Drury's Last Stand?

If there were any doubts about whether the New York Rangers were rebuilding or retooling, they were  thoroughly put to rest yesterday. On the first day of free agency, Chris Drury sent a very loud and clear message to the fanbase: this is a retool.

Coming off arguably his best draft since he was hired, Drury went to work immediately. At first, it looked like a typical free agency day for Drury; nothing spectacular. And then it got real interesting. In all, Drury made nine transactions. Here they are in order: 

1. He acquired goaltender Joonas Korpisalao from the Boston Bruins for forward Kalle Vaisanen and a 2028 4th round pick. The Ottawa Senators retained $1 million of Korpisalao's $4 million salary as part of an earlier trade with the Bruins.

2. He then signed Joseph Valeno to a one year $1.2 million contract that he can unload at the trade deadline if it doesn't work out.

3. Next up, he signed Oliver Bjorkstrand to another one year contract at $4.5 million. 

4 & 5.. To replenish Hartford, he signed career AHLers Marc Del Gaizo and Glenn Gawdin to two-year, two-way contracts worth $875k AAV a piece. 

Then came the two blockbusters:

6. Drury traded Vincent Trocheck to the Utah Mammoth for Utah's 2024 1st round pick Cole Beaudoin, a conditional 2027 3rd rounder and defenseman Sean Durzi. Beaudoin was the high draft pick Drury was after, and Durzi is a right-handed defenseman who had an excellent season for Utah last year.

7. Drury then traded a 2030 top 10 protected first round pick for defenseman Marcus Pettersson. Pettersson played for Mike Sullivan in Pittsburgh years ago, and I have no doubt that factored into Drury's decision to acquire him. This trade was actually announced before the Trocheck deal but took longer to finalize because Pettersson has a no move clause. 

8. Next up, in what can only be described as a textbook example of addition by subtraction, Drury traded Will Borgen to the Bruins for a 2027 2nd round pick and a conditional 2028 3rd rounder. A used puck bag would've sufficed, so give Drury high marks for finding someone willing to take Borgen and his $4.1 million cap hit off his hands.

9. Rounding out the transactions, this morning, Drury signed Dennis Cholowski, another career AHLer, to a two-year, two-way contract. 

Overall, I'd give him a B+. He unloaded Borgen, improved his defensive pairings, but weakened his center depth. In Pettersson, he acquired a player who's 30 years old and still has five years left on his contract. Like the J.T. Miller trade he made in 2025, this has the potential of blowing up in Drury's face.

Look, are the Rangers better now than they were before the Draft? Yes. Have they improved themselves enough to make the playoffs? Maybe.

But here's my concern. Let's say the Rangers sneak in as a wild card this season. Let's be optimistic and say they upset the Carolina Hurricanes in the first round. Then what? Does anybody seriously believe this team can win the Stanley Cup? Me neither.

And that brings me to the sixty-four thousand dollar question. What's the plan? Is this the start of another three-year window followed by consecutive seasons without making the playoffs? How many more times do we have to ride this sick roller coaster? I was 33 the last time this franchise won the Stanley Cup. I was hoping to see one more before I die.

That's the biggest problem I have with Drury. He keeps making the same mistakes over and over again. Name one time when he didn't take a short cut. From the moment he got the job, he's seemed more interested in keeping it than doing the hard work required to win a championship. Case in point: J.T. Miller. Rather than admit he made a mistake and buy out his contract, he's determined to keep him, no matter how badly his skills have deteriorated. The signing of Bjorkstrand is another case in point. Yes, he's a good player, but at this stage of his career he's basically a bottom six forward. How much you wanna bet Sullivan puts him on the second line, thus taking a spot away from a younger player?

Take a good look at the job Leon Rose has done with the Knicks. In six years he transformed one of the worst franchises in professional sports into NBA champions. And he did that without taking a single short cut; by making the tough decisions that needed to be made; by thinking long term instead of short term; and while working for the same boss Drury reports to: James Dolan. Don't tell me you can't succeed with a demanding owner.

There's a reason why the Rangers have won only one Stanley Cup since World War II. They just haven't been good enough to win another. With Chris Drury at the helm, that isn't likely to change anytime soon.

Drury Goes 4 for 4 on Draft Night

As you might've surmised, I haven't been writing much about the Rangers lately. In fact, this is only my third piece on them since Thanksgiving. You can hardly blame me, what with the Knicks having their best season in over five decades.

It's been a rough couple of years for Chris Drury. From the heights of winning the President's trophy to the depths of consecutive seasons without making the playoffs, he's earned every bit of grief that's come his way. But as critical as I've been of him, I do believe in giving credit where credit is due. 

Going into the 2026 NHL Draft, the pressure on Drury was enormous. He had two picks in the first round: the 5th and 26th; he had a center he was looking to unload; another center he had his eye on; a boatload of cap space with a shopping list; and a fanbase that was growing increasingly frustrated at the constant failures and the tired excuses. To be perfectly honest, I wasn't expecting much.

How wrong I was. Maybe it was the carryover effect from Leon Rose, but Drury had one his best nights of his tenure as President and GM. 

It began with a bombshell trade: The Rangers acquired the rights to Pavel Dorofeyev from the Vegas Golden Knights in exchange for the 26th and 92nd picks in this year's draft and a top 10 protected first rounder in 2028. Dorofeyev led the Golden Knights in goals scored the last two season with 37 and 35 respectively, but he was an RFA and Vegas didn't have the cap space to re-sign him. That Drury was able to land him without giving up the better of his two first round picks was quite a feather in his cap.

The night was just getting started, however. With the 5th pick, he chose Alberts Smits, a burly left-handed defenseman who, at the age young age of 18, played for Team Latvia in the Olympics. Though fans were hoping for Carsons Carels and Chase Reid - both of whom have higher ceilings - Drury went with the player a majority of scouts say is NHL ready. I would not be at all surprised if he plays opening night on the second pairing.

But you know the old saying: the best trades are the ones you don't make. The day before the draft, Frank Seravalli tweeted that the Rangers were one of two teams that were in negotiation with the Anaheim Ducks for the services of Mason McTavish. It's no secret that McTavish had been on Drury's radar for quite some time. If history was any indicator, most of us were fearing the worst. The Rangers were about to overpay for a good, but hardly elite, center. When news broke that the Ducks had traded McTavish to the St. Louis Blues for two first round picks, the sighs of relief could be heard from 8th Avenue to the Van Wyck.

Last but not least, there's Vincent Trocheck. Drury has been looking to move the second-line center since before the trade deadline, but his asking price has been a first round pick and a high-level prospect. When he didn't get what he was looking for, rather than sell low, he opted to keep him and wait until the Draft to try again. Like the McTavish situation, the fear was that Drury would panic, but damn if he didn't surprise us again. I said it back in March, and I'll say it agin: it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if Trocheck was still on the roster next season. At $5.6 million, he has a very manageable cap hit, and he's still capable of putting up 60 points. There's no need to move him just for the sake of moving him. Drury undoubtedly feels the same way. Good for him.

Well, what'd ya know? Four opportunities to do the right thing and Drury went four for four. Can dogs and cats sleeping together be far behind. I haven't said this in a while, but well done.

Now before we get too far ahead of ourselves, it's important to keep in mind that even with the addition of Dorofeyev this is still not a playoff team. Whether Drury trades Trocheck or not, we still don't know how good Gabe Perrault is; or whether Alexis Lafreniere's last 20 games of the regular season was the real deal or just a mirage; or whether JT Miller has anything left in the tank; or whether anyone other than Adam Fox and Vladislav Gavrikov can play defense.

If this is indeed a retool, it's far from complete. There's still a lot more work that needs to be done. The good news is that after locking up Dorofeyev to a 7 year x $11 million AAV contract, Drury has $15 million in available cap space to work with; the most he's had since he was hired in 2021. 

If he's smart, he'll put it to good use. 

ELIMINATED!

It was fitting that on a night when the Rangers actually played one of their better games of the season, it was their goaltending that let them down. Well, at least they had more than 10 shots on goal.

How the mighty have fallen. To think that only two years ago the Blueshirts won the Presidents' Trophy and advanced to the Eastern Conference finals for the second time in three seasons. In spite of what the analytics community was saying, they were legitimate Cup contenders, even if their window was one of the shortest in franchise history. 

And now, for the second straight season, there will be no playoff games at Madison Square Garden. The Rangers were officially eliminated from postseason contention last night in Toronto. They are currently second from the bottom in the NHL standings. So much for "No Quit in New York." I hope J.T. Miller kept the receipts for those T-shirts. Maybe he can get a Happy Meal for them.

As you probably noticed, I haven't been writing much about the Rangers this season for two reasons: One, the Knicks have been a far better story; and two, there's only so much bile I can spit up. Watching this team brings new meaning to the term self abuse.

There are many culprits in this tragedy, but none more egregious than J.T. Miller. Captain Clunker is now sadly part of two of the worst trades in Rangers history: the first was when he was dealt to the Lightning in 2018 for a package that included Brett Howden; the second was when he was reacquired last year from the Canucks for Filip Chytil and a first round pick. Jesus, talk about double dipping. 

With a few rare exceptions, Miller has been brutal this season. How brutal? Without him in the lineup, the Rangers are 7-5-2; with him in the lineup, they're 21-30-7. Since his return from I.R., he has no goals and only 4 assists in seven games. During that span, New York is 1-5-1. Prior to that, they had won their last three games.

This wasn't what the Rangers envisioned when they brought him back to Broadway. Clearly, something is wrong. If he's injured, he shouldn't be playing; and if he isn't injured, there's no excuse for his performance. Either way, there's no justification for keeping a player making $8 million AAV through 2030 beyond this season. Chris Drury may not like retaining dead cap space on the books, but in this instance, he really has no other choice. He must buy out Miller's contract over the summer and rid the organization of an albatross that will cripple his efforts at rebuilding the roster.

Here's what a potential buy out for Miller would look like:

2026-27: $2.92m

2027-28: $5.42m

2028-29: $5.42m

2029-30: $2.92m

2030-31: $1.92m

2031-32: $1.92m

2032-33: $1.92m

2033-34: $1.92m

At first glance, this may seem like a lot of money to eat, but with the salary cap scheduled to go from $95.5 million to $104 million next season and $113.5 million the following year, it's not as bad as it looks. By year five the cap hit would be less than what a bottom six forward would cost. The alternative is keeping a subpar player on an aging contract who will only take valuable minutes away from a younger, more promising prospect. Better for Drury to cut his losses than to continue throwing good money after bad. This would be the no brainer of the decade.

Speaking of no brainers, it is imperative that the Rangers find out what they have in their pipeline. Continuing to dress players like Taylor Raddysh and Conor Sheary when you have players in Hartford that could be called up and looked at is absurd. With ten games to go in the season, Drury and Mike Sullivan need to give as much ice time as possible to these players.

To some extent, they've already begun to do that. Tye Kartye (who was claimed off waivers from the Kraken) has been a pleasant surprise, scoring 3 goals and 6 assists in 14 games with New York, and averaging 14 minutes per game playing on the third line. Jaroslav Chmelar is another young player who has 2 goals in 18 games. And last night, Adam Sykora made his NHL debut.

But the biggest, most pleasant surprise has come courtesy of the top six. Gabe Perrault has 4 goals and 9 assists this month; Mika Zibanejad, with 32 goals and 37 assists this season, is playing his best hockey since 2022-23; and Alexis Lafreniere has 11 goals and 10 assists since Artemi Panarin was traded to the Kings in January. Five of those goals have come on the power play. Over the last 13 games, the trio has 20 goals and 26 assists. In an otherwise lost season, they've been one of the few bright spots on this team.

Vincent Trocheck - who was almost traded - has 3 goals and 6 assists since the deadline. If Drury doesn't get a good enough offer for him over the summer, he should keep him. A 2C making $5.6 million is very manageable in this league, especially one who averages 60 points per season and wins 57 percent of his face offs.

Look, there's no way to sugar coat this. The Rangers are a bad team, and they will likely be a bad team for the foreseeable future. The best thing Drury can do is not make the same mistakes his predecessor made by taking short cuts. He needs to build through the draft, develop his young prospects, and when appropriate, make smart trades. That's the way most successful teams have done it. 

It's the way the Rangers did it under Emile Francis and Craig Patrick. 

Regular Seasons Matter

All throughout the 2022-23 regular season, the New York Rangers were a model of inconsistency. There were moments when they looked like the best team in the NHL, and then there were moments when they looked like a lottery team. And the most frustrating thing about them was you couldn't tell which Rangers team was going to show up: the world beater or the bottom feeder. Despite having arguably the most talented roster in franchise history - and that includes the '94 Cup team - the Blusher's finished in the third place in the Metropolitan division.

The players, for their part, didn't seem overly concerned. They were convinced that once the playoffs started, they would sort it all out. And who could blame them? After all, they made it to the Eastern Conference finals the year before. Who were we to question their strategy? 

Well we all know what happened. The Devils wound up beating the Rangers in the first round and Gerard Gallant was fired as head coach. The moral of the story was that regular seasons matter. The inconsistencies that plague teams during the regular season don't miraculously vanish once the postseason starts. There's no switch teams can throw that automatically catapults them to another level. You either have it or you don't. That year it was clear the Rangers didn't have it and they paid dearly for it.

Fast forward to 2025-26. The New York Knicks have had more ups and downs than a bipolar patient at Bellevue. A 23-9 start, followed by a 2-9 skid, followed by an eight-game win streak. They've beaten such teams as the Boston Celtics, the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Denver Nuggets and the L.A. Lakers, and they've also lost to the likes of the Indiana Pacers and the Sacramento Kings. At times they resemble title contenders; at others they resemble the sort of team Adam Silver was referring to when he addressed the issue of tanking in the NBA.

Sound familiar? It should. 

Like that Rangers team three years ago, this Knicks team is one of the most talented in franchise history. Indeed, you have to go all the way back to the Red Holzman era of the early 1970s to find a more talented roster. But as they used to say in Manhattan, that and a subway token will get you a ride on the 7th Avenue Express. If talent was all you needed, the Rangers would have at least four more championship banners hanging in the rafters at Madison Square Garden, and the Knicks would have at least two more. 

The truth is what you do in the regular season follows you into the playoffs. If you are inconsistent during the regular season, you are most likely going to be inconsistent in the playoffs. Even if we go back to last year's postseason run, the Knicks had to come from behind seven times: three against the Pistons, three against the Celtics and one against the Pacers. And in two of those comeback wins against the Celtics they were trailing by 20 points. They also had without question the worst fourth-quarter collapse in NBA history against the Pacers in game one of the Eastern Conference finals. As good as the Knicks have been under Leon Rose these last four seasons, they have been equally frustrating to watch.

Case in point: After routing the Sixers in Philly 138-89, the Knicks were manhandled by the Pistons at the Garden 126-111, needed a fourth-quarter comeback to beat the Rockets 108-106, almost blew a game they had no business losing to the Bulls in Chicago 105-99, and scored a paltry 11 points in the third quarter of a 109-94 loss to the Cavaliers in Cleveland.

While they went 2-2, they could easily have gone 0-4. Like I said, frustrating. The sad thing is when the Knicks play with a sense of urgency, they can beat almost anybody; when they don't, they are capable of losing to almost anybody. And that dichotomy is the single biggest concern I have about their prospects in the postseason. Which Knicks team is going to show up in April? If it's the former, they have a shot of getting back to the conference finals, maybe even the finals; if it's the latter, they could be eliminated in the first round.

Now to be fair, you could say the same thing about any playoff team in the NBA, NFL, NHL or MLB. The annals of sports history are filled with talented teams that failed in the postseason. But for a franchise that last celebrated a championship during the Nixon administration, it's an ominous warning; one that Mike Brown would do well to heed.

The first-year head coach was hired specifically to fix the shortcomings this Knicks team had under Tom Thibodeau. So far, it's been a mixed bag. There's no doubt that bench scoring has gone up under Brown. Last season, it averaged 21.7 points per game; this season, it's averaging 31.5 points per game. Brown has also increased the  number of players in the rotation. Last season, the running joke was that Thibs wouldn't use nine players in a baseball game; this season, Brown has utilized as many as eleven. 

That isn't the only improvement under Brown. Last season, the Knicks defensive rating was 115.3 (11th best in the NBA); this season, it's 114 (9th best); and over the last 16 games, it's 105.7 (first overall). Obviously, whatever struggles the Knicks are having do not appear to be affecting their defense. In the loss to Cleveland, they held a Cavs team that is averaging just under 120 points per game to 109 points, 74 over the last three quarters.

So what exactly is the problem? Despite the increase in scoring from the bench, the starting five has had a hard time "figuring out" Brown's system. Karl-Anthony Towns in particular has struggled the most. It's no secret that when Rose traded for KAT in the summer of '24 he was not getting the second coming of Bill Russell. The Knicks needed a center who could score and score he did. In his first year on Broadway, Towns averaged 24.4 points per game and 42 percent from three-point range. This season, he's averaging 20 points per game and 36.7 percent from three.

But it isn't just his overall production that's slipped; it's his involvement in the offense. Against the Cavs, he took only five shots the entire game. To put that in perspective, Mitchell Robinson took six. By no means was this the first time KAT went MIA. Against the Celtics earlier this month, he went 3-9 for 11 points; against the Raptors in January, he went 3-11 for 8 points; against the Sixers, he went 2-4 for 10 points before fouling out; and in New York's first game against Detroit, he went 1-4 for 6 points. 

There's no getting around it, the Knicks need their all-star center if they have any hope of going deep in the playoffs. Forget about the Pistons, without a productive Towns, they'd have a hard time beating the Orlando Magic. Brown has to find a way to get him unlocked or this season of high expectations will go up in smoke.

And not just Towns. Mikal Bridges was supposed to be the biggest beneficiary in Brown's system. But that hasn't been the case. He's averaging 15.7 points per game this season, down two from last season. We're way past whether he was worth the five draft picks Rose gave up for him. Bridges, like KAT, must get more involved in the offense.

Look, it's not too late. There are 23 games left in the regular season, more than enough time for the Knicks and their head coach to "figure out" what's wrong and to fix it. But one thing's for certain: talent alone won't save them.

This Was the Shortest Window in Rangers History

When Jeff Gorton sent out his letter on February 8, 2018, informing the fanbase that the Rangers were going to be sellers at the trade deadline, it took everyone by surprise. Despite losing seven of their last eight games, the Blueshirts were still in contention for a playoff spot. This was a team that had made the playoffs seven straight years, advanced to two conference finals and one Cup final. Certainly there was a move or two the Rangers GM could've made to make it eight straight years.

But Gorton could see the writing on the wall. Even before the 1-7 skid, there were tell-tale signs that this core had run its course. As difficult as it was to pull the plug, he did what he thought was best for the franchise. We can debate how the rebuild went down, but not why.

Fast forward eight years. Chris Drury, like his predecessor, could also see the writing on the wall. So he sent out his own letter to the fanbase, giving them the bad news. However, this current Rangers team, in no way, shape, or form bears any resemblance to the one Gorton tore down. Two seasons removed from winning the Presidents' trophy, this team is in year two of a steep decline. Not only are they not in contention for a playoff spot, they are currently in last place in the Eastern Conference. The only thing keeping them from last place in the league are the bottom feeders in the Western Conference. 

Going all the way back to the 1967 expansion, I can't remember a shorter window for this franchise. All the Rangers have to show for a four-year rebuild is two trips to the conference finals and one bitter first-round exit at the hands of the Devils. Three fucking years! If your financial advisor gave you that kind of return on your investments, you'd fire him. Fortunately for Drury, he works for James Dolan, where loyalty is valued over competence.

When the final chapter is written on this team, its legacy will be that it relied way too much on special teams and goaltending to mask its flaws; flaws that were exposed by better teams like the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2022 and the Florida Panthers in '24. Their sudden rise and fall should serve as a warning to every GM in the league that there are no shortcuts when it comes to building a championship team. You either have the stomach to do it the right way or you botch it, like Drury did.

Not that there weren't some good moments. If Jacob Trouba doesn't take a holding penalty in the second period of game three against the Bolts, the Blueshirts probably win that game and take a 3-0 series lead. Who knows? Maybe they would've advanced to the finals. But as Don Cherry said when the Bruins lost to the Canadiens in the '79 semifinals, "If my aunt had nuts she'd be my uncle."

So now what? Carson Soucy was the first to be dealt: to the Islanders for a third-rounder. Next up will be Artemi Panarin. The winger has been a healthy scratch the last two games due to "roster management," which is short for your ass is outta here as soon as we find the right team. After that, who knows? Vincent Trocheck, Alexis Lafreniere, Braden Schneider, all could be gone in the next couple of weeks. The guy I feel sorry for is Vladislav Gavrikov. The 6-3, 220 pound defenseman undoubtedly left money on the table to come here and play with his buddy Panarin. With Panarin gone and the prospect of the Rangers being in rebuild mode for the next few years. I wouldn't be surprised if Vlady ends up asking for a trade; right after he fires his agent. 

As for the rebuild, the biggest problem Drury will have is Dolan. Let's face it, the man handles bad news about as well as a vampire handles a sunrise. He fired John Davidson and Gorton because he grew impatient with the progress of their rebuild. Well, guess what? Rebuilds that take less than five years are not rebuilds; they're retools. Take a good look at the Detroit Red Wings. It took Steve Yzerman seven years to complete his rebuild, and now the Wings are in second place in the Atlantic division. In Anaheim, Pat Verbeek is in year five of his rebuild, and the Ducks currently hold the last wild card spot in the Western Conference, albeit with the help of two Rangers castaways: Trouba and Chris Kreider. 

To paraphrase a well-known song, you can't hurry success. In the cap era, the four most successful teams have been the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Chicago Blackhawks, the Lightning and the Panthers. All four have won multiple Stanley Cups and all four had cores that were built primarily through the draft and later supplemented through trades and a few free-agent signings. The Rangers attempted to do it the other way around, in essence putting the cart before the horse.

The trade for Trouba and the subsequent signing of Panarin in the summer of 2019 - celebrated at the time - in retrospect, short-circuited a rebuild that needed more time. That affected the development of Kaapo Kakko and Lafreniere, both of whom were consigned to bottom six roles on a team that now had unrealistic expectations foisted upon it. The acquisitions of Barclay Goodrow and Ryan Reaves in Drury's first offseason were the direct result of an overreaction to the Tom Wilson incident at the Garden; and that spelled the end of Pavel Buchnevich's career on Broadway; which in turn led to a litany of deadline deals to fill the vacancy on the Mika Zibanejad line. Indeed, virtually every transaction Drury has made during his tenure as GM and President has been reactionary and was done to accelerate a process that in his heart he had to have known would be short-lived, if it worked at all.

And now that reality has caught up with him and the franchise, the sixty-four thousand dollar question is this: Will he and his boss finally admit that they fucked up and do it right this time? Or will they repeat the same mistake? Knowing this organization, it'll probably be the latter. But let's be optimistic for a change. After all, Dolan finally cried uncle with respect to the basketball operation and hired someone who actually knows how to put together a roster the right way. Say what you want about Leon Rose, but over the last four seasons, the Knicks have been one of the best teams in the NBA. Frankly, they haven't looked this good since the 1990s. It's amazing what you can accomplish when you let your employees do their jobs.

So how does Drury excatly "do his job?" By stripping it down to the studs, that's how. I realize that'll be hard with Zibanajad and J.T. Miller holding no-move clauses, but you can still rebuild around them. Trade as many veterans as you can regardless of the fallout; accumulate draft capital; and, above all else, resist the temptation to go on a spending spree this summer or next. In other words, no more Panarins for the foreseeable future.

Next, play the kids, and by play, I mean in the top six, not the bottom six. Play them on the power play; play them on the penalty kill; play them at 4v4; PLAY THEM. It's time to find out whether Gabriel Perrault is the real deal or whether there was a legitimate reason why twenty-two other teams passed on him in the 2023 Draft.

This will be painful, especially if Panarin gets traded to the Islanders and they re-sign him to a five year extension; the Devils aren't going anywhere; and the nightmare of the late '90s and early 2000s is still fresh in the minds of many fans, this one included. Well, at least the Rangers will have solid goaltending during the rebuild, thanks to Drury signing Igor Shesterkin to an eight year, $92 million contract extension last year. Jesus, talk about having a Porsche in your driveway.

You know what they say: no pain, no gain.

Rangers fans have seen more than their fair share of pain; it's the gain that's been missing.

Don't Blame Sullivan for Mika Benching

The big story at Madison Square Garden last night wasn't that the New York Rangers lost to the much-improved Anaheim Ducks 4-1; their 12th loss in 16 home games and the ninth time this season they've been held to one goal or less on their own ice.

The big story was that Mike Sullivan benched Mika Zibanejad for being late to a team meeting and that was the reason they lost. Yes, Mika Zibanejad, who we're now supposed to believe is the second coming of Guy Lafleur, was so vital to his team's chances that without his presence, they did pretty much what they've been doing all year long: they shit the bed. Had it not been for a fluke gaol by Matthew Robertson, they would've suffered their sixth shutout of the season. And it's not even Christmas yet. 

I'm sorry, but did Mika play in the season opener against the Penguins? Did he play against the Capitals or the Oilers or the Wild or the Hurricanes or the Islanders or the Red Wings or the Lightning? Let me save you the trouble of looking it up: he did. Wanna know what the Rangers record was in those games? 0-8.

That the beat writers of this team would even suggest that Zibanejad's absence had any bearing on the outcome of this game is embarrassing. For the record, the reason the Blueshirts lost last night was because they surrendered a shorthanded goal while on a 5v3 power play and Igor Shesterkin whiffed on a shot by Cutter Gauthier to put the Ducks up 2-1 in the third period that nine times out of ten he stops. If you're going to grill Sullivan over anything how about his stubbornness in sticking with five forwards on the first power play unit, which is now 0-21 and has allowed two shorthanded goals? That would be a good place to start, don't you think? If anything, I applaud Sullivan for holding his players accountable. If Brian Daboll had handled his players as well as Sullivan handles his, he might still have his job.

Face it: no team in the NHL works harder at being mediocre than the Rangers. They bring new meaning to the word underwhelming. According to Steve Valiquette, New York had eleven high-danger scoring chances to Anaheim's six, and yet they couldn't convert on one of those chances. The Robertson goal was a mid-danger chance. Unusual? No, just standard operating procedure at the world's most famous arena. I swear these players would have a hard time finishing at a whore house. 

Want to hear something crazy? This team has less talent than the one Jeff Gorton decided to tear down in 2018. Just take a look at the numbers below. These are the adjusted point totals for the top six plus Adam Fox:

As you can see, Panarin is the only player scoring at around a point per game. To quote the great Dean Wormer of Faber College, "Congratulations, Bread, you're at the top of the Delta pledge class."

This isn't a top six; hell, it's barely a middle six. And it's why the Rangers are a middling team that if the season were to end today would miss the playoffs for the second straight year.

Nothing about this roster excites you; nothing in the pipeline excites you. The most encouraging thing you can say about this franchise is that if they continue at the pace they're on, they have a half-way decent shot of getting a lottery pick in next year's draft; that's assuming Drury doesn't do something stupid and trade it away. 

Seriously, I don't know how anybody looks at this team and says, "Oh, yeah, they're good." Good for what? If the word disappointment could be trademarked, the Rangers would be the General Motors of the NHL.

Over the last 50 years, I've had a front-row seat to four rebuilds: the mid-'70s; the late '80s; the late '90s to the early '00s; and the late 2010s. I've seen players come and go. And that's why I'm imploring Chris Drury to do the right thing and start another one.

Please spare me all the "But they're only two points out of a wild card spot" drivel. So in two years we've gone from winning the Presidents' trophy to possibly being the eight seed? If that's your argument, I don't want to hear it. Look at what the Knicks are doing. Now that's a team with a real shot at winning a championship. By comparison, the Rangers look like the guy who stayed too long at the bar and now can't get a ride home.

I'd love to be a fly on the wall when Drury tells Dolan this team, as currently constructed, can't win, especially since he's the principal architect of it. He won't be a happy camper, I can assure you of that, It isn't every day that you see a franchise have two rebuilds in less than a decade. Drury will be lucky if he isn't fired. And if you think Dolan wouldn't fire his GM, guess again. The man's paying Tom Thibodeau $30 million to NOT coach the Knicks. Somehow I don't think money is going to influence him one way or the other. 

But while doing a rebuild is risky, not doing it is far riskier. Every team in the Eastern Conference not named the Buffalo Sabres is deeper and younger than the Rangers, including a certain team that plays in Elmont. The longer Drury waits, the worse this situation will get.

Neil Smith waited too long to start his rebuild, and the Rangers went seven years without qualifying for the postseason. 

Fox Injury Could Be Blessing in Disguise for Rangers

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.

Make That Definite: the Rangers Aren't That Good

About three and a half weeks ago, I wrote a piece titled: "Is It Possible That Maybe the Rangers Just Aren't That Good?" The Rangers had just lost to the Calgary Flames 5-1 to drop their record to a woeful 3-5-2. They couldn't score at home and their top six looked more like a bottom six. "It's time to admit a painful truth," I wrote, "this team may not be as talented as I and others like me thought they were."

Well with less than a week to go before Thanksgiving, it's time to remove the word "maybe" from that title. The sad truth is that the Rangers simply aren't that good. It's not that they haven't had some good moments. They had a 2-0 win against the Canucks in Vancouver and a 3-2 OT win against the Kraken in Seattle; the latter quite possibly the most complete game they've played in over a year. And scoring six goals on only 18 shots against the Nashville Predators at the Garden constitutes front-page headlines these days. 

But apart from those games, and maybe a couple more, 2025-26 is looking remarkably similar to 2024-25, when the Rangers missed the playoffs by just six points. In fact, New York is on track to finish this season with 82 points, three less than they had all of last season. 

It's unsettling to discover that this franchise went through a four-year rebuild just so it can have a three-year window, but that appears to be the case. This core looks old and slow. Apart from Adam Fox and Will Cuylle, every player who was counted on to produce for this team is seriously underperforming. Below are the adjusted point totals for each player over an 82-game schedule.

I'll cut Vincent Trocheck some slack because he missed a month on LTIR, but there's no excuse for players like Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad, JT Miller and Alexis Lafreniere. In 2023-24, the Bread man had 31 multiple point games on his way to a 120 point season. This season, he's had only four such games. 

The problem with Panarin is that if he's not scoring, he's pretty much useless. He doesn't kill penalties and he's the last player you want on the ice if you're protecting a lead. Thursday night in Colorado, two of his turnovers led directly to Avalanche goals: one by Nathan MacKinnon, the other by Cale Makar. Both times the Rangers were ahead by a goal. With him slated to become a UFA at the end of the season, it's highly unlikely that Chris Drury will re-sign him.

Miller and Zibanejad were supposed to be this dynamic duo that would give the Rangers a legit number one line. So far, they've looked more like third liners. Indeed, at times, Noah Laba's line has looked more impressive than Miller and Zibanejad's. As for Lafreniere, he's looking more and more like a bust with each passing game. When Dave Maloney starts calling you out, you know you're bad.

The special teams that were supposed to be the hallmark of this team have been anything but. Thursday night was only the second time this season that the Rangers scored more than one power play goal in a game. They scored twice with the man advantage against the Penguins in Pittsburgh on October 11.

Igor Shesterkin, the rock upon which this franchise was built, look's nothing like the former Vezina trophy winner Drury rewarded with an eight-year, $92 million contract extension a year ago. Indeed, his backup, Jonathan Quick, is having a better season than he is, and for a tenth of the price.

And to think Mike Sullivan left Pittsburgh for this. I don't know promises Drury made to him, but given that the Penguins are currently ahead of the Rangers in the standings, I hope it was worth it. Let's face it, Scotty Bowman wouldn't be able to turn this middling team into a contender. James Dolan may not want to admit it, but the guy he entrusted to run this ship has run it straight into the ground.

I have been a Drury defender from day one; I'm done defending the man. He is currently the GM of a franchise that is in danger of missing the playoffs back-to-back seasons for the first time since Jeff Gorton had that title. And with no tangible plan to fix what's wrong, the prospects for the next several seasons are bleak, to say the least.

And the worst part about what's going on is that while the Rangers spin their wheels, across the Hudson, the Devils are the only team in the New York metro area with a shot at going deep in the playoffs; to the east, the Islanders are very quietly having their best season since 2020-21, when they were one win away from advancing to their first Stanley Cup final since 1984. The Blueshirts are dangerously close to reliving the nightmare of the '80s when they were outplayed and outclassed by their suburban rivals.

It's no longer too early in the season. Twenty-two games is enough of a sample size. The alarm bells are going off. The ship is listing badly and the outlook is dire.

All that's left is for the band to play "Nearer My God to Thee."

Is It Possible That Maybe the Rangers Just Aren't That Good?

"I do think they will make the postseason; they have too much talent not to."

- Peter W. Fegan

Some days I thank my lucky stars that I don't put my money where my mouth is. I'd be living in my car right now, or under it. Look, I realize it's still early; after all, the 2013-14 Rangers got off to a 3-7-0 start under Alain Vigneault and they not only made the playoffs, they went all the way to the Stanley Cup finals. This core is only one year removed from winning the Presidents' Trophy; certainly there's plenty of time to turn this ship around.

God, I wish that were so, I really do. But if we're being honest with ourselves, the only thing that Rangers team has in common with this one is the logo on their jerseys. This team looks old and slow. With the exception of two road games against the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Montreal Canadiens and two home games against the Washington Capitals and the Edmonton Oilers, they have been outplayed in all the other games. FYI, they lost both those home games. Think about it: they're 2-2 against teams they outplayed, and 1-3-2 against teams that outplayed them.

The top six has looked more like a bottom six. Artemi Panarin is tied with Adam Fox for the team lead in scoring with seven points, and four of those points came against the Canadiens; Mika Zibanjead has three goals, and is on track to finish the season with 50 points; the "Captain" J.T. Miller has two goals and six points; and Alexis Lafreniere hasn't scored since October 9. There are kids on milk container cartons that are more conspicuous. At times this season, the bottom six has performed better than their top six counter parts. Exhibit A: perennial fourth liner Taylor Raddysh leads the team with four goals. 

The Rangers are the second worst scoring team in the NHL this season. Last night, they gave up five goals to a Calgary Flames team that had scored even fewer. And that was two nights after they lost 6-5 in overtime to the previously winless San Jose Sharks. Think about it: against two of the worst teams in the league, the best the Blueshirts could muster was one point. Just imagine what's going to happen when they start playing the elite teams. If the season ended today, not only would the Rangers not qualify for the playoffs, they'd be in excellent position to win the draft lottery. 

It's time to admit a painful truth: this team may not be as talented as I and others like me thought they were. Even with a healthy Vincent Trocheck - who, by-the-way, still hasn't resumed skating and is likely out until late November - this roster doesn't exactly scare the pants off you. From the 2021-22 season through the 2023-24 season, the Rangers power play was fourth in the NHL at 25.3 percent. Not coincidentally, they posted records of 52-24-6, 47-22-13 and 55-23-4. But last season, that vaunted power play plummeted to a paltry 17.6 percent, (21st) and as a result, the Rangers finished 39-36-7 and missed the playoffs.

This season, the power play has gotten off to an even worse start. After last night's game in Calgary, it's 19th in the league at 16 percent. For a team that struggles as much as the Rangers do at even strength, that simply isn't going to cut it. Let's face it: for three straight seasons, under two different coaches, the formula was pretty simple: score on the power play and let Igor Shesterkin do the rest. If either one didn't come through, the result was typically a loss. And that is precisely what we've been seeing the last two seasons: a flawed team that relied way too much on its power play and its goaltending to win, and is now sowing what it reaped.

So what happened? How did a team that went through a four-year rebuild end up with a three-year window? It's complicated. 

Let's go all the way back to that memo then G.M. Jeff Gorton sent out in the winter of 2018 informing the fanbase that he was going to break up the core and start a rebuild. Over the next twelve months, the Rangers traded Rick Nash, Michael Grabner, Ryan McDonagh, Miller and fan favorite Mats Zuccarello. As a result, they missed the playoffs two straight seasons. 

But while Gorton may have cleaned house, he did not strip it down to the studs, so to speak. He left enough talent in place for the team to be competitive. That spring, the Rangers wound up with the second overall pick in the Amateur Draft and selected Kaapo Kakko. The New Jersey Devils, with the first overall pick, chose Jack Hughes. The consensus at the time was that Kakko was a can't miss prospect who had the potential to be an elite winger in the NHL.

Then in the summer of 2019, Gorton short-circuited his own rebuild by trading for Jacob Trouba and signing Panarin to a seven-year contract worth $11.6 million per. While the Rangers record improved enough to qualify for the play-in round against the Carolina Hurricanes, they were none-the-less swept in three games. It wasn't a total loss, though; the Rangers wound up with the number one pick in the 2020 Amateur Draft, which they then used to select Lafreniere.

I'll say it again: both Kakko and Lafteniere were considered legitimate picks at the time they were taken, especially Lafreniere, who all the scouts agreed was the best player on the board. That neither has blossomed into the elite forwards they were projected to become, does not change anything. When you have the number one pick, you take the number one prospect. 

But even with two promising young wingers and Panarin, the Rangers still missed the playoffs. Owner James Dolan was growing impatient with the rebuild and after the Tom Wilson incident at the Garden, he lost it. In what can only be described as the most bizarre moment in Rangers history, he fired Gorton and Team President John Davidson.

Enter Chris Drury. Dolan gave the new President and GM two marching orders: 1. Make the playoffs; 2. Make sure the Wilson incident was never repeated. Drury fired David Quinn and replaced him with Gerard Gallant. He then traded Pavel Buchnevich for Sammy Blais and used the remaining cap savings to sign Ryan Reaves and Barclay Goodrow. Under Gallant, New York had its best season since 2015. With Reaves and Goodrow, the Rangers were no longer easy pushovers. They not only made the playoffs, they advanced all the way to the Eastern Conference finals before losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning in six. 

Despite the loss, the season was considered a glowing success. Zibanjad, Panarin, Fox and Chris Kreider all had career years. Shesterkin established himself as an elite goalie. The Kid Line of Kakko, Lafreniere and Filip Chytil, whom Gorton had drafted in 2018, was growing up in front of our eyes. The future certainly looked bright for the Blueshirts.

But when the 2022-23 season didn't get off to a good start, doubts about the core began to creep in. Trouba, who had been named captain before the start of the season, threw his helmet and screamed at his teammates. Drury grew frustrated at the inconsistencies he saw on the ice, and went whole hog at the trade deadline, acquiring both Vladimir Tarasenko and Patrick Kane. The Rangers went into the playoffs with arguably their most talented roster since the 1991-92 team. It didn't matter. After going up 2-0 against the Devils, New Jersey won four of the next five games to eliminate New York.

Drury pinned the blame for the collapse on Gallant and replaced him with Peter Laviolette. And just like they had done in Gallant's first year behind the bench, the Rangers not only had a great season under Laviolette, they won the Presidents' trophy for the first time since 2015. Once more, they advanced to the conference finals where they lost to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers. It was a bitter end to an otherwise excellent season, but this time around, Drury saw something that didn't quite sit well with him.

Despite their record, the Rangers were still a middling team at even strength. Too many of their wins were owed to their special teams and goaltending. The Panthers didn't just beat them, they schooled them. To his credit, Drury took notes. That summer, needing cap space, he waived Goodrow and attempted to trade Trouba. The former complained; the latter balked. The offseason maneuvering did not sit well with the players. Despite getting off to a 12-4-1 start, Drury still didn't like what he was seeing. He sent a letter to every GM in the league indicating he was open for business. Both Trouba and Kreider were mentioned in the letter. Trouba eventually cried uncle and accepted a trade, while Kreider, who was already having an off year, sulked along with his BFF Zibanejad. Kreider would eventually be traded this summer while Zibanejad reiterated he had no intention of going anywhere. The only good thing to come out of that hellish nightmare of a season was Drury reacquiring Miller for Chytil, who despite his enormous potential, could never stay healthy.

Once more Drury changed coaches. Mike Sullivan replaced Laviolette behind the bench. The hope was that Sully would be able to motivate this team, but that hasn't happened. The same issues continue to plague them: an inability to generate offense at 5v5; over-passing in the offensive zone, poor puck management in the defensive zone; an ineffective and predictable power play. When Igor isn't standing on his head, this team looks absolutely pathetic. 

So here we stand: a Rangers team that, on paper at least, should be better than its record indicates. Despite an average age of 28, most of the core is over 30, with Panarin leading the way at 34. And while Panarin will be a UFA next summer, Zibanejad, Trocheck and Fox are signed for the next several years to contracts that have either no movement or no trade clauses. That means Drury is as stuck with them as we are.

I honestly don't know where we go from here. What I can tell you is this: the Devils are a good, young team with a much more promising future than the Rangers, and at UBS Arena, the Islanders, thanks to winning the draft lottery, have the best young defenseman to lace up a pair of skates since Cale Makar. 

I'm old enough to remember the mid-1970s when the Rangers couldn't get out of their own way and a GM by the name of Bill Torrey assembled a team on Long Island that would go on to win four consecutive Cups.

I would not be in the slightest bit shocked if history ended up repeating itself. 

Record Setting

First, the good news: So far this season, Igor Shesterkin has stopped 103 of 106 shots on goal. His backup, Jonathan Quick, has stopped 20 of 21 shots on goal. Together, the pair have a combined save percentage of .969, by far the best in the league. More good news, over their last three games, the New York Rangers have thoroughly outplayed their opponents, out-chancing them 95-56; and 29-12 in high danger chances.

Now for the bad news: Despite all that, the Rangers are 2-3-0 under Mike Sullivan. As if that weren't bad enough, they are the first team in the 107 year history of the NHL to be shut out in their first three home games. Now that's what I call record setting.

In the five and half decades I've been following this team, I thought I'd seen it all. Injuries to key players, fluke goals, bad giveaways, bad luck, no luck at all. But I never saw this coming. Then again I never saw the Mets collapse either. And to add insult to injury, Chris Kreider, who Chris Drury traded over the summer, has scored four goals in three games for the Anaheim Ducks. The Monday morning quarterbacks are already in mid-season form.

There are two ways of looking at this. 1. The Rangers have been victimized by some pretty damn good goaltending, which for them is a switch since usually it's the other way around; 2. They lack the firepower to finish in the offensive zone.

If I had to guess, I'd say it's a little bit of both. Let's be honest, after being the beneficiaries of Igor's heists over the last few years, it was inevitable that the pendulum might swing back, if only for a while. The hockey gods do have a sense of humor, you know. But with Vincent Trocheck on LTIR and Artemi Panarin clearly not himself after sustaining a pre-season injury, that's hardly the 1985 Edmonton Oilers out there.

It's telling that the Rangers leading goal scorer is Adam Fox with three. No one else has more than one. Last night against the Oilers, the best line on the ice for the Blueshirts was Sam Carrick centering Adam Edstrom and Matt Rempe. They combined for three of New York's ten high-danger scoring chances. 

For this team to have any chance of making the playoffs, let alone advancing, they are going to need their top six to produce. And by produce, I mean more than four goals. Mika Zibanjead leads the league in shots on goal with 22, which is nice to see, but he has found the back of the net only once. That isn't going to cut it. Until Trocheck returns, he has to take up the slack.

And while Panarin gets back to his old self, the spotlight is on Alexis Lafreniere. This is his sixth year in the NHL and the former overall number one draft pick still has yet to deliver on his promise. Aside from the game against the Sabres in Buffalo, he has been virtually invisible so far this season. It's time for him to shit or get off the pot.

Look, I'm not going to panic. J.T. Miller has a point when he told reporters after the game, "Let’s not make this bigger than it is. It’s game five. A lot to like about our game. It’s a unique situation, but let’s not blow this out of proportion here." However, if they're still having trouble scoring after twenty games, I'd start worrying.

For now, as an old manager of mine used to say, "It is what it is." The Rangers have played five games this season; they've lost three of them. Not the start they wanted, but it's still early.

2025-26 Rangers and NHL Preview

Back in May, I wrote that there were some "interesting parallels" between Chris Drury hiring Mike Sullivan and Neil Smith hiring Mike Keenan.

In the 1991-92 season, the Rangers won the Presidents' trophy but did not win the Cup. They struggled mightily the following season, missing the playoffs. Under Keenan, the Blueshirts went on to win their first Cup in 54 years. 

In the 2023-24 season, the Rangers won the Presidents' trophy but failed to win the Cup. They struggled mightily the following season, missing the playoffs. No doubt Drury is banking on lightning striking twice.

Of course for a franchise that has won exactly one Stanley Cup championship since World War II, Drury is going to need more than lightning striking twice. He might need a category five hurricane.

That being said, I thought Sullivan was the right choice at the right time for this team. While he hasn't made the playoffs since the 2021-22 season, he is well respected and appears to have the right demeanor for a veteran roster whose window is still open, if barely.

However, there's a difference between being the right choice and being a miracle worker. Two seasons ago, the Blueshirts overachieved under Peter Laviolette. The following season, they crashed and burned and Laviolette was fired. For Sullivan to succeed, three things will have to happen.

The power play has to improve. Under assistant coach David Quinn, the Penguins power play went from 15.3 percent (24th) in 2023-24 to 25.8 percent (4th) in 2024-25. Last season, the Rangers power play finished 17.6 percent (21st). The hope is that Quinn can replicate what he did in Pittsburgh for a team that missed the playoffs by six points. 

The bottom six has to produce. The prevailing sentiment is that the top six will pull their weight. Mika Zibanejad should benefit from playing a full season with J.T. Miller, and Artemi Panarin will once again lead the team in scoring. It's the bottom six that is the concern. If Noah Laba, who made the roster after a solid preseason, is the real deal, the Rangers may finally have a legit 3C.

Cut down on the goals against. In 2023-24, the Rangers allowed a 5th best 226 goals against; in 2024-25, they allowed an 11th worst 255. Among teams that made the playoffs last season, only the Montreal Canadiens gave up more goals (265). Signing Vladislav Gavrikov to play alongside Adam Fox should give New York its best defensive pairing since Ryan McDonagh and Dan Girardi a decade ago. Carson Soucy, though, remains a question mark.

Prognosis: Despite a so-so preseason, I remain optimistic about this team's ability to bounce back. No, I do not think they will win the Metro, much less the Presidents' Trophy, but I do think they will make the postseason; they have too much talent not to. Based on where they finished last season, if they manage to avoid another November swoon, they could win an additional five to seven games, which should be good enough for third place.

Prediction: 45-30-7, 97 points.

Below are my predictions for the rest of the league. As per usual, I will pick the top three teams in each division, both wild cards for each conference, and the close, but no cigar contingent. 

Eastern Conference:

Metropolitan Division:

Carolina Hurricanes: Year after year, the hockey "experts" underestimate this team; and year after year, they are proven wrong. 

New Jersey Devils: Losing Jack Hughes down the stretch killed them last season. If he stays healthy, they should challenge for the division lead.

New York Rangers: Mike Sullivan and his coaching staff will fix what went wrong last season. 

Atlantic Division:

Toronto Maple Leafs: As strange as it may seem, losing Mitch Marner will help them, especially in the postseason. 

Tampa Bay Lightning: They may have been eliminated by the Panthers in the first round, but this is still very much an elite team with a Hall of Fame coach behind the bench.

Florida Panthers: Losing Matthew Tkachuk and Aleksander Barkov to injuries - the latter for the season - is a helluva gut punch. But thanks to Bill Zito, this is the deepest roster in the NHL.

Wild Cards:

Washington Capitals: They overachieved last season; I doubt that happens again this season.

Ottawa Senators: This is a good, young core that has a bright future, led by Brady Tkachuk, Matthew's younger brother. 

Close, but no cigar: 

Montreal Canadiens: Someone needs to explain to me how this organization gave up two first round picks for Noah Dobson. Me thinks Jeff Gorton strikes again. 

New York Islanders: Their future looks bright with Matthew Schaefer; it's their present that is the problem.

Western Conference: 

Central Division:

Dallas Stars: They have one of the deepest forward groups in the NHL. Had it not been for Pete DeBoer, they likely would've gone to the finals last season.

Colorado Avalanche: Their top four players are arguably the best in the league; it's their depth that could prove problematic come the playoffs.

St. Louis Blues: Everyone is sleeping on this team, which makes no sense given their roster and the fact that they have one of the best goalies in the league.

Pacific Division:

Vegas Golden Knights: Kelly McCrimmon went all out during the offseason to sign Mitch Marner. This could be the most talented roster he has ever assembled.

Edmonton Oilers: Connor McDavid has basically given his GM two years to assemble a team around him capable of winning the Cup. Good luck with that. 

Los Angeles Kings: A good mix of youth and experience will get this team across the threshold. 

Wild Cards:

Minnesota Wild: Bill Guerin was smart to lock up Kirill Kaprizov. Now he has the cap space to build around him.

Utah Mammoth: Something special is brewing in Salt Lake City. 

Close, but no cigar:

Winnipeg Jets: On the bright side, we won't have to watch them choke in the postseason. 

Anaheim Ducks: Chris Kreider will re-discover his scoring touch. It won't be enough for his new team.

Playoffs:

Eastern Conference Finals: Lightning over Hurricanes 4-2

Western Conference Finals: Stars over Golden Knights 4-3

Stanley Cup Finals: Stars over Lightning 4-3

Year End Awards:

Presidents' Trophy: Vegas Golden Knights

Art Ross Trophy: Connor McDavid, Oilers

Hart Trophy: Nikita Kucherov, Lightning

Norris Trophy: Quinn Hughes, Canucks

Vezina Trophy: Igor Shestrkin, Rangers

Jack Adams Award: Glen Gulutzan, Stars

Conn Smythe Trophy: Mikko Rantanen, Stars

Drury Silences the Critics, for Now

Let's face it: the last twelve months have not been particularly good for New York Rangers fans. Barclay Goodrow waived, the infamous memo, Jacob Trouba traded, the team imploding, Kaapo Kakko, Filip Chytil and Ryan Lindgren sent packing, Peter Laviolette fired, Mike Sullivan hired, Chris Kreider shipped out. Jesus, a circus has less excitement. One could certainly be forgiven for being jaded about this team's prospects going into free agency. To tell you the truth, my expectations were pretty low.

But you know the old saying, when life hands you lemons, you make lemonade out of them. Well, Chris Drury did better than that; he took those lemons and he made a lemon soufflé out of them.

At 12:49, the first domino fell. Vladislav Gavrikov: $7 million x 7. Those of us who were following the news on Twitter thought it was a misprint. No way Drury signed the number one UFA defenseman on the open market for that much. Only the previous day, the Columbus Blue Jackets re-signed Ivan Provorov to a 7 year, $8.5m AAV extension. Based on that, you had to figure Gavrikov would come in at $9m easy. But, sure enough, it wasn't a misprint. Drury got his man for below market value. So far, so good.

Over the next several hours, the majority of us kept refreshing our time lines, widely speculating on what Drury's next move would be. Re-sign Will Cuylle, dump K'Andre Miller, add a scorer.  At 5:24, Larry Brooks broke the news. Cuylle was re-signed to a two year bridge deal with a $3.9m AAV. A sigh of relief went up in Rangersland. With Matthew Knies getting $7.75m x 6 from the Toronto Maple Leafs, the prevailing sentiment was that Cuylle would certainly get an offer sheet somewhere around $5m. But as the hours wore on, it was looking more and more like the Rangers were going to dodge a bullet.

The next domino fell right before 6:00. Miller to Carolina in a sign and trade for a conditional first round pick, a second round pick and defenseman Scott Morrow. Murrow was considered the top prospect in the Hurricanes organization. Eric Tulsky actually agreed to an 8 year, $7.5m AAV contract for a player with more turnovers than a bakery on Christmas morning. Maybe Rod Brind'Amour can turn him around, but, frankly, I have my doubts. Good luck, Canniacs, you're gonna need it.

Wow! What can I say? In less than six hours, Drury signed his number one free agent target for less than what most thought he would have to pay, re-signed one of his best two-way forwards to a very team-friendly deal, and rid himself of a defenseman responsible for more gray hairs than Methuselah. 

But Drury wasn't done. Later that evening he signed forward Taylor Raddysh to a two year, $1.5m AAV contract. Raddysh had 7 goals and 27 points for the Washington Capitals last season, and in 2022-23, registered a career-high 20 goals for the Chicago Blackhawks. At 6-3, 198 lbs, he should make an ideal bottom six forward. Even the Drury haters were forced to admit he was on a roll.

Now by no means is this team a Cup contender. They still have Carson Soucy on their roster, and if you thought Miller was bad, Soucy makes him look like a cross between Scott Stevens and Brian Leetch. And Mika Zibanejad, who had his worst season since 2017-18, is still a huge question mark going into this season. Pending any additional moves, the Rangers are a Wild Card, borderline third-place team at best. Sullivan may wish he'd stayed in Pittsburgh.

However, that shouldn't detract from what Drury has done here. Think about it: in just over a year, he has turned over more than a third of the roster and made this team younger and tougher. Gavrokov is the best left-handed defenseman the organization has had since Ryan McDonagh; Will Cuylle has a chance to become one of the best two-way forwards in the NHL; and in just the last three months, the Rangers went from having practically no draft capital to having two first rounders in 2026, one in '27 and one in '28. They also have second round picks in '26 and '28, as well as a third, fifth and sixth-round pick in all three years. In other words, they're loaded.

Sam Pollock he ain't, but he sure as shit ain't Phil Esposito.

Exploring Drury's Options After Sending His 2025 Pick to Pittsburgh

Earlier today, the New York Rangers announced that they were sending their 2025 first round draft pick - 12th overall - to the Pittsburgh Penguins and retaining their 2026 first rounder. The move completes the trade in which the Rangers acquired J.T. Miller from the Vancouver Canucks back in February for a top-13 protected number one. The Rangers had until 48 hours before the Draft to decided which pick they were keeping. The reason it's going to Pittsburgh and not Vancouver is because the Canucks traded it to the Pens in the Marcus Pettersson deal.

So what does this mean?

For starters, I don't think it means that Chris Drury believes next year's pick will be higher, e.g., better. For his sake, it better not be. Indeed, the prevailing sentiment around the NHL is that this team, even with all its flaws, is much better than what it showed last season. That doesn't mean the Rangers will win the Presidents' Trophy, but it does mean they should make the playoffs. Why else would Drury hire Mike Sullivan to coach the team if he didn't feel that way?

That's why this move was so vital. Holding onto next year's first round pick provides Drury with five possible options.

One: An Offer Sheet. For almost a month now the scuttlebutt around the league has had the Rangers signing J.J. Peterka of the Buffalo Sabres to an offer sheet. There was just one hitch. If they kept their '25 first rounder, the Rangers wouldn't have one to send to Buffalo in the event the Sabres couldn't match the offer. An offer sheet with an AAV of $7.02 million per would require a first and third round pick as compensation. Here's the thing, though: based on the CBA, even if Drury front loaded the offer sheet with signing bonuses in each year, the highest salary he can pay Peterka in year one is $8.775m: $8m signing bonus and $775k base. Difficult, but hardly insurmountable for Buffalo. But in the end, why would the Sabres bother matching an offer for a player who has made it clear he doesn't want to be there?

Two: Leverage. Drury doesn't actually have to sign Peterka to an offer sheet; he can just threaten to do so. Indeed, if he plays his cards right, he might be able to negotiate a deal with his counterpart Kevyn Adams in which he keeps his first rounder and gives up, say, Gabe Perrault, Brennan Othmann and a third round pick for Peterka or Alexis Lafreniere and Braden Schneider for Peterka and Bowen Byram. Drury would then have to sign both players to long-term deals.

Three: Trade deadline acquisition. If the Rangers have the kind of season Drury expects them to have, he can use that pick to land a player at the deadline that can hopefully put them over the top. And with the salary cap going up to $104 million in the 2026-27 season and $113.5 million the following season, he could acquire a player with term without worrying about going over the cap, something he couldn't do in past years.

Four: Keep it. There's no law that says you have to trade your pick. If the Rangers unexpectedly shit the bed again this coming season, that first round pick will come in handy along with all the other picks the Rangers will accumulate by being sellers at the deadline. But, I stress, this is unlikely. 

Five: Trade a player on the roster for another player or pick in this year's draft. K'Andre Miller's name has been mentioned as a possible trade chip to acquire a forward or perhaps a draft pick in the upcoming draft. As I mentioned in an earlier piece, the defenseman has regressed over the last couple of seasons and remains an enigma. Perhaps a change of scenery would be best for both parties. 

The drama continues. 

We'll know soon enough what Drury's intentions are.