Should the New York Rangers eventually move on from Peter Laviolette in the next few weeks, there will be a slew of changes going along with it. Most notably, whoever takes over the role, will be taking over a team that will be gutted from the inside out.
Of course, if Laviolette can right the ship and revive this team from one of the lowest points in recent memory, he will be hailed a hero and not a villain.
Let's discuss.
Following the reality that the Rangers may go in a different direction from Laviolette:
1. Roster is gutted
With a new head coach coming in, there will be a change in the Rangers core. You should expect that many key pieces will be traded away or altered in linemates than what we currently see. This season has shown that whatever worked in last year's Presidents' trophy run and the first dozen or so games this season just will not work anymore. That ship has sailed.
General Manager Chris Drury is still putting feelers out there for many of the Rangers players currently on this roster, and that will be put to the test over the next few weeks into months. It was Chris Kreider and Jaccob Trouba that were first publicly put into the Broadway lights for a trade, with the latter being dealt to Anaheim. But, now there is someone else.
Kaapo Kakko's recent benching against the St. Louis Blues in their 3-2 loss on Sunday was a wake-up call, to say the least. His decline in play and lack of real credible improvements since being drafted in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. He is likely the next to go, in a flurry of moves to be made if the Rangers cannot move this train forward.
2. Next Coach may have a new boss
If Laviolette has to go, he shouldn't be the only one. If the Rangers cannot get this thing together, cut the entire organ out to get rid of the cancer. That includes GM Chris Drury.
It should not be chalked up to coincidence that the recent slump that the Blueshirts have been experiencing started with the shocking sentiment that this team was open for business to move on from key pieces. In some ways, you could chalk that up as a small fraction of why this team is the way it is right now.
Executive Chairman James Dolan will have a tough decision to make about the future, but it makes sense to completely tear the structure down and start over. Players, coaches and managers alike.
3. The Letter, Act II
All Rangers fans should brace for an addendum added to the infamous "letter" that was released on February 8, 2018. Act II is incoming.
The window was closing when the season started, and now, through 30 games of this season, it has all but been sewn shut. They are not mathematically out of a playoff spot, not by a long shot, but the hope has been all but extinguished. The fans are frustrated, and the entire league has been put on notice that the Rangers are not a perfect team anymore.
The dominoes will fall once the head of this locker room is cut off. With a shattered leadership group, it will take a lot of work to bring this team back into the playoff fold. Impossible, no, but improbable, likely. Whoever may step into Laviolette's will have to brace themselves for suffering the same fate as David Quinn and half of Gerard Gallant did.