Breaking: Alain Vigneault back in the saddle as head coach!

We have been patiently waiting to see if any NHL team looking for a new head coach would take the opportunity to sign Alain Vigneault as their new bench leader, and while we still have to wait for this, there is still very good news for the former league bench boss. 

Vigneault was dismissed by the New York Rangers last April, after his team failed to clinch a playoff spot and announced it would start a rebuilding phase in the Big Apple. The Rangers are still paying him $4.1 million as he has one more year left to his contract, however, Vigneault has found work. 

TSN's Darren Dreger has just announced that Vigneault will be named head coach of Team Canada at the upcoming World Hockey Championships in Slovakia. He will join the trio of Jason Botteril, Ron Hextall and Ron Francis, who were named to Canada's management team for the tournament, which takes place May 10-26. 

His assistant coaches will be named at a later date. 

Vigneault took the Rangers to the Stanley Cup Final in his first season in 2014, where they lost in five games to the Los Angeles Kings. He then guided the Rangers to the Presidents' Trophy in 2015 before falling to the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference final. 

He finished his time with the Rangers at 226-147-37. Overall, he is 648-435-35-98 over parts of 16 seasons that includes stops with the Vancouver Canucks — where he won the Presidents' Trophy twice and went to the 2011 Stanley Cup Final — and Montreal Canadiens.

This could mean the doors to an opportunity to return to the NHL are now wide open!