Lessons from 1980 are no longer relevant
One of the stranger trends of Team USA, which consists largely of the Rangers’ brain trust, is trying to learn lessons from the 1980 Miracle On Ice. The problem is that those lessons are vastly outdated – that was 46 years ago! The game has changed and international hockey is not the same as the NHL.
Unfortunately, we saw this happen with the way Team USA was selected. Aside from Adam Fox’s omission, Jason Robertson was also left out of the team. Yet JT Miller and Vincent Trocheck, far inferior to Robertson, are both on the team. Team USA has actively shot themselves in the foot by choosing grit over skill, and that’s going to come back to bite them once the Olympics start. The concern is that the Rangers’ brain trust was intimately involved in these decisions, Fox notwithstanding.
A successful Rangers retool depends on learning the right lessons. The Rangers are easy to play against, not because they don’t have guts, but because they have no skills. They lack a real goalscorer. They lack puck movers on the blue line outside of Fox. They are missing guys who can create offense and score in multiple ways, such as off cycle, off rush, etc.
The game today is not the same as it was in 1980. But otherwise, the 1980 team was a mix of skill and grit. They could still score. That’s the concern. Is the Rangers’ brain trust taking the wrong lessons from nearly half a century ago?
According to the Caps model
The Rangers will essentially follow the Washington Capitals model for their realignment, something I’ve talked about Blue chairs in the dark. The Caps were brutal in the 2022-2023 season, ultimately acquiring the No. 8 pick in the 2023 draft (Ryan Leonard). In addition to selling expiring contracts for draft picks, the Caps were aggressive in recruiting young players who had become available.
First, they acquired defenseman Rasmus Sandin, 22 years old at the time, in exchange for a first-round pick and veteran Erik Gustafsson. That first round pick was acquired five days before the Sandin trade, when they sent Garnet Hathaway and Dmitry Orlov to Boston.
The Caps improved the following year, but were swept in the playoffs by the Rangers. Despite being a playoff team, the Caps still sold before the 2024 deadline and acquired as much draft capital as possible. These choices were then turned around to meet more team needs.
In the 2024 offseason, the Caps really kicked things into high gear. They sent a 2025 second-round pick – previously acquired at the 2023 deadline for Lars Eller – to Calgary for forward Andrew Mangiapane. They took the opportunity to trade for Pierre-Luc Dubois and sent Darcy Kuemper to LA. Goaltender Logan Thompson was brought in for a 2024 third-round pick – acquired from Toronto for Joel Edmundson at the 2024 deadline – and their own 2025 third-round pick.
The big move came when Ottawa made Jakob Chychrun available, costing Washington defenseman Nick Jensen and a 2026 third-round pick. They signed defenseman Matt Roy with cap space they freed up. In addition to moves for complementary pieces like re-acquiring Lars Eller, the Caps also acquired Florida’s Justin Sourdif for a few future picks and made room for Sourdif, Leonard, Conor McMichael and other youngsters as they transitioned out of their retool.
This is what a successful Rangers retool could look like.
A successful redesign of the Rangers requires time and patience
The key takeaway from the Caps model is not just how they did it, but how long it took. Reading the room, it seems many believe a successful Rangers reshuffle can and will be done in one deadline/offseason. That’s just not the case. The Rangers now have some great pieces to move: Artemi Panarin, Braden Schneider and Vincent Trocheck are at the top of the list. But next season, they could move Alexis Lafreniere and Will Borgen to continue the retooling.
Another lesson that can be applied to a successful Rangers retool is that not all trades produce pieces that help immediately. They used the acquired pickaxes to land other pieces they needed, such as Mangiapane and Thompson. It’s not about getting what you want right away, it’s about making moves to acquire assets, and then turning those assets into pieces that you think will move the team in the direction you want.
Focusing on Artemi Panarin for a moment, there’s a good chance the Rangers “just” acquire futures, especially from teams on the older side like Colorado and Minnesota. But those visions of the future, those first-round picks, can be used to entice other teams to part with bigger pieces.
There’s a strong argument that the Caps got lucky in their situation because Dubois and Chychrun, two top players, became available for pennies on the dollar. That’s very true, but the Caps put themselves in a position to succeed because they had the resources to acquire both players. They had the cap space to acquire Dubois’ entire contract, and they had the pieces to get Chychrun and Thompson from other trades.
For the Rangers to have a successful realignment, Drury and Mike Sullivan will need to be on the same page, not only about the direction of the team, but also about the patience needed to ultimately get the pieces they need. Sometimes acquiring choices is the right move in the short term.
Is this the front office getting it done?
The $64,000 question is whether this front office is the one that can pull off a successful Rangers retool. Nothing in Chris Drury’s body of work, which began in 2015 when he was Director of Player Development, now shows that he understands the new NHL. He has torched prospect relationships, made trades that seem fine in a vacuum but have no overarching plan, and single-handedly put the Rangers in this position.
Shayna Goldman didn’t mince his words on Sportsnet when we talk about what a successful Rangers retool could look like, openly wondering if Drury is the right man to pull it off. This is an open question and no one is confident Drury can pull off a successful Rangers retool.
Drury’s biggest concern right now is his tunnel vision and the lack of an overarching plan that plants the seeds of doubt in a successful Rangers retool. The good news is that Mike Sullivan should be a big part of the decision-making process, but it’s fair to question whether his inclusion is a good thing considering he’s also part of Team USA’s brain trust.
Can Drury pull off a successful Rangers retool? Or will he try to rush it over one season? We won’t know until we see a few trades, which may be the most maddening part of all. Until then, uncertainty and chaos will prevail.
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