The end of reconstruction in New York

“We were missing an important ingredient in order to compete for the Stanley Cup. The other owners and general managers kept telling me over the past year how many talented players we have, but talent alone is not enough. We are missing parts. We need to change the overall dynamics and culture of the organization, and Chris Drury is the man to do it. ”

James Dolan says he fired Davidson and Gorton before the end of the season in order to allow his new general manager, Chris Drury, to address the players at end-of-season meetings. “These meetings will be crucial for the future. The Wilson incident is only an unfortunate coincidence. ”

Nolan, 65, who heads not only Rangers but Madison Square Garden and the New York Knicks in the NBA, is not the most patient of managers.

Our man, whose fortune is estimated at 2.5 billion, has generally forced his general managers to take shortcuts. The Rangers have long been recognized as an organization that wanted to “buy” championships. Wade Redden, Scott Gomez, Bobby Holik, Chris Drury himself, Darius Kasparaitis and several others inherited monstrous contracts, without being able to propel the Rangers to the top of the table.

The Rangers also spent four years, between 2013 and 2016, without the benefit of a first-round pick. We can easily guess how much the reconstruction process started by Jeff Gorton in 2018 had to hurt the boss …

Expect some big changes over the next few weeks, and months, in New York City. Young talented players will no doubt be sacrificed in order to obtain more robust players. This type of transaction can turn out to be catastrophic.

The 1995-1996 Canadian had wanted to do so at the time. We traded Pierre Turgeon for Shayne Corson and Murray Barron. Most recently, Marc Bergevin gave up two second-round picks to acquire Andrew Shaw.

The Quebec Nordiques had amassed a number of young talented players before moving to Colorado. Trading Mats Sundin for the rugged Wendel Clark was disastrous, even though the organization won the Stanley Cup once in Colorado.

Chris Drury will have to be very careful. The other clubs already know the Rangers’ intentions. Drury will have to make a careful assessment of the talent of his young men, in a context where the progression of hopes remains very variable. He could expose himself to major blunders. It is up to the opposing teams to sniff out the bargains.

Head coach David Quinn, whose team lost again Thursday night, 4-0 to the Boston Bruins, is probably living his last hours with the Rangers despite his connection to Drury. At least that’s the opinion of the New York media.