“If you know the Rangers suck clap your hands…If you know the Rangers suck clap your hands…
If you know the Rangers suck, and they’ll never win the Cup…If you know the Rangers suck, clap your hands!”
The Rangers announced last week Thursday they are intended in being sellers leading up to the 26 February NHL trade deadline. The announcement was made in a letter penned by team president Glen Sather, and GM Jeff Gorton. This should mark the first time in eight years the Rangers have missed the Stanley Cup playoffs, which is the third-longest streak in the league (Chicago - 9; Pittsburgh - 11).
The Rangers sit at 27-26-5 (59 points), which sits dead last in the Metropolitan Division, four points back of their cross-town rivals, the New York Islanders. The Islanders just blanked the Rangers 3-0, meaning the Rangers have not beaten the Islanders since their first meeting of the 2016-17 season, and nine of the past 10 overall in the rivalry.
Forward RIck Nash has a no-trade clause, goaltender Hendrik Lundvqist has a no-movement clause, and captain Ryan McDonough has a modified no-trade clause in their respective contracts. Nash is owed $7.8 million this season, before he hits free agency. Lundqvist, 35, is still signed for $8.5 million per year, until the end of the 2020-21 season.
On Wednesday, McDonough submitted a list of 10 teams to Gorton he would not accept a trade to. McDonough, 28, is owed $4.7 million each of the next two seasons, before becoming an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2019.
Nash would most certainly be a rental for a Stanley Cup contender, as he hits the market as a UFA after this season. The 2002 first overall pick is now 33, and his window of winning a Stanley Cup is closing quickly.
For all the talk by national pundits who think the NHL is better when the Rangers are at or near the top of the standings, they have been to just one Stanley Cup Final since winning it all in 1994, losing to the Los Angeles Kings in 2014.
As with any of the other marquee New York franchises in the other Big Four leagues (the Yankees, Giants, and Knicks), the Rangers are now reaping the tragedies of going on spending sprees for players who never really panned out as expected. Despite scoring 42 goals in 2014-15, Nash has averaged 25 goals in 63 games during his five seasons in Manhattan.
Kevin Shattenkirk is also looking like dead money at this point in the season as well. Signed to a 4-year contract back on 1 July that will pay him $6.5 million per, the 29-year-old defenseman has five goals and 18 assists in 46 games this season. However, a torn meniscus in his left knee has put Shattenkirk on injured reserve since 19 January. Currently there is no timetable for his return to the lineup. Shattenkirk had not registered a point in his past seven games, leading up to the announcement of impending surgery.
How bad are things getting for the Rangers? The lone goal they appeared to score against the Islanders last night was waved off within 90 seconds by the NHL Replay Offices in Toronto. The overhead view showed David Desharnais had blatantly “mule kicked” the puck past Islanders’ goaltender Jaroslav Halak, who was sprawled out face-down in the crease. New York is just 3-7-0 over their past 10 games, and is just one of five teams yet to reach double-digit road wins this season.
We are quickly starting to see a changing of the guard in the NHL, with teams like Winnipeg, Vegas, Nashville, Tampa Bay, and even Toronto currently sitting in playoff spots. Chicago, Detroit, the Rangers, and Montreal are all on the outside for the moment.
If we can just get Pittsburgh to nose dive in the next six weeks, all will be right with the hockey world.
-JC24