Former NHL Player Reveals Harsh Reality of Playing for Rangers

As the 2024-25 NHL season comes to its close, the New York Rangers sit high on the list of the campaign's biggest disappointment. 

With five games left, the Rangers are six points out of a playoff spot after being crowned as the prior season's highest achievers in points. 

They dropped critical opportunities for points throughout the season, but most notably in their last two games, where they were outscored 9-1 to the New Jersey Devils and Tampa Bay Lightning. 

General manager Chris Drury tried to extinguish the low morale that infiltrated the locker room early in the season by mixing up the roster, but it proved to make no difference in the end.

One of the players that packed his bags was captain Jacob Trouba, who was traded to the Anaheim Ducks in December. After the trade, Trouba said that "it's a rite of passage to get fired from MSG" per ESPN.

As the offseason likely nears soon, Drury will have many tough questions to answer in how he will correct one of the biggest disappointments in the franchise's recent memory. 

It's a bit of de ja vu in New York as seven years ago, a similar situation unfolded where a competitive Rangers core couldn't go the distance after several years of coming close. In February of 2018, ownership released a memo to season ticket holders informing them that they would launch into a rebuild and begin sending out many fan favorites.