The Rangers are 20-21-6, last in the East by points percentage, and only 14 games remain before the trade deadline forces GM Chris Drury to choose between a last-ditch push or a fire-sale of Artemi Panarin and the aging core.
The Collapse by the Numbers
New York’s post-holiday nosedive is jarring even by recent Metropolitan standards. Since Dec. 27 the Rangers have:
- Earned three of a possible 16 points (1-6-1)
- Been outscored 36-19, including the 10-2 nationally-televised debacle in Boston
- Fallen to .488 points percentage, 16th in a conference where only 15 points separate first from worst AP
The schedule offers little mercy: six of the next eight are on the road, where the Blueshirts are 8-12-3.
Injuries Expose a Top-Heavy Roster
Coach Mike Sullivan refuses to lean on the absence of Igor Shesterkin (lower-body) and Adam Fox (upper-body) as crutches, but the underlying numbers are stark. In the eight games without both stars the Rangers:
- Own a .870 team save percentage, 29th in the NHL over that span
- Are allowing 4.25 expected goals against per 60 at 5-on-5, worst in the league AP
Braden Schneider and Vladislav Gavrikov are averaging career-high minutes, but the second pair has been caved in territorially, forcing Sullivan to overextend third-pair lifers like 39-year-old Jonathan Quick.
Sullivan’s Message Meets Locker-Room Reality
The two-time Cup-winning coach keeps preaching “unwavering enthusiasm,” yet even alternate captain Mika Zibanejad admits the search for answers feels circular. “Maybe it doesn’t look it at times, I understand that,” Zibanejad said, “but we’re trying to do everything we can.”
Leadership core J.T. Miller, Chris Kreider and Vincent Trocheck have combined for a minus-29 rating during the 1-6-1 slide. The room senses the fragility Schneider described: one bad shift snowballs into three, and the bench tightens like a drum.
Trade-Deadline Sirens Grow Louder
With the Feb. 6-26 Olympic break slicing the remaining schedule in half, Chris Drury has 14 games—fewer than most teams—to declare direction. The elephant in the room is Artemi Panarin: the 34-year-old winger leads the club with 45 points but carries a no-move clause and a $11.6 M cap hit that expires July 1. Moving him would signal a full reset; keeping him and missing the playoffs would risk losing a franchise scorer for nothing.
Other veterans whose names are percolating in league circles:
- Alex Wennberg (UFA, $4.5 M) — playoff center rental
- Barclay Goodrow (two more years at $3.6 M) — Stanley Cup pedigree with Tampa
- Erik Gustafsson (UFA, $825 K) — inexpensive power-play quarterback
One Eastern Conference scout told AP the Rangers are “open for business but not throwing up a white flag—yet.”
What Has to Change—Immediately
Sullivan’s staff has identified three non-negotiables:
- First-five-minute discipline: the Rangers have surrendered the opening goal in six straight losses, forcing a chase game their depth can’t support.
- Special-teams flip: the power play is 3-for-28 since Christmas; the PK has dipped to 74 % over the same stretch.
- Line-change IQ: four of the last 10 even-strength goals against came after bad changes, per team video review.
Health will help—Shesterkin is targeting a late-January return, Fox early February—but the coach warns against waiting: “We can’t mortgage today hoping tomorrow fixes itself.”
Bottom Line
The math is brutal. To reach last year’s 98-point playoff cut line, New York needs 56 points from its final 35 games—essentially a 110-point pace. Even a more modest 94-point target demands .686 hockey the rest of the way, a clip only four teams have sustained league-wide to this point.
The Rangers still believe the answers live inside the room, but the hourglass is draining fast. Another week of zero-or-one-point nights and Drury’s hand will be forced; the Panarin era, and perhaps the Kreider-Fox-Zibanejad competitive window, could be auctioned off before Valentine’s Day.
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