Rangers' slogan this year was no quit in New York. And I am here wondering if they have quiet quit on Chris Drury, Peter Laviolette, and ultimately the owner, James Dolan. And and I mean that because if you watched any Rangers hockey this weekend, you saw a husk of a team. This is a team with listen. I know they got problems, but that's an enormously talented team.
Of they're really not very different from the team that won the president's trophy and went to the conference final. They're really not that much different.
I asked around, and I I asked. I said, is are the Rangers quiet quitting? And the responses I got were yes, and, this has happened before.
Mhmm.
And what somebody pointed out to me was Pete DeBoer in that 1 season where Vegas missed the playoffs. Now they had some goaltending issues that year, but they had done some pretty vicious things. That's where the the the the Vegas sort of viciousness was coming out.
Mhmm.
And now we just sort of expected of them. It's their brand. Mhmm. But players can quit on management. And the thing about players quitting on management is Drury might have another trade left in him today or tomorrow.
But how much longer can this go on before Chris Drury is the 1 that gets fired? It's a lot easier to fire a general manager. It's a lot easier to fire a coach.
So I did some sniffing around too. K. Insider Stevie and all those players are gonna sign in the MLH. No. Great.
Good for them.
Yeah. So They're gonna sign for Saudi money.
Yeah. They're all gonna yeah. We can make more doing that. No. So did some did some sniffing around.
What I was told, and another person told me they had heard the same thing, is there was a players only meeting. And the players only meeting was not to discuss Peter Laviolette. As far as I can tell, the relationship with Laviolette is fine between him and the players. K. So there's a lot of chatter about him potentially getting fired.
I don't get the impression that they think he is either the problem or their main problem. Like, if they do think he's a problem, he's not the main problem. Their main gripe was Chris Drewry. The so the Rangers are it's so rare that you hear a team collectively having a problem with management. It's usually a little more in the room.
Oh, the coaches lost the room. This is an example where a GM who was an NHL player with a very respected career, very successful career, has lost a room full of today's NHL players. Jacob Trouba, like, we should have made a way bigger deal about his comment that, you know, getting fired by MSG is a rite of passage. Mhmm. That wasn't 1 player being an entitled brat.
I think that was a guy speaking for the room. That's how those guys feel. The 1 piece of good news that I had heard is I think these guys wanna be Rangers. Well, yeah. I can see that.
They wanna be Rangers. The 1 player I had heard, would like out is Kako Mhmm. Because, I mean, he needs more opportunity. I'm sure he wants to make more money, and you can't do that in the role that he's he has and he's a healthy scratch. What is it tonight?
Or was it last night? It was last night.
Yeah. Against the Blues. Did it help? No. They lost 32.
Well, there you go.
Tackos. Yeah. He's not the reason they've been stinking.
Exactly. Right? So I I kind of expect something to come down soon there. Maybe not today, but soon. But I get the impression these guys want to be Rangers.
And the reason they're so upset and not necessarily being, like, trade me right now Mhmm. Is they would just they want Chris Drury, to either change his ways or be gone.
And I think that is 1 of the major issues here is that every level of this team is in disarray and can't help itself. Because if you're the general manager, you can't reward a group of guys who have given up effort by firing the head coach because that that's what you're essentially doing. You're rewarding them by saying the effort it's not on you. It's on the head coach. So I'm gonna get rid of the head coach, bring in somebody new, and we'll all be happy.
And if you're the guys, you shouldn't be you should be upset at Chris Jury for the way he's handled the Gujral situation and the Trouba situation and all that, and you don't respect him at all, and you think a different general manager should be in there. I assume everything you guys are saying about about the quiet Quentin is true. And they're not giving effort for good reasons. But also, you have to be giving effort because every day you have to win in the NHL and this is your career on the line. If you don't give effort, we're not going to keep you around here.
And if you're Peter LaViolette and he's complaining to the media about the guys not giving effort, that's your job to get these guys motivated.
Something has to give.
Everything is wrong here with each level and the only guy who's at the top of the food chain there to make, to make decisions is Chris Jury.
Yep. No matter who feels what, something has to change. Now the way they treated Goudreau bad, the way they treated, Trouba bad. The name I heard more than once was Kreider. They're furious
with Well, because he was mentioned in the memo that went to 31 other teams. They're like, we wanna get rid of them.
Yeah. I was thinking about this. So okay. He's had a very good NHL regular season career. Mhmm.
Scored over 300 goals that puts you in the top like, it's like a crazy percent if you reach 300 goals. 123 Stanley Cup playoff games in his career. 48 Stanley Cup playoff goals, 28 assists, 76 points. I was thinking about it, and the leafs are not the team that you should, base your your standards on, especially when it comes to the playoffs. The leaves have dudes hanging from the rafters, like their names and numbers immortalized forever, who did less for the Leafs than Kreider has done for the New York Rangers.
Sure.
But the bar is different.
The bar is different. He's been to the final 4 at least 3 times Stanley Cup final in there. He's he's been nothing but incredible for the scene. He's not even really having a bad year. And how much He's having a not the best year.
And then now Chris Kreider is playing on the 4th line. Like he played on the 4th line on Sunday against St. Louis.
He had 75 points last year. He's only got 11.
This year. He's only got 11. It for for whatever reason, he is not picking up assists. I can't explain that phenomenon, but his goal scoring pace is not far off.
Yeah. But he's amongst the group of players here who are giving very poor efforts on the ice. Yeah. And that's in it for a guy who you know has more in him that's inexcusable.
So here's here's what I would say to the Rangers having their little players only meeting because I don't know what it's meant to accomplish. Who's above Chris Drury right so really what you're hoping for okay we want Chris Drury gone so we gotta we gotta send a message to his boss well as I see it on the Rangers website there's 2 guys listed above Chris Drury. And there's Greg Siebert, who's the vice chairman and executive chairman, James l Dolan. But you know what? Okay.
Maybe you can't get through to them directly. You know who you should go through? You know, you should complain to you should complain to the strategic adviser to the chairman. Do you know that person's name?
It does end with a Dolan.
It sure does. Quintin Dolan.
Oh, there you go.
His son. Yeah. Guys, legitimate as your gripes may be, I think you're screwed here.
Yeah. I think the best thing here would be to play good hockey.
Play out of it.
Play your way out of this thing because the coach isn't getting fired because the GM is not doing that because you hate him and he's not the relieving the coach because you want that done. And and the GM has all the power here, unfortunately, even though I believe, like, the way Chris Jury has acted recently and hit the moves he's made in in constructing this team. I don't think he's probably the best fit for this role going forward, but that doesn't seem there's an avenue to remove him from that post. So the only thing here is if you wanna stick around in New York, play better hockey, unfortunately. And guys like Zibinajjad and Lingren was awful on Man, was he bad.
He was bad. There's a puck going to the neutral zone that it was him and Jordan Kyrieu just going to get it. It's just 1 on 1 battle for the puck and lingering loses that battle, results in a breakaway for Kyru who ends up scoring and putting up the Blues 2 nothing. And lingering was the most vocal coming out of Saturday's loss, 51 of the Kings being like, we're getting outworked, we need to win all these battles. And on Sunday, the guy's losing the battles.
And that stuff is so disrespectful to the the fans there that are rooting on this team.
I hate this crutch and I I don't like doing this. You you've watched him a decent amount.
Yeah. Yeah.
Is he hurt? Lingren?
Yeah. I don't think so. Also I don't care.
Well, like, okay. So the reason I ask is How did he all of a
sudden just forget to be good?
This is the thing.
He's in a UEFA year. He's 26. He was a great piece of their run. Again, like Kreider. I wonder if Kreider is Right.
But he should be playing into a contract that brings him generational wealth and Yeah. Playing himself into, like, a healthy Like,
into, like, a 1 year deal. I hope you still have it.
Right? And then, like, Keandre Miller's out, Panarin is day to day, didn't play Sunday at all. And it's not just lingering who's been awful, like Mika Zibinajjad, like, a lot of Ranger fans want that guy gone, but you're unfortunately, you're not trading that contract. I don't know if anybody's gonna take that that deal, but Zibinajjad's been awful too, and he got demoted to the 3rd line yesterday because he's been so bad and also didn't put in the greatest effort. You know, you're seeing from from top to bottom, it's been a it's been a lack of production from all of these guys and you can't give this sort of effort and expect to get, like, backing from the fans and the team if this is the way you're on the ice performing.
The worst players or at very least upfront are the Staples, like the dudes who have been there forever.
Mhmm.
Panarin is having a unreal season 36 No complaining about that. Games.
No no complaints. Except it's just defense sometimes. Sure. He's not great at defense.
Adam Fox, 25 points in 30 games. Do you complain about that? Of course not.
No. Adam Fox hasn't been Norris Trophy. No. I that's all I expect out of him.
So is that the conversation that we always have with Matthews where he can't even score 40 goals because that's not good enough because the standard is 69. Yeah.
Right.
Okay.
Yeah. No. Adam Fox hasn't been Norris trophy level, and that's been disappointing.
Will Cooley, 23 points in 30 games. I mean
This team doesn't run through Cooley.
No. But what a what a step.
Right? Yeah.
So if he's doing that well, alright. Great. How's everyone else doing? Like, I I guess what I'm getting to is the dudes who have been there for, like, a decade. If they're performing to their usual and they get a performance out of him like that, they're doing great, but they're not.
Laffer Ner, 21 points in 30 games. That's probably below what I expected of him, but he's still 4th. You wanna chirp?
Hasn't been great since he signed that contract.
It's Zibanejad.
Got your money and you stop trying, laugh.
Zibanejad, 21 points in 30 games.
Too much money for the 3rd line.
Mhmm. Trowcheck, 18 points in 30 games. Now we're getting a drop off here. Riley Smith, you know what? You got them for pennies on the dollar you're scoring at half a point a game.
Actually, a little bit more. Mhmm.
That was that was the correct free agent acquisition by jury. I'll give him that. That's what they needed, some some winger help, and Riley Smith should have been perfect for that role.
He should have been perfect in Pittsburgh too, and it makes me wonder Yep. Does Riley Smith still have it?
Guess who else, is scoring at about half a point a game? And it's fine that he's scoring at half a point a game, and you usually keep half a point a game. Players, Capo Kako. Healthy scratch. Healthy scratch.
Which is a curious decision because
he played a great game the the game before. That was thing, like, he was good before he got healthy to people, like, Rangers fans are like, why him?
Yeah. No. The it was a very odd decision by LaViolette, and that's somebody grasping at straws who doesn't who's probably is just talking to Dolan or Dolan, to Drury who doesn't like Kacko. It seems like Drury is not the fan of Kacko, and that's your GMN head coach skewering a guy who shouldn't be skewered. I I wanna be a great player.
I watched him in the playoffs. I don't get it.
I don't get it either.
I like, okay. Is he second overall pick good? No. Sometimes guys wear that, like, a friggin', like, weighted vest.
Mhmm.
Like, I I like, a backpack full of weights. They I someone was, like, if he played for, like, Medicine Hat in the WHL and was named Tanner, like
Everything would be fine?
Yeah. But he's Capo Gakko and second overall pick. You know, if he was a 4th rounder from Medicine Hat, he'd be fine.
Yeah. The the scratching was a weird thing to do from La Vie. Let's decide the things.
He deals at half a point a game and you missed him last year. And then you get into Kreider who has just a genuinely bizarre stat line with the 10 goals, which is good, and 1 assist, which is horrible. If your mainstays, Zibanejad, maybe Trowcheck finds his way into that conversation, and Kreider, the dudes who have been there forever, if they're, like, average, they're great. Another guy, I I gotta say, is really disappointing. Like, he and he he's disappointing to the point where he, like, negates what you're getting out of Cooley is Jimmy Vesey has played 16 games, and he's got 3 points.
Would you say he's vanilla?
Oh, he was so good, though.
He was. No. I'm just saying with the Leafs thing.
That's annoying.
It's just an Amazon joke. Yeah.
There's not Amazon joke.
No. No. I won't give you that.
Like, Connor McKee How soon
is your reading?
I'm sorry. Connor McKee slugging it out on on Saturday against the Kings was was fun to watch, you know. You're like, oh, he's he's getting into a fight and, like, it's all for nothing. You know? It's like, oh, we're gonna do the thing where we get into a fight and we're gonna galvanize the guys and everything's gonna be cool and they lose 51.
Now this team should be a GM's dream though. Because you have a team that is struggling and you you need to make a move. Okay. That's bad. We don't like that.
But everyone's confused as to why they're bad, which means you have talent. You have names.
Mhmm.
You have names that people want. Get moving. How's your phone doing? You got itchy thumbs scratch them.
It's the surface. It's, it's hard to make a deal when guys are at the complete bottom of their value.
Well, that's a problem.
You know?
Yeah. That is a problem.
The guy you wanna move in Kreider is like I keep saying he's on your 4th line on Sunday. How are you gonna move that?
You know where Kreider makes so much sense to me based on what they did this weekend in St. Louis?
New York.
St. Louis.
St. Louis?
Yeah. They were gonna trade him. And the reason I say that is because if you look at the St. Louis Blues, they got Cam Fowler because Nick Leddy is probably gonna be a longer term than we thought. Yep.
And their top 2 scores have 25 20 points. Wouldn't Chris Kreider look good next to, Kyro and Thomas?
I'd call for Lindgren too. Like, okay. This Well, I
don't think I don't think St. Louis needs more defense. No. I know. I I just They won't
screw it. I think
they need more support.
We're gonna we're gonna do 10 and 8. Woah. Do what? We're gonna do 10 and 8. We're gonna have 4 pairs.
We're the blues. We do things different. I'm kidding.
Jesse's face.
I didn't know. He's just very
No. You're you're pretend Doug Armstrong. They're like,
we're doing it. Well, someone Or
makes a Don Cherry and a drunk neighbor there.
Someone, I mean, should be like someone is going to take the bet that Lindgren didn't forget how to play hockey.
Mhmm.
You know
what I mean? Mhmm. They're a fascinating team. I If Kreider becomes available Uh-huh.
If he if he genuinely becomes available
Every playoff team should be on.
I I just and I here's the thing. I need the Leafs to find their 3rd line center inside the organization like I need air because I would love a nice patch already Crider left side.
You need a established 3 c.
I know you do. I know you do.
Don't be tempted. Don't be tempted. You need an established I'm dying, though.
I'm dying. I need it. I need it. Kreider as a Leaf, come on, man. I need it.
As a fan, I need it. And that's the thing is that it's too bad that he's not a center because he'd be perfect.
He scored 50 goals so recently. Like
I know.
I it the Rangers downfall doesn't make any sense to me. And what what I'd be curious about is this player's only meeting. What was Igor Shesterkin's role in it? Because I I think it also probably rubbed players the wrong way that it was very nakedly, like, hey. Have you seen that meme of, the rangers trade trouba?
And it's like Chris drew it. He versus Durkin's house half an hour later, and it's just the door opening and a guy holding out on literally on his knees holding out a bunch of money. Like, yeah, it's we did a so that we could accomplish b. We traded our captain and kicked him out the door despite his wishes because we signed this guy and, like, I'm not criticizing signing the best goalie in the world but it's a little difficult to be sitting there as Igor going yeah fuck the establishment like
I just got all my money.
Yeah. Damn the man who just gave me unfathomable wealth. Yep. You know, it's I wonder I wonder if Buffalo, the Rangers, and the Islanders could all fire their GM in the same season.
Lou Lamoriello is not getting fired. He will step down whenever he chooses to.
They got it. They got to do something there.
I played the game. I played our Cliff Fletcher game with Lou Lamoriello.
Oh, yeah.
So he was born October 21, 1942. Animal like this he was born during the Battle of Stalingrad. Oh, wow. And That was
a long battle to be fair.
And someone was born not the same year, not the same month. They were born the same day. As Lou? Same day, little baby Lou was born in Rhode Island.
He was probably bald then too.
So he yeah. Probably bald then too. He's wearing a suit out of the womb.
He came out with and with side his side hair.
And this person, a famous person
k.
Was born in Brooklyn. That same day, October 21, 1942. Brooklyn. I don't know. Judge Judy.
Wow.
Oh, that's a fun fact.
Damn. Judge Judy was born the same day as Lula Amorello.
Well, it must have been like, they must have been born under an ironclad sign Yeah. In the celestial system because both of them are above the
law. Oh, astrologer. Myth
Strzokan, God bless his heart. He got pulled Saturday. It's like, okay, we're paying you $11,500,000 moving forward. We can't have you be pulled against the LA Kings. But also, every goal in that game was Harlem Globetrotters, LA Kings can just come on a 2 on 1 pass the buck where they want the zone score goal.
So for him, he's not delivering on the save percentage you want out of a goal you're paying that much, but the team in front of him has been so dog shit lately, you can't really blame him for anything, so.
They have to change things up because you can't just torpedo a whole season.
Exactly.
You're, you Well, you can
make the playoffs.
You are right at current moment, you are.
You should make the playoffs. There's no reason for you not to.
Right. Now you sit out of a playoff spot. And with the whole conversation, I just I don't know where you move forward besides, like, Drury's the boss, so he's gonna make all the moves Yep. And he's gonna make some shifts, and he's gonna be really antsy, and call GMs openly, and all that fun stuff. So there's gonna be more stuff coming out of New York, and it's gonna be just more hell and disaster and chaos.
Steve Dangle, Adam Wylde and Jesse Blake discuss the current problems surrounding the new York Ranegrs and how they ...