Can the New York Rangers Successfully Retool on the Fly or Are They Taking a Step Back?

Can the New York Rangers Successfully Retool on the Fly or Are They Taking a Step Back?

It’s been a tumultuous off season for the New York Rangers. Lots of changes, but are they better than they were a year ago? John Chick of Locked on New York Rangers joins us to discuss that and the future of the Broadway Blue Shirts coming up next on today’s Locked On NHL podcast. [Music] You’re Locked on NHL, your daily podcast on the National Hockey League, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. Gil Martin here and welcome everybody to the Monday edition of the Locked On NHL podcast. We are part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. I want to thank everyone who makes Locked on NHL your first listen every day. Don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts so you never miss an episode. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new FanDuel customers can get $150 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins. It is my pleasure to welcome back to the show the host of Locked On New York Rangers, the one and only John Chick. And uh John, I I’d be lying if I said it was a quiet off season on Broadway for the Rangers. What do you think overall of the moves that the team has made? And is there a plan that you see overall? Yeah, I think so. I mean, I think a lot of these moves basically were just kind of born out of necessity. I mean, you look at the trade of Chris Krider. Now, I get it. There’s still some Ranger fans that are upset about this. They’re mad about this and, you know, they’ll never forgive Chris Jury. And I understand all that. I I can understand obviously, you know, making a connection with these players, especially one that’s been here for a decade and a half as he has. But I I think it gets to a point sometimes in pro sports, whether it’s the Rangers or anybody else or any other sport, where it’s just time, you know, it’s just time for a player and a team to go their separate ways. And I think that’s where we got with Chris Krider. Um last season was bad. Not just for Krider, it was bad up and down all over this roster. Uh just a collection of underachieving players. And when you look at what’s going on with this team right now, you know, with Krider, uh, they needed to move on from him to add a little bit of salary cap space and they needed to potentially open up a spot for, you know, some of these young forwards that they’re really excited about. I mean, especially Gabe Perau, but even guys like, you know, Brett Bard, Brent Offen, it’ll be interesting to see how Offman can do in a uh, you know, potentially a bigger role this upcoming season. But again, sometimes it’s just time. And I think that’s where we got with Krider. And the other really big move that they made was of course uh the free agent signing of Vlatasov Gabricov. And I had mixed feelings about that going into the off seasonason because you look at this free agent market, it’s not as strong as some other classes that we’ve seen. No disrespect to any of the players obviously, but it felt like they wanted to go get Gabricov just because he just happened to be the best lefty defenseman available. But then you think about it and it’s like well again week free agent class, a bunch of guys that were going to be free agents resigned with their current team right before the zero hour. So, it becomes an even weaker class. Bottom line, the Rangers addressed a position of need. They went out and they made themselves better and they got one of the best free agents available in this year’s class. So, it’s like, how upset can I really get about that? You know what I mean? So, overall, you know, I think it’s been good. I think the KA Andre Miller trade was good. Um, again, I I think they kind of just got to a cross roads with Miller where they either had to pay him or trade him. Uh, they chose the latter and to get a first, a second, and a pretty promising prospect in Scott Morrow as well. I think they did a nice job there, too. So, overall, you know, mixed feelings on the offseason, but I think there’s been more good than bad, uh, for sure for the Rangers. Is this a retool, a rebuild, and and is this a better team today than they were a year ago? I I I know they struggled on the ice, but on paper, they were just a year removed from a president’s trophy. Yeah, I think I would definitely call this a retool as opposed to a full-fledged tear down rebuild. I mean, on one hand, it’d be hard for them to even rebuild because so many guys have uh no move clauses, but you know, I mean, I don’t think they’re going to look to trade Eigor or Fox, you regardless of what the situation is. You leave those guys there and you build around them. Um, but yeah, I mean, I would certainly call this a retooling. As far as being better than they were last year, like at the start of the season, it’s kind of a loaded question because this roster has changed so much. Like, they changed more in one calendar year than I think the last four years before that. It’s crazy. Um, I was going through the numbers uh the other day on my show and I I think they’re missing like nine guys that were on the opening night roster last year. Uh, Lingren was hurt, but if you count him, it would be nine. Um, but are they better? Um, I’m going to go ahead and say yes. And something else I’ve been talking about on my show is I do think that the truth with this team lies somewhere between the two extremes because two years ago, best record in the NHL, presidents, trophy winners, everything clicked. everything was just magic that season until the the very end when you know they run into the brick wall that is the the Florida Panthers. Um but then last year it’s like you watch them and something just went wrong in that locker room and um I mean to this day I can’t quite put my finger on everything that happened last year. We’ll be here all night if I try to figure that out. But you know overall I I think the truth lies somewhere between those two extremes. I certainly think they’re a better team than what they showed last year even with all the changes that they’ve made. you you talked about something was going on in that locker room. Have the changes to the coaching staff, to the roster. H have they addressed those issues adequately? Yeah, I mean, we don’t see everything obviously that goes on behind closed doors and everything, but you know, they they wanted to shake things up a little bit and they’ve done that. You know, in the last calendar year, you trade, you know, your captain, Jacob Trouba. You trade the longest tenur Ranger uh by by quite a bit in Chris Krider. uh you move on from Philip Heedle and Cappo Kako and and guys like that. You know, Kako was traded for Borggan and Heedle was part of the deal that brought back JT Miller to the Rangers. I I think that’s obviously a huge move. Uh that’s a move where you’re looking to shock the system a little bit. You’re looking to change the culture and you’re looking to bring in somebody that just despises losing and that’s JT Miller. And for my money, I mean, I don’t know if they’re going to name a new captain before the season starts. I almost think they’re not going to for some reason partially because Mike Sullivan’s here, he’s a new coach, probably wants to see how these guys interact and who the next captain should be. But if they’re going to put the sea on somebody, it’s a little bit of a roll of the dice because we know that JT Miller, for lack of a better term, can be a little bit of a hotad at times. But be that as it may, I mean, he he plays with a ton of intensity. He’s a heck of a player. And again, if you want to really jolt this team a little bit and say we’re going in a different direction, we’re going to play some straight line hockey, I think JT Miller is your guy. What does the new coach bring to the locker room that was needed for this team? It’s hard to say for sure. I mean, I, you know, I did a crossover with Hunter and Patrick have locked on Penguins got, you know, not that I don’t know Mike Sullivan, but obviously they uh see quite a bit more of him than I have over the past decade or so here. I mean, to me, he brings instant credibility with the two Stanley Cups right out of the gate with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Obviously, the Rangers going with a retool. I mean, you can kind of talk yourself into that as a Ranger fan, right? like he had immediate success the second he took the reigns in Pittsburgh. So, there’s that. Um, I do think I’m hoping that he’s a little bit more willing to play some of the young guys and maybe some other Raider coaches have been. Although, you look at coaches across this league, it feels like just about every single one of them to at least some degree tend to defer to the veterans just a little bit. But, I’m hoping Sullivan will give somebody like Gabe Crow a chance. Brett Bard is somebody that’s under the radar, fifth round pick. But, I really like what I’ve seen. He’s played well at every level of hockey and I thought he looked good for the Rangers last year. So, um, I’m hoping these kids get a chance. And something else you got to do, I think for sure, is fix these special teams units. You got to get a better power play. Um, they go from top three in the league to bottom five in one year. And even the PK, like last year, they finished like 11th or 12th, but man, that unit fell apart at the end of the season. And, uh, you got to get that back on track for sure, too, among several other things. What is on the to-do list personnel-wise, or do you think they’re done for the rest of the off season? Yeah, I was actually thinking about this the other day. I mean, they don’t have a ton of cap space. Um, right now, Puckedia shows them at 777K. Um, but if you you have to also factor in that they’re they’re showing them with 23 players on their roster. So, if they choose to carry 22 or even 21, um, you could potentially uh look to still add somebody. But, I don’t know. I mean, when you look at the the free agent market right now, I mean, there’s nobody there. Like, like pretty much everybody’s signed. I don’t even know what the move would be. And honestly, since they’re looking for a retool and they’re looking to contend this year, I think the better play is to not add anybody at this point, unless it’s like somebody on a PTO or, you know, somebody at the league minimum. Um, you don’t add anybody. You acrew as much cap space as possible so that heading into the trade deadline this year, you can make a move or two if you’re in position to do so and and add to this team. But, I mean, who knows what it’s going to be. This is going to be, I think, my sixth year of doing this. And this year, more than any other, I have no idea what to expect from this team. Like, I’m trying to figure it out. trying to talk myself into into this whole retooling and it’s going to be a good season, but man, this could go any which way of of about, you know, 50 different ways this season for the Rangers. It really could. What do you think is their biggest need as of now? Well, it depends how they line up because if they line up and I want them to do this, I want them to put Mika Zabanagad on the wing with JT Miller. Mika got off and he’s not the only one. Let me make that clear. But he got off to a miserable start with the Rangers this past season. Once the trade for JT Miller was made and they pretty quickly decided to put the two of them together, Mika started playing a better brand of hockey. And it wasn’t even just the scoring. I mean, that certainly improved as well. There were one or two times where he like legit trucks somebody last year, like an open ice after he started playing with Miller. So, I I think Miller’s style of play like he’s just one of those dudes like by his by his style of play, he’s going to hold guys accountable, much less like if he has to get in your face or anything. But, I honestly think just the way he plays, you’re going to have to play a certain style of hockey just to keep up with him. And I think we saw that with Mika. The only issue there is if Mika plays with Miller, then we don’t know who’s going to center the third line because Troche will be centering another line in in the top six, you know. So, in that situation, you’re looking at either Bradzinski or Parson. And honestly, like I I like Brodzinski. I know he’s just like this random like role player who’s kind of an NHL AHL swingman for his career, but I think he’s a better player than people realize. I’d like to actually see him get a chance and leave Mika with JT Miller. Give Brozinski some run. I think he’s earned it. He played hard last year. He’s a good leader for some of the young guys. Um, but let’s see what he can do, you know, and if it doesn’t work out, you can put Ma back at center. You can go out and make a trade, whatever you got to do. But I’ I’d like to see that at the start of this upcoming season. All right, John, why don’t you tell our viewers and our listeners where they could find the podcast and where they could find you on social media. Yeah, I mean, anywhere you’re uh, you know, listening to this, watching this, you know, we’re there. We’re on YouTube. We’re on every uh audio streaming platform you can possibly think of. And you can find me on Twitter, Jick 17, JChik17. So yeah, definitely give us a follow. We’ll talk some Rainer Hockey. Sounds good. John, thank you so much. Thanks for having me, Gil. Appreciate it. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Summer sports are in full swing and whether it you’re all about baseball under the lights, golf on the green, or high stakes soccer action, FanDuel is the best way to make every game even more exciting. You’re already following the action. Why not make it a little more thrilling? 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The New York Rangers have a new coach and made a lot of changes this offseason but are they a better team than they were a season ago?

Jon Chik of Locked On New York Rangers discusses the changes and the new direction of the Rangers.

All this and more on today’s Locked On NHL Podcast with Gil Martin.

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