NEW YORK — The New York Rangers are 12-6-1, which doesn’t seem so bad. But the last two games of their western Canada trip last week, a not-as-close-as-the-score-indicates 3-2 loss to the Calgary Flames and a not-close-at-all 6-2 loss to the Edmonton Oilers, have caused a ripple inside the organization.
League sources confirmed Monday a report from Elliotte Friedman that Rangers general manager Chris Drury has sent word to the NHL’s other 31 GMs that the Rangers are open to a trade. And, those sources said, captain Jacob Trouba and longest-tenured Ranger Chris Kreider were mentioned specifically by name in the leaguewide missive.
Putting those two prominent Rangers on the trading block 19 games into the season signifies that Drury believes the team’s core needs a major adjustment. Even short of a trade, sending that information out to all the other NHL GMs guarantees that word will get out publicly, as it did in fairly short order.
So if, as seems likely, this was a way of sending a message to the team and its veteran leadership, it still says that the Rangers are in a bit of disarray.
As one director of player personnel put it: “Something must be wrong in that room.”
That source and other executives and agents around the league were granted anonymity for this article to allow them to speak about their teams’ and agencies’ internal dealings with the Rangers, as was a source with the Rangers. Here’s what we’re hearing from them about the situation.
• First off, it’s pretty clear that trading either Kreider or Trouba would be a difficult task right now. Trouba has a year left on his deal at an $8 million average annual value. Kreider has two years at $6.5 million. Both have 15-team no-trade clauses, too.
Trouba has already stared this situation down, having been approached by Drury about a possible trade five months ago. The Rangers were hopeful that Trouba would be amenable to a move ahead of July 1, when he was to submit his 15-team no-trade list. But Trouba wasn’t willing to uproot his young son and his wife, Dr. Kelly Trouba, who still had a year to go on her residency at a New York City hospital. That may have caused some ill will between the team and its captain, who understands that after this season he’s almost certain to be moved to create salary-cap flexibility.
Kreider, who coincidentally will miss Monday’s game against the St. Louis Blues with an upper-body injury, hasn’t been in this situation in years. There was some talk of moving him approaching the 2019-20 trade deadline, but he instead signed a seven-year extension for a relatively team-friendly number. And he has outperformed that deal by quite a long way during Drury’s tenure as GM. His 136 goals since the start of 2021-22 are tied for ninth in the league.
Neither player would welcome a move at the moment. That’s clear. And it’s hard to see how a team that might want a top-six wing or a middle-pair defenseman could fit either player onto their cap so early in the season and want to commit to either player beyond this season.
• Now, to the message-sending, what appears to be the crux of Drury’s leaguewide blast message. The Rangers are pleased with the play of their young players, with Will Cuylle, Braden Schneider and Zac Jones earning bigger minutes this season than last. Kaapo Kakko and Filip Chytil may still qualify as young at 25 and 24, and they’re playing well, too, though Chytil was set to miss his fifth straight game with an upper-body injury on Monday.
Alexis Lafrenière has also been continuing his good play from last season, having earned a seven-year, $7.45 million AAV extension.
But the team’s veteran core, outside of Artemi Panarin and goalies Igor Shesterkin and Jonathan Quick, has not quite led the way. Kreider is second on the team with nine goals, but his line with Mika Zibanejad and Reilly Smith has been under 50 percent in generating scoring chances and goals. Vincent Trocheck, Drury’s big free-agent addition from the summer of 2022, has just 10 points in 19 games despite leading Rangers forwards in ice time.
And Trouba is only one of the Rangers’ top-four defensemen who has struggled this season. Ryan Lindgren, a pending unrestricted free agent, hasn’t been his usual steady self since returning from a broken jaw and isn’t currently playing alongside Adam Fox, his longtime defense partner. K’Andre Miller, a pending restricted free agent, has just four points in 19 games despite moving into the top pair and getting some early power-play time. Fox is among the league leaders with 17 assists but hasn’t scored a goal.
When your veterans aren’t performing, there is little a GM can do. They are the ones with long-term deals and no-trade or no-move clauses, which limits how much management can alter the roster. Drury’s message may not be intended to find a trade partner at the moment, but it certainly should be received as a “no one is safe” threat from above.
• Will it work? Trouba hasn’t exactly set the season on fire since his tumultuous week in late June, though he’s hardly been the biggest issue. Kreider, who could become just the sixth Ranger to play 900 games at the end of the season, hasn’t been under much heat from management or the coaching staff since his youthful days playing for John Tortorella, and that’s the way he likes to operate.
How Kreider responds to this will be telling. He’s a quiet but respected person in the locker room and close with Zibanejad, another important Ranger with a long-term deal, a no-move clause and a disappointing start to this season. Monday also will be just the fifth game Kreider has missed since the start of the 2021-22 season, so we will see if his absence due to injury will be felt as well.
It’s a gamble by Drury, as it was when he sent Barclay Goodrow out the door just before the Trouba drama in June. Goodrow’s contract, a six-year, $3.642 million AAV deal, signed by Drury as one of his first acts as GM, was a burden, but the way the Rangers handled Goodrow’s exit did not sit well with some teammates. Goodrow was informed by Drury that the Rangers were placing him on waivers 15 minutes before the waiver announcement. And the Sharks, run by former Drury adviser Mike Grier, were ready to scoop Goodrow up in what seemed to be a planned claim, with no asset going back to New York.
So if any complacency has set in with this team, it would be a surprise, given the summer that just transpired.
• And the leaguewide message naming specific players? One former GM told The Athletic on Monday that he usually reserved that tactic until just before he was going to place someone on waivers. “You’re just making one last effort to get something back,” he said.
Neither Kreider nor Trouba have no-move clauses, so they can be placed on waivers. But would Drury try something that drastic in the middle of the season, with no obvious replacement for either player? That’s a stretch. This is another Cup-or-bust season for the Rangers, though. Perhaps nothing is off the table.
Drury still has to get Shesterkin’s contract done, as well as an extension for Cuylle, one of the team’s best forwards so far and coming off his entry-level deal at the end of the season. Kakko and Miller are RFAs. Lindgren and Quick are UFAs. The 2025 offseason was already going to bring change for the Rangers.
If they can’t stop their middling play so far — despite the record, they are 2-6-0 against teams over .500 and rank in the bottom third of the league in most defensive metrics — the change may come sooner.
We certainly learned that Monday.
(Photo: David Berding / Getty Images)
