Let’s go back a season ago. The Rangers, on their western Canada road trip, lose to the Calgary Flames 3-2 after getting outshot 49-29. A few days later Chris Drury leaked his now infamous trade memo and the downfall of the 2024-2025 season began at the end of November. This season, the Rangers have struggled mightily to turn chances into results in the early goings of the season, with the latest being this 5-1 rout by those same Flames.
There were very few bright spots last night, one of them Noah Laba’s first NHL goal. Through 10 games, Laba has done well in the bottom six, though not without some hiccups. He’s one of the team’s better face-off men, he can drive play, it’s likely he lost some assists playing with his previous wingers, and he has a really good forechecking mentality. He will be a solid 3C as long as the Rangers don’t mess this one up too.
Igor Shesterkin can only do so much. He wasn’t going to sport a .985 save percentage all season, and the team in front of him has taken a step back defensively. They are reverting back to habitual tendencies that were so prevalent in last year’s Rangers. Mike Sullivan is very much safe with his job, but if even he can’t get the rest of this core to buy-in to the low-event, team defense driven system, then what else is there to do? Be thankful they kept the 2026 1st round pick?
It is still very much October, but you really are starting to wonder when and where the turnaround will happen. As it stands right now, the Rangers are last in the Eastern conference. The irony however is they are a single point out of a playoff spot. It’s what makes all of this losing 6 out of the last 7 so annoying. The Rangers very well could be comfortably in a playoff spot in the East right now with the Thanksgiving “cut off” upcoming in 30 days. The east as far as we can tell early on is wide open. Will someone on the team realize this who isn’t 31?
Losing stinks. It makes watching this team a chore. It makes us emotional and raises questions about the personnel currently on the roster. With so many players signed to long term deals, the answer has to come from within the room. They are a good 5v5 team that seems to be passively waiting for that big jolt to wake them up. When’s the last time we even saw an emotional scrum, staged Matt Rempe/Ryan Reaves fight notwithstanding?
There’s a certain disconnect that is hard to quantify when you watch the top-six in particular. They have fine enough underlying numbers, but where’s that emotion? JT Miller gives good quotes and Mika Zibanejad has been the best Rangers forward to start the year, but that’s not enough. Artemi Panarin disappeared after his four point night. But at least Taylor Raddysh is keeping the team afloat, right?
For Chris Drury, this likely isn’t what he expected. The JT Miller trade cemented a new roster built in his vision, with Mike Sullivan the icing on top. The team, though, is struggling to play Sully hockey, the remaining leadership group can’t finish to start the season. Are we going to see a similar playbook by Drury as we did a year ago and start seeing names leaked to the media soon?
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