4:08PM: Peter Baugh writes at The Athletic that in individual meetings that Chris Drury asked the players with no-move clauses, Mika Zibanejad, Vlad Gavrikov, Igor Shesterkin, Adam Fox and JT Miller, whether they want to stick around through this “retool” and that all of the players said that they want to remain.
Artemi Panarin was told he will not be offered a contract extension.
1:35PM: Rangers President and GM Chris Drury has sent a letter to fans announcing that the team will be undergoing a “new strategic plan.”
Here is Drury’s letter:
“We wanted to take a moment to connect with our loyal and passionate fanbase. We know and feel your disappointment with how the season has gone to this point. We are just as frustrated and want nothing more than to deliver an on-ice product you can be proud of – it’s what drives us every day. No one in the organization is happy with what has transpired – from management, to coaches, to players. Over the last few years, we’ve had some successes and moments to cherish, but ultimately it was not the end goal. We are working relentlessly every day to bring a Stanley Cup back to New York because that is what our fans deserve.
With our position in the standings and injuries to key players this season, we must be honest and realistic about our situation. We are not going to stand pat – a shift will give us the ability to be smart and opportunistic as we retool the team. This will not be a rebuild. This will be a retool built around our core players and prospects. We will target players that bring tenacity, skill, speed, and a winning pedigree with a focus on obtaining young players, draft picks, and cap space to allow us flexibility moving forward. That may mean saying goodbye to players that have brought us and our fans great moments over the years. These players represented the Rangers with pride and class and will always be a part of our family.
As we start on this new strategic plan, we will continue to play hard with pride and passion for our fans. We appreciate your unwavering support for the Rangers more than we can describe and thank you for all that you do for our organization. You will begin to see some of our plans come to light in the coming weeks and months.”
Elliotte Friedman tweets that Drury met with the team as a whole and each member of the leadership group to tell them that this was the plan.
Friedman writes that the Rangers informed Panarin that he won’t be offered a contract extension and that the Rangers are willing to work with him and his agent on a trade.
Adam Rotter: So this confirms what we’ve all been suspecting but in a much more formal way than expected. Drury is not popular right now and is going to get mocked even more for trying to replicate the letter that Glen Sather and Jeff Gorton sent, while he was assistant GM, in 2018. That letter set a tone for what was to come and so does this one.
So what exactly does all of this mean? It almost for sure signals that Artemi Panarin is going to get asked to waive his no-move clause and then traded if he agrees to do so. I imagine that Panarin is going to agree to waive his no-move and provide a short-list of teams for Drury to engage with and try to replicate, or eclipse, the Claude Giroux trade from Philly to Florida in 2022 that saw Philly net a 2024 First Round Pick, a 2023 Third Round Pick and Owen Tippett. Tippett was a former first round pick and has had three straight 20 goal seasons in Philly. But it won’t be easy if there is only a handful of teams and the Rangers will need to retain half his salary.
Carson Soucy is a pending UFA with a modified no-trade and he’s likely to be moved or ask to waive his clause to move. They can probably get back a third round pick for him, which is what they traded to get him, but with not many sellers and Soucy a veteran, maybe Drury can get more.
But who else could go? The core that Drury is talking about for this “retool” is Igor Shesterkin and Adam Fox for sure, Mika Zibanejad, who was around for the first letter, and JT Miller, who was traded as part of the first letter, both have no-move clauses. Zibanejad has shown no interest in leaving and Miller is the Captain and player that Drury was after for years and so I don’t expect either of them to be approached about waiving their no-move clauses. Vlad Gavrikov also has a no-move and is unlikely to be traded. Gabe Perreault is probably looked at as a future core player, same for Noah Laba and the Rangers probably want more Will Cuylle types and he’s still only 23. I also seriously doubt that guys like Adam Edstrom or Matt Rempe will be moved. Will Borgen is signed at a pretty fair number and the Rangers do still need players, so he’s likely going to stay.
Maybe late round picks for Jonny Brodzinski or Taylor Raddysh. Sam Carrick is an important character player but he is a center and pretty cheap.
So then it really comes down to three players. Vincent Trocheck, Alexis Lafreniere and Braden Schneider. My guess is that the Rangers keep Lafreniere. His value has to be low and while you could maybe swap him for a player in a similar situation, young/high draft pick/signed/inconsistent, there is more value in trying to get things to work with him.
Same with Braden Schneider who has been asked about in just about every trade the Rangers have made or tried to make the last few years. He’s finally getting a shot to play big minutes but has been inconsistent stepping into Adam Fox’s spot next to Vlad Gavrikov. He’s an RFA with arbitration rights but still a few years from being a free agent. They could probably get a lot for him, maybe similar to what they got for K’Andre Miller in terms of a first, second and young player, and unless they want to shift him to the left full time or bump Will Borgen down, he’d end up again as a third pair defensemen. I doubt that he moves at the deadline but the draft wouldn’t be impossible.
That brings us to Vincent Trocheck. Trocheck is by every definition a core player, a leader and you can argue should be the Captain, but every team wants centers, he’s a proven playoff performer and he’s cost controlled and signed for three more years after this one. He does have a 12-team no trade list but someone will likely pay a big price for him. Maybe it’s a team looking to either get into the playoffs or past the first round or maybe someone, probably in the Western Conference, thinks he can put them over the top. If the Rangers had a preference it would probably be a team looking to take the next step because those teams likely have younger players/prospects who are closer to playing and/or first round picks that haven’t been traded yet. I wouldn’t say that it’s a lock that he gets moved, but if the Rangers are trying to accumulate picks, players and prospects, he’d likely end up fetching more than Panarin because he’s signed past this season.
I would hope that this means that Brennan Othmann continues to get a run, Brett Berard probably comes back at some point, maybe the Rangers give Brendan Brisson a chance to show if he has anything.
It’s what we all knew was coming with how they played this season but it’s certainly not what we expected when JT Miller was acquired, Mike Sullivan was hired and Vlad Gavrikov was signed. I expect that. Drury will continue to be aggressive and that he’s projected a plan to James Dolan that has the Rangers back in the playoffs next season, or at worst the season after, but this letter, again, reaffirms that Drury, and likely Mike Sullivan, are going to stay in charge of things.