It’s been said that Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year — a season of cheer and good tidings. Unfortunately, there’s been little of either for the New York Rangers in the month of December.
After being shut out in an embarrassing 5-0 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Monday afternoon, the Blueshirts have fallen all the way to the bottom of the Metropolitan Division, tied at 33 points with the equally uninspiring New York Islanders.
For Chris Drury, it’s the first time in his four seasons as general manager that the Rangers have entered the Christmas break not holding a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Typically, the Christmastime discussion might revolve around which players the Blueshirts should target in a few months ahead of the trade deadline. But this current stretch — a 4-13-0 skid dating back to November 21 — leaves the future clouded and their status as a would-be contender completely up in the air.
The Rangers sit just five points out of the second wild card in the East, not an inescapable hole by any means. Still, it’s hard to think about making the Stanley Cup Playoffs, let alone a lengthy postseason run, in the midst of one of the worst stretches of play in recent memory.
Needless to say, the Rangers could use some help from good ol’ Saint Nick. But that help might look a little different than past seasons.
Here’s what the New York Rangers should have on their wish list this Christmas.
New York Rangers 2024-25 Christmas wish list
Mika Zibanejad waives his no-movement clause
There is certainly more than one person responsible for the Rangers’ lackluster play. That said, the elongated struggles have amplified the noise surrounding Mika Zibanejad’s struggles, which was already on the radar following a disappointing performance in the Eastern Conference Final last spring.
With 21 points in 35 games, Zibanejad is currently on track to record his lowest point-per-game pace in his nine seasons in New York.
But it’s not just the inconsistency on the offensive end, an issue that plagued him last season as well, particularly at even strength. Now Zibanejad seems to be struggling on the defensive end.
Plus-minus may not be the end-all be-all, but his minus-19 rating is tied for fourth-worst out of 793 players in the NHL. The analytics tell a similar story, with Zibanejad’s -5.1 goals above replacement ranking eighth-worst in the League and placing him in the bottom one percent of all skaters defensively.
It’s all culminated in a reduced role for a player the Blueshirts hoped would revert back to being their top-line center.
Zibanejad’s usage has fallen behind Vincent Trocheck and, occasionally, even Filip Chytil, best highlighted by a December 15 matchup against the St. Louis Blues when he was only on the ice for 13:04, his lowest TOI as a Ranger outside of a 2019 game where he exited early due to injury.
Monday’s battle against the Devils saw coach Peter Laviolette demote Zibanejad from the top power-play unit, replacing him and the scratched Chris Kreider with Alexis Lafreniere and Will Cuylle.
Drury has already displayed a willingness to make major adjustments to the current core, parting ways with Barclay Goodrow, captain Jacob Trouba, Kaapo Kakko and indicating to fellow GMs that his longest tenured player, Kreider, is available via trade. But the biggest shakeup Drury could make would be dealing away his underperforming and presently overpaid center after nine seasons in the Big Apple.
But the biggest obstacle standing in his way isn’t the lackluster play of his former superstar — instead it’s the no-movement clause in his contract.
Zibanejad is only in season three of an eight-year, $8.5 million AAV contract and maintains a no-movement clause throughout its entirety, restricting Drury from removing him from the roster by any means without his approval.
Permitting he agrees to waive the clause, one could understand Drury seeking to go in a different direction if the nightmare stretch continues. And despite his recent struggles, perhaps there’s a contender willing to take a chance on the two-way forward who’s just two years removed from an NHL career-high 91-point season.
If the 31-year-old’s decline has indeed begun, the Rangers would be on the hook for another five seasons after this — and his contract would only become more challenging to move without added compensation as his lackluster play persists.
Plus, getting out from under Zibanejad’s $8.5 million AAV would allow Drury the financial cushion to pursue an elite center in the future. Keep in mind, both Connor McDavid or Jack Eichel are set to become unrestricted free agents at the close of the 2025-26 season.
Alexis Lafreniere’s resurgence
You don’t get a 4-13-0 stretch without numerous players underperforming. But one of the more disappointing culprits has been Alexis Lafreniere.
After posting an NHL career-high 27 goals and 57 points during the 2023-24 regular season, the former No. 1 overall pick appeared to have finally broken out, dazzling last postseason, when he tied a team-high with eight goals, four of which came in the conference final against the Florida Panthers.
He picked up right where he left off to start the 2024-25 season, notching a goal and an assist in the season opener against the Pittsburgh Penguins and playing at a point-per-game pace through the first seven games.
That hot start helped secure a seven-year, $7.45 million AAV extension on October 25, setting up Lafreniere as an integral piece of the future.
But Lafreniere’s exciting play has disappeared of late. The 23-year-old has five goals and 14 points in the 27 games since his extension became official, all the while recording a minus-15 rating, the worst of any Ranger outside of Zibanejad.
An inspired Lafreniere could certainly help dig the Rangers out of this rut — but it’s more important for their long-term success.
Whether or not the Blueshirts bottom out this year, Lafreniere, Adam Fox, and Igor Shesterkin — all of whom are signed to lengthy extensions — likely signify the top core that will lead the team for the remainder of the decade.
But while Shesterkin and Fox have proven themselves to be among the elite at their respective positions leaguewide, Lafreniere’s ceiling has yet to be determined.
His potential is undeniable, and his postseason success last year should stand as a lasting reminder of what he’s capable of. Still, if he is indeed the top-six winger Drury hopes to build around, he’ll need to start displaying that consistently sooner rather than later.
A healthy Brennan Othmann
The injury bug could not have hit Brennan Othmann at a more inopportune time.
The former No. 16 overall pick was sidelined just three games into his 2024-25 AHL season and has yet to appear in a game since.
Despite getting solid run in the preseason, Othmann was demoted to the AHL along with Brett Berard when the Rangers finalized their roster to start the season.
That didn’t come as an absolute shock. Othmann received limited run in the NHL last year, but was demoted back to the AHL after three games without a point. This fall, he competed for limited spots with the majority of a Presidents’ Trophy winning-roster intact and established NHL veterans in Reilly Smith and Sam Carrick added.
But with Drury trading Kaapo Kakko to the Seattle Kraken and the team’s prolonged slump, one has to wonder if the door is open for a more thorough look at Othmann in the NHL.
Berard got his promotion to the NHL in late November and the 22-year-old’s acclimated himself fairly well so far — perhaps Othmann could benefit from a similar opportunity once he’s back on the ice.
Othmann resumed skating in a no-contact jersey on December 15, according to a report from Mollie Walker. It marks his first reported action since his upper-body injury back in October.
When healthy, Othmann could represent the young spark the Blueshirts need to battle back into playoff position. Or, if the season continues to tumble, it would allow the coaching staff to give him extended playing time without the pressure of chasing a Stanley Cup.
Either way, it allows Drury to evaluate exactly what he has in the 2021 first-round pick, whos long been expected to be a solid goal scorer and physical presence in the Rangers lineup.
Effort
As puck dropped on the matinee against the Devils on Monday, the Blueshirts’ longtime announcers at MSG opened the broadcast with the following exchange.
“What do you look for, Joe?” the Rangers’ 40-year play-by-play announcer Sam Rosen asked his partner and former NHL player Joe Micheletti.
“Effort, first of all,” Micheletti bluntly replied.
It’s a simple yet revealing moment that captures some of the issues plaguing the Rangers over the course of this brutal stretch. To the naked eye, It appears as if, more often than not, they’re getting outworked by the opposition.
“We’ve gotta show more heart” noted Trocheck after the most recent loss against New Jersey. “We should be embarrassed.”
Ryan Lindgren shared similar remarks about the team’s perceived lack of urgency.
“We know it needs to be there. Why we’re not playing with it? I don’t know. We certainly know we got to turn this around in a hurry.”
Younger players like Berard and Cuylle have made efforts to spark the team with physical play, but nothing yet has managed to spark the team in a meaningful, consistent way.
The Rangers have four days off in between their last contest with the Devils and their next matchup against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday. That’s four days to find the urgency Lindgren himself said they aren’t playing with.
They certainly won’t get any help from their schedule. After Tampa, the Rangers close out December against the reigning Stanley Cup champion Panthers before starting the new year against the Boston Bruins and the Washington Capitals, the latter of whom hold the second best record in the East.
If the Rangers intend to salvage the season and contend for the Stanley Cup this postseason, they’ll no doubt need some improved play from their current veterans and likely even a major trade acquisition. But above all else, they’ll need to play with a level of effort and urgency that hasn’t been on display all that much heading into the holiday break.