The New York Rangers have been here before. Maybe not in this exact situation, but they’re coming off a couple of tough years, they have a high draft pick, and they have plenty of cap space. In the past, when faced with similar situations, we’ve seen too many Rangers shortcuts, signing the best free agents and trying to undercut a proper rebuild. Money can be used wisely, of course, but given the crop of free agents, that cap space should be weaponized to acquire talent that moves this team forward and get them younger. The traditional Rangers shortcuts should not be an option.
This is the conundrum. The Rangers are at a crossroads. Though they wish to be retooling, the roster screams rebuild, while the young talent needs plenty of ice time to continue developing. The typical Rangers way would be to try to expedite the retool by signing the best free agents out there. However, this go around, the best free agents are….not ideal.
Should the Rangers sign Alex Tuch for $10 million a year? Is New York in the position to offer Darren Raddysh $8 million a year? These are the questions we are asking President of Hockey Operations Chris Drury to answer correctly. These are your Rangers shortcuts that lead not to success, but disaster.
Additionally, Drury will be tasked with avoiding low-hanging fruit trade candidates, another pitfall of previous Rangers shortcuts. Brady Tkachuk, a long-time Drury favorite, may be available this offseason. Steven Stamkos will likely be available. Heck, even Auston Matthews might be on the table if the Toronto Maple Leafs cannot convince him that their grand plan of their own is going to work.
There will be plenty of options for Drury, should he consider going the immediate fix route. Knowing Drury, there’s a strong chance he chooses that route. Old habits die hard, even if the old Rangers shortcuts have proven to be ineffective in the new NHL.
But what happens if he does? What happens if Tkachuk or Matthews is suddenly on the opening night roster, especially with young talent coming out to get one of them? Undoubtedly the roster will look better, but at what cost? Will the Rangers reach the Conference Finals a few times and then end up back where we are now? Or will Drury find a way to supplement talent for the first time in his tenure?
These are questions we shouldn’t have to answer. The Rangers are in desperate need of an infusion of young talent, not just talent, period. If someone under the age of 25 becomes available, absolutely, go get them. But a player in his upper-20s? The Rangers won’t be good in their prime. But at least that’s better than Dark Ages Rangers shortcuts, which consisted of players over 30 on the regular.
It’s imperative Chris Drury understands the importance of ice-time for the youth, and understanding his own team’s timeline. If he doesn’t, there aren’t enough big signings or trades to fix the direction of this franchise.
Lost in all of this is the James Dolan of it all as well. The best thing that can happen for the Rangers is Dolan getting distracted by the Knicks winning it all. Dolan in the past has impatiently forced the Rangers to retool rather than rebuild. There’s no reason to think he wouldn’t do it again.
New York needs to operate as a team earning their way back to the top. Shortcuts will only make the whole process take longer.
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