Blais was a complete failure. Reaves actually was pretty good during his first season, and yes, the Rangers did actually become tougher to play against.
I mean wasn't this whole thing highlighted last spring? The Rangers had become the Capitals, Rempe was Tom Wilson. And Devils were the Rangers when that statement was made. Rangers dominated that team physically, and the Devils were forced to acquire MacDermid.
Becoming tough doesn't mean you become a good team though. But they did become tough in a span of few years.
Exactly, instead of addressing the obvious issues, like the lack of a true #1 center instead of just relying on Zibanejad to wildly outperform his abilities every year, they decided they had to goon it up, and traded their best two-way forward in order to do it (and yes, I know trading Boosh was inevitable, but the return was absolute shit).
Also, Rempe is an objectively horrid hockey player. Wilson isn't a star or anything but he was at least able to hold his own on the ice in his prime. I sure hope Rempe doesn't suffer from the same things that ultimately cost guys like Boogaard and Rypien their lives.
If anyone wants to see how to become "harder to play against" the right way, they should look at what Bill Zito did with the Panthros.
Oh, so THAT'S why Trudeau is getting the boot.
