The New York Rangers have lost 15 of their last 20 games. To say the Blueshirts are going through a slump would be a massive understatement. Peter Laviolette has mixed up the lines and changed their approach on special teams, yet he has no results to show for it. New York continues to suffer embarrassing losses on a nightly basis, and their NHL championship drought looks like it’s extending another season. Amidst the turmoil, a six-time Stanley Cup champion and Rangers legend weighed in, making something clear about the team.
The Rangers last hoisted Lord Stanley in 1994, and despite being awfully close several times since, the Broadway Blueshirts haven’t been able to relive those glory days.
The 2024-25 NHL season felt like the Rangers’ best shot at the Stanley Cup in a long time. However, it’s been everything but an exciting campaign for New York. If there is any former player who knows what it takes to win the cup, it’s Mark Messier. He won six Stanley Cups, five with the Edmonton Oilers, and one in Manhattan.
Mark Messier is the only player in NHL history to captain two different teams to championships. The Hall-of-Fame forward is synonymous with excellence, and as he voiced a concerning statement about the Rangers, Peter Laviolette would be wise to pay attention.
Mark Messier of the New York Rangers Stanley Cup winning team of 1994 attend a ceremony prior to the Rangers game against the Carolina Hurricanes at Madison Square Garden on February 08, 2019 in New York City.
“I think the core of the Rangers is fractured right now,” Mark Messier said, via Forever Blueshirts. “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.”
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Schism between organization and players
After a sensational 2023-24 season, in which the Rangers won the Presidents’ Trophy and reached the Eastern Conference Final, fans in New York felt pretty confident about their team going into the next campaign. However, the front office believed some pivotal tweaks were needed to get over the hump.
During the offseason, Barclay Goodrow was placed on waivers, since he had a no-trade clause. Captain Jacob Trouba was traded away early in the season, and Kaapo Kakko was shipped off shortly after voicing his displeasure with the coaching staff’s decisions.
It became evident the locker room and the higher ranks in the organization are not on the same page, and that’s a huge factor for the team’s shortcomings. The downfall in Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider’s production is another symptom of the broken core Messier shed the light on.
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As it stands, the Rangers sit in last place in the Metropolitan Division, tied with their historic rivals, the New York Islanders. Though the roster possesses the talent to engineer a turnaround, the internal crisis in The Big Apple is holding the Rangers back.
