Rangers breakup day has come and gone, and while nothing Earth shattering was shared, we certainly learned a lot about some inner details we weren’t privy to during the season. The quick and dirty included injuries to Braden Schneider and Chris Kreider, ice time and trade distractions across the board, and perhaps something deeper going on with Mika Zibanejad if you read between the lines of what he said and some social media activity. As per usual, I have some Rangers breakup day thoughts.
Injuries across the board
1. Injuries are expected. Playing through injuries is expected. That’s just sports. Rangers breakup day was no different, with us learning that multiple Rangers played through some pretty significant injuries. Braden Schneider actually had a torn labrum which was surgically repaired over the weekend. His torn labrum occurred in the 2022-2023 season, so he played all of 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 with it. There was not enough time to have it repaired between the end of the 2024 playoffs and the start of this season.
It was quite easy to jump on the Rangers for having yet another injury management problem, especially with Schneider, but it’s worth noting that Schneider probably received some advice to get his next contract payday before getting surgery. The injury wasn’t painful, according to Schneider, but he said it did limit him a bit physically. I wonder if we will see a big step forward next season from him.
2. Adam Edstrom had surgery on his lower body injury and will be ready to return next season. Edstrom became a pretty important piece of the fourth line, one of the lone bright spots on the Rangers all season. Edstrom, along with Sam Carrick, Matt Rempe, Jonny Brodzinski, and Jimmy Vesey formed a steady fourth line that the Rangers desperately needed. Unfortunately, the top-nine were a train wreck.
3. Chris Kreider’s injuries were the big news on Rangers breakup day. Along with the back spasms that we knew about, Kreider was apparently dealing with a bit of vertigo at one point, and also needs surgery on a hand injury suffered right after the Four Nations Tournament. His time on IR in February and March was likely due to the hand injury.
Kreider also spent time on IR in January as well, and while many of us thought it was because of back spasms, which may also be the case, it wouldn’t be shocking if this was due to vertigo. Back spasms are a pain and difficult to deal with, but can be played through. Vertigo can’t be. If he was playing through it, then shame on both him and the organization.
Rangers breakup day brought nothing new about trade distractions
4. The beats asked, and there were no new answers on Rangers breakup day about how the offseason and early season moves impacted the team. We know the team was irked about how Chris Drury managed the Barclay Goodrow situation. We also know the team was not pleased with the trade memo mentioning both Jacob Trouba–whom Drury already tried to move three months prior–and Chris Kreider. At the risk of repeating myself, this is part of the game and the players need to grow up. This happens all the time.
5. However, communication was something brought up on Rangers breakup day, mostly from Mika Zibanejad. Much digital ink was spilled on social media regarding Zibanejad’s comments on Rangers breakup day, and this quote in particular was, in my opinion, taken out of context. Some took it as Zibanejad requesting Drury let the team know about all roster moves, which is silly and makes no sense. If you apply even the smallest amount of critical thinking, you know this wasn’t what Zibanejad meant.
I’m guessing here, but I’d guess Zibanejad meant things like moving pieces of the leadership group should at least be mentioned to either the coaching staff and/or the leadership group. Not for approval, but just as an FYI. Goodrow, Trouba, and Kreider represented half of the leadership group. One other member of the leadership group had sexual assault allegations settled and buried before the season started. Sometimes, a quick conversation goes a long way.
I don’t necessarily disagree with Zibanejad, that a little extra communication goes a long way with the newer generation of hockey players. But to everyone else’s point, Drury shouldn’t have to run everything by this group. If we look at the whole picture from Rangers breakup day, it looks like this is more the players being upset than it is on Drury’s tactics.
On Mika Zibanejad
6. Mika Zibanejad’s quotes on Rangers breakup day caught a lot of heat. Some deserved, some not. Aside from the communication quote, Zibanejad caught some heat for saying the first few months were the toughest of his career. It’s easy to point the finger to Goodrow, Trouba, and the memo as the reason, but I think there’s something deeper here.
Hope is very dialed into the Rangers social media, and she mentioned to us in our group chat that Zibanejad’s wife had been posting about family staying with them through difficult times early in the season. Naturally we don’t know what those difficult times were, but it’s certainly plausible and probable that whatever was going on in his life impacted his play on the ice. We are not in a position to ask or judge, but to think his quotes were solely about the leadership trio appears to be misguided.
Everyone has something going on in their lives, and mental health truly matters. These guys are human. It may not impact your feelings on whether you want him traded, and that’s fine. But if there’s a lesson we can all learn from these quotes on Rangers breakup day, it’s that maybe we shouldn’t rush to judge. Everyone has their own internal battle you don’t know about. All of us included.
The best of the rest
7. There was a lot of chatter on Rangers breakup day about quotes from Calvin de Haan and Zac Jones regarding playing time. Jones stood by what he said, but also walked back some of the intensity of it, saying he was caught on a bad day when he blurted out his feelings. de Haan said he was promised playing time, but as a PTO player at this point in his career, Jones should have been the focus. There was no reason for him to be removed from the lineup the way he was, especially when others were playing far worse.
8. Adam Fox, who in my opinion should be the future captain over Vincent Trocheck, had the best and most mature quote of Rangers breakup day when asked about moving onto another coach:
“It’s hard not to look at us as players and say, ‘Why is that happening?’ We seem to have a lot of success and then I don’t know, it turns. I don’t think us as players at any point didn’t like Lavi or thought his message wasn’t getting through. It just seemed the execution of it was not there. I think we want to be able to come in with a coach that’s here for as long as we’re all here. Even outlast us as players because that means we’re having a lot of success.”
Fox hit the nail on the head. Their third coach in five years isn’t going to change anything if the players don’t adjust. This is far from a one person or one area problem for the Rangers. They need to start looking in a mirror and wondering how they as players can start changing the narrative.
Peter Laviolette, Phil Housley, and Chris Drury are far from blameless for this debacle. But seeing at least one guy from the leadership group take ownership was nice to see.
9. Accountability wasn’t brought up directly on Rangers breakup day, but many quotes had this as a theme. Accountability is across the board, and it was lacking from all aspects of the Rangers this season. Hopefully that will change.
I don’t expect much major news until after the draft lottery in the coming weeks. We may get a contract extension, but it’s exceedingly rare for a major trade to occur during the playoffs. June and July will be big months for Drury and the Rangers.
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