Battle Of Hudson

It was a nice day in mid-December in New York City. The kind we rarely get around the holiday season. A week before Christmas, the New York Rangers remain in a state of chaos. They managed to lose their third consecutive game by getting shut out 2-0 by the woefully bad Nashville Predators on Tuesday night, December 17.

If you thought they’d hit rock bottom before in a 5-1 humiliation against the Los Angeles Kings last Saturday, Dec. 14, you were sadly mistaken. This is a team that lost on home ice to the Chicago Blackhawks. Unlike before, when they took care of inferior opponents, the Rangers are now losing to them. By falling to the Predators in an unwatchable game that may as well have been an exhibition, they’ve now lost twice to teams who ranked 32nd in the league. At least the Blackhawks were healthy. The Predators skated without four defensemen, including captain Roman Josi.

Related: Defense Optional: The Decline of The Rangers

What was the Rangers’ excuse for the lack of offense? Vincent Trocheck indicated that they created chances. However, they were unable to beat Juuse Saros, who stopped all 25 shots for his third shutout of the season. The Predators also blocked 29 shots. When they did have some openings, the Rangers missed the net. Another 16 attempts missed the mark completely. Trocheck had one of those misses when he was set up in the slot on the power play. He also was foiled by Saros on another look.

Playing without Artemi Panarin for the second straight game, the Blueshirts started well enough by getting five of the game’s first six shots. Even with a struggling opponent continuing to ice the puck, they never took the lead.

Will Cuylle had the best chances but he was denied twice by Saros. As usual, Cuylle was front and center for the Rangers. He’d later deliver a huge hit on Michael McCarron during the second period that sent him to the locker room. McCarron returned later. Seeking payback, Luke Evangelista caught Cuylle with a late cross-check that led to some fisticuffs. Cuylle overpowered Marc Del Gaizo.

During that same scrum, Alexis Lafreniere mixed it up with Evangelista. It was a rare moment when a player came to a teammate’s aid. Cuylle and Lafreniere showed some chemistry in the first period. Unfortunately, the line with Filip Chytil wasn’t heard from later.

When it comes to the 2024-25 version of the Rangers, they’ve become sadly predictable. Even facing the league’s only team without 10 wins, they found a way to lose. All it took was a bad pinch in from Chad Ruhwedel to set the wheels in motion for Jonathan Marchessault to convert a Steven Stamkos feed on an odd-man rush. Once Ruhwedel got caught, only Urho Vaakainen was left back to defend. Mika Zibanejad was too late to recover in time.

A good period quickly went to a bad one. Not known for their offense, the Predators had several players wide open in front of Igor Shesterkin. It was business as usual. The middle seems to always be left open for opponents. The dysfunctional mess hasn’t been fixed by the coaching staff. What exactly are they going over to prepare for games? Peter Laviolette is the same coach who guided the Rangers to a Presidents’ Trophy and an Eastern Conference Final last season. It’s hard to understand how bad defensively they are.

NHL Network’s Mike Rupp voiced his displeasure at the organization for how they handled last off-season. In a pointed tone, Rupp discussed how many distractions the Rangers have created for the players.

Chris Drury is responsible for this mess. It was his underhanded tactics that turned the room against him. Both Barclay Goodrow and Jacob Trouba were mishandled by an arrogant executive who undid a lot of what last year’s team accomplished. Even if at the end of the day it was business, it should’ve been handled differently. Placing Goodrow on unconditional waivers for a prearranged deal with a team that was on his no-trade list was low. Leaking stuff to a veteran columnist to air their dirty laundry lacked decency. This is who Drury is. A ruthless person who’ll do whatever he can to create a toxic environment.

Rupp called out the way things were handled, referring to it as “unnecessary bullshit.” He also criticized Laviolette’s explanation for making Kaapo Kakko a healthy scratch. He mentioned that he wanted to get fresh legs into the lineup. It was about as lame an answer to an honest question as I can think of. There was no honesty. He made an example of Kakko because he was an easy player to sit out. God forbid the coach show some accountability by benching Zibanejad or even Chris Kreider. That would’ve took some balls.

To Kakko’s credit, he indirectly called out Laviolette before Tuesday’s game. “I was surprised, yeah. I know you got to do something as a coach when you’re losing games, but I think it’s just easy to pick a young guy and boot him out. That’s how I feel, to be honest.”

In what amounted to his final game as a New York Ranger, the 23-year-old Kakko received the fewest ice time (10:14) against the Predators. That was despite being noticeable, with three shots and six attempts. Fittingly, he played on a mismatched line with Zibanejad and Reilly Smith. Kakko was forced to play the left side so Smith could stay on the right side. A younger player had to play the other side for a veteran. If I didn’t know any better, I would’ve thought the calendar was back two decades to the 2000s. This is the kind of stuff those teams were known for. Jamie Lundmark was mishandled. So were countless other former draft picks and prospects.

Speaking of Smith, he got undressed by Nashville rookie defenseman Adam Wilsby, who went right around him and scored his first career NHL goal in the third period. Smith was turned into a statue. Similar to those sadsack teams from the Dark Ages, the Rangers have made it a habit to give up first goals to players this season. Who knows. Maybe Wilsby will go on to a long successful career.

As for Kakko, speaking his mind was enough for the Rangers to finally trade him. His days had been numbered since he sat out against the St. Louis Blues. He wasn’t getting enough ice time. Kakko was correct when he said that he hadn’t been caught on for many goals. It was the line with Chytil and Cuylle that had been successful at five-on-five. In fact, they outscored opponents 13-2 and posted a 50.97 CF, according to Natural Stat Trick. More often than not, they spent time in the offensive zone due to strong puck possession. They were effective on the forecheck. An area that’s become a team weakness.

On Wednesday night, Dec. 18, the Rangers dealt Kakko to the Seattle Kraken in exchange for veteran defenseman Will Borgen, a 2025 third round pick and a 2025 sixth round pick.

In 30 games, Kakko had four goals and 10 assists for 14 points. He was tied with Chytil for second on the team in plus/minus with a +9 rating. Cuylle leads the team with a plus-11. He’s in the final year of a two-year contract with a $2.4 million cap hit. Kakko will become a restricted free agent next summer.

The return doesn’t seem like much. Borgen is a bottom pair defenseman who plays the right side. The 27-year-old is in the last year of his contract with a $2.7 million cap hit. Borgen is unrestricted next year. They got a third round pick for a player they selected second overall in the 2019 NHL Draft. How sad.

Basically, this was a move so the Rangers could send down Victor Mancini. He’d been a healthy scratch the last two games. As expected, they reassigned him to the Hartford Wolf Pack. It’s better for Mancini to develop in the American Hockey League (AHL). He’s still in his first professional season. The 22-year-old defenseman has handled himself well. In 15 games for the Rangers, he has a goal and four assists. He isn’t quite ready for a role as an NHL regular.

The crazy part is that the drama probably won’t end. Kakko was justified in his criticism. He asked out because it became an untenable situation. He was never going to play enough to have a more defined role. Maybe he can go to Seattle and earn more shifts at even strength and on the power play. Given his defensive acumen, I could see him easily becoming a good penalty killer. A role the coaching staff preferred mostly for vets. Cuylle being the lone exception.

If they continue to lose games, with the much tougher Dallas Stars coming up on Friday, more moves will be made. James Dolan still supports Drury. Is it any wonder that Kakko was unceremoniously dismissed for such a lackluster return?

So much for it being the Wild. But Emily Kaplan was right that teams had interest in Kakko. I’m still trying to wrap my head around how Kakko went from being on the Rangers’ most effective line to being sent packing in short order. It’s true that his game dipped recently. However, you never had to question the effort. He played an honest game. That’s more than you can say for Zibanejad. He still looks completely lost.

As far as the players having a team meeting to discuss Drury, it’s understandable. He isn’t likable. Once, he shouted at Vitaly Kravtsov in front of players, embarassing him. Of course, Kravtsov never panned out for the Rangers. It was both his and the team’s fault. He wound up in Vancouver for basically nothing. Then, he decided to return home and play for Traktor in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).

The 24-year-old once was a first round pick in 2018, selected ninth. He was one of three first round picks in that draft. Only K’Andre Miller remains. Nils Lundqvist was hyped to the moon. He now plays as a sixth defenseman for the Stars. He has no goals so far. Watch him get his first in two days. The way things are going, anything’s possible.

By continuing to lose games, the Rangers find themselves out of playoff position. They’ve even been passed by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the standings. The only thing they have going for them is that they’ve played less games. They also have 15 regulation wins. That’s more than any of the teams ahead of them. At 15-15-1, they’re now a losing team. With the competition picking up, can they turn it around? Or is it just one of those seasons when everything goes wrong.

It’s easy to rip the core how poorly they’ve played. They’ve hung Igor Shesterkin out to dry during this futile stretch. Jonathan Quick hasn’t fared any better. It’s hard to ask the goalies to keep bailing you out when you aren’t committed defensively. There is no system anymore. They don’t play together. There are repeated breakdowns. It’s some of the worst defensive hockey a team can play.

Without Artemi Panarin, the offense has mustered two goals in two games. That came from Cuylle and Brett Berard in the third period in a 3-2 loss to the Blues on Sunday, Dec. 15. Even though they competed harder, it still wasn’t good enough to overcome a three-goal deficit. Every mistake gets magnified when you lose.

Prior to the Kakko move, I felt that once Panarin returned to the lineup, he’d be gone. The Rangers made no other roster moves, which leads me to believe that Panarin will be back for Friday night at Dallas.

If he does return, that should at least provide a lift. Whether or not it results in a win remains to be seen. The Rangers have now lost 11 of 14. Losers of three straight, they somehow remain three points out of the second wildcard. The Ottawa Senators occupy it with 34 points. They also have played 31 games. But they’re playing much better hockey.

If there’s a big question, it’s for both the players and coaching staff to answer. Are they going to start playing hockey again? That would include some semblance of a forecheck and actual team defense. Regardless of how much they despise Drury, they’re out of excuses. Neither Trocheck nor Kreider had anything negative to say after last night. Both remained positive and gave good responses. Kreider felt that they weren’t the same team from two days prior. Whether he’s correct depends on what happens next.

Before the season, everyone knew that this was it for the core. Despite reaching two Conference Finals, the pressure was on to prove that they have what it takes. Right now, that pressure is probably off. Expectations are down. Nobody expects them to do anything now. But if they want to remain in the Big Apple, they have to start playing like it.

No more bullshit.