For the last season and a half, the Rangers’ front office has viewed Brady Tkachuk as a savior. From soft tampering to endless speculation, Chris Drury and the rest of the Rangers brass thought Brady would have the same impact on the Blueshirts as his brother Matthew did with the Florida Panthers. But Brady Tkachuk was never a savior. For this situation to get better, the Rangers need to save themselves, and there is no indication they are aware of this, let alone willing to act on it.
The concept of a Rangers savior is flawed
Brady Tkachuk was never a savior for the Rangers, a thought that was rooted in a belief that all Tkachuks are created equal. But Brady would have the same impact as Matt. But that’s the problem, Matt is by far the superior player, and it’s not even close. Trade cost aside, Brady was not and is not the same player. That doesn’t mean he’s a bad hockey player, it just means he’s not his brother. This illustrates a larger problem with the Blueshirts, and reinforces that the Rangers need to save themselves first.
There are many issues with this team. From questionable leadership on and off the ice to horrid roster moves to puzzling lineup decisions, the Rangers were never one player away from being a contender. The 2026 New York Rangers do not have a core. The 2022 Florida Panthers had a solid core and were ready to take the next step. They gave up two of those pieces for Matt, and the rest is history.
What would Brady Tkachuk bring to the Rangers, other than–now out in the open–locker room concerns on a team that has plenty of those to spare? Are the Rangers a point per game player away from Stanley Cup immortality? Likely not. This delusion ran all the way to the top of the organization, a thought that again reinforces that the Rangers need to save themselves from themselves.
There’s something ironic about another Tkachuk rumored to come to the Rangers for years, only to have those rumors never come to fruition. But that’s a conversation for another day.
The Rangers need to save themselves first
Before they can find a savior, the Rangers need to save themselves first. This is a team that still hasn’t found a replacement for Pavel Buchnevich, a trade that may have single handedly cost them a true Stanley Cup run.
This is a team that still can’t evaluate defensemen.
This is a team that has no elite scoring talent.
This is a team with just one 70 point player.
This is a team that just finished 30th in the NHL, despite boasting a top-three defenseman (Adam Fox) and the best goalie in the NHL (Igor Shesterkin).
This is a team that, despite all the soft tampering allegations, their so called savior had no desire to come to.
The New York Rangers are not a destination team anymore. The city of New York will always be a selling point, but the team is no longer in that conversation.
What can the team do to reverse this trend?
The Rangers need to save themselves first, but to do that they need to recognize a flaw in their plan. That flaw is there is no plan, and the man in charge has thrown so much proverbial stuff at a wall that nothing can stick anymore. Vlad Gavrikov has been great as the prime free agent signing last season, but the Rangers got worse.
JT Miller was viewed as a savior. Look how well that went. And now he’s the captain of whatever you want to call this team.
Chris Drury was possibly viewed as a savior GM by James Dolan, and look how well that’s gone.
For the team to move forward, the Rangers need to save themselves from themselves. They need to either recognize their current path is not a path to winning, or they need to completely replace everyone in the front office. Everything starts at the top, and unless there’s a change in approach, this team will never be able to amass enough talent to win a Stanley Cup.
The Rangers need to save themselves first, get back to being a prime destination for players, and then maybe we can start having a conversation about whether the club needs a savior.
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