close
close

first Drop

Com TW NOw News 2024

    • Why it could be difficult for the Rangers to find a trade partner
    news

    Why it could be difficult for the Rangers to find a trade partner

    Vaseline Posted on

    play

    Normally, with the Rangers 20 games into the season, this would be the day to write my annual quarterpole column.

    I would explain how they fortified the soft schedule to start the year but finished 1-6 against teams currently in playoff position. I’d like to point out that they looked a step too slow and struggled to maintain puck possession, and then point to stats that show them in the bottom 10 of the NHL in target share (46.55%) and expected goal share (46.75%), shot share (45.08%) and high-danger scoring opportunities (47.6%) in the past month, according to Natural Stat Trick. And I would raise concerns about diminishing returns for a group of veterans who have largely stagnated or declined.

    But I don’t have to keep wondering if this core is good enough to end the franchise’s thirty-plus year Stanley Cup drought, because team president Chris Drury has given us his answer.

    By sending a memo to every general manager in the league announcing his intention to cut established players in an effort to reshape the roster, Drury signaled that he doesn’t believe this group can get the job done.

    It’s a reasonable conclusion given what we’ve seen since he took over as front office boss in 2021. The Rangers have built their lineup for all four seasons around a very similar cast of characters with Drury at the helm, with those talented players performing admirably. taking them to the final two of the Eastern Conference the past three years and capturing a Presidents’ Trophy last season. But despite perhaps the NHL’s best goaltending during that span — and certainly the best in the playoffs — it still hasn’t been enough to push them over the championship hump.

    Jacob Trouba: The Rangers captain is trying to stay focused amid trade rumors

    Despite the brilliance of Igor Shesterkin, the Blueshirts have failed to impose their will on him consistently enough. They are a disappointing five-a-side team that do not cope well against aggressive opponents and are vulnerable to the rush. And the production of their best skaters seems to shrink rather than increase in tight playoff settings.

    The fear is that this core has reached its ceiling, leaving Drury to look for a shake-up that will raise the collective level.

    But the timing is strange. He had all this evidence over the summer and did little other than trade for another veteran from his past, Reilly Smith. Granted, he tried to move on from Jacob Trouba, which would have brought a significant paycheck and opened up opportunities, but he ran into a series of roadblocks and had to settle for a much less ambitious plan.

    Regardless of the reasons, that inaction left the Rangers in what always felt like a boring season. The players understandably wanted to give it another try, but it’s Drury’s job to make the hard assessments and necessary changes.

    He has had four full offseasons to pursue upgrades, with the only significant multi-year addition coming when free-agent center Vincent Trocheck was signed in 2022. Other than that, the current roster was largely built by former GM Jeff Gorton, who was the 18 of the 23 players on the roster to start the week. (That includes Jimmy Vesey, who was signed by Gorton as a college free agent in 2016 and re-acquired by Drury in 2022.)

    The difficulty of a transaction

    Multiple league sources, who spoke to lohud.com, part of the USA TODAY Network, on condition of anonymity, believe it will be extremely difficult for Drury to put his stamp on the roster at this curious moment.

    For starters, major trades are extremely rare at this early stage of the season, with most teams content to wait for clarity (and urgency) closer to the March 7 deadline. Then there’s the prohibitive size of the contracts Drury is trying to move, with Trouba on the hook for an average annual value of $8 million this season and next, while Chris Kreider is signed to an AAV through 2026-2027 of $6.5 million. And finally, there is the leverage problem. Opposing GMs know Drury is eager to make a deal – he just told them so – and will try to use that to their advantage. That means limiting return offers while also insisting, especially in Trouba’s case, that the Rangers keep some of the departing player’s salary.

    Even if they find a taker, it’s hard to predict how they’ll get out. Of the two big-name vets drafted, Kreider is a much more attractive piece. But can the Blueshirts improve while also deducting their all-time leading scorer? That would require a real hockey trade that brings back one or two impact players ready to contribute this season and beyond.

    And what about the rest of the selection? Trocheck, Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad have full freedom of movement clauses, while Shesterkin and Norris Trophy winner Adam Fox are likely off limits (or is Shesterkin?), leaving the Rangers’ younger talents as their most attractive trade chips. But many were bright spots early in the season and will be needed as cost-effective role players going forward. Trading any of these stocks only makes sense if there is a substantial package in return, and there are serious doubts about where that would come from.

    Other motives?

    Any way you look at it, Drury has a tough road ahead of him – and his tactic of group texting every team, knowing there’s a good chance it will leak out, leads many to believe he had motives other than just finding from a trading partner.

    The implication was clear. Kreider is his longest-tenured player and Trouba is his hand-picked captain. If they are not safe, who is?

    The hope was to get each player to step up their play, but the effectiveness of that strategy is highly debated. It didn’t seem to help in Monday’s uninspired 5-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues.

    There is a risk that the previously cramped, but increasingly tense dressing room will break down. Trouba came out strong after Tuesday’s practice and deep down he must know his days in New York are numbered, but how will the ever-loyal Kreider react if his name is dragged into the rumor mill? And if a transaction doesn’t happen, how will it affect his relationship with the only organization he knows?

    There is also the question of how it will be perceived by other players, both current and potential signings in the future.

    Business is business, but people around the league are taking notice of how these awkward situations are handled. They see respected leaders like Kreider and Trouba twisting in the wind with little communication or fair warning — just as they learned of the sneaky way Barclay Goodrow was uprooted over the summer — and realize how easily they can be pushed aside.

    Maybe that’s the point, but these mind games have created an atmosphere of despair that feels like it was avoidable. Drury had ample time to change the makeup of this roster and mold it into the difficult-to-play force he described when he first took over, but instead turned it around at least one too many times.

    Finding a franchise-altering trade at a time when several factors are working against him will be his biggest trick yet, but the odds seem long and the timing doesn’t feel right.

    Vincent Z. Mercogliano is the New York Rangers beat reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Read more of his work at lohud.com/sports/rangers/ and follow him on Twitter @vzmercogliano.

    Vaseline
    View all posts

    You Might Also Like