The New York Rangers face a crucial decision for next season and fans are completely divided

Mike Sullivan finished 30th overall with the New York Rangers last season, and somehow most of the fan base is still firmly behind him.

A Forever Blueshirts poll of Rangers fans found 44.7 percent confident in Sullivan heading into his second season, with another 18.3 percent saying they're very confident.

That's a real 63 percent approval rating for a coach who watched his team go 34-39-9 and finish last in the entire Eastern Conference.

Of the four options presented, 21.7 percent said they're not confident in Sullivan at all, and the remaining 15.3 percent landed somewhere in the unsure category.

Supporters kept coming back to his track record. Two Stanley Cups with Pittsburgh, plus a gold medal coaching Team USA at the Milan-Cortina Olympics just this past February.

Andrew Joseph pointed specifically to what Sullivan managed with a thin roster.

"He had them competing for wins with a team that lacked talent after Panarin was traded and guys were hurt," Joseph said. "I believe in him but not so sure I believe in our bottom six forwards."

Fans split blame between Sullivan and Drury

That concern tracks with the actual numbers. New York was shut out a league-high 10 times last season and ranked 23rd overall in scoring at 2.87 goals per game.

Peter Tholke offered a similar defense on Facebook.

"Last season wasn't his fault just as the one before it wasn't Laviolette's," he wrote. "We've all seen what Sullivan is capable of if he has a motivated and committed team in front of him."

Not everyone bought that argument though. Sullivan hasn't coached a team past the first round since 2018, and his last playoff appearance came in 2022, a seven-game loss to the Gerard Gallant-coached Rangers, ironically enough.

Some fans graded him even harsher. "How about F. Not good at all," Richard Behlmer Jr. wrote.

One detailed critique from Farrelly's Reilly landed between a C and D grade.

"He's a good defensive coach and showed that last season, but his inability to get more from this group last season is a huge red flag," Reilly wrote, adding concerns about how Sullivan develops younger players.

New York did tighten up defensively year over year, allowing 3.04 goals per game compared to 3.11 the season before under Laviolette, though plenty of fans remain skeptical of assistant coach David Quinn's return specifically to run that unit.

A lot of the frustration in this poll wasn't really about Sullivan at all. Plenty of fans used it to take direct aim at GM Chris Drury instead.

After two straight missed playoffs, three coaching changes during Drury's five year tenure, and one Stanley Cup in 86 years of franchise history, this fan base has plenty of accumulated fatigue to work through regardless of who's actually behind the bench.