Rangers have lost 4 straight - is it time to rebuild?

[Peltz]

I think rumors of Kreider being shopped around is being done for the specific purpose of making things uncomfortable for Zibanejad who has a full NMC. The two are best buds and Zib’s contract is going to prevent this team from competing for a long time if he can’t turn things around.

He’s looked , at best, a third line center this year.

The team also is very poor defensively with all of Fox, Lindgren, Trouba, and Miller regressing substantially from how they played two years ago. A lot of this is on the coaching staff too, but this is now the 3rd administration for this club since 2020. You can’t change coaches every 1-2 years.

In their height, this team has narrowly gotten by on special teams and goaltending strength. Panarin has also coveted up a ton of their deficiencies in the regular season by being a wizard at even strength under Lavi, and an absolutely brilliant PP player with Fox and Kreider over the years.

But there is tremendous upside to other aspects of their game looking towards the future beyond his play.

Laf, Kakko, Cuyle, Chytil (if healthy) Edstrom, Fox, Jones, and Schneider are all a solid group of players you can build around.

But everyone else, even Shesterkin if he won’t budge on the contract he’s requesting, should be expendable in my humble opinion.

Their biggest pieces like Zib and Trouba are just really not good enough anymore.

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[TheDawnOfANewTage]

Should they? Yes.

Will they? Probably not.

 

[NVious]

Absolutely not, this team was 2 games away from going to the cup finals.

You can tinker, but the idea that you blow up this group is insane. Not even close to rebuild.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Fox’s regression is curious. Is it his skating?

 

[SoundAndFury]

Yeah, feels like people forget sucking for 10 years isn't the only way to fix things. The roster, however, obviously requires some fixing.

Also it is slightly comical to think about the rebuild when the #1 pick you drafted during the last rebuild didn't even reach his peak yet.

 

[Mobiandi]

They’re lucky they’re in the East. The Rangers would never get past the first round if they had to go through the Central

 

[Zeeker]

Laf, Kakko, Cuyle, Chytil (if healthy) Edstrom, Fox, Jones, and Schneider are all a solid group of players you can build around.

Yeeeesh

 

[Dread Clawz]

They've been reliant on special teams and goaltending for too long. They've gotta find a way to upgrade the roster to boost their 5v5 play. Zib kinda sucks 5v5 but they're stuck with him, so they gotta work around it. Yeah, they might have to retool, not rebuild.

 

[Siludin]

Just a slump
82 games, etc.
Even if they missed the playoffs at the end of the year, this team's composition is such that you would probably only retool anyway - this isn't a tear-down and Rangers always do well in UFA/never appear on NTCs.

 

[JoeSakic13]

Yup. Blow it up.

Dibs on Shesty.

 

[GMR]

Yes. They should trade Fox to Detroit for Chiarot and Holl.

 

[Finnen]

I think rumors of Kreider being shopped around is being done for the specific purpose of making things uncomfortable for Zibanejad who has a full NMC. The two are best buds and Zib’s contract is going to prevent this team from competing for a long time if he can’t turn things around.

He’s looked , at best, a third line center this year.

The team also is very poor defensively with all of Fox, Lindgren, Trouba, and Miller regressing substantially from how they played two years ago. A lot of this is on the coaching staff too, but this is now the 3rd administration for this club since 2020. You can’t change coaches every 1-2 years.

In their height, this team has narrowly gotten by on special teams and goaltending strength. Panarin has also coveted up a ton of their deficiencies in the regular season by being a wizard at even strength under Lavi, and an absolutely brilliant PP player with Fox and Kreider over the years.

But there is tremendous upside to other aspects of their game looking towards the future beyond his play.

Laf, Kakko, Cuyle, Chytil (if healthy) Edstrom, Fox, Jones, and Schneider are all a solid group of players you can build around.

But everyone else, even Shesterkin if he won’t budge on the contract he’s requesting, should be expendable in my humble opinion.

Their biggest pieces like Zib and Trouba are just really not good enough anymore.

Lafreniere is one of the league's most underrated.

Invest furthermore on: Lafreniere, Fox, Kakko, Panarin, Zibanejad, Trocheck, Cuylle, Chytil, Schneider, Jones, Edström, Miller and Vesey at least.

 

[Finnen]

Maybe move on Shesterkin.

 

[Misery74]

The coach is a dinosaur. Start there.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

Feels like the roster has been more than decent these past few years , perhaps there is simply a lack of heart?

 

[Section 104]

Try putting Zibanejad in the press box for a few games. And don’t do stupid things like fly brittle Chytil 6,000 miles so he can skate in two empty Canadian arenas. Supposedly he doesn’t have a concussion but I remember the Yankees in 2023 saying that about Anthony Rizzo.

But I think they will make a major trade at some point to try to stir things up.

 

[mphmiles]

Fox’s regression is curious. Is it his skating?

What? Fox is still elite by any metric other than scoring about 3 goals less than expected to this point in the year.

 

[Crease]

Zibanejad, Trouba, and Lindgren have seriously and probably permanently regressed.

The rest of the lineup is suffering from general malaise and disinterest in regular season hockey and are no longer motivated by a returning coaching staff.

Long story short, we have problems.

 

[BomaLightDevils]

But the got a number one Center, a number one defenseman and a number one goalie, don’t they?

 

[SoupNazi]

Lock.