Disappointing losses are continuing to mount for the New York Rangers. Is a blockbuster Artemi Panarin trade the only solution to shake up a struggling Blueshirts team?
The New York Rangers have been one of this season’s bigger disappointments, and the letdowns continued Saturday when they were smoked 5-0 by their Metropolitan Division rival, the New York Islanders.
The loss dropped the Rangers’ record to 7-7-2, and only two standings points separate them from the very bottom of the Eastern Conference.
It’s been about as disastrous a start to the year as it could be for the Blueshirts, and their struggles have to give Rangers GM Chris Drury cause to consider whether it’s time to start taking this roster apart and starting anew with a different group of talent. And that includes star winger Artemi Panarin.
Given that Panarin will be a UFA at the end of this season, does he really want to be a part of an organization that’s been backsliding for a long period of time? He’s certainly not going to take a hometown discount to play on a team that can’t even get into the Stanley Cup playoffs, let alone be a true Cup contender. And Drury won’t want to spoil the mood in the Rangers’ dressing room by rostering a veteran who may not want to be there.
So, the question arises – how much longer will the Rangers’ struggles have to continue before Drury pulls the plug on them and radically remakes his roster? From this writer’s perspective, the answer to that question is “not much longer.” Drury can’t wait until the league’s March 6 trade deadline to move Panarin, as teams will see that Panarin has all the leverage regarding his future. Drury needs to make a big move, and he needs to do it soon. But it certainly won't be easy.
Indeed, Panarin has a full no-movement clause in his current contract, so he has control of his destiny for the foreseeable future, and at 34 years old, he won’t want to sit through a rebuild. But he isn’t the only Ranger who could be on the trade block. Twenty-four-year-old winger Alexis Lafreniere is struggling mightily this season, posting only two goals and six points in 16 games. Here’s the problem: Lafreniere is in the first year of a seven-year contract extension paying him $7.45 million per season, and no team is going to want to acquire a financial burden, so moving Lafreniere is probably not going to happen.
It’s all adding up to one giant headache for Drury and the Rangers' ownership. The Rangers still have productive veterans, including star goalie Igor Shesterkin and veteran defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov. So, tearing it all down to the studs isn’t a realistic option for this team right now. But the status quo certainly can’t be an option either.
The Blueshirts must make a drastic change to send a message to the rest of the roster, and they need to do it soon, before they’re buried too deep in the Metro standings to climb out from and find a way to get back into the playoff picture this season.
The clock is ticking on this Rangers squad, but thus far, there’s been no development that has infused them with the sense of urgency this moment calls for. The Rangers’ playoff hopes are slowly sinking, and absent some significant turnaround, they’re likely to continue disappointing their fans.
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