Confirmed with Link: NYR Fire John Davidson and Jeff Gorton

[Tob]

People are reading FAR too much into Dolan's statement. As someone said it was "owner speak". This site has given it 10 times the thought Dolan has. Drury has to be more conservative as an actual operating executive of the team.

My first impression of that statement from Dolan is that he's talking about the prospects we've acquired has built a foundation and he's right. I don't think Dolan is trying to say this team right now should be busting skulls in the playoffs right now. I think he means we've sucked for a few years, picked high, won enough lottos, have Panarin, Kreider, Mika etc. and if we can put that all together, we can open a window. He isn't wrong once we get cap space back and I'm sure he understands our cap situation this year.

I'm sure Dolan meant it when he said there was no requirement to make the playoffs this year. Chris said it as well. I also see why he has no faith in Gorton after those 2 games against the Islanders and watching Trouba get hurt by Martin and then Panarin get dropped by Wilson and not a single Ranger challenged Wilson.

 

[SingnBluesOnBroadway]

Agreed. There was an interview eons ago where it was stated that if anyone touched Wayne, they would answer the bell to Mess, McSorley, and pretty much anyone that was out on the ice. There was a reason Marty played on a line with Wayne.

And when was that exactly?

 

[SnowblindNYR]

Ok, but isn't this a problem in of itself?I mean it's probably a big piece as to why JD and JG are gone. Lack of thought.

I'm not trying to sound like an ass, but this guy is the owner. Sorry if I take what he says seriously. Say what you want about the lack of thought put into his statements, but its those thoughts that ultimately have the biggest impact on leadership & direction of this club.

I mean, there's a big jump from "we should be competing for the Stanley Cup" which is a platitude and firing someone without putting much thought into it. Owners, GMs, and coaches use platitudes and empty statements like that all the time. There's a difference between Dolan making an offhand comment like that to rally the troops a bit and Drury not trying to put high expectations on himself and the franchise. What's wrong with essentially saying we should be a playoff team anyway? That's our expectation for next year, is it not?

 

[UnderPSI]

And when was that exactly?

If I had an exact date I wouldn't have said eons ago.

And thinking about it, might have been either from The boys on the bus or The boys are back movies.

 

[NYSPORTS]

Ok, but isn't this a problem in of itself?I mean it's probably a big piece as to why JD and JG are gone. Lack of thought.

I'm not trying to sound like an ass, but this guy is the owner. Sorry if I take what he says seriously. Say what you want about the lack of thought put into his statements, but its those thoughts that ultimately have the biggest impact on leadership & direction of this club.

respectfully, the dismissed hierarchy, who i loved, sent mixed signals.

1. When they resigned Kreider long term you are telling people the rebuild is over and we are ready to win. They added Strome short term and TDA. That spells winning right there (especially Kreider) who is added onto Panrain, Zibby and Trouba

2. Now they play the patience card b/c none of the kids are ready to win. Wait, so why did we resign Kreider and keep all these vets? By the time the kids are ready to win the vets will be too old to win potentially?

You cannot have your cake and eat it too.

 

[SA16]

You don't need any captain. Hockey somehow has people locked into this old school mindset of it being different. How is it possible no other major sports need full time captains yet in hockey it's some absolutely crucial role for the locker room?

 

[Oscar Lindberg]

Drury is saying all the right things publicly that somewhat alleviate concerns but the grim reaper aka Dolan that hangs about is still the most worrying thing about the whole situation

 

[sbjnyc]

I've always considered Dolan to be the worst owner in sports. The fact that Dolan's comments reported by Brooks seem reasonable means to me they must have been written by someone else and don't mean anything. There are people posting in this thread who strongly disagreed with me about Dolan being a terrible owner. That being said, my initial reaction to these moves was almost certainly an overreaction on my part. I'm fairly ambivalent on JG and DQ while my fandom for JD is based on my childhood memories and not necessarily what he's done the past 2 years. I still don't like the moves but while I wasn't expecting the rangers to make the playoffs in this division, the team just looked uncompetitive when it mattered. I don't know if its the roster or the coach and how it would change in the offseason.

BTW I'm surprised some yankee fans aren't concerned about Dolan's likening Drury to Brian Cashman. I have my doubts that Drury was hired to be a prospect hugger.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

You don't need any captain. Hockey somehow has people locked into this old school mindset of it being different. How is it possible no other major sports need full time captains yet in hockey it's some absolutely crucial role for the locker room?

Absolutely right. There's this weird mythology about hockey that borders on insecurity. It's the toughest, classiest sport that's only sport that needs inspiring leaders and enforcers.

 

[HatTrick Swayze]

This letter went out at the end of the 2018 season with 28 games remaining.

2019 was the first full year of our rebuild.

Last season was cut by Covid. 54 games. 56 games this season.

The organization asked us to be patient. Most of us have. Covid without a doubt hampered the teams development a bit.

This is complete horse shit. You ask us to be patient with the rebuild and then you sweep the carpet from under Gorts+JD. This is a team that was flirting with the playoffs despite being in the hardest division in the league.

Gong show. Slats and Dolan are buffoons.

Sums it all up. Complete gongshow. Can't believe they are letting the last year of weird COVID shit in tough operating environment with a flat cap carry so much weight. But again that's trying to ascribe rationality to an irrational decision.

Everyone who spent 5 minutes thinking things over and visiting CapFriendly knew that the 2021 & 2022 offseasons were going to be what made or broke the NYR's ability to contend in this window. Big changes and restructurings were coming. If I'm being optimistic I can choose to hope that Drury will do an amazing job handling that. Maybe the answers JD & JG were giving were truly too passive. But how can you not be afraid of the team doing something monumentally stupid this summer? It sucks.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

Sums it all up. Complete gongshow. Can't believe they are letting the last year of weird COVID shit in tough operating environment with a flat cap carry so much weight. But again that's trying to ascribe rationality to an irrational decision.

Everyone who spent 5 minutes thinking things over and visiting CapFriendly knew that the 2021 & 2022 offseasons were going to be what made or broke the NYR's ability to contend in this window. Big changes and restructurings were coming. If I'm being optimistic I can choose to hope that Drury will do an amazing job handling that. Maybe the answers JD & JG were giving were truly too passive. But how can you not be afraid of the team doing something monumentally stupid this summer? It sucks.

The NHL proceeded during Covid, just like life went on for businesses. The Rangers are a business as well. Dolan shouldn't just sit there on his hands giving everyone a free pass because it's Covid. And I'm more or less against this move but Covid is an excuse.

 

[Tob]

Frank Servalli dumps a rumor that JD and Gorts resisted a coaching change wanted by ownership. Servalli says he doesnt know how true that is but I'm guessing there's smoke/fire there for him to bring it up voluntarily in a pod. Also mentions the 9-0 game under Knob as the Rangers players being ready for a new coach.

Servalli's understanding that Worlds Championship US GM Drury offered Quinn the coaching job behind the scene for world champsionship

 

[nyr2k2]

I still maintain my belief that not much is going to change. Dolan likely has some issues with Gorton based on the way the team tended to embarrass themselves, wanted to make a move, and JD was collateral damage. That's what I'm inclined to believe after reading all of the incomplete and disparate reports on what happened. The fact that he's leaning on Slats, who has been a part of the show forever, and Gorton's protégé Drury, leads me to believe that the course isn't going to change much.

We'll probably make a splashy move. Honestly, given the collection of prospects and young players we have, there was a good chance that would happen anyway. If that move does happen, some will invariably seize on it as Dolan forcing a big trade to accelerate the process, which will probably not be an accurate portrayal. It will more likely just be Drury acknowledging that we have too many young defenseman for our own good, or so many young wingers that we don't have enough roster spots for them, or something similar.

Jim Dolan does not deserve the benefit of the doubt. I get that, and I get the concern that a lot of people have. It's fair to be concerned. I just see it as more of a situation where there were some tensions, not over the overall direction of the club but of specific aspects of the roster or staff, Dolan threw a fit, and now the leading man's vaunted understudy gets to take over to continue the performance. I could be wrong--Dolan could jump in and try to pull the strings to make Drury dance (I doubt Drury would consent to that arrangement), and this could be a return to the dark ages, but I just don't see it. Or feel it. I feel surprisingly...calm, about the whole thing. We'll see.

 

[patnyrnyg]

you are all missing the main point of why gorton and jd were fired, yes it is because of the TDA saga. hear me out

Gorton holds a ridiculous press conference saying unnecessarily that TDA has played his last game as a Ranger which effectively destroyed any trade value for TDA
it was a totally unprofessional press conference with JD sitting there like a doofus listening to every word and agreeing with Gorton

well the move backfires because no team has the cap space to trade for TDA and so TDA sits the entire season and his absence hurts the teams production and playoff hopes are eliminated

now Dolan is sitting there writing paychecks and he says to himself "why am I paying TDA 4.8 million per year and the guy is sitting at home and not playing?
plus the teams poor performance results in JD and Gorton being fired.

I said this multiple times on HF boards and got nothing but vile and contempt from posters Edge and True Blue and most everyone else.

what Gorton did was a fireable offense and he deserves it. Good riddance to Gorton and I hope Drury does an excellent job.

$4.8MM? Dolan has that in his pocket. Secondly, he was offered around basically for nothing and nobody wanted him, including those with cap space. LA could have had him and easily fit him, didnt want him. Devils could have taken him for practically nothing, same for the Wings where Staal claimed he was a model citizen or whatever his exact words wefe. Thirdly, the Rangers D was IMPROVED with him out of the line-up. He is terribly defensively and not producing offensively. If DeAngelo is the reason they were fired, then we are in deeper doo-doo than I originally thought.

 

[SingnBluesOnBroadway]

If I had an exact date I wouldn't have said eons ago.

That's my point. The game and the league has changed a lot since then.

 

[HatTrick Swayze]

The NHL proceeded during Covid, just like life went on for businesses. The Rangers are a business as well. Dolan shouldn't just sit there on his hands giving everyone a free pass because it's Covid. And I'm more or less against this move but Covid is an excuse.

Two unfinished seasons. No training camp. Questionable training schedules w the bubble disruption. Odd division-only schedule this year. Much more limited team bonding on the road (could be a big factor for culture).

Very strange time with incomplete data points if you ask me.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

Two unfinished seasons. No training camp. Questionable training schedules w the bubble disruption. Odd division-only schedule this year. Much more limited team bonding on the road (could be a big factor for culture).

Very strange time with incomplete data points if you ask me.

Everyone had to deal with this stuff.

 

[HatTrick Swayze]

Everyone had to deal with this stuff.

I'm not saying it disparately impacted the NYR, just that I think it's hasty to rely too much on the most recent observations.

 

[DialUp]

People can ultimately like the move, especially the Drury promotion, and all the player moves that will come soon enough and still despise Dolan and give him no benefit of the doubt.

 

[Edge]

Everyone had to deal with this stuff.

I do think that being a younger team, including quite a few with 100 or less games of NHL experience, the impact was probably more profound.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

I do think that being a younger team, including quite a few with 100 or less games of NHL experience, the impact was probably more profound.

That's fair but the point is Dolan is still signing the checks and running the business. If a company had a season similar to the one the Rangers have had (not terrible but underachieving), even if it was due to Covid we wouldn't expect the CEO to sit on his hands.

 

[Edge]

That's fair but the point is Dolan is still signing the checks and running the business. If a company had a season similar to the one the Rangers have had (not terrible but underachieving), even if it was due to Covid we wouldn't expect the CEO to sit on his hands.

We had far worse, with far more experienced players, without even the benefit of a brighter future and we did. In fact, he's still employed by the company.

There almost no one in this league who think this was the right time or the better move.

Almost. No. One.

 

[will1066]

Agreed. I can't stand the guy but if he didn't like what he saw and decided they needed to make a change, there's not much you can do about it. At least he elevated the right guy (we hope). I said it before but part of me feels like Sather was in Dolan's ear the last month or so. For whatever reason, he listens to and respects Sather. Say what you want about the guy but he'll be a great buffer between the two.

Quoting Brooks, Dolan refers to Sather as the "Godfather" of the Rangers. But even if that were the case, Dolan didn't need to rely on Sather to see that the team was getting dummied in real competition not named New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Buffalo, which if you ask me right now, appears to be even better than the Rangers.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

We had far worse, with far more experienced players, without even the benefit of a brighter future and we did. In fact, he's still employed by the company.

There almost no one in this league who think this was the right time or the better move.

Almost. No. One.

I don't like the move either but no one in the league knows the future and everyone is human. So it's not a trump card.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

Quoting Brooks, Dolan refers to Sather as the "Godfather" of the Rangers. But even if that were the case, Dolan didn't need to rely on Sather to see that the team was getting dummied in real competition not named New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Buffalo, which if you ask me right now, appears to be even better than the Rangers.

This is crazy look at their record. I know lot came from the coach that they fired but as is that's still not the case. Better coached? Well that's 31 teams in the NHL.