Going into the offseason, it was clear that one area that the New York Rangers needed to address was finding a high-end winger to play on the team’s first line with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider.
Unfortunately for the Blueshirts, team general manager Chris Drury struck out on that front. He missed out on the likes of Jake Guentzel (Tampa Bay Lightning), Jonathan Marchessault (Nashville Predators), Steven Stamkos (Nashville Predators), Patrick Kane (Detroit Red Wings), Vladimir Tarasenko (Detroit Red Wings), and Tyler Toffoli (San Jose Sharks).
Now, Drury did acquire Reilly Smith from the Pittsburgh Penguins. Smith, 33, is a significant upgrade over Barclay Goodrow, who is now on the Sharks, but is he someone who is going to slide in with Zibanejad and Kreider?
While the team’s fans are happy that Drury found a way to get rid of Goodrow, the way he went about it certainly upset Goodrow. In an article by Remy Mastey of The Hockey News, Remy mentioned Goodrow’s displeasure with the Rangers’ brass.
“A report came out following all of this that Goodrow was unaware that the Rangers were going to waive him until the last moment and was upset with the Blueshirts since the Sharks were on his no-trade list.”
Drury is also now in an ugly situation with the team’s captain, Jacob Trouba. On Saturday, June 29, it was reported by Larry Brooks of the New York Post that the Blueshirts were trying to trade Trouba to the Red Wings.
In turn, Trouba was taken aback by this. While Drury says that any conversation between him and Trouba is private, Rangers’ beat writer Vincent Mercogliano of Lohud.com wrote that Trouba is not happy with what is going on.
“Trouba is not pleased with the way this has gone down and does not want to move his family, according to two people with knowledge of the situation, one of whom said it will require “a major clean up” to mend fences if the captain sticks around. His wife, Kelly, has a medical career in New York and their first child, Axel, arrived in January.”
Trouba is also dealing with unruly fans on social media who have been nasty to both him and his wife on social media. Peter Baugh, a Rangers beat writer for The Athletic, agreed with my sentiment as he wrote the following on July 3:
“But the discourse around Trouba, perhaps amplified by social media, has extended beyond reason. Those angry about him exercising a negotiated right to his contract don’t understand the business side of sports. As for anyone getting mad at Trouba’s wife, Kelly Tyson-Trouba, for having career demands that might make her family hesitant to leave New York? They need to rethink their priorities.”
With all of that said, no one should envy Drury right now. He still does not have a top winger to play with Zibanejad and Kreider, he is still dealing with the whole Trouba situation and the potential fallout that comes with it, and he still needs to figure out a way and try and sign his franchise goaltender, Igor Shesterkin, to a contract extension before the season starts.
I know that I would not want to be in Drury’s shoes.
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