The New York Rangers used a strong third period to notch a 6-2 win over the Maple Leafs. For the second straight contest, New York tallied four times in the final stanza; this time though, the end result was a win. Will Cuylle scored twice, Mika Zibanejad and Alexis Lafreniere added a goal and two assists, while Jaroslav Chmelař lit the lamp for the first time in his career. Vincent Trocheck and Sam Carrick were scratched for roster management reasons, with Carrick dealt to Buffalo for a pair of picks.
Game recap:
Rangers lineup vs. Toronto:
Perreault-Zibanejad-Lafrenière
Cuylle-Brodzinski-Raddysh
Kartye-Laba-Sheary
Edström-Pärssinen-Chmelař
Gavrikov-Fox
Schneider-Borgen
Robertson-Iorio
Shesterkin
Quick
Scratches: Vaakanainen, Trocheck (roster management), Carrick (roster management)
IR: Rempe (thumb injury)
A few thoughts:
1) Rangers pregame ceremony: In the final installment of the centennial celebration, New York celebrated the modern era. I understand that the videos mirror those actually in attendance, but how do you not recognize Dan Girardi, Ryan Callahan, Martin St. Louis, and others? The ceremony was nice but lacking.
2) Carrick and Trocheck: Elliotte Friedman discussed those teams possibly being in the Trocheck mix in his column below. Detroit and Carolina were previously rumored, even as Minnesota drew all the attention. Per pierre LeBrun, Boston might be a viable landing spot for Trocheck. Friedman’s tweet this am was GM Chris Drury’s way to try and raise the price point for Trocheck. One argument against this is: if Trocheck is not dealt, is he really a more viable candidate after the season when additional players become available?
Carrick was traded for Buffalo’s third round pick this season and Chicago’s sixth. Does that really move the needle? As i said repeatedly, retaining Carrick has value. A third-rounder, especially one that now looks like it will come towards the end of the round, is still a flier with no guarantee. The likelihood of success diminishes as the pick number rises.
Drury likely valued a pick this year more than one next year or the year after that. The marketplace has been littered with deals for 2027 and 2028 picks. Michael McCarron went for a second round pick in 2028, and Cole Smith for a third-rounder that same year. But Nic Dowd, also signed for one more season, netted a conditional first-round pick in 2027. in addition, Scott Laughton, traded last season, also brought back a first round pick. So please tell me how well Drury really did by getting third and sixth round picks for a player who is signed for one more season at just $1 million?
Following the Carrick deal, here are the Rangers’ picks in the first 100 selections this year. How bad does that Patrick Nemeth deal look now? New York dealt second round picks in 2025 and 2026 to dump the rest of Nemeth’s contract. That pick, which went to Arizona and then to Calgary for MacKenzie Weegar, projects to be in the top portion of that round this year.
#4 – Rangers own selection (pending lottery)
#28 – Stars pick (K’Andre Miller trade)
#63 – Hurricanes pick (K’Andre trade)
#68 – Rangers own selection
#75 – Kings pick (Artemi Panarin trade)
#85 – Islanders pick (Carson Soucy trade)
#90 – Sabres pick (Sam Carrick trade)
Drury better cook in the draft this season…
I cannot express enough my hatred for Drury. He has depleted our draft capital, made atrocious trades and has destroyed the moral on this team/fan base. I don’t think I’ve ever hated a rangers player/coach etc more than I hate this guy.
I don’t see how these trades make us better, or improve the look of the future.
Dolan has run this organization into the ground in near record time.
This article didnt show up in my forum section. I use Firefox as a web browser.
This is my post from the other article to aecliptic
This is where I disagree with you. You cant go out an announce you are trading a player, hold him out of the line up and not trade him. Drury did this before and it back fired. It affects the player and it could possibly affect the room, the room is still probably toxic and he is just encourages more toxicity.
Second off, either Drury is over valuing Trocheck or other GMs think they can fleece him, which is bad on both fronts. If other teams think Drury is an idiot, which Im sure most do, then there are other player and options out there, Trocheck isnt the only player that has to be traded. If Drury thinks Trocheck is worth more then thats a bigger problem because he will never get traded.
As for stock piling picks, who cares about 3rd to 7th rounders. The chances of them making an impact are less that 20 or so percent. You need 1st and second rounders and you need to develop them, which the Rangers cant.
I found this draft player playing percentage stats which is what Im talking about.
1st ROUND PICKS [1267 players]
MIN. 1 GAME : 1131 (89.30%) 0 GAME : 136 (10.70%)
100+ GAMES : 872 (68.80%) < 100 : 395 (31.20%)
500+ GAMES : 524 (41.40%) < 500 : 743 (58.60%)
2nd ROUND PICKS [1317 players]
MIN. 1 GAME : 887 (67.40%) 0 GAME : 430 (32.60%)
100+ GAMES : 503 (38.20%) < 100 : 814 (61.80%)
500+ GAMES : 219 (16.60%) < 500 : 1098 (83.40%)
3rd ROUND PICKS [1286 players]
MIN. 1 GAME : 662 (51.50%) 0 GAME : 624 (48.50%)
100+ GAMES : 362 (28.10%) < 100 : 924 (71.90%)
500+ GAMES : 129 (10.00%) < 500 : 1098 (90.00%)
4th ROUND PICKS [1291 players]
MIN. 1 GAME : 528 (40.90%) 0 GAME : 763 (59.10%)
100+ GAMES : 274 (21.20%) < 100 : 1017 (78.80%)
500+ GAMES : 105 (8.10%) < 500 : 1186 (91.90%)
5th ROUND PICKS [1305 players]
MIN. 1 GAME : 431 (33.00%) 0 GAME : 874 (67.00%)
100+ GAMES : 194 (14.90%) < 100 : 1111 (85.10%)
500+ GAMES : 63 (4.80%) < 500 : 1242 (95.20%)
6th-7th ROUND PICKS [2528 players]
MIN. 1 GAME : 697 (27.60%) 0 GAME : 1832 (72.40%)
100+ GAMES : 330 (13.00%) < 100 : 2199 (87.00%)
500+ GAMES : 128 (5.10%) < 500 : 2401 (94.90%)
Drury is the one making the moves, but you’re right that ultimately it’s Dolan bc he should fire drury. When you look back at the mismanagement of draft capital, the development of prospects etc under Drury, he will go down as the worst GM in Rangers history.
Jan, maybe post a link to the newest forum in the blog. Everyone is still posting in the forum from a month ago bc the new one doesn’t appear. I was able to find it once by logging out and logging back in, I commented in the new forum and now it’s gone again and I can’t find it. Seems like others are having the same issue.
Crazy thought here. Do we think that Drury, will use the assets from current and future trades (Trochek) to make a move for Auston Mathews? He has 4 years left and he could easily fit under our cap (13.5 mil). He would solidify the first line center position and at only age 28 would fit a retool (?) If you keep this years draft pick ( Mckenna) and trade for Mathews, you can get back in it real quick and smooth over hurt feelings for the rest of the team.
This team needs more than one player. If that was the case we would have kept Panarin. This team is in last place, do you think one player will make a difference while trading away a few assets which we dont have. We got one prospect out of all the trades Drury made.
He made two trades lol they got the best prospect on the Kings for someone who only wanted to go to LA. Othmann is a bust what can ya do🤷🏻♂️
He’s a genius! Trades Panarin and looks who gets better? laf Cuylle and Perrault
Dont let me ruin this pity party with some dumb positivity
Now all the sudden we don’t want draft picks😂 you can’t make it up man
Anyway, whatever happens the rest of this season we should all be encouraged heading into the future with Laf, Cuylle and Perrault. All 3 look like new players since the Olympics