The New York Rangers lost to the Philadelphia Flyers 8-5 on Wednesday night. It is another brutal defeat in an embarrassing season on Broadway. Trades sent Jacob Trouba and Ryan Lindgren out while bringing JT Miller and Carson Soucy in. Still, no improvements. Because of this miserable season, TSN's Pierre LeBrun says the Rangers could fire coach Peter Laviolette at the end of the season.
“There's absolutely no word out of the Rangers, they're very tight-lipped about what may transpire here over the next week or so,” LeBrun said. “And talking to people around the league, the low-hanging fruit, the expectation from a lot of people I've talked to is that Peter Laviolette could get fired. He's got another year on his deal. So, certainly not a sure thing. But when you look at the body language and the performance of the team over the last month…that's probably the easiest conclusion.”
“If it does happen, I think it's important to note this is not all about coaching. There are other issues here in New York…I think that there's some players in that Rangers dressing room that are upset about how things have been handled.” LeBrun says that he thinks general manager Chris Drury is safe after an eventful offseason.
What happened to the Rangers this year?
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LeBrun mentions that there are Rangers players who are upset with how things have been handled in recent months. That includes the departures of Barclay Goodrow and Jacob Trouba. Goodrow was waived when he refused to nullify his no-trade clause. That landed him with the lowly San Jose Sharks. Trouba was threatened with the same fate until he agreed to go to the Anaheim Ducks.
Drury signed Goodrow to his six-year contract, but his performance in the playoffs showed that he was overpaid. Moving off of him is not the problem, but many players saw his actions as disrespectful to Goodrow's trade protection. Then, the captain meeting a similar fate really threw the locker room off.
Firing Laviolette is not indefensible for Drury and the Rangers. This team coasted through most of the regular season, thinking it would all click into place like it did last year. But it never did, and now they will miss the playoffs. But wholesale changes need to be made to this roster.
Can the Rangers move off of Mika Zibanejad's massive contract? Could Artemi Panarin or Chris Kreider get traded before free agency? Everything should be on the table for Drury this offseason.
Christopher Hennessy is an MLB associate editor at ClutchPoints, with additional expertise in the NHL and golf. He graduated with a journalism degree from Fordham University in 2022, and he has work experience at Spectrum News One in Albany, New York and with The Hockey Writers as a New York Islanders reporter.
