So, just why is Dolan defending Drury, who’s an inept GM? The product on the ice shows that.
Dolan (L) with Drury (photo courtesy NY Post)
You can always depend upon James Dolan to say something stupid. He has that charming ability. Last Monday, the Rangers/Knicks owner highlighted Craig Carton’s WFAN return by making a guest appearance on Carton’s show. The apparent purpose of this was to boost his friend’s show, along with having his ego stroked for the Knicks’ renaissance.
Dolan probably didn’t figure Carton would ask about the underachieving Rangers. But, the topic came up, and Dolan gave a lecture about patience when it comes to building a culture. That was intended as a defense of the criticism that Rangers president and general manager Chris Drury has received lately.
It’s always amusing when this silver-spooner acts like he knows what he’s talking about when it comes to sports.
For Dolan to talk about patience is LOL funny, considering he fired team president John Davidson and general manager Jeff Gorton several years ago because he thought the rebuilding wasn’t going fast enough to his liking.
There’s no excuse to defend Drury here. Since last season, the Rangers have been on a decline because their hockey boss decided to dismantle the team that wasn’t good enough to win the Stanley Cup. Two offseasons ago, he let Barclay Goodrow go, despite the fact that he was their best postseason player. On top of everything else, he traded Chris Kreider and Jacob Trouba this past offseason because, in his opinion, they weren’t winners. He also decided to fire two good coaches, Gerard Gallant and Peter Laviolette.
How’re those moves working out for Drury now?
It’s been 48 games. Good enough to get a gauge on whether or not the Rangers are a playoff team. As Bill Parcells would say, you are what your record says you are. After their ninth loss in 11 games, the Rangers are 20-22-6 after an 8-4 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden. That’s bad enough to be in last place in the ultra-competitive Metropolitan Division.
Rangers fans know a bad team when they see one. They’ve seen it too frequently this season and, lately, have felt justified in booing the home team. Chants of “FIRE DRURY!” have been heard at the team’s last two home games.
The Rangers have a hard time putting the puck in the net and have been shut out six times at home this season. 2020 No. 1 overall draft pick Alexis Lafreniere has been a bust. These guys don’t seem to know how to lead. They often get outworked most nights, something that should never be the case under a Mike Sullivan-coached team. They’re 5-13-4 at home, which tells you the story right there.
Sullivan has tried so many line combinations to get this offense jump-started all season, but with no success.
To cite injuries to defenseman Adam Fox and goaltender Igor Shesterkin as a reason the team stinks doesn’t make sense, since the team was certainly no better when those two were playing. There’s just not much talent on that roster, and guys like Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad are past their prime. That is an indictment of Drury’s roster-building skills.
I can’t come up with one great move Drury has made since being handed the keys to the Rangers’ kingdom.
He was trying to create cap space to sign a star such as Connor McDavid or Kirill Kaprizov. That was wishful thinking. It’s hard to believe either was leaving their original team to play for the Rangers, and that turned out to be the case here.
Drury has been here for five years at Glen Sather’s recommendation. He’s shown he does not have the chops to be a general manager based on what we’ve seen. What makes anyone think he’ll figure it out now?
The players haven’t developed under his watch. The farm system isn’t good at all. Five years in, the roster has less depth than Mollie Walker’s X feed. There’s just nothing there.
It turns out the Rangers may have to go through another rebuild. It just might be that they need a new president of hockey operations who knows how to build a team and create trust with the players.
Drury was given a nice team that was on the cusp of winning the Stanley Cup and being a sustainable contender. Instead, he made it worse by getting rid of those players and alienating them in the process.
It’s maddening that Davidson and Gorton were constantly criticized by Dolan. Yet, we are now lectured on how everything takes time in defense of Drury.
Graphic courtesy NY Post
Yeah, Dolan revealed himself to Carton and his audience as the fool who thinks he knows how to run a sports operation, which he doesn’t. He also revealed why he’s not the owner who’s going to end the Rangers’ title drought, 32 years and counting, after this season, not to mention the title drought for the Knicks that’s 52 years and counting.
Since 1999, that’s the way it has been, ever since he’s been running the Knicks and Rangers.
The only thing Drury is really good at is playing the survival game with Dolan the way Steve Mills, Isiah Thomas, and Glen Sather used to do. That’s not a compliment at all.
Unfortunately, none of this raises much confidence for the Rangers going forward.
