Let's be clear: even with Adam Fox playing his best hockey in two years, the Rangers were still three points behind the Philadelphia Flyers for the last wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. Now that the former Norris trophy winner has suffered an injury to his left shoulder that will keep him on LTIR for at least a month - perhaps longer - the prospects for them making the playoffs went from slim to "Don't make me laugh!"
Win some, lose some, may be what you tell your kid after a tough loss, but in the world of collegiate and pro sports, there is no such consolation prize. To quote Bill Parcels, "you are what your record says you are." And right now, the Rangers are two games above .500. The best thing you could say about this team is that they're better in their own zone than last year's team. In 2024-25, they were 19th in the NHL with 255 goals against; in 2025-26, they're 11th with 71 goals against.
But while the defense has improved from last year, it has come at the expense of the offense. When the Rangers won the Presidents' trophy two seasons ago, Artemi Panarin had 34 multi-point games. This season, he has only six such games, registering six goals and 13 assists. The Blueshirts are 6-0 in those games. In the other 21 games, he has a paltry two goals and five assists, and New York has gone 7-12-2.
By no means is the Bread Man the only culprit on this team. Something is clearly wrong with J.T. Miller. He has seven goals and seven assists in 25 games. Not counting the pandemic-shortened season of 2020-21, he is on track to finish with his lowest point total since his first full season with the Tampa Lightning in 2018-19. And it isn't just his lack of offense that is disconcerting. In a game against the Vegas Golden Knights earlier this season, he appeared to give up on a play that led to a Vegas goal. He was called out by Steve Valiquette in the post-game show.
At the risk of repeating myself, this is not a good team; decent yes, but hardly good. Good teams don't go 2-8-1 at home, and they don't get shutout in five of those losses. In the salary cap era, only one team - the 2015-16 San Jose Sharks - has made the playoffs with a losing record at home. And unlike that Sharks team which went to the Stanley Cup finals, there is nothing about this Rangers team that would lead a reasonably objective person to believe they are contenders. Far from it.
Well fate appears to have intervened just in the nick of time. With Fox out for the foreseeable future, Chris Drury now has the excuse he needs to finish what he started last year, and what his predecessor Jeff Gorton tried to do: a thorough rebuild. Barring a James Dolan meltdown - always a possibility with him - the Rangers should be sellers at the trade deadline.
Think about it. What is the rationale for keeping this roster together? That maybe, just possibly, they go on a late-season run and sneak into the playoffs, only to be bounced in the first round? The 2017-18 Rangers could've done that, but even Gorton knew that was not a sustainable plan. So he sent out his memo and broke up the core. Face it: the bill comes due for all teams sooner or later, and if we're being totally honest here, this team's bill has been marked "past due" for quite some time.
Those players with no-move clauses like Mika Zibanejad, Panarin and Miller will be impossible to move, I know, but the others should be no problem. Among the others, Drury needs to waive Conor Sheary right now. Keeping him makes no sense. Taylor Raddysh scored a few goals early in the season, but has done virtually nothing since. Maybe he could get a fourth round pick for him. And before he becomes untradable, Alexis Lafreniere needs to go. If Drury could get Will Borgen and a couple of draft picks for Kaapo Kakko, he should be able to fetch more for the former first overall pick. Carson Soucy is having a good season. But he will be a UFA next summer and will be looking for a long-term extension. He's just the sort of player other teams will be looking to add at the deadline. And under no circumstances should Drury re-sign Panarin. If he won't waive his NMC, thank him for his time on Broadway and let him walk.
Next, bring up the kids, and play them - all of them. Gabe Perrault, Brennan Othmann, Scott Murrow, Brett Berard, Matthew Robertson. It's time to see what's in the cupboard. And by play them, I mean more than six minutes per game. This probably wasn't the deal Mike Sullivan agreed to when he took the job, but deals change all the time. Besides, where's he gonna go, back to Pittsburgh? In case you haven't noticed, the Penguins are doing just fine without him. In fact, between the two teams, the Pens have a better shot of making the postseason than the Rangers.
Is there a risk in doing another rebuild? Of course there is. But keeping the status quo is unacceptable.
