The New York Rangers continue their downward spiral after starting off the season with a decent record. However, since the summer, General Manager Chris Drury has been looking to upgrade his roster, knowing it is not good enough to win this season.
John Shannon, formerly of Hockey Night in Canada, was on Sirius XM NHL Network Radio on Friday Morning Skate segment with Scott Laughlin and Gord Stellick and was asked about the New York Rangers, whether more changes were coming, and who set the tone for the season?
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
Scott Laughlin: “Want to get your take, speaking of the US on the New York Rangers, John and what their season has dissolved into. And we were kind of joking just before we went into our holiday break here about the fact that Kaapo Kakko got scratched, he complained, and he was subsequently traded. And it didn’t shock anybody that that was the case.
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And then they made Chris Kreider a healthy scratch as well. And you’re thinking, Is he the next guy to go out the door once the roster freeze is lifted? What do you make of what’s happened in New York, and if at all, it’s possible for this blue shirts team to put things back together again?”
John Shannon: “By the way, the roster freeze ends at midnight, so and that’s one you have to wonder about if that, in fact, was the case, that he was a healthy scratch, because Chris Drury has an opportunity to move him before their next game, which is night. (Rangers have not traded Kreider as of yet)
This is one that flummox everybody. It’s probably a better question for Gord than it is for me, because I’ve never been in the manager’s chair. But can a manager set the stage and set the theme for an organization when he doesn’t spend that much time in the dressing room when the coach is really driving the theme of what goes on at ice level and during the games?
Obviously, there have been enough stories dating back to the Barclay Goodrow waiver scenario. Jacob Trouba, first with the Red Wings and obviously now with Anaheim. Are there enough stories that go around after the email went out that Chris Drury has set the tone for this fall?
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It’s difficult to think that way but at the same time, you do wonder if where there’s smoke, is there fire in this one? The Rangers are too talented. The Rangers have too many good players. Mind you, some of the guys that had great seasons last year have not had good seasons this year.
The guy that comes to the top of mind for me is Mika Zibanejad then you add K’Andre Miller to that. Neither have played very well. So the guys with career years a year ago or the last couple of years have been tremendous disappointments in New York, and that’s played its part.”
As Shannon points out, the fact that Drury wanted to make changes has set the tone for the season and this spiral as the Rangers sit dead last in the Metro Division.
The players have really taken these changes to heart. This team needed to learn to buy in completely if they wanted to win. This roster has gone in the complete opposite direction.
Instead of buying in, this group of players have quit on the team, coach, and general manager. As Larry Brooks of the New York Post notes, these players had their feelings hurt and were upset about how Drury conducted business. Yet not one of those players has asked to be traded.
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Something will eventually have to give with the Rangers and this group of players. They could get their third coach and second veteran coach fired, Peter Laviolette.
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