Chris Kreider Is The Latest Rangers Scapegoat

Barclay Goodrow, Jacob Trouba and Chris Kreider all have been scapegoated by Chris Drury in one way or another. So, who's next?

Or, as keen analyst and publisher of Blue Collar Blueshirts, Sean McCaffrey, so accurately puts it:

"I don't understand why Drury hasn't given the Goodrow and Trouba treatment to Mika Zibanejad."

Once the magical Z, the $8.5 million skating bank vault has been as useless as an air conditioner in Santa's Igloo.

Why then is Kreider the latest whipping boy?

We'll know the answer soon enough if Drury makes a deal for the fallen idol while Mika retains an exalted status with the general staff, but certainly not the fans.

"What's so strange about this," says The Old Scout, "is that Mika has been stinking out the joint for two months and yet Laviolette keeps coming back to him."

While the Rangers respite continues until the Saturday game in Tampa Bay, the Garden biggies are confronted with the most egregious collapse in the club's 97-year history.

(Note: The 1942-1945 slump doesn't count. The Rangers were hardest hit by World War II enlistments.)

This franchise disintegration caused by Drury, his coach Peter Laviolette and assorted fat-cat players cannot be privately ignored by Garden ownership.

The Boss, Jim Dolan, soon must address the regress either by firing Drury or having his GM dispose of his coach who has been doing deer-in-the-headlight imitations for weeks.

So far Dolan's hockey profile has been lower than the Penn Station storage tracks. But another Rangers defeat – this time in Tampa Bay – that resembles the 5-0 crumbling administered by the Devils must force ownership into action.

Writing in The Athletic, Met Area beat writer Arthur Staple notes that it took 34 days for the once Stanley Cup contending Rangers to be destroyed.

"It's all gone," Staple asserts. "Every last bit of it. Good play, fire, heart, dignity, togetherness – poof. In just over a month the Rangers have become a team that's easy to play against."

Fingers are pointing in many directions but inevitably Laviolette is the bullseye although his postgame seances are more like bull than anything edifying.

Staple: "Each game seems to bring another way in which Laviolette's players look like they've never played a game together. Drury can shoulder plenty of the responsibility. It was his desire to break up the band barely 20 games into the season that kicked all this off."

Ah, but here's the problem: let's say that Dolan plays hardball and cans both culprits. In bygone years, Jimmy would lean on his top consultant, Glen Sather for savvy in picking replacements. But Slats has retired.

Perish the thought but the Drury-Lavvy duet could wind up surviving this Hindenburg of a hockey club by default.

The saving grace – if one can call goalkeeping that – is that Igor Shesterkin has found his game and Jonathan Quick remains a decent enough Robin to Comrade Batman.

As for the club's best forward, Breadman Panarin has gone stale.

"It feels like we have extra weight in our skates," he concludes.

Hot Tip From The Maven: Artemi, old buddy, go out and get yourself a new pair of lightweight blades.