The New York Rangers are coming off two of their worst games this season as they continue to lose games that they shouldn’t. They had a 3-1 lead over the Seattle Kraken in the middle of the second period and went on to lose, 7-5. The following night, they had an even worse performance against the worst team in the NHL, the Chicago Blackhawks, losing that game 2-1. It has become painfully obvious that this team is checked out and they have no true leaders in the locker room that can help carry them out of this slump.
General manager Chris Drury already started making big changes to this roster when he sent captain Jacob Trouba to the Anaheim Ducks last week. He sees the flaws with this team and knows that this core group of players are not good enough to bring a Stanley Cup back to New York. At this point, more major changes need to be considered because it is clear as day that this group just doesn’t have what it takes. Fans like to use the phrase “blow it up”, and right now, it might be in the Rangers’ best interest to just tear it all down and start fresh. While they don’t need this to be “The Letter” 2.0, big changes need to be made as it looks like this season just isn’t going to go the way this team wanted.
Decide Who Will Be Here for the Long Haul
While a full-on rebuild is not going to happen at this point, a retooling of this roster is definitely on the table with the way they have been playing. Some players on this team just don’t have a future here and that is okay. Now is the time to try and move on from them when they have the most value that they are going to have. But first, you need to decide who is going to stick around and be key pieces for the future as you try to move on from the older players on this team. The three definite players the Rangers should and are going to keep around are Igor Shesterkin, Adam Fox and Alexis Lafreniere. They just signed their franchise goalie to an eight-year contract extension, so he isn’t going anywhere. Fox is a Norris Trophy-caliber defenseman every season and you don’t move a player like that. For Lafreniere, he also signed a seven-year extension a few months back and he is the top young forward the Rangers should be building around going forward.
Another player who has earned himself a spot going forward is Will Cuylle. He has arguably been the best and most consistent forward on the team this season. He just surpassed his point total from all of last season and is on pace for 30 goals and over 60 points. He is another kind of player that you build your team around. Another possible name to keep around is Filip Chytil, who even with his injury history, is still the fastest and one of the only players with a shoot-first mentality on the team. If you are trying to trade either or both of the other, older centermen, you need to keep a player like Chytil around. Other than these names mentioned, none of the other current roster players have a definite future with the Rangers.
Trade Your Pending UFAs and Make Decisions on Your RFAs
With it looking less and less likely that this team will make any noise in the playoffs or even make the playoffs at all, they have to start selling off their pending unrestricted free agents. The three key pending UFAs on this roster are Reilly Smith, Jimmy Vesey and Ryan Lindgren. Starting with Lindgren, it became clear over the summer that the team didn’t see him as a long-term piece when they signed him to just a one-year deal that walks him to free agency. His diminishing play over this season and last are signs that he isn’t the player he used to be.
The Rangers could very well get a good deal for him as playoff-bound teams are going to like the style of hockey that he plays and that he is willing to play through the pain. With Vesey, he is another player that teams will like as all teams need good depth players and he is still a good fourth-line option. Smith hasn’t had the best season with the Rangers, but it hasn’t been as bad as other players. He will bring Stanley Cup championship experience to anyone he goes to and that is always valuable come playoff time.
Related: Rangers Still Have Unfinished Business After Trouba Trade
When it comes to the restricted free agents, the two big names on that end are Kaapo Kakko and K’Andre Miller. With Kakko, he is playing some of the best hockey of his career right now, but that means other teams are interested in him and he would likely want a decent raise over the $2.4 million he is currently making. The Rangers haven’t wanted to move him in certain deals in the past. But do they want to lock him up long-term knowing that he is likely to just be a very good middle-six player for them?
For Miller, he has struggled mightily this season and the money he was probably going to get on his next deal keeps on going down. It seems as if he just hasn’t developed into the player the Rangers have wanted him to become and the question now is, do they give out a long-term deal to a player that isn’t playing up to his potential? If he were to become available in trade, it seems likely other teams would give up something big to get him. If the Rangers want to get another top-four defenseman, he would likely be the player that can bring one back to the team.
Get Zibanejad and Panarin to Waive Their Trade Protections
Now, if the Rangers truly wanted to make big changes to this core, it starts with their two most expensive forwards, Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin. We already know that Chris Kreider has been made available, but he is in a different situation as he doesn’t have the full trade protection that the other two have. To get them to waive their trade protections, you have to make other moves first and it likely starts by moving on from Kreider. We know how close he and Zibanejad are and if he is gone, maybe it makes Zibanejad question whether or not he wants to be here.
His struggles over this season and last have been heavily documented and it has caused many to turn on the once beloved fan favorite. His contract, $8.5 million until the 2029-30 season, also isn’t doing him any favors. If he is declining this much right now, at age 31, what he is going to look like six years from now when the contract is expiring? His contract has become the worst on the team now that Trouba is gone and it is going to take something of a miracle to first get him to waive and second, get another team to take on his deal. Maybe other teams would actually value him given what he has done in the past, but if they saw him play on a nightly basis like Rangers fans do, they know that his best days are behind him.
Panarin is a completely different story from Zibanejad. He is still producing at a high level and is still the team’s best offensive player. Since he is still playing at a high level, the Rangers could get a big return for him that could help them in the future. He has one more year on his current deal and the question surrounding him is do the Rangers want to extend him when he is 34 years old? There are going to be other big-name players who become available who are younger and could provide more than what Panarin brings.
They aren’t going to want to lock up so much money into a player that is likely going to be on the decline in two or three years. The best move for them is to try and convince him to move on as it looks like this team won’t be winning a Stanley Cup anytime soon and he still wants to win a championship. These are the big changes to the core that need to happen in order for the Rangers to move on to the future. Are they likely to happen? Only time will tell.
This current iteration of the Rangers have had their chances of winning a Stanley Cup and they failed each time for a majority of the same reasons. Now, with the way the team has been playing, we are at a point where Drury has finally realized that changes need to be made because this core is not good enough. They have shown no fight, no heart and look lifeless when they are on the ice and it just drives the point home even further that this team doesn’t have what it takes. If the season continues on this downward trend, and they have shown no signs that it will get any better, more changes and hopefully more drastic changes will be made as Drury looks to build this team from the ground up and looks towards the future.
