james dolan rangers 1st round pick

Drama (again) hit the Rangers yesterday. James Dolan –or Donal, according to NBC– fired President John Davidson and General Manager Jeff Gorton. Chris Drury replaced both and will be the President and General Manager of the Rangers. Drama hasn’t been a friend o the Rangers this season, and this certainly caught us all by surprise. As per usual, I have thoughts on the Rangers front office shakeup.

1. This was a shocker to everyone, to the point where we thought it was a joke from a fake account at first. There were rumblings that the Rangers cancelled their morning press conference to plan a protest against Tom Wilson’s lack of suspension. Boy were we wrong. Details were scarce at the beginning, and Brandon captured most of our emotions perfectly yesterday. This was unnecessary drama that came at an odd time. It was hours before a game and with just three games left in the season. Very suspect timing.

2. There are two causes for these firings. The first is that neither Gorton nor Davidson knew about the team statement about Wilson and George Parros on Monday, and tried to distance themselves from it. They knew the team was going to respond, but they didn’t agree with the statement, which was Dolan driven. This caused even more of a schism between the senior leaders in the organization and may have been the straw that broke the camel’s back. I buy that as a reason, but not the cause.

3. The second, and perhaps more telling, reason is that Dolan thought the team wasn’t performing well enough and was “too skilled” and had “no will” on the ice. The timing of that was relatively perfect, given I had covered that yesterday morning. I’m not going to re-hash the entire post, but Dolan meddling in the Rangers is what he had done with the Knicks for so long. The fear isn’t about Chris Drury taking over. It’s about Dolan beginning to meddle, and that has most of us fearful for what comes next. Very few were attached to JD or Gorton. It’s the fear of the unknown, given the prior track record.

4. Something else that came up is that Dolan didn’t want to fire JD. He asked JD to fire Gorton. When he refused, he was let go as well. We don’t know how true this actually is, but it does check out. Remember, JD isn’t even two years into his tenure with the Rangers. I guarantee this has left a sour taste in his mouth, and it makes me wonder what his next steps with the organization are. He certainly didn’t expect this. I don’t think this impacts his legacy, but it might impact his desire to participate with the organization for anything in the future.

5. The fears regarding Dolan are certainly warranted, but not necessarily with Drury. He’s been with the club for five years already, most of it in a assistant/associate GM role. He’s been around the block, and he knows what the overall vision for the team is. There likely won’t be a wholesale teardown, or a Kakko for Ryan Reaves trade. As mentioned yesterday, balancing the skill with the will was a matter of addressing it in the offseason with a small move here or there. I don’t think that vision changes.

6. What might change is how the Rangers address free agency. Glen Sather is still with the team in an advisor capacity, and will advise Drury in his transition. We know Sather loves his fourth line enforcers, so it makes you wonder if that is on the menu this offseason. We’ve seen what a good fourth line means, so let’s hope it’s less of a Donald Brashear reaction, and more of a 14th F that rarely plays reaction.

7. I don’t think this means David Quinn’s days are numbered. Drury and Quinn share the BU connection, and per Sam Prevot, he was an integral part of the Quinn hire.

I know a lot of people have issues with DQ, and I certainly have my hockey tactics and in-game adjustments concerns. The only thing I’m fearful of is adjusting the roster to fit the system (which is a bad system), instead of adjusting the system to fit the players. You can have will players while also promoting a skill atmosphere and system.

8. One final thought on this Rangers front office shakeup: Being a Ranger fan is exhausting, isn’t it?

Share: 

More About: