The New York Rangers are in a tailspin.
The 2023-24 Presidents’ Trophy winners have lost nine of their last 12 games and jettisoned their scapegoated captain, Jacob Trouba, to the West Coast last week.
After another humiliating loss on home ice, a 5-1 defeat at the hands of the Los Angeles Kings, more moves may be coming. Hockey insider Elliotte Friedman provided the latest alongside Ron MacLean on Sportsnet’s Saturday Headlines segment.
“Unbelievable to watch,” Friedman said. “They’re at home, Madison Square Garden, Saturday afternoon, and it’s 5-0 Kings after 25 minutes. It’s not going to be a surprise for anyone to hear that the Rangers are open for business. Now, they’ve already traded Jacob Trouba. They’ve let it be known that Chris Kreider is available. They have some untouchables like Shesterkin, who they just signed, and there are no-move clauses, but I think they’re willing to consider all options. They want to hear ideas people have, and they’re listening to what could be out there for them.”
The news about Chris Kreider isn’t new; the Rangers made it public knowledge that they were shopping Kreider and Trouba in late November. The 33-year-old winger is coming off his second 70-plus-point season in three years but has just 11 points (10g, 1a) in 26 games this year.
General manager Chris Drury has already had a busy December, first dealing Trouba to the Anaheim Ducks for defenseman Urho Vaakanainen and a 2025 fourth-round draft pick. He then inked star goaltender Igor Shesterkin to the most expensive goaltending contract in NHL history, an 8-year, $92 million deal.
Neither of those moves helped instill confidence in the club, though. They’ve gone an uneven 2-4 in December, and their lack of goal-scoring has been very apparent. New York scored three or fewer goals in four of those games. Since the start of November, they rank 24th in the league in goals per game (2.65).
The Rangers got boo'd off the ice at MSG after dropping to 3-7 in their last 10 games 😳 pic.twitter.com/TSPiP4IgEw
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) December 14, 2024
The recent anger and frustration seemed to boil over after Saturday afternoon’s loss as the team was booed off the ice by their fans. The Rangers sit fifth in the Metropolitan Division, 13 points behind the leading Washington Capitals. They share the same number of points (31) as the sixth-place New York Islanders and seventh-place Pittsburgh Penguins.
Head coach Peter Laviolette was terse in his response to the media when asked who was to blame for the recent poor play. “[It] goes right around [the team],” he said.
When asked if a lack of focus was at fault, Laviolette refused to elaborate and closed his press conference. “I can’t answer that,” he said.
Kreider still has two more seasons at a $6.5 million cap hit after this one, but the Rangers have a few players on expiring contracts they could look to offload. Names like Reilly Smith, Jimmy Vesey, Ryan Lindgren, Chad Ruhwedel, and Jonathan Quick are not signed for next season.
Any move made this month must occur before or after the December 20 holiday roster freeze. Players are not allowed to be moved for a whole week.
