Rangers legend Mark Messier believes current core ‘is fractured’ in scathing public take
Mark Messier is a New York Rangers legend. He’s “The Captain,” the man who brought the Stanley Cup to the Big Apple in 1994 after a 54-year championship drought – it’s still their only title since 1940. Before that, he was a key member of the Edmonton Oilers during their dynasty years, when they won the Cup five times in seven seasons. He was on all five title teams, the first four as a teammate of Wayne Gretzky.
So, when The Captain’s got a hot take on the Rangers, it’s worth taking a listen.
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Messier isn’t around Madison Square Garden a whole lot these days. But much of his hockey-related time is spent as an in-studio analyst for ESPN and ABC’s NHL coverage, so he still has a pretty good idea of what’s going on with his old team. And he was very clear with his assessment of the Rangers (17-20-1) during ABC’s telecast of New York’s 7-4 loss to the Washington Capitals on Saturday afternoon.
“I think the core of the Rangers is fractured right now,” he said. “And I don’t think they’re fractured internally. I think there’s a disconnect between management and the coaching staff, there’s a lack of trust and loyalty now — and in order to get over that, it’s going to take a lot of work. They don’t look like a championship team right now.”
The Rangers won the Presidents’ Trophy last season, got within two wins of the Stanley Cup Final and began this season with a 5-0-1 run. They had a 12-4-1 record after a 4-3 road win against the Vancouver Canucks on Nov. 19. But beginning with a 3-2 loss to the Calgary Flames two nights later, the Rangers are 5-16-0 with a .238 points percentage that’s last in the NHL during that stretch.
During the summer, the Rangers placed veteran center Barclay Goodrow on waivers to get around his no-trade clause; he was snapped up by the San Jose Sharks. On Dec. 6, they traded captain Jacob Trouba to the Anaheim Ducks, a move that frustrated many of the players. Forward Kaapo Kakko, the No. 2 pick in the 2019 NHL Draft, was traded to the Seattle Kraken less than two weeks later.
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Mark Messier feels ‘cascade effect’ is part of Rangers downward spiral
Messier said players must realize that trades are part of life in the NHL, and that they must put their feelings aside and play.
“As players, we have to be big enough, strong enough, man enough and man up to get over that,” he said. “We are not in control of some things that happen as players. Management can do whatever they want, and we have a responsibility to each other as players. They’ve got to get over that. We haven’t seen a lot of emotion from the Rangers over the last month.”
Messier compared the Rangers’ current situation, especially the trade of Trouba in order to open salary cap space, to the emotions he and his Oilers teammates felt when Gretzky was traded to the Los Angeles Kings in August 1988 – a deal that was also about money, albeit not in a salary-cap era. He said he and his teammates were mad at management for the trade but were able to channel that emotion into another championship in 1990.
“I remember when Edmonton traded Wayne Gretzky. We were mad at management at trading away a brother,” he said. “We were able to overcome it in Edmonton, as mad as we were at ownership and at management and everything else at trading away one of our brothers. It takes a lot of work, a lot of trust and I think the Rangers can (overcome it), but it’s not going to be easy.”
Messier, acquired by the Rangers in October 1991, also talked about his own departure from the Rangers three years after June 14, 1994, when the Cup returned to New York. He became a free agent in the summer of 1997 and signed with the Vancouver Canucks. After a management change in New York – Glen Sather, his old general manager in Edmonton, succeeded Neil Smith, who built the 1994 championship team, in the summer of 2000 – Messier returned to the Rangers shortly afterward and played with them until he retired in 2004.
“I left New York because the team didn’t want me,” he said. “I could not play under the circumstances where I did not feel the loyalty.”
Messier added some thoughts during the first intermission after an interview with forward Chris Kreider, the longest-tenured current Rangers player. Kreider and Trouba were mentioned by Rangers GM Chris Drury in a letter to the 31 other NHL general managers several weeks ago as players who could be available in trade, and Messier feels that’s had a negative impact on the team.
“You can tell with Kreider, one of the longest-standing Rangers of all time, he’s clearly been hurt by being put on the trade block, for whatever reason,” Messier said. “That has had a profound effect on the core of the team. When you put Chris Kreider on the trade block, that affects his best friend, (Mika) Zibanejad. The cascade effect of that has clearly been evident over the last month.”
The cascade effect, as Messier called it, has resulted in the Rangers sharing the basement in the Metropolitan Division and 14th place in the 16-team Eastern Conference with the Islanders. There’s been no bigger disappointment in the NHL this season than the Rangers, though the Nashville Predators are right there with them.
Yet again, the Rangers will try and get back on track, when they visit the last-overall Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday.
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