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Rangers coach ‘all in’ despite retool plan, likely roster churn
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- Rangers coach ‘all in’ despite retool plan, likely roster churn
Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images
You may not think Mike Sullivan signed up for this when he became New York Rangers coach last spring. But the two-time Stanley Cup winner contends that he remains "all in" after the Rangers announced plans to retool their roster amid a horribly disappointing season.
"I understand the process. What I'll tell you is that I am all in on trying to help this organization move forward," Sullivan said Saturday before the Rangers played the Flyers in Philadelphia .
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"[General manager Chris Drury] and I have talked throughout this whole process. We have a very transparent relationship, and I'm going to do everything in my power to try to help this team move forward. I'm going to control what I can and try to be the very best coach that I can be for this organization."
Likely no one within the organization, least of all Sullivan, foresaw the plummet to the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings by the Rangers, who are headed to their second consecutive season out of the playoffs. That followed them reaching the Eastern Conference Final in 2022 and 2024, and winning the Presidents' Trophy as the best regular season team in 2023-24.
But the core of this team began splintering last season, and despite quite a bit of roster turnover in the past 13 months, not even Sullivan could stop the freefall this season. The Rangers look slow and lack the overall depth and high-end skill level to compete with serious playoff contenders in today's NHL. A string of injuries to key players hasn't helped. Entering play Saturday, the Rangers lost four in a row by a 27-10 goal differential without injured No. 1 goalie Igor Shesterkin and top defenseman Adam Fox .
But a certain lack of mental touchness hangs over this team. "Fragile" is a word both Mika Zibanejad and Braden Schneider used recently.
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Two simply embarrassing defeats — a 10-2 blowout in Boston against the Bruins last weekend, and an 8-4 loss to the Ottawa Senators at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday, when they allowed the first six goals — point to the "fragile" state of the Rangers.
But, it remains somewhat surprising that another such letter and declaration was made, after management's first stab at a public admission and retool just eight years ago.
"It's probably a fairly common sensical statement to suggest that when you don't meet expectations, or you don't have success, the change is inevitable in pro sports. Is that a fair statement?," Sullivan said. "So, I think our team is well aware of that, and that's, to a certain extent, what we all sign up for."
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