ESPN host blames Rangers players for mess this season: ‘How fragile are you?’
There’s plenty of blame to be shared by the New York Rangers after one of the most disappointing seasons in franchise history. General manager Chris Drury created plenty of unrest with how he handled changes to the roster. Coach Peter Laviolette was fired already for his role in the debacle. And the players? How much blame falls at their feet?
ESPN NY radio host Don Lagreca believes they are most to blame.
That doesn’t mean Drury gets a pass for his role in the trainwreck of a season. In fact, the overwhelming negativity of 2024-25 started with how Drury mishandled the departures of respected veterans Barclay Goodrow and Jacob Trouba last summer and early this past season.
But …
“I put that on the players too. At what point do you get over it?,” Lagreca told Forever Blueshirts on the RINK RAP podcast. “I understand Trouba is your captain, and Trouba wouldn’t waive his no-trade clause. So, what’s [Drury] supposed to do? Something was missing and needed to be changed. So, should he just cave and say ‘This guy doesn’t want to go’ and let it be? Or do I try and move him?
“Same thing with Barclay Goodrow. Could that have been handled better? Sure. But at the same time, it shouldn’t cripple the locker room. It’s on the players. At some point you’ve got to get over it. I understand these are popular players but you’ve got to get over it.”
Instead of moving past their collective anger about how those moves were (mis)handled by the GM, and Drury’s subsequent trade memo in November that specifically named Trouba and Chris Kreider, the Rangers folded. The season was lost in a 4-15-0 stretch that closed out calendar year 2024.
As Stanley Cup-winning GM Neil Smith told Forever Blueshirts recently, “They looked like mummies out there.” Lack of effort. Mind-numbing mistakes. No emotion. Barely a pulse.
“To allow that to cripple the room … how fragile are you to allow that to happen?,” questioned Lagreca.
Apparently very fragile. “No quit in New York?” Maybe in 2023-24. Definitely not this past season.
So, the Rangers ended up missing the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in four years. When a wild-card spot was there for the taking in the final six weeks, the Rangers wilted, even when other contenders also couldn’t string together wins. It was stunning that months after the heart of their ugly soap opera, the Rangers still couldn’t rise above it all. Couldn’t get over themselves.
Related: Former Rangers coach David Quinn among 3 joining Mike Sullivan’s staff in New York
Rangers GM ‘could’ve handled it better, but so could’ve players’
Lagreca doesn’t discount that aspect. The Rangers couldn’t get over themselves. And he pointed to their break-up day for further proof of that.
“The lack of communication they talked about at the end of the season, how much communication is there between a general manager and a player? A coach and a player, I get,” Lagreca explained. “So, doesn’t it make you feel like some of these players really felt that their standing in the organization was really greater than it is? I’m not being anti-player. I’m just saying, at the end of the day to have it ruin your season, that’s on you.”
Unsaid is that the finger here points directly at Mika Zibanejad. He appeared to be the player most affected this past season by what was going on. His production dipped; his effort was often questionable; his overall malaise permeated the locker room; and he was most vocal speaking out about management at season’s end.
“I think moving away from Mika Zibanejad would be a good thing, no offense to him, but I think his time is passed (here),” Lagreca stated, though he acknowledged that Zibanejad’s no-move clause and desire to stay in New York all but eliminates that option.
Again, there’s much blame to be shared, top to bottom the Rangers organization. But at the end of the day, it’s the players who largely decide a team’s fate.
“Chris Drury’s trying to better the team. He could’ve handled it better, but so could’ve the players.”
Listen here to the complete interview with Don Lagreca. Head to the Forever Blueshirts YouTube page to watch the entire RINK RAP podcast with Lagreca.
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