Everyone is well aware that hindsight is 20/20. It should also be common knowledge that being a general manager, coach, or player for an NHL franchise is an incredibly difficult, high pressure job. These are extraordinary people on all 32 teams’ payroll that are given extraordinary tasks, and are given extraordinary compensation as a result. That being said, some people fill these roles better than others, and in a results based business, lack of success typically leads to lack of having a job.
The New York Rangers of last season were a very special team. What stands out about them when they were at their best was their damn near automatic power play unit, which ranked among the league’s best for the entire regular season and the first two playoff rounds. In last year’s playoff, the Rangers won their first seven games they played, four of them coming in a sweep of the bottom seeded Washington Capitals (how times can change…,) in a series that made the Rangers appear to be on a different level than most teams, a true contender.
The second round saw them win three more in a row against their bitter rival Carolina Hurricanes, contenders in their own right, and despite handling them in six games, cracks began to appear in the armor of the Rangers at this point. Cracks that would make them vulnerable to the eventual cup winning Florida Panthers, who awaited them in the Eastern Conference Final. Carolina is a team that is methodically, borderline militaristically coached. They play a system where details are emphasized relentlessly, and relentless effort is rewarded with playing time. The high flying Rangers were able to keep their offense at bay, but it was a draining task to get inside the dots in Carolina’s end of the ice, and had the Hurricanes gotten a save from their goaltending just one or two more times than they did, the series could have easily swung the other way despite the 3-0 score, and this style of game was taking it’s toll on Peter Laviolette’s Rangers. They looked tired.
What Florida had in store for them proved to be too much for them last Summer. Their similar playing style of grinding you out behind your own goal line and making life hell in your own endzone combined with the skill and clutch ability of players like Matthew Tkachuk, Carter Verhaeghe, and Sam Reinhart, just to name a few, wore the Rangers down to the bone. Just how empty the tank was for them was evident in the fact that they lead the series 2-1 at one point, and lost several one goal games leading to an eventual season ending loss in game 6.
The Rangers’ second appearance in the Eastern Conference Final in just three years was a great reason to feel optimistic about them going into this season. What actually happened in the process was that the league was provided with a blueprint on how to defeat the New York Rangers. It became obvious that, without adjustment from their end, they would be very vulnerable to simply being outworked.
What was done to address this obvious weakness? Decapitation of the leadership.
The first shoe to drop was veteran depth forward Barclay Goodrow, a two time cup champion with Tampa in his own right, making $3.6m against the cap until 2027. Goodrow was waived in June with a deal in place for the San Jose Sharks to claim him in order to circumvent his 15 team no trade list. Make no mistake, while this hasn’t been talked about much throughout this tumultuous season, it did not sit well with the players in the room. You can look at this as one of many turning points since the end of last season where tension between the players, coaches, and management grew stronger.
A month later, rumors surfaced regarding captain Jacob Trouba and a deal that was basically on the goal line that would send him to the Detroit Red Wings. The alleged proposal was nixed by Trouba as a result of his no move clause in his contract, which carried an $8m AAV, and many fans viewed as an anchor due to his lack of offensive production, and increasing amount of defensive blunders in big moments. This was a messy situation that never should have became public, and it doesn’t matter who is at fault for it becoming public, it had to be handled better by all parties involved regardless.
The Rangers were hogging the headlines like this all before training camp even started. What is supposed to be a time of year for players to recalibrate for the upcoming campaign was mired by drama and upheaval in the room. Whether or not this should affect a room of pro athletes making millions of dollars to play a game is neither here nor there, because it clearly did.
Despite the cloud hanging over the captain’s head, the Rangers actually started the season on a massive heater. In the midst of a Pacific Northwest road trip in November, their record stood at 12-4-1, one of the best starts to a regular season in franchise history. There were some massive stains among the losses, including a 3-1 loss to Florida that looked like a continuation of game 6 of the ECF, a 6-1 drubbing at the hands of the Buffalo Sabres on Garden ice, and a 6-3 loss at home to the red hot Winnipeg Jets stand out as particularly tough, but far more often than not, the Rangers were getting the job done in the early stages of the campaign.
Things took a turn on the aforementioned road trip, despite starting it out with back to back wins in Seattle and Vancouver, respectively. A 3-2 loss in Calgary was followed by a 6-2 dismantling at the hands of the reigning Western Conference Champion Edmonton Oilers, and what followed absolutely turned what was shaping up to be a promising season on it’s head.
General Manager Chris Drury issued a memo to the 31 other teams in the league that he was not only open for business in regard to Trouba once again, but also longest tenured Ranger, Chris Kreider, who was the hero of round 2 against Carolina just six months prior. Once again you can debate all you want whether noise around the team should have a massive impact on the level of effort and performance they bring to work, it just doesn’t matter if it should, the reality is that it did.
The team monumentally collapsed in the Month of December, to the point of becoming unrecognizable from the team that won the President’s Trophy just last season. Trouba ultimately was dealt to the Anaheim Ducks on December 8th, and former 2nd overall pick Kaapo Kakko was dealt to Seattle just ten days later. The Rangers went 3-10-0 in the month of December, essentially taking them from the top to the near bottom of their division, and as a result, their playoff hopes were already running very thin.
The New Year brought hope, in that the Rangers actually were gutting out close games after appearing to have given up just a week or two ago, and had one of the best points percentages in the league in the month of January. Just like that, they had dragged themselves back within reach of relevancy, and another shot at a playoff run. With the break for the Four Nations tournament around the corner and two big home games left in January, against Colorado and Carolina, respectively, the Rangers were faced with an opportunity to make a statement about who they were. They fell short to the high flying Avalanche on a heart breaking late goal in regulation, fetching no points in the standings in a game that seemed destined for overtime, and then they fell flat on their face to the Hurricanes, who seemed to have improved upon Florida’s formula for bullying the Rangers around the ice for 60 minutes. They lost 4-0.
Rumors began swirling once again, and a deal that had allegedly been in place with Vancouver earlier in the season had once again reared it’s head. This time, it reached the finish line. Drury got his coveted target in JT Miller, sending young, skilled, but injury prone, center Filip Chytil the other way. Perhaps Miller’s intense personality would be the spark this team was missing all along? They would limp into the break going 3-2 over their last 5, but Miller made an impact on the scoresheet immediately, and was bring the struggling Mika Zibanejad with him for the ride.
We all loved the Four Nations Cup, but we will learn a lot this summer about the impact that tournament had on the players who had to immediately resume a 82 game regular season after intense best on best play. Adam Fox had seemed to be laboring something all year, as had Chris Kreider, JT Miller laid his body on the line in big minutes for Team USA, and it was all but confirmed that Vincent Trocheck had broken a finger during the tournament.
The Rangers got back to the office after the break and once again got embarrassed by the lowly Sabres, this time by a score of 8-2. If it hadn’t happened already back in December, maybe this was the first sign that this season was just hopeless. The Rangers stumbled through the rest of February and into March, with two wins coming against the struggling Penguins and Islanders. Ryan Lindgren and Jimmy Vesey were dealt to Colorado for Calvin de Haan and Juuso Parssinen while Adam Fox was out on injured reserve, meaning when he came back, his friend and (albeit struggling) defense partner would be long gone. The Rangers rattled off back to back shutouts against Nashville and the Islanders, who’s struggles make them feel almost meaningless, especially considering what followed. A three game stretch that included the league best Capitals, and two fellow potential wild card teams in Ottawa and Columbus. After a great effort against the Caps that just fell short in overtime, they fell to the Sens in OT after leading the game twice, and then got dismantled on home ice by the Jackets, knowing just how tight the standings had become. It was becoming a habit for the rangers to blow it in “the biggest game of the season.”
They beat Minnesota in overtime, which, did that game even happen? It feels like a fever dream at this point, which is a shame considering Braden Schneider has been one of the consistent players on the team all year and was rewarded with a beautiful game winning goal. They followed that up with a huge answer in Columbus, winning 4-0 on the road and swinging the pendulum back in their favor in the wild card battle.
Regulation loss to Edmonton. Regulation loss to Calgary. Regulation loss to Toronto. Three home games. Zero points in the standings. 12 games left to catch Montreal who is two points ahead with two games in hand, and they are on a 6-1-3 run picking up as many points as they can gut out.
So here we are, looking down the barrel of a totally wasted season. The Rangers, who have shown no level of capability of hanging with top teams, have a remaining schedule that includes the following:
A West coast road trip, four divisional games, and four games against top ten teams.
Its just. Not. Happening. The players don’t want it. They want the season to end. They want to go home. Their bags are packed for Cancun. The charter is warming up on the runway.
The guys that do seem to want it, don’t get minutes. Brett Berard has had the best motor on the team the entire time he’s been with them. The entire carousel of fourth liners brings more compete than the top nine forwards every single night.
The disconnect that has fractured the organization is sweeping. Drury will extend a player like Vaakanainen just for Laviolette to scratch him a few days later. de Haan played great in his first two games after being acquired for a heart and soul guy in Lindgren, and he’s hardly touched the ice since.
Go back to the beginning and compare what he had then to what we have now. Does the value of Urho and Soucey equal that of Goodrow? Is JT Miller making $8m against the cap until 2030 better than keeping Trouba around for one more year, especially if Drury didnt think this team could win a cup now? Was it worth giving up Kakko and Chytil to be able to extend Lafreniere and maybe K’andre Miller? The money is rougly the same, can someone tell me if the team got better? Did the future get brighter? I find it hard to feel optimistic.
The Lafreniere extension did come as somewhat shocking considering the timing for a largely unproven player, although as a fan I was sold after his playoff performance, especially when you consider it was done before the Igor Shesterkin extension which kept him from becoming a UFA. Lafreniere would have been under full team control this summer. This was a gamble that turned out to be mismanagement, and teams around the league will learn from this mistake when prioritizing their pending free agents. That Laf contract is aging like milk right now.
If I’m Will Cuylle I see no reason to not take Drury to the cleaners on my upcoming contract. Everyone he signs gets at least market value and some sort of NMC. I would take nothing less than that, and I’d probably want more considering the way the season went for the team and what Cuylle provided compared to other players on the team that make $6m-$9m against the cap.
The rottenness goes deep to the core in the big apple. Chris Drury cannot be the “be all end all” President and GM. No successful NHL team operates like this anymore. He seems to be on an island by himself making decisions. He needs a trusted committee to consult with and advise him.
Gut. The. Coaching staff. This team does NOT deserve another big name head coach signing either. Fire everyone and bring up the entire Hartford staff. We should be giving our Pack alumni more run anyway.
Moving forward, I hope to see lines that resemble this:
- Panarin Trocheck Cuylle
- Othmann Miller Zibanejad
- Kreider Brodzinski Berard
- Rempe Carrick Parssinen
- Miller Fox
- Jones Borgen
- de Haan Schneider
(Shoutout to Jonny Laz for the D pairs)
I just don’t understand what the fuck there could possibly be to lose by holding veteran players accountable after this total disaster of a season. The depth guys and call ups that worked their bags off all year deserve to be rewarded, they did everything that was asked of them.
The most painful part of it all was this was supposed to be a special year for Sam Rosen, who calls it a career in the booth at season’s end. I will be at the game tomorrow for him. Not this team.
2024-2025 New York Rangers, pronounced dead March 20, 2025 at 10:00 PM.
The Morning Skate 