Rangers have lost 13 out of their last 17 games. What would you do if you were Dolan (the owner of the team) or Drury (the GM)?

[Tawnos]

Why were they so adamant to get rid of Trouba?

What we're seeing right now is a direct result of Trouba's attitude coming into the season. It wasn't and isn't the *only* factor in all of this, but it was a big one. He needed to go. While moving him hasn't helped the team play better, a lot of this is lingering from his performance as captain starting from training camp.

 

[LuGBuG]

He would be getting crucified, because he sucks at hockey. At any cap hit. Let alone $8M per

Sucks at hockey right on bud

What we're seeing right now is a direct result of Trouba's attitude coming into the season. It wasn't and isn't the *only* factor in all of this, but it was a big one. He needed to go. While moving him hasn't helped the team play better, a lot of this is lingering from his performance as captain starting from training camp.

So now they still stink because of Trouba as a captain earlier in the year. Pure gold here. If that’s why then sounds like they were too mentally fragile to even have a chance anyway.

 

[Tawnos]

Sucks at hockey right on bud


So now they still stink because of Trouba as a captain earlier in the year. Pure gold here. If that’s why then sounds like they were too mentally fragile to even have a chance anyway.

Every team needs a leader who are willing to call out their peers when it's necessary, but in a way that doesn't alienate them, pushes them to play better, and inspires them to be accountable to each other. The main guy who has done that for the last several years for the Rangers is Trouba. It's why he was named captain in the first place. Because of knowing that this was going to be his last year in NY, Trouba felt like he couldn't be that leader any more. I think that's bullshit and he still could have, but it's absolutely how he felt. How do I know? Not only did he say this to media after he was traded, but he said it to some of his players as well. It's been repeated by Rangers players in interviews. He quit on the team, and part of the result of that is that the team quit on each other. Or at least the veteran core did.

No one stepped up to do it with Trouba playing absentee captain. Which means the players weren't pushing each other to play better and be accountable. It's a huge part of why the team started slipping in the first place. And no one has stepped up to do it since he got traded. That is absolutely a failure on the rest of the team's part, and there's no real excuse for it, but it doesn't happen if Trouba just fills his role the way he could have to begin with. And had he done that, he'd still be a Ranger right now. He didn't, and it caused problems in the group and that's why he had to go.

To be clear, this isn't an excuse for the team. It isn't a justification for how things went down. It's just an observation of how things have gone for them.

 

[Evergreen]

What we're seeing right now is a direct result of Trouba's attitude coming into the season. It wasn't and isn't the *only* factor in all of this, but it was a big one. He needed to go. While moving him hasn't helped the team play better, a lot of this is lingering from his performance as captain starting from training camp.

I think it's totally unfair to blame the Rangers' season on Trouba's attitude or performance as a captain this season. He was put into an extraordinarily difficult position by Drury when the summer trade attempts were made public. I'm not saying it was the wrong decision to trade him, but the situation was management poorly. If you want to move on from your captain, you'd better get the trade actually done. It's unacceptable to publicly pressure him into waiving his NTC in the summer and then blame him for not being an effective leader when the trade doesn't materialize. It's virtually impossible to lead a team when everyone else in the room knows you're going to be shipped out as soon as mgmt can make it happen.

I think Drury has been a disaster as a GM. The Goodrow trade, Nemeth and Reaves signings, and Buchnevich trade were all reactionary moves that turned out horribly. He was fortunate to inherit a star-studded roster led by Shesterkin, Panarin, and Fox that had enough talent to have playoff success early in his GM tenure. Drury needs to go. And as much as a like Laviolette (I loved him on the Flyers), he's a guy whose effectiveness wears off after a few years. It's time for him to go as well.

 

[Tawnos]

I think it's totally unfair to blame the Rangers' season on Trouba's attitude or performance as a captain this season. He was put into an extraordinarily difficult position by Drury when the summer trade attempts were made public. I'm not saying it was the wrong decision to trade him, but if you want to move on from your captain, you'd better get the trade actually done. It's unacceptable to publicly pressure him into waiving his NTC in the summer and then blame him for not being an effective leader this season. It's virtually impossible to lead a team when everyone else in the room knows you're going to be shipped out as soon as mgmt can make it happen.

First of all, Trouba not being traded over the summer is Trouba's fault, not Drury's. He used his M-NTC list in a specific way to prevent Drury from trading him. Instead of identifying places he wouldn't be willing to play, he only put teams on his no-trade list that would have been able to take his contract. I have no problem with him using his M-NTC in that way, but if you're going to do it you better be at peak performance once the season starts.

I also completely disagree with that last sentence. There's no denying that it was a difficult situation, and I empathize with him on how difficult it was, but he still didn't act like the professional he's supposed to be. At my job, we went through some pretty heavy morale-killing stuff earlier this year. The leadership of our crew is made up of me and one other person. Both of us were very upset and considering moving on. Neither of us let it affect our productivity or quality of work.

 

[Evergreen]

First of all, Trouba not being traded over the summer is Trouba's fault, not Drury's. He used his M-NTC list in a specific way to prevent Drury from trading him. Instead of identifying places he'd be willing to play, he only put teams on his no-trade list that would have been able to take his contract. I have no problem with him using his M-NTC in that way, but if you're going to do it you better be at peak performance once the season starts.

I also completely disagree with that last sentence. There's no denying that it was a difficult situation, and I empathize with him on how difficult it was, but he still didn't act like the professional he's supposed to be. At my job, we went through some pretty heavy morale-killing stuff earlier this year. The leadership of our crew is made up of me and one other person. Both of us were very upset and considering moving on. Neither of us let it affect our productivity or quality of work.

I don't see how it's Trouba's "fault" that a trade didn't materialize. He's not the one responsible for making trades. Drury is. If you want to have a discussion with your captain about waiving his NTC to facilitate a trade, that's fine. But to intentionally make it public and bluff putting him on waivers in an attempt to apply pressure to Trouba is completely unacceptable, especially when Trouba calls your bluff and rightfully exercises his NTC protection.

Further, the situation you describe with your work is not equivalent to what Trouba went through. Perhaps if your management were publicly questioning your capability and attempting to fire you saying your performance doesn't justify your salary, you'd be in a similar position.

 

[Tawnos]

I don't see how it's Trouba's "fault" that a trade didn't materialize. He's not the one responsible for making trades. Drury is. If you want to have a discussion with your captain about waiving his NTC to facilitate a trade, that's fine. But to intentionally make it public and bluff putting him on waivers in an attempt to apply pressure to Trouba is completely unacceptable, especially when Trouba calls your bluff and rightfully exercises his NTC protection.

Further, the situation you describe with your work is not equivalent to what Trouba went through. Perhaps if your management were publicly questioning your capability and attempting to fire you saying your performance doesn't justify your salary, you'd be in a similar position.

I explained to you exactly how it's Trouba's fault, but you also have the sequence of events wrong. The waivers threat didn't happen over the summer. It only happened the day before he got traded. Again, I have no problem with Trouba's handling of his NTC protection. I'm just saying that if you're going to do it that way, you have even more responsibility to come in and perform once the season starts.

My work situation doesn't need to be apples-to-apples equivalent. The point is that it doesn't matter if that stuff is going on. You still go to work and act like a professional.

 

[NYRfan85]

I feel like Drury's not going anywhere. Jimmy Dolan doesn't go thru GMs often and he only hires people he's known for a long time. He's not the type to like, you know, interview a bunch of qualified candidates and then hire the best fit.

He's only replacing Drury with someone that's been known in some capacity to the organization for a long time. And no one really exists right now that fits that bill.

TL;DR: Dolan is a f***ing idiot, Drury's not going anywhere

Yep, unfortunately Dolan loves Drury, he's not going anywhere. Laviolette will be canned before Drury does.

Their schedule for the next month or so is insanely brutal

Stars, Hurricanes, Devils, Lightning, Panthers, Bruins, Capitals, Blackhawks, Stars, Devils, Golden Knights, Avalanche

Only non-playoff opponent is Chicago. Most of these teams are considered elite and a cup contender. It's about to get a lot uglier

And the Rangers already lost to Chicago. I don't see them winning a single game in the next month. Colorado doesn't have Georgiev anymore, so we can't say we have a chance there either.

 

[AlaBlueShirt]

Their schedule for the next month or so is insanely brutal

Stars, Hurricanes, Devils, Lightning, Panthers, Bruins, Capitals, Blackhawks, Stars, Devils, Golden Knights, Avalanche

Only non-playoff opponent is Chicago. Most of these teams are considered elite and a cup contender. It's about to get a lot uglier

I want to go from 12-4-1 from start to 3-24-0. Watch the party die.

 

[LuGBuG]

I explained to you exactly how it's Trouba's fault, but you also have the sequence of events wrong. The waivers threat didn't happen over the summer. It only happened the day before he got traded. Again, I have no problem with Trouba's handling of his NTC protection. I'm just saying that if you're going to do it that way, you have even more responsibility to come in and perform once the season starts.

My work situation doesn't need to be apples-to-apples equivalent. The point is that it doesn't matter if that stuff is going on. You still go to work and act like a professional.

Sounds like that’s what you should be saying about the other players now. Not still grasping onto blaming Trouba. Brutal straw to grasp at.

 

[Tawnos]

Sounds like that’s what you should be saying about the other players now. Not still grasping onto blaming Trouba. Brutal straw to grasp at.

Umm.. I *am* still saying that about the players. How did you miss that? Two things can be true at once.

 

[LuGBuG]

Umm.. I *am* still saying that about the players. How did you miss that? Two things can be true at once.

 

[Tawnos]

View attachment 947492

No one stepped up to do it with Trouba playing absentee captain. Which means the players weren't pushing each other to play better and be accountable. It's a huge part of why the team started slipping in the first place. And no one has stepped up to do it since he got traded. That is absolutely a failure on the rest of the team's part, and there's no real excuse for it

Literally, yes.

 

[Fataldogg]

Fire Drury. Easy answer. He is the reason for this teams problems.

 

[Svechhammer]

Man you all are talking like this is Trouba's fault as if he wasn't healthy scratched for stretches last year and still allowed to be captain going into this year.

That's not on him, that's on organizational dysfunction

 

[LuGBuG]

Man you all are talking like this is Trouba's fault as if he wasn't healthy scratched for stretches last year and still allowed to be captain going into this year.

That's not on him, that's on organizational dysfunction

My kid is sick and had to stay home from school. I know that was Troubas fault as well.

 

[Misery74]

Hiring Laviolette was a terrible idea. He was awful here in Washington, but ownership didn’t want to fire him.

The Rangers shouldn’t make the same mistake. I cannot believe it’s gone on this long.

 

[Tawnos]

Man you all are talking like this is Trouba's fault as if he wasn't healthy scratched for stretches last year and still allowed to be captain going into this year.

That's not on him, that's on organizational dysfunction

Trouba missed 13 games last season. 11 of them were from his broken ankle. 2 of them were from a suspension. He played in every playoff game.

So yeah, we’re talking as if he wasn’t healthy scratched last year… because he wasn’t healthy scratched last year.

Though I will grant that they could’ve removed the C from him after he blocked the possibility of trading him over the summer. It’s another route they could’ve taken that might have avoided at least that aspect in all of this.

One thing that I think gets lost in the breakdown of Trouba’s role in this whole debacle. It doesn’t get to this point without multiple parties making mistakes or doing their jobs poorly. In this case, it’s pretty much everyone involved, except for maybe the younger players on the Rangers roster. Trouba is at fault. Drury is at fault. Laviolette is at fault. The rest of the veteran leadership group beyond Trouba is at fault. It took a true group effort to screw this team up this badly. So when I point out the part that Trouba played, it isn’t to say that it’s on him and him alone. It’s to point out the part that he played, and that’s it.

 

[RoastBeeph]

I want to go from 12-4-1 from start to 3-24-0. Watch the party die.

Rangers had the easiest schedule of any team their first 18 games. They only played 4 games vs legit contenders, 1 vs Senators, and 13 vs non playoff teams. Think that hid how flawed of a roster they were.

Edit: Jesus, now that I look at it, they have had to have had the easiest schedule their first 31 games of any team. Out of those 31 games, only 8 were vs real contenders. Jesus, what a cake schedule they’ve had so far.

 

[ccman68]

So was the plan just to get rid of Trouba and not replace him with anyone?

 

[TheNumber4]

So was the plan just to get rid of Trouba and not replace him with anyone?

Yeh, when I said they needed to get rid of Trouba, I didn't say get rid of him and waste his $8M in Cap space on nothing.

 

[Artemi Panarin]

It never ends well for a team powered by Primadonnas. Never has and never will.

Oh, the irony.

 

[GrumpyKoala]

I think he should sit down with both goalie and make it clear they need to fix their shit because it's quite unacceptable. Coachsplaning them a bit of 101 goaltending fundamental.

Surely that will fix the team. And if it doesn't, both would look great in a Oilers jersey

#holidaysgifts
#prettyplease

 

[1989]

If I'm Drury I trade Kaapo Kakko for a couple of picks and a bottom pairing pending UFA defenceman, maybe somewhere in the Western Conference. Seattle, maybe?

 

[TheDoldrums]

Feels like the Rangers are entering a dysfunctional era, Knicks had a lengthy one under Dolan