Gerard Gallant is named head coach of the Kontinental Hockey League’s Shanghai Dragons, a bold move for a club relocating from Beijing’s Kunlun Red Star and set to base in St. Petersburg until its Shanghai home is ready. Gallant’s NHL pedigree is marquee: back-to-back 100-point seasons with the New York Rangers, a 369-262-70 coaching record, and a Jack Adams Award in 2017-18 with Vegas Golden Knights. At 61, the Summerside, Prince Edward Island native brings a proven, pressure-tested blueprint to a franchise rebuilding in a new league and city. The Dragons’ lineage ties to Olympic-era Chinese hockey and a fresh branding, signaling a high-stakes, high-expectation era as the coach mounts his first major post-NHL assignment.

The move casts Gallant into a different hockey ecosystem while leveraging a resume built on rapid team-wide adaptation, player development, and offensive tempo. His career spans coaching stints with Columbus, Florida, Vegas and New York, punctuated by sharp-dialed systems and a knack for maximizing scoring around his top talent. The news, published August 13, 2025, places a high-profile NHL veteran behind Shanghai’s bench as the club transitions from Kunlun Red Star into a South Russian–Shanghai hybrid footprint, aiming to accelerate on-ice success while the team nests into a new home environment.