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)?

[PaulD]

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?

Trade Trouba. Make Lafreniere the captain.
Change coaches.
Tell Shesterkin and his agent to shut up about contract size.

 

[DevilDog99]

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

Fox deserves it even less

 

[Emperoreddy]

It's not all that surprising to see guys lose confidence and become listless with a stretch like they have had.

I've unfortunately seen enough death marches by my own team to see those signs.

This team has gone through a lot of coaches over the past so many years, I find it hard to believe another coach firing is going to be the magic fix.

Center depth has always been an issue with that roster and it's worse with Mika looking legitimately cooked as a player.

Trouba looks cooked. Lindgren has been bad. Down years for Miller and Fox. Igor is slumping.

The real issue seems to be the guys they need to move on from to try and retool this roster aren't actually movable thanks to their contracts.

They tried to force Trouba out and that failed.

 

[Pablo El Perro]

Play out the season, see how they do on the playoffs, decide what moves to make then.

 

[Team_Spirit]

 

[Monsieur Miz]

BY GAWD IT'S JOEL QUENNEVILLE'S MUSIC.

 

[Maliks PlusMinus]

If I were Dolan I’d fire Drury for stupidity.

If I were Drury I’d threaten some more players cos I’m dumb.

 

[BrockLobster]

Geez what happened? They were just perfectly built!

 

[Fatass]

If I were owner I’d get my GM to sign Shisterkin. He’s the key to the club having any success. It’s stupid the owner hasn’t told the GM to sign this player. It’s no mere coincidence the team has gone in the sewer since the whole Shisterkin contract issues have come forward.

 

[frightenedinmatenum2]

I would start cold calling teams and raving about how perfect Kreider health is.

 

[Kshahdoo]

Fire Drury if I was Dolan, ask Dolan don't fire me if I was Drury...

 

[Gilmour1996]

Call Gary and have him fix things so that Rags are the least penalized team in the league.

 

[Szechwan]

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

As you deserved to, it's a dumb take. The Rangers accelerated rebuild is one of hockeys quickest turnarounds, they won the mfing President's trophy and almost made the final - things that are the explicit end goal of every rebuild that has ever happened.

It may have resulted in a short window (that remains to be seen), but that doesn't mean it was the wrong call. If they'd continued their rebuild slowly they could very well be in an even worse position. Most rebuilds go absolutely nowhere.

 

[chizzler]

You get one freebie fire as GM where you get to stay relatively blameless, no matter if it goes well or poorly. Gerard Gallant was that guy for Drury. Now if he fires Laviolette it is a gamble for him because if he fires Lavi and the Rangers still suck, then Drury looks bad and is up next on the chopping block.

He's probably desperate to make some sort of trade(s) to shake up that roster but he has a lot of difficult contracts to work with that probably nobody would want to pay equal value for. If he did trade, he'd have to accept a loss in value.

They fired Gorton and put in Drury. How’s that looking now? Gorton was a good GM. Big mistake. He was building a good team. Oh well.

 

[bobholly39]

I still think this is not only a playoff team, but a top ~3-5 cup contender.

It's a long season, they'll figure it out. It doesn't necessarily mean do nothing - you can fire coach, gm, or make a big trade - but in any of those scenarios - and also if you do nothing - I figure they'll just bounce back soon.

 

[AfroThunder396]

Wait, are you telling me that when teams make poor decisions there are consequences for it??

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

Fire everyone and trade half the team . What’s taking so god damn long?

 

[OtherThingsILike]

I'm hoping they make a panic trade for Marcus Pettersson. I'm not saying I think it will happen, but I hope so.
A non-panic trade for him might be a good idea.

 

[GbgRanger]

Rangers fired 2 coaches with this group already. Obviously it is not the coach that is the issue. This core is just to soft once the honeymoon with the coach is over.

 

[StreetHawk]

As you deserved to, it's a dumb take. The Rangers accelerated rebuild is one of hockeys quickest turnarounds, they won the mfing President's trophy and almost made the final - things that are the explicit end goal of every rebuild that has ever happened.

It may have resulted in a short window (that remains to be seen), but that doesn't mean it was the wrong call. If they'd continued their rebuild slowly they could very well be in an even worse position. Most rebuilds go absolutely nowhere.

What hurt the NYR is that the consensus top picks when they had them, have not hit the way you would have hoped. Took Laf a while, and he's turning out to be a good player, but not the what you'd hope for a top pick. Same with Kakko. Plus, Krav didn't pan out. Had they taken Dobson, a RD, that's a valuable asset that they could have moved to improve the roster.

With regards to Trouba, once July hit, his NMC went to a MNTC for half the league. Guessing NYR tried, but were unable to find a deal to their liking for the 16 teams he could have been moved to.

 

[TheBeerNerd]

If I were Dolan, I'd commit seppuku live on the next Knicks or Rangers halftime/intermission show. It'd really make the fans happy.

Serious answer: fire Drury, get someone who knows what he's doing on GM, stay the hell out of his way and just write the checks as he makes hockey decisions.

Comedy option: fire Drury, hire Jim Benning as GM.

 

[Peltz]

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.

I think there is a lot of truth to all of this. Well said. Combine this with some issues on defense and I think that's what is happening here.

 

[RickyLafleur]

Could be worse, you could be a sens fan like me.

 

[Peltz]

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?

Those numbers don't really tell the story. You gotta watch them play.

They're a total mess and give up over a dozen grade AAA chances per game without generating much 5v5. It has always been an issue for them, but it's gotten so much worse this year.

 

[Peltz]

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….

I want to talk about a hockey team with a legitimately interesting predicament on a hockey forum. I don't see the issue.

Getting some perspectives outside the Rangers fanbase (who, no offense, can be an echo chamber at times) was the goal here. And so far there have been some interesting takes all over the place.

I don't care if other fans use this opportunity to poke fun at us - I'd do the same. But I also knew some people would provide some interesting insights as they have. Why else come here if you don't want to talk hockey and play armchair GM? It's half the fun.