Are The Rangers' Trade Rumors A Wake-Up Call Or The Start Of Major Changes?

Expectations for the New York Rangers are understandably high with two trips to the Eastern Conference final in the last three seasons and a Presidents' Trophy campaign in 2023-24.

As we pass the quarter mark of the 2024-25 NHL season, it's safe to say those expectations have not been met.

Despite winning seven of their first 10 games, things have fallen apart fairly quickly. They currently hold a 13-10-1 record, are fourth in the Metropolitan division and lost six of their last seven games, the worst points percentage of any NHL club since Nov. 20. That includes Monday's ugly 5-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils.

While things haven't gone well, nobody could've anticipated the news coming out of the Rangers' organization last week. GM Chris Drury reportedly sent a memo to the rest of the NHL saying he was willing to make significant shakeups to their roster, mentioning Chris Kreider and captain Jacob Trouba as potential trade assets, per Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.

Many have debated Drury's true intentions behind this decision. Was it another example of a GM looking to instill urgency within their team, or is there true interest in moving two cornerstone pieces of their franchise?

Nashville Predators GM Barry Trotz got that debate started earlier this season. He appeared on local Nashville station 102.5 The Game in early November when he spoke about the Predators' early struggles, mentioning he would start his "rebuild plan" if there was no improvement.

Considering the Predators committed a combined $108.5 million to veterans Jonathan Marchessault, Steven Stamkos and Brady Skjei, it's hard to believe there would be a literal rebuild.

It seems more like it would involve trading other veterans to get younger players in the lineup or swap some pieces to make them stronger later on. However, if the Predators can be motivated by cancelling plans to attend a U2 concert, it wouldn't be surprising to have the fear of a rebuild be the start of an eventual turnaround in Tennessee. (They've gone 3-5-5 since then, so if it was a wake-up call, it didn't work.)

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While it's much more likely that they stick things out with this Rangers group, there's something to be said about the team's core and the internal pressure Drury may be facing to make changes.

They've had multiple deep playoff runs with the same results, and they already changed coaches. There has to be a concern that they've already plateaued since jumping back into Cup contention in 2021-22.

While it's difficult to justify making changes to a team that has been on the cusp of greatness so many times, there's a point where you need to recognize that what you have built simply isn't going to get it done.

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Look no further than the 2024 Stanley Cup-champion Florida Panthers for an example of a team that made unpopular decisions to a competitive roster that ended up ascending them to the top of the hockey world.

After three years of regular-season success and disappointing playoff performances from 2019 to 2022, they made the incredibly tough decision to trade Jonathan Huberdeau after a historic 115-point performance and a high-end two-way defenseman in MacKenzie Weegar to the Calgary Flames for left winger Matthew Tkachuk.

That blockbuster also came from a team that had just won a Presidents' Trophy, the same position the Rangers are in now. But now that it's been over two years since that trade was made, Panthers GM Bill Zito certainly doesn't have any regrets making that difficult choice.

Only time will tell what Drury's true intentions are by making this statement, but this undoubtedly created some tension between the players and management on top of their slump.

They lost three games in a row after Friedman's report before beating the Montreal Canadiens 4-3 on Saturday. Chris Kreider, who was named as someone to watch in trade talk, was out with back spasms before being held without a point in his return on Saturday. He scored the Rangers' lone goal on Monday. Trouba, the Rangers' captain who was also named in speculation, was a minus-6 and had no points in the last five games.

Winning games solve every problem they have right now, and this will be a pivotal stretch of Rangers hockey to follow.

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