No, it isn't time to blow up the Rangers

If your entire feeling of the team was based on social media reactions, then you’d think the Rangers are in last place, haven’t won a game all season, and it was time to blow up the Rangers roster. It’s rather funny since the Rangers are in first place and are just now showing some signs of a learning curve in January.

What’s rather ironic is the way the Rangers are playing now, over the last month, was the way we expected them to play in October as they adjusted to finally having some on-ice structure and systems. Perhaps the answer is simple: The adrenaline rush of a new coach has worn off and now they need to refocus their attention on the little details.

There is no one single reason why the Rangers are slumping. In fact, it’s likely a combination of many factors:

  1. The adrenaline rush wore off, as mentioned above
  2. Injuries are still impacting the roster, and the lack of a true 3C is hurting them
  3. Injuries for players like Adam Fox, even though he returned, lingered longer than expected
  4. Roster imbalance, specifically the third line, makes them easier to match up/play against
  5. Subpar goaltending
  6. Refocus on the little details: The 2-1-2 forecheck, clogging the neutral zone, clearing out home plate in the defensive zone, etc.

Maybe the best answer is to simply survive until the All Star break, get a nice mental reset, and then hit the home stretch hard and put these doubts to rest. The urgency is lacking from their game, and it’s something they need to find outside of the Panairn-Trocheck-Lafreniere line.

How to blow up the Rangers, if they can

But let’s entertain, for a second, this illogical thought process that the front office needs to blow up the Rangers. How would they do it? Who stays? Who goes? Which players are considered part of the core?

First and foremost, the players that will likely stick around if the decision to blow up the Rangers is made are pretty clear: Igor Shesterkin, Adam Fox, K’Andre Miller, Alexis Lafreniere, Filip Chytil, and to a lesser extent, Kaapo Kakko. Will Cuylle is likely in this group too, plus the big name prospects.

That’s the easy part.

In a non-cap world, the Rangers would get hauls for Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider, and Vincent Trocheck. But the cap exists, so any acquiring team would need to meet the following criteria:

  1. In their contention window
  2. Have a roster need for a top of the lineup player
  3. Have the cap space to manage at least 50% of the cap hit for multiple years
  4. Waive their NMC/NTC to facilitate the move (not really a true concern, given the first 2 points)

Having trouble identifying teams that fit the first three? So am I. This certainly wouldn’t be done until the draft, when teams have more space to work with. Let’s not even try to figure out trade packages. Feel free to put your proposals in the comments, if you want to blow up the Rangers.

The other problem with the idea to blow up the Rangers is filling the roster. It sounds nice on paper to insert Brennan Othmann, Gabe Perreault, Adam Sykora, Brett Berard, etc. But the facts are none are NHL ready and inserting them into an NHL lineup now might completely kill their NHL trajectory.

The “blow up the Rangers” argument is a bit silly.

It’s a slump, they will be fine

Instead of going down the blow up the Rangers rabbit hole, let’s instead take a step back and look at this season. The Rangers are 28-14-2, 1st in the Metro Division, 3rd in the conference, and 6th in the NHL in points. They are getting 65.9% of their available points this season.

They have a +16 goal differential, tops in the division (tied with Carolina and Pittsburgh), and that number is a bit skewed since the Rangers seem to like losing in style. This is all despite long term injuries to Adam Fox, Filip Chytil, and Kaapo Kakko, three top of the lineup players. They also don’t have their All-World goalie playing like an All-World goalie.

All teams slump. Just look at this lovely stretch by last year’s Stanley Cup winners. They lost 7 of 8 and 8 of 10 in this stretch. The 9 games before that? They went 5-4, including losses to noted juggernauts Islanders, Sabres, and Ducks. But on January 19, they were 28-16-2. The Rangers are 28-14-2.

There is no reason to blow up the Rangers, and calls to blow up the Rangers will be met with deserved ridicule. Let the slump ride out.

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