The Rangers locker room problem is on the players, and they need to grow up

The New York Rangers have a locker room problem. Not in the traditional sense, where there is a fractured locker room. No, this Rangers locker room problem stems from how they carry themselves in the face of adversity off the ice. We know the Rangers have essentially mailed it in, a possible revolt against how things have been handled, but now we have reason to believe it’s almost entirely with Chris Drury’s management of the team, and not the coaching staff.

The Rangers locker room problem seems to stretch back to the summer, when the Rangers waived Barclay Goodrow and attempted to trade Jacob Trouba. Both were needed moves to free up cap space to retain the key pieces of the roster for another run. Both Goodrow and Trouba were no longer worth their contracts.

We all know how this played out. Goodrow was waived and claimed by San Jose after he was rumored to reject a trade there initially. The former Rangers captain was not traded in the summer, but threatened with waivers this month if he did not accept a trade, and was unceremoniously dealt to Anaheim. This trade came a week or so after rumors that he and Chris Kreider were on the block, per a memo sent to the league by Drury.

And now, we have more news, per the SDPN episode last night.

The Rangers piece that Steve, Jesse, and Adam discuss starts at the 1:15:00 mark in the video, and it is well worth the listen. To summarize, the Rangers locker room problem stems not just from how the Trouba and Goodrow situations were handled, but how Kreider’s name was mentioned as well. It is rumored the players were furious.

Rangers locker room problem is Drury focused, but on the players

As we’ve mentioned before, the Rangers locker room problem is on the players. Yes, they all have a reason to be upset with their General Manager. He hasn’t handled these situations well, and it goes back to his first year when we called out the Chris Drury problem with the Rangers three years ago.

However this is different. The Drury problem three years ago was Drury being too involved in the development of players, and micromanaging his coaching staff and development team. That is not the case this time around. This time his problem is with the veterans, and taking a gamble by leaking his memo to the public without knowing how the locker room would take it. This is the origin of the Rangers locker room problem.

If you’ve been here long enough, you know I’m not the biggest fan of Drury’s moves. He deserves some credit in that he rectifies his mistakes quickly and learns from them. Perfection isn’t a realistic ask of anyone, including front office staff. He’s made some very questionable moves, with Pavel Buchnevich and Patrick Kane being at the top of everyone’s lists. But this time around, the Rangers locker room problem is not on him.

The players, the leaders on this team, need to get over themselves. Every professional athlete ever has seen friends traded, waived, released, suspended, fired into the sun, and everything in between. Drury’s approach was pretty rough, and that deserves criticism, but the play on the ice is on the players. It’s not on Drury. It’s not on the coaching staff, which SDPN calls out as healthy and fine. Peter Laviolette is not the problem, nor are his systems.

The Rangers locker room problem is with the players and the players alone.

It’s exceedingly rare that fans are–for the most part–on the same page regarding issues with the team. There are some people calling for a coaching change, but the majority of people believe (in my opinion, correctly) the issue is with the players.

Simply put: If the guys in the locker room are going to hold a grudge against management, they are shooting themselves in the foot. If they want this fixed, they need to start playing better. Or even just playing in general. They need to show up and actually try, which it’s clear they are not. At least not consistently.

So what’s next?

The tricky thing with this Rangers locker room problem is there’s no quick fix. James Dolan is not firing Chris Drury, and nor should he. At least not for this specific issue.

We’ve already covered that Laviolette is well liked and is not the issue. He’s not going anywhere.

It’s the players that will continue to be moved and pressured into moving on if they continue down this road. To be blunt, they don’t deserve a fourth coach or a third GM. This current group has a ceiling of the Conference Final. They needed cap space to make needed improvements to the blue line, the Achilles heel of this team. The cap space is now there.

The “major” move this summer was adding Reilly Smith, who has been just fine. Artemi Panarin has been fine, if unspectacular. The bottom six is not the problem, including a baffling scratch of Kaapo Kakko which most certainly did not help. But Kreider, Vincent Trocheck, Mika Zibanejad, Ryan Lindgren, Adam Fox, K’Andre Miller, and Alexis Lafreniere have all been atrocious for a chunk of the year. Only Lafreniere had a blip of solid play, which tailed off when he signed his extension.

The Rangers locker room problem can only be solved by the players. If they don’t figure it out, then Drury will force something through. Perhaps they should stop sulking, stop being soft, and unite over a common enemy. That’s the only path forward if they want to keep their remaining friends on Broadway.