Believe it or not, the New York Rangers won the Presidents’ Trophy just 12 months ago. Fast forward to now, the franchise finds itself in the wilderness.
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Head coach Peter Laviolette was the first domino to fall after what may go down as the biggest debacle of the season in the history of the franchise. Laviolette wasn’t blameless, but the problems go far deeper than just him. The next coach will be the third different one behind the Rangers’ bench in the past five years. Frankly, the trend is utterly ridiculous – and that’s no way to sustain long- or short-term success.
It’s starting to look like the disaster the Rangers were in earlier this century, when hockey Hall of Famer Glen Sather took over the reins of the franchise when he hired and fired two different coaches (Ron Low and Bryan Trottier) between 2000 and 2003. Then, like today, the Rangers weren’t short of talent that included Brian Leetch, Eric Lindros, and later on, Pavel Bure. When cohesion and stability within an organization are lacking, failure is inevitable. That’s exactly what we’re seeing today and resembles something similar the Rangers witnessed earlier this century.
The Owner Should Clean House
But somehow, things managed to get worse before the 2024-25 season ended. We already knew about the off-ice distractions, which really escalated once president and general manager Chris Drury put out a Substack memo that became public, indicating that almost every Ranger on the roster was available, as reported previously by the New York Post (from “The Rangers need to grow up and stop playing the victims,” New York Post, 12/17/24).
Calvin de Haan became one of multiple players this season to put the team on blast with less than a week left in the season. And it didn’t end there – allegations came out about Artemi Panarin sexually assaulting a team employee, which the player and MSG Sports reached a settlement on, according to reporting from The Athletic (from “Artemi Panarin, MSG reached settlements with Rangers employee after sexual assault allegation,” The Athletic 4/17/25).
At this point, you have to almost say, What else will go wrong? I’m not sure there’s ever been a lower point in the franchise than now. The word “culture” often gets clichéd in hockey to avoid talking about other problems like talent. But in the Rangers’ current state, the culture is certainly a big chunk of their problem, as evidenced above. It’s almost impossible to have success in a hostile work environment. If you lack talent, that can always be changed with a big free agency signing or pulling the trigger on a trade for a star. But still enduring a culture problem even after making eight trades since Dec. 6, tells you that the problem might be beyond repair.
Earlier this month, we laid out three directions the organization should take after the season, which included keeping Drury and Laviolette together, firing them both, or allowing Drury (while on thin ice) to pick a veteran coach. Now, there may only be one viable option to move the organization forward – and that’s a complete house cleaning. That would involve owner James Dolan firing Drury, and perhaps getting rid of others with major roles inside the organization. It’s the nuclear option that would offer the players who stick around under the potential new regime a clean slate.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem the likely path forward for Dolan, as based on the statement the Rangers provided, Drury said he himself felt “that a change was necessary,” leading to the belief that his job is safe for now.
Rangers announce coaching changes
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) April 19, 2025
More info: https://t.co/xRBMS6sqUT
It’s Not Too Late to Turn Around
But it’s not too late for Dolan to turn around. He couldn’t have been thrilled watching the season unfold and hearing the leaks the media picked up on and made public.
Understandably, when owners make a hiring of somebody to run the entire hockey department, they want it to last for decades. In fact, Dolan, when he promoted Drury for his gigs after firing Jeff Gorton and John Davidson in 2021, was quoted as saying in the New York Post: “I hope he’s here for 20 years,” (from “James Dolan: Chris Drury ‘the right guy’ to lead Rangers culture change,” New York Post, 5/06/21).
Still no smoke signals or official word from the #NYR, but here's an update for those asking on this Saturday morning:
— Vince Z. Mercogliano (@vzmercogliano) April 19, 2025
– The prevailing belief remains that the Rangers will be moving on from Peter Laviolette. I get the sense they want to get through the holiday weekend before…
But he needs to think everything through over the coming days and weeks and find out if he has the right person running hockey operations. Based on reporting from Vincent Mercogliano of USA TODAY Network, Dolan is considering engaging in in-person exit interviews with the players. There is no word if he will be doing that together with Drury or separately, however. But at the very least, that’s the right thinking. The 69-year-old needs to gather as much information as he can. A hands-on approach is needed now more than ever from the businessman, who also owns the NBA’s New York Knicks.
What Else Needs Fixing
While cutting ties with Drury seems like the only plausible way forward, that’s only step one in the process. Whoever is leading the hockey department this spring and summer will need to make important, tough decisions on the personnel. This includes retaining or trading core players on the roster. The questions that will need answering are: Can Chris Kreider be a part of the solution next season? Would Mika Zibanejad be willing to waive his no-movement clause? This will be critical to lay out with the new coaching staff. It needs to be all about finding the best fits and cohesion.
If the Rangers decide they want to move on from certain players, this matter needs to be taken care of in the offseason. If there’s one lesson to learn, rumors about the whole team can’t be swirling from October through March again.
Transparency is likely another problem. This shouldn’t just come from the coaching staff either; establishing relationships with players is in the job description of a general manager. Players, whether younger or veteran ones, should know where they stand with an organization. The de Haan fiasco tells you that there were issues, and that’s something that must be corrected.
Also, the exit interviews will be key in figuring out what specific issues the organization can improve upon.
If you put all of these together, you may have a chance to hit the reset button and establish a new culture. But this may be a complete waste of time if Drury remains with the Rangers and refuses to change.
Saying the Rangers are anything less than broken right now would be an understatement. It’s going to take a lot of deep digging and soul-searching to fix this mess. Forget bringing the team back to contention – restoring stability and cohesion comes first. There’s a good chance that’s not feasible under Drury, which is what Dolan needs to figure out over the coming days and weeks. The best way to describe the Rangers right now is a bunch of talented players fending for themselves with no identity and nonexistent leadership.
