Confirmed with Link: NYR Fire John Davidson and Jeff Gorton

[SRHRangers]

Could you parlay him into two young centers of a different mold though?

What if you could get Glass and Krebs and a defenseman and a pick for him?

Not as a 1yr rental.

 

[Tob]

I would make a stupid "Save us, XXXXXX" joke but lmfao there's no one left to save us at this point. It's over.

 

[Oscar Lindberg]

Larry has another article up but he continues to say the Messier for president would be Dolan’s top choice

 

[RangerLifer]

Love how this is generating so many triggered “he’s going to take us back to the 90s!” Carolina, Isles, Caps, they all have these types of players. He’s not a moron that’s building his team of goons. This is a guy that saw what it took to win six championships. Effective leadership and a balance of players that offer a variety of skills. The fact that some keep berating Mess and think he’s a dinosaur is so 2021 new generation of social media know-it alls

Thank you! You said it better than I could have.

 

[EdJovanovski]

WE WANT MESSIER
Partially because being a Ranger fan in Vancouver, that would be too perfect. Messier is the most hated man in Vancouver, they legit chant "Messier sucks" at every Canucks game. Even when they're not playing the Rangers or Oilers

 

[JT Kreider]

Gorton was, in my opinion (and I'm probably in the minority on this), overrated as the GM.

He lucked into Kakko and Lafreniere, and Fox and Panarin both wanted to come to the Rangers anyway. He made some bad trades, poor draft selections, and questionable signings.

He also had a huge head start on being able to liquidate a roster that was just a few months removed from going to Game 6 of the 2nd round.

Trading off McDonagh, Nash, Hayes, Miller, Stepan, Brassard, Zuccarello, Skjei, etc... well no other rebuilding team got to trade off a group of big name players like that.

It was a situation that was impossible to mess up and anyone on NHL franchise mode could pull off.

 

[mtchbx]

Is Don Cherry available?

 

[NYSPORTS]

Messier is basically begging for the head coaching job.

he’a done so much work since retiring. Now he’s waiting for the phone to ring. Solid candidate.

 

[Edge]

Every half decent team in the league is licking their chops at the fact that our owner made a public statement about needing to win now and how the GM who was very level headed with trades is now gone

nightmare stuff to be honest

It kind of is, and it's at least something to have an uneasy feeling about.

The one saving grace is that Drury is still here. But I don't for a moment believe this was about performance with three games left. Not with the coach still here. Not with the assistant GM still here.

Right now, I'll speculate on two fronts.

I'm going to guess that Dolan dictated the letter himself and sent it out without consulting with anyone.

I'll venture that in his fit of rage, and yes I use the word rage because Dolan is known for that behavior, he not only sent the letter but then flipped out when either the front office wasn't in favor of how he went about things, or wouldn't bend to a tantrum. Both of those are very likely.

I've seen comments here that if JD and Gorton were against the letter, they should go. Context is king there. Were they even aware of the letter? Did they agree with it in principle but thought calling for a man's job wasn't the way to go? I don't know yet.

But, I will say this from experience, Jim Dolan is an incredibly volatile person to work for. Sather had the cache to tell him to go f*** himself. And for many years, better or worse, that kept the devil on the other side of the door.

It was thought that JD had that same cache. We now know he either didn't, or he was willing to die on that hill and it is what it is.

But, I would be shocked, and I do mean shocked, if Drury has that kind of cache. And that aspect, coupled with the lack of a buffer, should be considered a concerning development.

 

[Trueblue30]

The Kreider and Trouba contracts are pretty big black marks on Gortons resume. They were both bad deals at the time that will be a problem going forward.

Personally if we had fired JG at seasons end I think I would be somewhat in support of it

 

[ColonialsHockey10]

Still chuckling at the thought that John f***ing Davidson, a former NHL goalie with no college education, could negotiate with the Kremlin for Panarin’s safety. Like he’s got this extensive diplomatic resume because he manages a hockey team.

 

[mas0764]

There are many people who foam at the mouth the second his name is mentioned, when he was playing for us the Rangers could post a pic of him and his mother and there'd be countless accounts replying "f*** TONY DEANGELO" "EW" "RACIST BIGOT POS" etcetcetc and if you read their bios it is abundantly clear why they hate him. I don't like Trouba and didn't like JT Miller but you'd never see me treating our players that way

I'm more or less with you on this issue but it's time to give it a rest, there are more important things to talk about today.

 

[we want cup]

Just so confused right now...

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

The hysteria in here is ridiculous...

IF they were to hire Messier in any capacity, it would be understated though. That dude just needs to keep doing what he's doing and leave this organization alone. You're a f***ing legend here, don't f*** that up.

 

[Mike in Houston]

This is the dumbest thing this franchise has done in a very long time. The f***?

 

[Tob]

Smitty the only fighter on the team rn

 

[Doctyl]

I missed something on messier? how could any of us bash him especially in this way? Did he kill someone or something?

He has repeatedly begged for jobs that he is wildly unqualified for. He has never coached a real organized hockey game in his life and this egomaniac thought he deserved the Rangers coaching vacancy. He didn't get it and ran off to Edmonton to be a coffee boy or whatever it is he does there. He also thought he was qualified for Gortons job before Gorts had it. He has been hungry for an organizational role with the rangers yet never put in the work to earn it.

I love him for winning us a cup. He was one of the best rangers of all time and no one is arguing that he doesnt deserve his number hanging in that special place in the rafters. He can either start coaching/managing at a lower level and work his way up or he can kindly f*** off and stop publicly begging for every important job vacancy this organization has.

 

[IDvsEGO]

Thank you! You said it better than I could have.

He won 6 cups in the 80s and 90s.
Saying that you need to win in the alley doesn’t just hint that he wants that 90s style goon hockey, it implies it heavily. I have no problem with having a tough roster with size, speed and talent, and having guys who can throw down.
I don’t want an equal shithead to Tom Wilson on the rangers.

 

[DutchShamrock]

That letter was impulsive. Firing the gm and president 4 days before a season ends is impulsive. Dolan was kept at bay by his infatuation with the Knicks and the general financial success of the Rangers. He could be controlled.

That caps game made Dolan make an impulsive decision. I just wonder if mess was in his ear, kicking in the backs of Gorton and JD. They aren't blameless, per se, but this is a philosophical issue. They distanced themselves from that message and it just reinforced what someone was feeding to Dolan.

 

[NickyFotiu]

I think they wanted JD to fire Gorton and he refused. Doesn't make sense to fire JD so soon.

 

[SRHRangers]

I'm laughing that anyone is buying the notion that today had nothing to do with yesterday's statement and that it was about the direction of how the team was being built.

NHL wanted spin and they got it.

 

[mas0764]

While the timing us very odd, it is only 48 hrs since we were mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, maybe there was an internal expectation that we should have been there, and Gorts/JD couldn't provide a 'good enough' reason why we didn't get there.
It's even possible they would have been let go yesterday/after the last game if not for the Wilson shitshow.

Does anyone know Drury's relationship with Quinn? I can understand the owner leaving the coach up to the GM, but Quinn must be worried

I will say it's it feckin' insanity, pure insanity, that it was a fireable offense for this team not to make the playoffs this year.

Next year, now we are talking.

 

[RangerLifer]

He won 6 cups in the 80s and 90s.
Saying that you need to win in the alley doesn’t just hint that he wants that 90s style goon hockey, it implies it heavily. I have no problem with having a tough roster with size, speed and talent, and having guys who can throw down.
I don’t want an equal shithead to Tom Wilson on the rangers.

Tom Wilson isn't so much a tough guy as he is a psycho. If Rangers did have a Wilson type he'd be suspended every time he sneezed too loudly on the bench.

 

[EdJovanovski]

It kind of us, and it's at least something to have an uneasy feeling about.

The one saving grace is that Drury is still here. But I don't for a moment believe this was about performance with three games left. Not with the coach still here. Not with the assistant GM still here.

Right now, I'll speculate on two fronts.

I'm going to guess that Dolan dictated the letter himself and sent it out without consulting with anyone.

I'll venture that in his fit of rage, and yes I use the word rage because Dolan is known for that behavior, he not only sent the letter but then flipped out when either the front office wasn't in favor of how he went about things, or wouldn't bend to a tantrum. Both of those are very likely.

I've seen comments here that if JD and Gorton were against the letter, they should go. Context is king there. Were they even aware of the letter? Did they agree with it in principle but thought calling for a man's job wasn't the way to go? I don't know yet.

But, I will say this from experience, Jim Dolan is an incredibly volatile person to work for. Sather had the cache to tell him to go f*** himself. And for many years, better or worse, that kept the devil on the other side of the door.

It was thought that JD had that same cache. We now know he either didn't, or he was willing to die on that hill and it is what it is.

But, I would be shocked, and I do mean shocked, if Drury has that kind of cache. And that aspect, coupled with the lack of a buffer, should be considered a concerning development.

Do you know if the interest in Messier is mutual?

 

[NYR94]

Casualty list so far:
Panarin out for the season
Caps social media person reportedly fired
JD fired
Gorton fired