Rangers have lost 6 out of their last 7 games. What would you do if you were Dolan (the owner of the team) or Drury (the GM)?

[Look Up]

Dolan likes to communicate by letter. He should take the C from Trouba and put it on Fox.

 

[Jumptheshark]

my guess is a trade is in coming and my guess it will be Krieder

 

[strattonius]

Let this play out the next 25 games. If the team has cratered you can sell some assets and re-tool. If the team finds itself near the top of the standings again load up for a playoff push.

Even with Kreider I would wait. He will have a larger market by the deadline anyways.

 

[GeeoffBrown]

I dunno Trevor Zegras seems like a Rangers type player. They could try that

 

[Tawnos]

Said it back then signing Panarin was a mistake and it pushed their rebuild forward. Got a lot of shit from ranger fans....

I mean, it's still not accurate. The whole point was to compete with the Panarin/Zibanejad/Kreider/Trouba core in the short term and then compete with the Lafrenière/Kakko/Chytil/Miller core in the long term. Cuylle might be putting himself into that core with his play. Fox and Shesterkin bridge the two. The short term competitiveness happened and now they're in a transitionary season, IMO. A lot of their youth is hitting right on schedule for normal rebuilding teams (5-7 years in).

There's a reason why the NMCs of Kreider and Trouba turned into M-NTCs later in their contracts. The same thing happens with Trocheck's contract on July 1. It was supposed to give them flexibility to transition from one core to the other when we reached this point. And to Drury's credit, he did try to do it with Trouba back in June but unforeseen circumstances prevented it. The big problem, and this is really on Drury, was giving Zibanejad a full NMC through the life of his deal. Bad, bad move. It's different than Panarin's contract, which expires after next year. Zibanejad has 3 more seasons after this one.

I think the main problem the team has is essentially in the conflict between the two cores. I don't mean that they're literally fighting each other. But the older core is preventing the younger core from taking central roles on the team, even when the younger players are often better (with the exception of Panarin). It causes strife, both for the vets who are trying to hold on to the roles they established and for the kids who are pushing at them. Lafrenière, Kakko and Cuylle are better than Kreider at this point. Chytil is better than Zibanejad and, at least so far this year, Trocheck. But yet the offense isn't focused on them in combination with what Panarin can still give, which is still a lot. The coach has been reluctant to remove guys from roles because they earned it in the past over the span of years. I get it to an extent. How could you not run back the same powerplay that was so potent in the run to the President's Trophy last year? Laviolette has been slow to react to the "ground truth" and that's only exacerbated the situation. We see some glimmers of recognition in the ice time spread every so often, but it isn't enough. I don't even think there's any conscious awareness of this strife, but I think it exists.

It's a hard situation to manage, and this season might just be a wash because of it. There are no easy fixes.

 

[HugeInTheShire]

They should write a letter to the other 31 teams asking them to stop trying to embarrass them. It's unprofessional and there needs to be some kind of consequences for this kind of behavior.
#InstagramHockey

 

[EdmFlyersfan]

>What would you do if you were Dolan?​

cocaine.

Then bring Sean Avery back and make it entertaining...

 

[Rabid Ranger]

They will attempt a trade. The defense is in shambles though. Trouba is actually not the problem. Guys like Miller and Lindgren are. Just getting shelled.

 

[sxvnert]

Sell hard at the deadline and draft high in the summer.

 

[dirtydanglez]

how does adam fox have no goals and 20 assists while kreider has 10 goals and no assists.

 

[FiveTacos]

I dunno Trevor Zegras seems like a Rangers type player. They could try that

No way the Ducks trade Zegras for a guy 10 years older.

They will attempt a trade. The Ducks is in shambles though.

The Ducks are at .500, with a deep system and numerous young guys playing and contributing right now.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

They have no heart

 

[Some Other Flame]

Given the whole team is underperforming, you pretty much have to fire the coach or GM.

Other than than, I dunno, maybe trade Kakko+KAM for Zegras+Fowler

 

[Kane One]

It’s still early, as gross and embarrassing as this stretch is.

 

[Mandar]

My last thread got shut down. I guess it was considered premature.

So if you were Dolan or Drury in this moment, what would you do? What would your analysis of the problem be?

These guys just came from competing in the ECF and winning a President's trophy. But clearly, they are struggling.

You've got a goalie who wants a $12m/year contract who just lost 5 straight games. You've got Trouba who blocked a trade over the summer and is playing AHL-caliber defense with an $8m cap hit.

You've got Miller, Fox, and Lindgren, all of whom look like they are playing like a shell of their former selves.

You've got Zib who looks lost out there and is signed for another 6 seasons at 8.5m.

Your team has relied on special teams and goaltending to carry them over the last 3 seasons.


The big problem is this - for the past 2 weeks or so, this team has arguably been the worst team in the NHL. Arguably, it's been longer than that but goaltending has totally bailed them out.

I would go so far to say that if Panarin or Shesterkin were not on the team (just one of those two) then this team could have the worst record in the NHL. They have carried everyone else. Special mention for Quick who has also played brilliantly when starting.

So if you ran this team, what would you do?

Why in the world would you make a thread like this on the main boards? What’s answers are you thinking you are gonna get?

Sometimes my NYR brethren just don’t think….

 

[Rabid Ranger]

No way the Ducks trade Zegras for a guy 10 years older.



The Ducks are at .500, with a deep system and numerous young guys playing and contributing right now.

That was supposed to be "d" but it auto corrected to Ducks. Lol

 

[njdevils1982]

Should have traded Lafreniere and Kakko while they had value.

when was that?

 

[TheOrganist]

I mean what are they gonna do, blow it up during prob their last legit yr as a contender? I would just ride it out and hope things turn around. The core seems to be despised by Rangers fans ATM but there is a history of playoff success.

 

[LiveLongandProspal]

Fire Drury

 

[Breakers]

I like K’andre Miller

But from an underlying standing he has been one of the worst players in the league.

Clearly their system are completely broken

 

[Oilslick941611]

I dont get the Rangers panic, both goalies are over .900 and they have a winning record. And have 5 players at or within 3 points of 20 points. I get Igor isnt playing elite hockey, but surely they can still win with .900 goaltending? No?

 

[crab]

I would blame Tom Wilson, somehow it has to be his fault!

He kinda did. Jeff Gorton was a much more competent GM than Chris Drury. Wilson basically got Gorton fired.

 

[VivaLasVegas]

In all the Rangers games that I've watched this season, they've been very disjointed and tentative as if hardly anybody is on the same page. Maybe they just need a break in the games where they can get some quality practices in, but it seems deeper than that.

At any rate, there is no need to make big player decisions until just before the TDL when the trading marketplace effectively re-opens for a couple of weeks.

 

[mphmiles]

-The easiest guy to move would probably be Kreider. He's still really good and on a very reasonable deal, he's just having some really poor puck luck production-wise, with a 5.5 on-ice shooting percentage. He's also the type of player that teams covet. All situations player that plays a hard game, and is a great team guy. There would be plenty of takers with some good pieces coming back.

That said, for the same reasons I listed, I think moving Kreider would be a mistake.

-The ideal guy to try to move would be Trouba for futures, but reports are that Trouba and his agent have basically made him immovable via his M-NTC by removing virtually every team that could afford his contract

-I think the most realistic option is to try to see if there's any interest in Lindgren to improve a blue line that's really struggling beyond Fox right now. Give up a pick or prospect if you have to to try to get an improvement in return.

 

[MVP Zacha]

Have they tried Instagram Hockey yet?