The New York Rangers’ struggles this season might be evolving into rising tensions among players following the pre-holiday break moves made by general manager Chris Drury.
According to The Fourth Period's Dave Pagnotta, speaking on TSN Radio on Monday, there is some “animosity” in the Rangers’ locker room as the team will resume play carrying a 16-17-1 record.
“There still seems to be a little bit of animosity between some of the current players,” Pagnotta said. “Coupled with the frustration of going through a bad swing, those frustrations start to boil over, and things get a little bit more hectic in that room.”
General manager Chris Drury's reshuffling of the Rangers roster has already seen former captain Jacob Trouba traded to Anaheim and former no. 2 overall pick Kaapo Kakko to Seattle.
Pagnotta suggested that the trades involving Trouba and Kappo, as well as making Chris Kreider available for trade, were partly motivated by internal friction.
“You’re throwing blame, you’re taking blame, you’re pointing fingers, you’re ignoring messages, you’re this, that, and the other--they’ve gotten in their heads,“ Pagnotta said regarding the Rangers locker room situation. “It’s played a big factor as to why this team isn’t where it necessarily should be, and that’s why Chris Drury has been looking to make additional changes beyond moving Trouba and Kakko.“
Despite speculation about a Rangers' players-only meeting to address their underperformance, Rangers forward Vincent Trocheck confirmed the meeting took place but denied the reports about its content, claiming it didn't involve criticism of Drury.
“That could not be further from the truth,” Trocheck said. “If we’re having a closed-door meeting with just the players, I think the last thing we’re going to do is complain about our general manager. When we have closed-door meetings in here, it’s about us.
”Chris has a job. You can’t just sit there and let us continue to lose and do nothing. He’s doing what he can to put the right guys on the ice.”
The Rangers have lost 13 of their last 17 games, including a 5-0 defeat to the New Jersey Devils before the holiday break, and currently sitting seventh in the Eastern Conference wild-card race with 33 points and five below the second berth.
