The New York Rangers have lost five consecutive games — including a pair of embarrassing blowout losses over the past five days — which has management changing course quite publicly and — if you ask me — dramatically.
Friday, Rangers’ general manager Chris Drury waved the white flag and announced that the team will “retool” its roster, “saying goodbye to players that have brought us and our fans great moments over the years.”
A Message from Chris Drury to Our Fans:
We wanted to take a moment to connect with our loyal and passionate fanbase. We know and feel your disappointment with how the season has gone to this point. We are just as frustrated and want nothing more than to deliver an on-ice product you can be proud of – it’s what drives us every day. No one in the organization is happy with what has transpired – from management, to coaches, to players. Over the last few years, we’ve had some successes and moments to cherish, but ultimately it was not the end goal. We are working relentlessly every day to bring a Stanley Cup back to New York because that is what our fans deserve.
With our position in the standings and injuries to key players this season, we must be honest and realistic about our situation. We are not going to stand pat – a shift will give us the ability to be smart and opportunistic as we retool the team. This will not be a rebuild. This will be a retool built around our core players and prospects. We will target players that bring tenacity, skill, speed, and a winning pedigree with a focus on obtaining young players, draft picks, and cap space to allow us flexibility moving forward. That may mean saying goodbye to players that have brought us and our fans great moments over the years. These players represented the Rangers with pride and class and will always be a part of our family.
As we start on this new strategic plan, we will continue to play hard with pride and passion for our fans. We appreciate your unwavering support for the Rangers more than we can describe and thank you for all that you do for our organization. You will begin to see some of our plans come to light in the coming weeks and months. LGR
Chris Drury
President and General Manager
One player whose days in The Big Apple are numbered is star forward Artemi Panarin, who will not be tendered a contract extension per the New York Post. The 34-year-old Russian winger has 51 points (16g, 35a) in 47 games and is in the final year of a 7-year, $81.5 million contract he originally signed in 2019 that pays him $11.64 million annually. The Capitals are among several teams that have been linked to the Russian forward.
Other Rangers who could be available and out the door by the trade deadline on March 6 include veterans like Mika Zibanejad, JT Miller, Vincent Trocheck, Sam Carrick, Vladislav Gavrikov, Taylor Raddysh, and Jonathan Quick.
The Rangers currently sit dead last in the Eastern Conference with 46 standings points (just eight points behind the Capitals) and are 2-6-2 in their last 10 games — the worst stretch of any team in the East.
But it’s how they’ve lost that has been the most revelatory.
The Rangers hit rock bottom on Saturday when they lost 10-2 to the Boston Bruins.
Then two games later, they fell 8-4 to the Ottawa Senators in front of their home fans.
They were booed off the ice after the first period, having given up four goals.
When asked if that set the tone in a negative way, Miller, the team’s captain, responded per The Athletic, “No s***. We’d like to not be down 4-0 after the first but after that we responded well. Played with some pride.”
The Rangers, who are without star goaltender Igor Shesterkin due to injury, have been outscored 27 to 10 in their last four regulation losses, surrendering 6.75 goals per game. Though their analytics over the long haul suggest they’re a middle-of-the-pack team and have been unlucky — they have the 26th-best five-on-five shooting percentage in the league.
“We’ve gotta play the game hard,” Rangers head coach Mike Sullivan said Wednesday per the New York Post, “and that’s some of the discussions we’ve had with the group is playing the game with a competitive spirit and playing the game hard — being willing to skate, being willing to embrace contact, going to the hard areas, winning puck battles, things of that nature. But we have to play smart also.
“It’s a whole lot more difficult to be collective effort than it is to be isolated effort, and I think we’re not quite connected like we were and that’s what we’ve gotta get back to.”
With a possible sell-off coming, that goal may become even more difficult to achieve.
