As we await updates and a decision on David Quinn and the coaching staff's future, let’s talk about some of the events that have taken place during the last 24 hours as well as revisit James Dolan’s decision to let Jeff Gorton and John Davidson go. The off season hasn’t even officially begun yet and there’s already been plenty of news to keep fans entertained and busy as the rest of the league finishes out their season. First off, the Rangers division, arguably the toughest in the league, is all set up for playoffs. The Pittsburgh Penguins will take on the New York Islanders while the Washington Capitals will face the Boston Bruins in the first round of playoffs. Understandably, as they are all considered “rivals” of the Rangers, I’m not a fan of these teams but nevertheless should both be a very good series, potentially going six or seven games.
Lindgren Locked Up
In Rangers specific news, Ryan Lindgren has agreed to terms on a three year extension on a nine million dollar deal, with an AAV of $3 million. I love this deal for the Rangers, it’s extremely cap friendly and lock’s up one of their top four defenders for the foreseeable future. Personally, I wouldn’t have minded if they tried to go a little longer on term but I can understand not wanting to risk it down the line. If they went say five years like I might have wanted them to they’re not only risking a potential decline in his game but their risking the rest of their cap space as this will be about the time they may begin running into cap trouble. All in all, a very smart and safe first move by new GM, Chris Drury.
Jack Eichel
The other big news in the hockey world yesterday is the ongoing Jack Eichel debacle. As exit interviews went underway in Buffalo as well as New York, Jack Eichel opened up a LOT on how there has been a big disconnect between him and the organization since his season ending injury a couple months ago. Jack suffered a herniated disc in his neck and from the sounds of it, the Sabres Organization more or less kept him from getting surgery to fix the situation. When asked about it being his body therefore his decision, he seemed to laugh at the question saying “you would think that” but unfortunately due to his contract, it wasn’t necessarily up to him.
Not a great look for the Buffalo Sabres Organization. On top of that, when asked if he wanted to be a part of the solution in Buffalo as well as other questions about the future, Jack answered very vaguely. His main response and probably biggest takeaway from his interview with the media was his quote regarding the future. “The most important thing now is to get healthy and be ready to play hockey next year, wherever that might be.” There have been plenty of trade rumors already regarding Jack Eichel and while he hasn’t officially demanded a trade yet, this is a pretty large indicator that he is going to. It is very clear he is unhappy with the organization and clear to anyone that the Sabres did not have a good year. I think on top of Eichel more than likely getting traded, it’s going to be a full yard sale for the Buffalo Sabres.
The New York Rangers And Jack Eichel
Now let’s get back into how this affects the Rangers. Jack Eichel has been linked to New York since the very beginning of all this drama and it’s been mentioned that the Rangers have made offers for him in the past. I wrote a lengthy piece of how the Rangers don’t need Jack as badly as some people think and the more and more we get into it, the more and more I stand by that statement. The New York Rangers do not NEED Jack Eichel. Will he help us become a definite playoff team? Absolutely. Will he make us an overall better team? Probably. Is he worth what we would have to give up in order to acquire him? Big eh.
We’ve talked about the asking price in the past, we’ve talked about how Strome, Chytil, Kravtsov, Buchnevich, Lundkvist, draft picks, should all be fair game and that some sort of package involving those names is probably the most likely to make both sides happy. When Eichel inevitably demands a trade it could give the Rangers leverage and lower the asking price a bit however I’m just not sure this is a deal that needs to be done. Put it to you this way, I’ll give Buffalo one of Strome or Chytil right now with Libor Hajek and two first round draft picks for Jack Eichel. Anything else, I’m going to start to be weary. Buchnevich, Kravtsov and Lundkvist all have bright NHL futures, there’s no reason to trade the farm for Eichel when Strome holds down the number two center role just fine and Chytil still has plenty of room for potential.
Mika Zibanejad is this team's number one center. There is absolutely no reason for his name to even be in rumors for an Eichel deal let alone think that we need Eichel because we need a number one center. People forget, Zibanejad had COVID to start the season, his slow start is justified as much as he doesn’t want it to be an excuse. It is not definitive of the player he is going to be going forward. This franchise has had so much turnover in the last couple seasons since the letter came out, it’s time to build something with the team you have and move forward with it. The bottom line is yes, Jack Eichel will make us a better team and yes, we can afford to acquire him. However, there are risks in making this move, Eichel has suffered substantial injuries, has barely played at all this past year and there’s always the added level of the New York spotlight. If we can get him on a bargain, by all means. If we have to give up everything we’ve worked towards for the last three years? Move on. Focus on bettering this team through free agency.
A Change Of Heart
Lastly, I want to revisit my takes on the Jeff Gorton and John Davidson decisions. It may not be the worst thing in the world that we are moving on from these two. The lifetime Rangers heart in me will always be bummed it didn’t work out with Davidson as president and I still feel bad for the guy on how it all went down. However, Adam Wylde along with Jesse Blake and Steve Dangle made some really good points on The Steve Dangle Podcast that kind of opened my eyes to it. Yes, thanks to Gorton and Davidson this team has been completely rebuilt in a short time frame. We got our star player, a Norris Trophy caliber Defender, made an abundance of great moves and trades but at the end of the day, a LOT has happened under this duo that hasn’t really been a great look.
It starts with Tony DeAngelo, it was Gorton and Davidson that brought him to New York and gave him 800 chances until the Georgie incident where they decided this was the last straw. They were aware that Tony DeAngelo was problematic off the ice and yes, back in 2017 I still would have taken a chance on the former first round draft pick who has a lot of skill on the ice but you could argue they could’ve attempted to handle him better before things got too out of hand. Then you have the Lias Andersson situation where yes, this was probably more David Quinn’s fault then anything but at the end of the day you have a seventh overall draft pick who no longer wants to be a part of this franchise, that gets reflected on management.
Then you have the K’Andre Miller incident that went down, sure that couldn’t really be avoided and isn’t necessarily the Rangers fault but again, it could’ve been handled better. On top of that you have the Rangers being the last team in the league to address the BLM movement at the peak of that stuff going down. Sure that by itself doesn’t reflect JD & Jeff Gorton but when you add all of these things up, you start to think. The final straw being that the two of them weren’t on board with the teams statement about the Tom Wilson fiasco and at the end of the day, if the decision resulted from the mentality that if they’re not on board with what we do and don’t jump at the chance to have our players backs then we don’t want them here, then I’m more than okay with Dolan’s decision to move on. “If you won’t go to war with us, we don’t need ya”.
Chris Feldman
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