On Day 9 of president and general manager Chris Drury’s hunt for a new head coach of the Rangers, Mike Sullivan’s departure from the Penguins changed everything. The “eyes wide open” coaching search that Drury said he wouldn’t have any “preset dispositions” on suddenly turned into immediately targeting and aggressively pursuing one specific coach.

With the New York Rangers announcing Mike Sullivan as their next head coach, here are three things to know about the new bench boss.

One more intriguing candidate is currently taking on Lehigh Valley in the second round of the American Hockey League’s Calder Cup playoffs. Todd Nelson is the head coach of the Hershey Bears, who have a 1-0 lead on Ian Laperrière and the Phantoms (Game 2 is Friday at 7 p.m., FloHockey, SENetworkTV).