The sooner the New York Rangers accept that they're entering a rebuild, and not a retool, the better off they'll be.
Taking a page out of his predecessor's playbook, New York Rangers GM Chris Drury wrote a letter to the team's fans on Friday.
It basically said the Rangers know they have no prospect of even coming close to making the playoffs and Drury is prepared to sell off assets.
He doesn't have a lot. Is anyone going to take on the bloated J.T. Miller deal, which comes with a no-move clause? Is anyone going to be interested in Alexis Lafreniere at $7.45 million times four years? Mika Zibanejad?
The Rangers have one asset to move, an asset we're not even sure has any interest in leaving. And that is Artemi Panarin, who would give the Rangers a good start on their rebuild.
And it is a rebuild, or at least it should be.
The Rangers, who won the Presidents' Trophy just two years ago, are nowhere near being a Cup contender. They'll have a ton of cap space in the summer, but instead of swinging for the fences, Drury would be better served to make small, incremental moves and use the space to take on other teams' undesirable contracts in exchange for futures.
Because, regardless of what Drury says, this is going to take a while.
Watch today's video column up above for more.
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