NHL Rumors: How Many Changes are the New York Rangers Willing to Make?

Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas on 32 Thoughts: The Podcast – Live From Chicago, It’s 32 Thoughts episode on the New York Rangers, Peter Laviolette on the hot seat, and are more changes coming?

** NHLRumors.com transcription

Friedman: “In all seriousness, I, you know, in this league, there’s, there’s certain people when you read them on certain things, you say, there’s some things you just you read the reporting, you enjoy the reporting. There’s other things, you know, you read the opinion, you enjoy the opinion but you don’t know if it’s just someone’s thinking or if it’s based. in fact.

When you read that column that was in the Larry, that was in the New York Post on Sunday from Larry Brooks, where he talks about, they’re going to have to fire Peter Laviolette. You know, Larry Brooks, there’s nobody that has better sources in the Rangers than he does. Nobody. And what he’s writing that, and it’s, it’s not because it’s necessarily his opinion, but you have to look at that and you see that, that is the, he is getting that directly from someone who matters.

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Now, I don’t like to guess sources. I don’t like when people do it with me, so I don’t do it with other people. But all, I think we all understand that he is getting that from somebody whose opinion carries weight. And like that was a harsh, harsh column. Like he really hammered the players there. And with that, said to me, Kyle, is that what we’ve seen so far with the likes of (Barclay) Goodrow and (Jacob) Trouba and potentially (Chris) Kreider, and Kreider being included on that, on the on the trade list, on the in the in the trade conversation. Either we haven’t seen anything yet, or more of that is coming.

And you know, Laviolette, he’s kind of caught in the middle of all this. Like this, like he’s been around a long time. He knows this is a results-oriented business. But like, Peter Laviolette got to be sitting here thinking, just like the rest of us, like, what on earth happened? How did we end up where we are? And I’m sure he’s as much of a loss for words as everybody else is.

But to me, the bigger story of that column is, more is coming. And you kind of have to sit there and look at it and figure out what it is. And you know, I watched a bit of that, on Saturday nights it’s tough because I’m usually watching the Canadian games, but I was watching Tampa-Rangers and (Mika) Zibanejad had one shift where he had a great chance to score, and his stick broke. Like right on, like, right on the doorstep. His stick exploded. And then later in the shift, he tries to make a pass, cross ice and the Lightning just see what it is for, what it is, and they like, just deflected away. And he goes to the bench, and he just looks so discouraged.

And I’m not interested in kicking people when they’re down. It’s not what I like to do. But you can’t help but read that column and see the way it’s going for Zibanejad, who’s got a no-move clause, and you’re just wondering if that’s going to be something like the Rangers try to focus on.

Either we can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way. Like, maybe I’m wrong. Maybe it’s not Zibanejad. Maybe they start looking somewhere else. But I just, like that column today says to me, because of who wrote it, and because I know how connected they are in that, in that organization, that we are far from finished with major change for the Rangers.

And I’ll say this, I think if there was a guy who was available, although I don’t see it, that teams would be climbing up buildings to go get, would be (Vincent) Trochek.”

Bukauskas: “Right.”

Friedman: “If he was available, like teams would be killing themselves to get him. But again, he has control, and I am not convinced at all that they would want to do that.”

Bukauskas: “Craig Simpson every now and then, brings up that old line from Glenn Sather when he was his coach in Edmonton, that you guys think it can’t get any worse, you’re dead wrong. And whenever I see situations like we’ve got in New York right now, those words come rushing back to my mind. Because you’re looking at it going, how could this possibly get any worse? Well, just wait, because it always can.”

Friedman: “Somebody told me that nobody managed Jim Dolan better than Glenn Sather.”

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Bukauskas: “That’s an interesting point.”

Friedman: “That nobody knew how to handle him better. Nobody knew how to convince him or dissuade him or move him to a position he thought was better than Sather. Probably could say there worked for Peter Pocklington. So he probably understood there was a similarity there. It’s a skill and it’s it’s a hard one to master.”