When pessimistic about the Rangers, I prefer to be wrong and see the team do well despite my feelings. When optimistic, I prefer to be right and enjoy both a solid Rangers team and being right. But now, the 2024-2025 New York Rangers are done, managing to suck most of the joy of watching them in the process. Last night’s loss and Montreal’s win left the Rangers 4 points back with just 6 games remaining. Montreal can make it 6 points tonight in Nashville.

Missing the playoffs happens. Sometimes teams get snakebitten, injured, or just have off seasons. These are usually manageable, as even playoff teams have off years or years with bad luck. Losing is a part of the game. But losing the way the Rangers have, with no fight, is the problem. It’s not that they are losing, it’s how they are losing. The 2024-2025 New York Rangers are done, and have been dead for a while.

Why are the 2024-2025 New York Rangers done?

We all saw the signs in November. After the Rangers went 12-4-1 to start the season, the wheels came off. They had a few lackluster games, albeit with a .500 record, and then trade rumors appeared to be the straw that broke the camel’s back. Jacob Trouba’s issues from the summer bled over and had to be dealt with. Chris Kreider’s name was in the infamous memo, and the team didn’t take too kindly to that.

But even before, we saw cracks in the foundation. Peter Laviolette’s insistence that Ryan Lindgren was not only ready to play, but should be back in his 1LD spot was foolish. It didn’t take a huge hockey mind to see he not only couldn’t handle it anymore, but it killed the defensive flow. K’Andre Miller-Adam Fox were a top-tier pair before they were broken up and Miller’s game went from quietly solid to mostly solid with that once-per-game-egregious-gaffe.

Aside: The Braden Schneider-Jacob Trouba pair was actually pretty decent before Lindgren returned. Trouba’s situation needed to be dealt with, but that pair was quietly fine.

Blowing up the defense upon Lindgren’s return was, to me, the first domino in this train wreck of a season. The defensive play disappeared, the goaltending cracked, and the offense/powerplay couldn’t make things work. All this on top of the memo, and the 2024-2025 New York Rangers are done. We just didn’t know it yet.

It started in October with Lindgren’s return to his prior usage. It’s not *THE* reason, but it’s certainly a reason. This isn’t Lindgren’s fault, mind you. This is on Laviolette for not recognizing what everyone else saw.

But it didn’t stop there

The 2024-2025 New York Rangers are done for many reasons. Lindgren’s return and the trade memo were the catalysts, but to blame the whole season on that is a fool’s errand. Everything went wrong.

Laviolette’s questionable (being nice) decision to scratch Kaapo Kakko instead of any of the other struggling veterans led to his trade for Will Borgen. I don’t believe in trade value, since NHL GMs aren’t stupid and they know a slump or hot streak when the see it. But the scratching and subsequent public comments from Kakko limited value because all 31 teams knew he wanted out. But I digress.

The trade for JT Miller is turning out to be a solid one, but those hailing Miller as a savior were missing the bigger picture. The stink ran deep with this iteration of the Blueshirts, much deeper than one player could possibly fix. The 2024-2025 New York Rangers are done, and there was nothing Miller’s acquisition could have done to stop it.

Lineup decisions, trading disgruntled top picks, a leadership group that essentially quit, some lingering injuries, and general moping are all factors. Neither Laviolette nor Chris Drury did themselves any favors, and Laviolette certainly didn’t put anyone in a position to succeed. But to pin everything on both of them is also a fool’s errand. The 2024-2025 New York Rangers are done, and there’s plenty of blame to go around.

So what’s next?

We know big changes are coming for the Rangers. Chris Kreider is gone. Mika Zibanejad is likely gone as well. Kreider has a ton of value and an affordable enough contract. Zibanejad has value, but his contract will be an issue. K’Andre Miller may be on the block as well. In fact, there aren’t many players on the roster that aren’t available in some way or another.

It seems Laviolette will survive the season, but not much longer. Drury is going to get his 3rd coach since taking over as the Rangers GM, for better or for worse. His seat should be getting hot, but we know James Dolan doesn’t really cycle through GMs that much. To his credit, Drury did revamp the blue line with some speed and puck carrying ability, and we don’t know how much of the on-ice product is because of the quitting–which impacts the effectiveness of the man/zone defensive zone system–or because his acquisitions didn’t work.

This season finally ends in 11 days. The Rangers will play 6 games in that span, and only two of those games are against non-playoff teams. The 2024-2025 New York Rangers are done. It’s a shame, as this year’s Eastern Conference was wide open.

They have no one to blame but themselves. From Dolan down to the players on the ice. The stink is bad with this team.

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