One year ago yesterday, New York Rangers general manager Chris Drury sent out a memo to the 31 other NHL teams to say he was open for business. The Rangers were struggling, and the players the team made available were Jacob Trouba and Chris Kreider.
Both players are now gone, along with many others. While the Rangers were hoping to be back to contending this season, they are going in the wrong direction, and right now, they seem to have no sense of who they want to be as a team moving forward.
Rangers Made Major Changes in the Last Year
The first big move was trading Trouba to the Anaheim Ducks. It saved the team $8 million in salary, which they needed to extend other players like Igor Shesterkin. A few weeks later, Kaapo Kakko was traded to the Seattle Kraken for Will Borgen. This move seems to have benefited both teams as Kakko has thrived in his new role with the Kraken, and Borgen has been a solid defensive defenseman in New York. Other players that were moved in-season were Ryan Lindgren, Jimmy Vesey, and Reilly Smith.
Then there was the trade for J.T. Miller in January, moving Filip Chytil, Victor Mancini, and a 2025 first-round pick to the Vancouver Canucks for Miller. Drury had wanted him on his team for years, and he finally made this move to spark his struggling roster last season. While Miller was productive last season, scoring 13 goals and 35 points in 32 games, he has not been good enough this season, and that’s a problem for a team that just named him captain and has him on the books for another four years.
Drury’s Team Is Not Good Enough to Contend
For a team that wanted to get back to being contenders this season, Drury built a roster that is not good enough to do that. He has put all the pressure on the top-six forwards to score goals, while the bottom-six is built to be defensively responsible. The problem is that the top-six has struggled offensively for most of this season, and the bottom-six is not built to pick up the slack. Mika Zibanejad leads the team with seven goals in 24 games, and that’s not nearly good enough.
Related: Rangers Must Find Better Alternative to Conor Sheary
Miller, Artemi Panarin, and Will Cuylle each have six goals, which is not nearly enough for a contender. Taylor Raddysh was brought in to play in the bottom six, and while he has five goals, he hasn’t scored in 12 games. Conor Sheary, who was signed out of training camp, has played in every game this season and has yet to score a goal. The lack of goal scoring has been a major issue, and Drury has yet to address the issue.
Rangers Not Good Enough to Contend, But Not Bad Enough to Tank
While the Rangers are not good enough to be legit contenders, they also aren’t bad enough to land a top draft pick. The team would have been good enough to tank had they not signed Shesterkin to an $11.5 million extension last season and traded for Miller. Their talent is good enough to keep them from being one of the worst teams in the league, but they are not good enough to compete for the Stanley Cup.
At this point, the Rangers need to give some of their younger players, like Gabe Perreault, a true shot at a roster spot. He only played three games during his call-up, but his presence made the lineup feel deeper, and the lines more balanced. The Rangers could still make the playoffs this season if they go on a run, but they could also just miss the playoffs and lose out on a chance at the top pick, which the organization is lacking in their farm system.
Drury has shaken up his roster over the past year, and this season, it looks like he’s made all the wrong moves. The team is trying to find a new identity, and it’s going to take some time for them to figure it out. Unfortunately, time is not on their side if they want to make it back to the playoffs. If Drury is at the helm for the long haul, he needs to figure out what direction his team is going in, because right now, they are directionless.
