Posted on May 13, 2021 at 11:00 a.m.
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There is not one event that defines the New York Rangers season, but there are events. The best defender of the previous season was sent off at the start of the year, the president, GM and coaches fired a few months later.
In October, however, a feeling of joy reigned in New York. The Rangers had won the lottery and were preparing to draft Alexis Lafrenière. They already had in their ranks the second overall pick from the previous season, Kaapo Kakko.
In their second year of rebuilding, the Rangers had maintained a 37-28-5 record, thanks in part to the prowess of Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin, and all cited the organization as a role model.
The playoff preliminaries meltdown, a three-game sweep at the hands of the Hurricanes, 11-4 in aggregate goals, was heralding the result. Not to mention the departures of veterans Henrik Lundqvist and Marc Staal.
A team isn’t doomed to excellence after just two years of rebuilding in principle, but boss James Dolan’s expectations seemed high for the current season.
The year started badly with the scandal caused by defenseman Tony DeAngelo, fourth scorer among NHL defensemen the previous season behind John Carlson, Victor Hedman and Roman Josi.
PHOTO GENE J. PUSKAR, ARCHIVES ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tony DeAngelo
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His physical altercation with goalkeeper Alexander Georgiev after an overtime loss in late January broke the camel’s back. DeAngelo, whose ugly reputation dates back to the junior ranks, was also accused of intimidating some of the team’s rookies.
We waived him, he was not claimed, and we have not seen him in a hockey uniform since. His career in New York, and possibly in the NHL, is over.
The big guns of the Rangers were slow to produce, Alexis Lafrenière still could not carry the club on his shoulders at 19 and New York never knew how to recover from his ugly start.
The Rangers were already out of the playoffs when Tom Wilson violently assaulted Pavel Buchnevich, then Panarin, in a game in early March.
PHOTO BRUCE BENNETT, FRANCE-PRESS AGENCY
Tom Wilson et Artemi Panarin
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Wilson received a candy award and team owner James Dolan, already not a great pal of Gary Bettman, reacted angrily to the league’s decision by publicly demanding the head of NHL Reeve George Parros.
The National League responded by fining Dolan $ 250,000, $ 245,000 more than that of Tom Wilson. Billionaire Dolan paid her like ordinary people pay an illegal parking ticket.
Dolan, not the most fond of rebuilds, was already not very happy with the Rangers’ results on the ice. He exploded when he learned that his president John Davidson and his GM Jeff Gorton were disavowing his bravado in the NHL.
Davidson and Gorton are out of work today and former hockey player Chris Drury is tasked with reviving the Rangers. He wears the hats of president and general manager.
He made his first major decision this week by firing coach David Quinn. Yet a strong bond united the two men. They both played for Boston University and Drury insisted that he be hired in New York a few years ago.
We have already mentioned the names of several candidates to succeed Quinn: John Tortorella, Gerard Gallant, Bob Hartley, Patrick Roy.
We also want to add robustness to the training. Drury could trade gifted young people a little less surly for players of character.
All eyes are on him. The pressure will not be lacking on the second floor of Madison Square Garden, but Drury has no shortage of elements to revive this organization.
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