The New York Rangers went strong during the 2023-2024 season, finishing at the top of the standings among the other 31 teams in the National Hockey League, giving them the Presidents' Trophy after going 55-23-4.
They had an easy first round after sweeping the Washington Capitals, moving on to the Carolina Hurricanes in the second round. They were up by three when the Hurricanes gave them a quick scare, winning the next two, but the Rangers were able to successfully beat them in six games, moving on to the Eastern Conference Final.
They met the Florida Panthers, who ultimately ended up beating them in six games and went on to face the Edmonton Oilers, who they beat in seven games to win the 2024 Stanley Cup. Losing to the team that wins the Stanley Cup isn't too much to beat yourself up over. You have a strong team and clearly you can just make a few minor adjustments during the offseason to be able to run it back going into the next and making another deep run.
Rangers fans witnessed such highs during the 2024 Playoffs, like Vincent Trocheck's goal during a second overtime in the second round versus Carolina, which put them up 2-0 in the series. Or Chris Kreider's hat-trick in Game 6 versus the Hurricanes, which they ultimately won 5-3 to move on to the next round.
Many fans thought there would be nothing to worry about going into the 2024-2025 season
When October rolled around in 2024 for the start of a new season, the Rangers had acquired Sam Carrick, who would be an addition to their bottom six core and Reilly Smith, a top-six forward who would be a better replacement for them offensively after letting Barclay Goodrow and Alexander Wennberg go.
They re-signed an aspiring young bottom-six forward, Kaapo Kakko, and defenseman Ryan Lindgren. Once again, fans thought this would be another good season with a deep run. Looking at the team on paper, they had only made better improvements to their forward group.
They opened up the season with a 6-0 win versus the Pittsburgh Penguins. By the end of the month, they were 6-2-2, not too bad. Then November came and went, and their record turned to 13-9-2, and then everything fell apart from there as management and the New York Rangers front office hit the panic button.
Word came out that during the last week of November 2024, general manager Chris Drury sent out a 'memo' to other general managers in the league, essentially putting nothing off the table when it came to trades. Even for a veteran player like Chris Kreider. The same guy who got that hat trick to put them into the Eastern Conference Final only months ago.
On December 8, 2024, the news broke that the Rangers had traded their Captain, defenseman Jacob Trouba to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for defenseman Urho Vaakanainen and a 2025, 4th-round pick. The same day that Igor Shesterkin would re-sign for an eight-year, $92 Million contract, which would make him the highest-paid goaltender in NHL history.
They then went 1-5 for the next week and a half and Kaapo Kakko was scratched in a 5-3 loss to the St. Louis Blues on December 15th. Kakko then spoke out to the media essentially saying that it was easy to scratch young players even though he hadn't been the worst player there. Two days later, he was traded to the Seattle Kraken in exchange for defenseman Will Borgen along with some picks.
Their season still showed no improvements, losing 5-0 to their rivals, the New Jersey Devils on December 23, 2024, only to come back from the holiday break to lose 6-2 to the Tampa Bay Lightning. They went 8-3-3 in January and on the last day of the month, they re-acquired J.T. Miller from the Canucks, who was drafted by the Rangers in 2011 but traded to the Lightning in 2018.
Vancouver gave Miller up along with defenseman Erik Brannstrom and Jackson Dorrington, while the Rangers gave them Filip Chytil, Victor Mancini, and a conditional pick to go along with them. This was during a time that media was circulating that the Canucks were having a lot of locker room issues, mainly between Miller and another one of their star players, Elias Pettersson. The Canucks weren't having the season they hoped for either, and were looking to make some moves and try to fix their locker room issues it seemed.
They only had two more weeks left before a break for the 4 Nations Face-Off
Some fans had hoped that the Rangers would be able to return from the break and turn the season around, as they still had plenty of opportunities if they played right to make it into a playoff spot in this season. The Rangers returned from the break with an 8-3 loss to the Buffalo Sabres.
In just under two weeks, the NHL's trade deadline would approach, and fans had been complaining mostly about defenseman Ryan Lindgren during the season and hoped that somehow the Rangers could trade him away. This might be the only wish the Rangers got this season as on March 2, New York would acquire defenseman Calvin de Haan, forward Juuso Parssinen, and some picks in exchange for Ryan Lindgren and Jimmy Vesey.
On the eve of the trade deadline the Rangers would receive Brendan Bisson and a pick from the Golden Knights in exchange for their offseason signed Reilly Smith. They also acquired defenseman Carson Soucy from the Canucks in exchange for a pick. They got Nicolas Aube-Kubel from the Sabres in exchange for Erik Brannstrom. The trade deadline came and went and the Rangers roster would be locked for the rest of the season.
As the month after the trade deadline happened, the Rangers didn't seem to notice they were battling for an essential wild-card spot if they would want to make this season's playoffs, which they still are and sit six points out of right now with only five games left in their regular season, as the Montreal Canadiens are slotted in the second Eastern Conference wild-card spot.
Now, how is it that after going from such a historic season beforehand, the Rangers ended up here?
Some fans have opinions about it, whether it is their effort, it's the core, the locker room, etc. From what I've seen from watching the team this season and their roster moves, I don't believe this is the team's issue here, the roster is the roster for a reason and all of it comes down to general manager Chris Drury and head coach Peter Laviolette.
The memo, scratching healthy players, trading away your captain, all the moves that have fallen onto the shoulders of the front office and the roster is getting the blame when, quite frankly, they're only given the cards they've been dealt and the card isn't a wild card spot, thanks to management. Peter Laviolette spoke to the media following their last game which resulted in a 5-1 loss to the Lightning, saying that he doesn't go into the locker room after games. Maybe during a season like this that first off isn't something I would admit and second of all, if you're team is tanking, you'd think it was time for a talk?
When I look at the ins and outs of the Rangers transactions this season on paper, all I see is this-they've gotten rid of: their captain, a good bottom-six forward group (which at the beginning of the season were the only players I thought seemed to be putting in any effort and trying to get the job done).
Their worst defenseman (only to acquire a slightly less worse and cheaper version). In return, this season they've only gotten a player they traded away and acquired back after he was involved in a bad locker room situation which he was the main forefront of not to mention he's now 32, so they traded him away at the beginning of his prime and acquired him back at the end of it.
Players they've been healthy scratches since acquiring prospects and picks they will never develop because it's a tale as old as time with this organization (Kakko has had the best season of his career in the 3-4 months he's spent with his new organization). Even Alexis Lafreniere, who was the first overall pick in the 2020 draft for them, isn't meeting fans' expectations and people want to point fingers at him, when he's been given nothing by the organization to help him develop.
The Rangers are worse than how they started, I do not think this was a roster issue, I use the word was as it wasn't, but, now it is. With a worse bottom-six group and young players who won't develop well. You do not go from Presidents' Trophy winners and making the Eastern Conference Final to this. You even started the season with a better roster. Drury hit that panic button, sending them a memo flying before even considering that something else may be going on, maybe he should've kept Shesterkin's old goaltending coach before watching him struggle this season too, and then handing him the largest contract a goaltender in the league has ever seen.
Maybe he should've started to set up a better program for their young players to flourish and turn into the players they should be instead of year after year stunting their growth only to trade them away and watch them light it up.
If your core guys aren't performing and your head coach isn't even going into the locker room to figure things out, scratching players and keeping in the same guys who aren't doing anything impactful, maybe it's time for a change as, clearly, they're not on the same page and have lost interest in their coach. I would hate to see players like Brett Berard, Brennan Othmann, and Gabe Perreault tank with this team and get traded in a few years when it's too late for them to develop, thanks to the organization that got them.
The Rangers won't get far from here, and nothing will change until the front office does. Fans can't expect much until management gets switched up and the organization learns how to develop players. You can't even start a proper retool if you can't give players the proper tools.