I'm sure lots of things are explored. It's the job of the front office to explore possibilities.
That being said, I tend to be of the belief that if you really want somebody off the team, guess what? He's not on the team anymore.
The idea over the years that we've been stuck with bad players despite trying our damndest, is 100-proof, organic, free-range HFNYR cope.
It's comforting to think that the team sees the problem, but the problem just exists -and existed past-tense- rather than they don't see the problem.
The best evidence for this take is that they keep replacing these guys they got "stuck" with (Staal, Girardi) with more guys they're stuck with (Lindgren, Trouba). If they actually saw the problem, they wouldn't keep repeating it.
In reality, yes, the Rangers probably explored upgrading Lindgren, just like you explore upgrading anybody who's not your cream-of-the-crop player, but they don't think it's imperative that they get him off the ice. Unless something materializes, they won't act. That makes sense.
The vocal people on the board opposed to Lindgren absolutely do think it's imperative that he's not on the ice. That's the disconnect with the team and where the criticism of the front office comes in.
If it were a case of "we tried but we're stuck with him," that's one thing, but nobody's buying that. They don't think it's problem the way I,
@GoAwayPanarin, and others do.