Mark Messier drops truth bomb on ‘fractured’ Rangers

The New York Rangers fell to 17-20-1 after dropping Saturday afternoon’s 7-4 decision to the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena. Alex Ovechkin moved even closer to reaching Wayne Gretzky’s goal-scoring record, notching the 871st goal of his Hall of Fame career.

But for the Rangers, it was just the latest loss in what has been an unbelievably frustrating campaign that began with promise but has since fallen into complete and total disrepair.

And for former Rangers captain and Hall of Famer Mark Messier, who captained the Rangers to their most recent Stanley Cup victory in 1994, the current team is “fractured”, via The New York Times.

“The core of the Rangers is fractured right now,” Messier explained. “And I don’t think they’re fractured internally. I think there’s a disconnect between management and the coaching staff, there’s a lack of trust and loyalty now and in order to get over that it’s going to take a lot of work.”

“You can tell with Kreider, one of the longest-standing Rangers of all time, he’s clearly been hurt by being put on the trade block, for whatever reason,” he said. “That has had a profound effect on the core of the team. When you put Chris Kreider on the trade block, that affects his best friend, Zibanejad. The cascade effect of that has clearly been evident over the last month.

“Now, as players, we have to be big enough, strong enough, man enough and man up to get over that. We are not in control of some things that happen as players. Management can do whatever they want and we have a responsibility to each other as players. They’ve got to get over that. We haven’t seen a lot of emotion from the Rangers over the last month.”

As one of the most iconic captains in NHL history, the current Rangers would be wise to pay attention to what Messier said on Saturday.

The New York Rangers have already made two substantial trades this season