In recent news coming out of Sportsnet, Elliotte Friedman has said the New York Rangers are "open for business." While there are "untouchables" like Igor Shesterkin, the Rangers will be in the thick of the action as we head into the trade deadline. It's an interesting development as the Rangers assess where they are, where the organization's future lies, and how they return to where they want to be. The Blueshirts' brain trust has to earn its money now.
The struggles this season have begun to highlight a deep issue within the Rangers squad, and with a ton of pending free agents, decisions will have to be made regarding their futures. All of the pending unrestricted free agents are likely to be dealt for assets that the Rangers can use for the future, but that will set the franchise back a couple of years. When they were expected to maintain their contender status, this was disastrous.
Jacob Trouba's already gone, but he's far from the only one. K'Andre Miller, Chris Kreider, Kaapo Kakko, Ryan Lindgren, and others have been swirling around the rumor mill. New York will be the epicenter of trade rumors for the foreseeable future, which can create issues in the locker room if the players are not sure who will be here, who is departing the organization, and who will be fighting alongside them in the future.
However, New York desperately needs this. For many years, Igor Shesterkin has papered over the cracks of the defensive liabilities. He's not been able to do that this season. It's not a reflection on Shesterkin that he couldn't maintain that performance level, but it's an inditement of where the Rangers need to address the struggles. It's been a long season for the Blueshirts, and the open market stance from the management may signal the white flag being raised on the season.