NEW YORK — There’s all kinds of ways to repurpose the Rangers’ 2021-22 slogan. “No Quit in NY” made a lot of sense for that team, one that showed an ability to rally late in games and produce clutch moments on its way to the Eastern Conference final.
Now, with this year’s Rangers skating off the ice to a cascade of boos from the Madison Square Garden crowd following a 2-1 loss to the dead-last Chicago Blackhawks that marked an eighth regulation loss in the last 10 games, there might be a new slogan.
No fight in NY.
Harsh, sure, but what other conclusion can you draw from this team’s response to the turmoil from 72 hours prior? The Rangers saw their captain Jacob Trouba sent packing on Friday, ending a two-plus season run as the team leader. GM Chris Drury wanted to shake up his team, shake himself free of Trouba’s $8 million cap hit and start remaking the roster that had gotten off to a mirage-like 12-4-1 start before the warts really started to show in the last two weeks.
It was a tumultuous stretch but it was done. On Friday, Drury and coach Peter Laviolette set the new course for the captain-less Rangers: Find some players who want to stand up and take charge of the room and the season before it gets away from them.
After Monday’s brutal loss, I asked Laviolette if he’s seen any new leaders emerge. “No,” he said through what seems like permanently gritted teeth lately. “Not yet.”
Too soon, you might say. The change is too fresh. But Drury made his move ahead of a three-in-four stretch against three non-playoff teams. The Rangers pulled one out against a Pittsburgh Penguins team on Friday that managed to be more lifeless than the Rangers in a building that sounded like it was waiting for a symphony to begin, not a hockey game, after one of the most intense days in recent team history.
Then came Sunday afternoon, when the Rangers took a 3-1 lead and turned it into a 7-5 loss to the Seattle Kraken. A step back, but those happen.
But Monday night came and so did the Hawks, losers of five straight and playing their second game under interim coach Anders Sorensen. A lineup that seems designed more as a trade-deadline buffet than one intending to win hockey games. The Rangers tried for a period, fumbling a few good chances but emerging tied after one; the next two periods were unbecoming.
The Rangers, desperately in need of wins, were outworked by the Hawks. They were out-positioned all over the ice. As they’ve done too often through 27 games, the Rangers decided trading chances was the way forward rather than sustaining some offensive-zone time and shoring up their defensive-zone play. They gave up just two because this was the Hawks, a team that’s scored more than three goals once in the last 15 games.
Igor Shesterkin sprawled for a save on Ryan Donato in the third period, but the team in front of him couldn’t muster enough offense. (Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)
Igor Shesterkin’s return from the birth of his daughter and the $92 million extension he signed on Saturday wasn’t a catalyst. Brett Berard jumping back into the lineup provided no spark. There were plenty of scoring chances but the most dangerous moment of the game was when Mika Zibanejad rimmed a puck around the glass that caught Chris Kreider in the face.
It seems Drury was right about this core, if perhaps he attacked the problem in a curious manner. Publicly promising to boot Trouba a few weeks ago in his text to the other GMs was both a preview of what went down Friday and a shot across the locker room — you’re on notice. Time to shape up.
Since then, they’ve barely beaten the Canadiens and Penguins and lost everything else. Not close ones, either — Monday was a one-goal game but the Rangers mustered one shot on Arvid Soderblom in the final 5:25, not the play of a team trying its hardest to escape a funk.
Maybe they’ve tuned out Laviolette, who has a history of success his first or second season and then a quick slide into ugly territory soon after. It’s hard to know how Drury will proceed here; we were told by a league source last week that Laviolette is safe, but things change in this business and in this building quickly. Changing coaches would also undercut the plan Drury put in motion 15 days ago and shift blame behind the bench rather than on it.
Kreider was emotional after Monday’s loss, as he normally is when his team is struggling. “Last couple games, we took steps,” he said. “Tonight… Tonight was no good.”
If Drury wants to keep cutting away from this group, he’s going to hit bone awful quick. Victor Mancini has taken Trouba’s spot on the third pair and been OK, I guess; this probably isn’t his moment yet and he could sure use a full year in AHL Hartford to be ready for what’s to come in 2025-26. The problems among the defense corps lie with the top four — K’Andre Miller has stopped progressing, Adam Fox is still sitting on zero goals and very little five-on-five impact and Ryan Lindgren looks like a pending UFA trying to do everything every shift to prove his worth.
Zibanejad had a ghastly turnover that led to the Hawks’ first goal, continuing his run of ineffectiveness. Kreider has gone with him. The Artemi Panarin-Vincent-Trocheck-Alexis Lafrenière line might lead the league in both generating and surrendering high-danger chances. Will Cuylle had the lone goal, shorthanded, but his line with Filip Chytil and Kaapo Kakko fumbled away too many pucks.
K’Andre Miller attempts to knock the puck off Connor Bedard’s stick. (Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)
So who does Drury try to move now? If you can’t find enough good from the bulk of your top-nine forwards and your top-four D, what do you do to get better?
As every coach who’s ever worn a whistle can tell you, the one thing a player can control is their effort. You work hard and you can at least look yourself in the mirror after a loss.
“I think we’re working,” said Braden Schneider, one of the Rangers who has acquitted himself well since the start of the season. “We just have to make sure we’re executing well.”
But now, after eight losses in 10 games with the low point coming Monday, you can question the work part.
Trouba could not get out of his own head after Drury tried to force him out in the summer. What made Trouba a good captain for this group was how he worked; even when his game slipped you couldn’t question that.
Ironic that it was the Hawks in an early December visit to MSG on Monday. Two years and six days ago the Hawks were here as the Rangers bumbled through a loss that would drop them to 11-10-5; what turned it around was a thunderous Trouba hit on Andreas Athanasiou, a fight with Jonathan Toews, a helmet throw at the boards as he skated off and a shout of “Wake the f— up!” to a quiet Rangers bench.
The Rangers reeled off seven wins in a row after that.
Trouba made his Ducks debut on Monday night in Montreal, logging over 22 minutes on the top Anaheim D pair. The Ducks aren’t the Rangers so the minutes don’t matter much.
But Trouba may have taken something vital with him. There’s still time to replace it, but if this Rangers team doesn’t pull it together soon, the new slogan will stick. And it will sting.
No fight in NY. Hard to believe you could say that about a team that was two wins from a Stanley Cup final just six months ago. But here we are.
(Top photo: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)
