While the New York Rangers can’t excuse their poor play that caused them to miss the playoffs, there was a lot of internal dysfunction that the players were more open about during their exit interviews.
It started last summer when Rangers president and general manager Chris Drury decided to waive Barclay Goodrow as he was claimed off of waivers by the San Jose Sharks.
Goodrow has been on record saying that he was surprised about the move to waive him and didn’t really get any inclination that he would not be returning to New York, essentially claiming he was more or less blindsided by Drury.
Later that offseason, the Rangers’ desire to trade Jacob Trouba became public, creating a whole media circus around the situation.
After going through some struggles to start the season, Drury sent out a league-wide memo indicating his interest in making a big move to shake up the core while specifically mentioning Chris Kreider and Trouba’s name.
A few weeks later, Trouba claims that Drury forced him to waive his no-trade clause with the threat of being placed on waivers just like Goodrow on the table. Trouba was ultimately traded to the Anaheim Ducks.
The way in which Goodrow and Trouba were run out of town as well as the drama surrounding their departure seemed to have an impact within the Rangers’ locker room.
“It’s part of professional sports, but obviously at a certain point it does become somewhat of a distraction,” Kreider said. “Two guys that were massive leaders for us and a big part of our room.”
Just the loss of two leaders shook up the mood around the team in a substantial way. There was a disconnect between the players and management.
Communication is the keyword here. Mika Zibanejad hinted at a lack of communication coming straight from management, which brought a bitter taste in the players’ mouths.
“I can’t speak to everyone else, I think everyone deals with it differently,” said Zibanejad. “Everyone has a different relationship to it. But, when it happens, frustration. I think it’s just when you don’t know everything. You don’t know what’s going on.
“Obviously, we don’t have control over that kind of stuff, but it’s still something that, you know, we talked about or we have to go through. It’s two of our leaders. It’s our captain, assistant captain. Big parts of our locker room, so of course it shakes things around a bit.”
Trouba, the former Rangers captain, even confessed to the team before he was traded that it was hard for him to lead in a manner he is usually accustomed to due to all the uncertainty surrounding his future and everything that transpired over the summer.
“I mean, even Troubs admitting it was hard for him to kind of lead this team in his situation,” Adam Fox said. “Maybe a lot of it is subconscious, too. You don’t really think, but I guess when your captain has that thought and feels that way. It’s a guy that has changed games for us in terms of the energy he’s brought and being able to change it with a hit or a fight. I think sometimes that could affect the team that sees that.”
There are many things to point to when it comes to the collapse of the Rangers. However, it’s the situations with Goodrow and Trouba that sparked the beginning of the end for this Rangers core.
