The New York Rangers have just three wins in the last twelve games. It's been a dismal stretch of games, and that will continue as the Rangers are forced to run a gauntlet of playoff teams. Something we're yet to find collectively is the cause of the downturn. We've all had our guesses, but according to Steve "Dangle" Glynn of SDPN, the New York Rangers players may have quit, not on the coach, but on general manager Chris Drury.
Chris Drury has had two controversial moves within the last six months. Just before the opening of free agency, Drury forced Barclay Goodrow out the door by waiving him to get around his modified no-trade clause. Goodrow had declined to waive his M-NTC to facilitate a trade to the San Jose Sharks, but the Sharks claimed him on waivers. That was massively controversial at the time but completely legal. An M-NTC does not protect a player from waivers.
The second of those controversial moves was Jacob Trouba. Another player with an M-NTC threatened to waive Trouba if he didn't help facilitate a trade. Trouba eventually landed in Anaheim, and both moves of two members of the Rangers leadership core shook the franchise to its core. Trading the captain added a few extra shockwaves, and now the Rangers players seem to be at an impasse with their general manager.
Assuming this is indeed true, I can't believe this group of players is more concerned with Drury's actions than with their own performance on the ice.
— Stat Boy Steven 🇳🇱 (@StatBoy_Steven) December 17, 2024
To quote Herb Brooks: "You worry about your own game. Plenty there to keep you busy." #NYR pic.twitter.com/Hg3AQAn9Kg
The good news is Peter Laviolette still seems to be liked among this core, but the antics of the general manager have left a sour taste in the mouth of the core. It makes sense, since Drury is using waivers to get around trade protection, that those with the aforementioned protection may not look too kindly upon it. Many fans are also starting to want to see Drury depart the organization after the handling of the summer, as well as the recent memo about Chris Kreider and Trouba.
If the divide is over the general manager, this is a situation that Rangers owner James Dolan needs to involve himself with. If he pays no attention to this tire fire, the Blueshirts will waste another year of their ultra-talented core. If Drury stops trying to get around trade protection with waivers and manages in good faith, perhaps he can regain the trust of the players, but that bridge might be burned.
This isn't to say this is entirely Chris Drury's fault. The former New York Rangers captain tried negotiating trades in good faith, but Jacob Trouba declared he wouldn't report to any team he was traded to this summer. It destroyed any leverage Drury had to move on from the big defenseman. If the players are not going to act in good faith, expecting the General Manager to do it does seem unfair to the organization.
At least we now have some sort of idea of where the issues begin for this Rangers group. We'll see where this takes the hockey club, but the looming days seem darker than the present. If Drury can turn this around before it is too late, he could save his job. If he can't, New York will look for a new voice to take charge in the front office, or so we hope.