Tuesdays suck.
This one sucked extra for the New York Rangers. They were embarrassed by the division rival Carolina Hurricanes and booed off of their home ice. Svechnikov got them started almost immediately, finding the back of the net 56 seconds in. The Rangers controlled a majority of the play the following 38 minutes but failed to actually score, and Svechnikov scored again with 31 seconds remaining in the second period. Two quick goals at the beginning of the final frame made it 4-0 in favor of the Canes. The Rangers limped to the final buzzer, looking as lifeless as they have since the end of 2024.
The turn of the new year had seemingly sparked a surge for the Rangers just when all hope had seemed lost. Throughout January they rattled off some massively important victories against teams in the thick of the wild card dog fight of the Eastern Conference, shutting out the Blue Jackets and Senators, and throttling the Flyers 6-1.
Everything changed when the Colorado Avalanche traded Mikko Rantanen to Carolina. A shift occurred in the fabric of the universe that sent ripples through space and time, ultimately leading to the complete unraveling of the New York Rangers tonight following a devastating loss in the dying seconds of regulation at the hands of the Avalanche Sunday afternoon.
The result of the efforts from the Eastern Conference bubble teams in the month of January is a total cluster fuck log jam of teams vying for two wild card spots. The Rangers now find themselves near the bottom of the group of 8 teams with realistic playoff hopes that aren’t sitting in the top 3 of their respective division. With the two week break for the Four Nations tournament less than 10 days away, this begs the question:
What the Fuck do The Rangers do Now?
A preface to the pure speculation that follows, Jonny Lazarus said in a post to X today that Vancouver Canucks scouts were in attendance for tonight’s contest against Carolina.
Also worth noting is the extension signed by Will Borgen, acquired in the trade for Kaapo Kakko from Seattle, he will be under contract for the next 5 years at $4.1m AAV. I suppose we will see how that one ages.
With that said, It’s clear there’s still massive flaws in the Rangers lineup, none more obvious than the drastically decaying production of Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider. Zibanejad had his 11th breakaway chance of the season tonight, with which he failed to convert for the 10th time. Yes, he has just one goal on 11 breakaways this year. Kreider had an absolutely wide open net from 12 inches off the goal line and somehow found a way to not convert it into a goal for. There’s a critical issue with these two players in that they’re basically impossible to move at this point, which means the best case scenario is they are playing bottom six minutes and maybe killing penalties while making a combined $15m against the cap.
With Canucks scouts in attendance tonight, speculation about JT Miller to the Rangers is likely to heat back up, following comments by their GM today about the damaged relationship between Miller and Elias Pettersson. The question then becomes, given the state of the Rangers roster and the declining veterans on long term deals becoming anchors, is 31 year old JT miller a solution? Can the Rangers afford to absorb another 31 year old player making $8m against the cap until 2030?
The easy answer for Chris Drury is, if you think it wins you a cup, you do it. Can anyone say with a straight face that JT Miller does that for the Rangers today? The reality is doing so would cost the Rangers Filip Chytil, who has been, at the very least, consistent in what he generates offensively this season. While the numbers don’t jump off the page in regard to his stat line, he still has room to grow. JT Miller most likely has played his best hockey. A trade involving the two at this point just doesn’t seem beneficial to the Rangers in the long term.
As well as they played for the bulk of January, it wasn’t enough to put them anywhere close to being comfortable about their playoff hopes, and now they need to play themselves out of the hole they created in the last two games in which they accumulated zero points in the standings. Once they do that, they need to continue to accumulate points at a league-best rate leading up to the trade deadline, at which point it would make sense to consider leveraging some futures for additions to this roster in hopes of turning a roller coaster of a season into a deep playoff run. Until they earn the right to improve the roster for this season, any and all changes should be done within house.
Speaking of within house, Zac Jones hasn’t played a professional hockey game in 2025. Urho Vaakanainen has been just okay since coming over from Anaheim in the Trouba trade, and after two regulation losses, no one would raise any eyebrows if he sat and Jones got some run. If not Jones, Victor Mancini has been playing well in Hartford, and has experience on the Rangers blue line this season.
Will Cuylle has become a black hole playing with Zibanejad, but seemed to play well with Brett Berard, who has been in Hartford for over a month after an impressive stint with the big club. That would certainly be something worth revisiting, and perhaps adding waiver claim Arthur Kaliyev to the equation could yield a spark.
The fourth line of Adam Edstrom, Sam Carrick, and Matt Rempe has been the only true consistent source of offense, which is never a good sign, but they should be rewarded with more ice time, particularly over the likes of Zibanejad and Kreider.
Let’s say we lived in a world where Laviolette held veterans accountable, here’s what Saturday’s lines could look like if Kreider and Zibanejad were scratched in Boston.
Forwards
Panarin – Trocheck – Lafreniere
Cuylle – Chytil – Smith
Edstrom – Carrick – Rempe
Berard – Brodzinski – Kaliyev
Defense
Lindgren – Fox
Miller – Borgen
Jones – Schneider
Perhaps a reset for Shesterkin is in order after giving up 9 goals in his last two starts, and Jonathan Quick could get another shot at his 400th win.
For better or worse, they’ll be back at it Saturday and Sunday, facing off against Vegas at home once they return from Boston. We all know the lineup most likely will remain largely the same, but as fans I think we all agree it would be nice to get a look at some of our scratches and farm players over certain long haired and grey bearded veterans.
The Morning Skate 