with Allaire are Jeff Malcolm and new goaltending consultant Jean-Ian Filiatrault. Malcolm has been a goaltending consultant for the Wolf Pack for the past three seasons, so this is a big promotion for him. During his playing career, Malcolm minded the net for the Hartford Wolf Pack in the AHL and the Greenville Swamp Rabbits in the ECHL after finishing his collegiate career at Yale.

Filiatrault was a goaltending development coach with the Colorado Avalanche in 2019-20 and has nine years of experience in the AHL as a goaltending coach.

Matt Hunwick played 535 games in the NHL, including 55 games with the Rangers in the 2014-15 season. He’s spent the past two seasons as a volunteer assistant coach for the University of Michigan’s men’s hockey team. Hunwick will be working with Director of Player Development Jed Ortmeyer and Assistant Directors of Player Development Tanner Glass and Tuomo Ruutu.