The New York Rangers will have to make changes both with the roster and internally in terms of their culture.
After winning the Presidents’ Trophy and reaching the Eastern Conference Final just one year ago, the Rangers failed to make the playoffs in what was a disaster of a season.
Not only did the Rangers miss the playoffs, but the team dealt with issues of tension and dysfunction within the organization that spiraled out of control.
It started in the summer when the Rangers waived Barclay Goodrow without giving the player much notice as he was claimed off waivers by the San Jose Sharks.
Goodrow was an important leader in the Blueshirts’ locker room and the manner in which he was released didn’t boil over too well with Goodrow.
During the offseason, the Rangers’ desire to trade Jacob Trouba became public and that situation carried into training camp when Trouba remained on the roster.
After some struggles to start the season, Rangers president and general manager Chris Drury sent out a league-wide memo indicating his willingness to shake up the team’s core while specifically mentioning Chris Kreider and Trouba’s name. That also ultimately became public, which only plummeted the Rangers’ level of play even further.
Things quickly escalated and Trouba was shipped off to Anaheim after the Rangers threatened to place him on waivers if he did not waive his no-trade clause.
Now, the Rangers need to improve the roster and also do some damage control on their reputation which one NHL insider believes was badly hurt due to everything that transpired.
“I do think reputation wise, the Rangers have taken a hit this year,” Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said. “Players notice how things like that happen. For them it is easier to bounce back because of who they are and where they play. You can recover quickly from that.”
The Rangers fired Peter Laviolette on Saturday, but it will take far more than just a coaching change to fix the damage that has already been done.
