from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

So we know the template that Gerard Gallant will establish when he steps behind the bench next year as the head coach of a Rangers team whose lone identity last year was being young.

“I want us to be the hardest working team in the league. I want us to compete hard, to battle hard, to make teams say, ‘You know what, that team works hard and competes for 60 minutes,’” Gallant said Tuesday morning during his introductory press briefing. “We can do a lot of good things. We can be skilled, we can be talented, but if the work doesn’t come first, all the skill and talent doesn’t get you too far down the road.

“You start at 7 o’clock, you start at 7 o’clock. You’ve got 82 games to play, you get ready for every one. I want to make sure we work hard every night and compete every night.”

There is skill and there is talent, some of it exceptional. Tampa Bay long had exceptional skill and talent but did not win anything until the Lightning became a much harder team to play against. They did that by acquiring players with size, stiffness and sandpaper.

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