its season
To become a winning organization, it takes a lot more than just freezing the best team for one year. A well-run organization begins years before finally winning a championship, building a collective identity and strategy that goes beyond product on-ice. This is what New York lacks, as the Rangers need an identity. It takes years of behind-the-scenes work to bear fruit before you can lift the holy grail of hockey.
While the Rangers are looking for a new leader behind the bench, we still don’t know exactly what Chris Drury’s plan to win the Stanley Cup is. So far, the idea seems to be to make the best group of players possible and just watch what happens. Unfortunately for the Blueshirts and for us fans, that idea hasn’t led to winning the final game of the year yet. There was no identity this year, and the Rangers need an identity to be true competitors.
If we’ve learned anything from history, it’s that having no plan won’t lead to a Rangers Cup anytime soon unless there’s a shift in philosophy. Rangers need an identity, and that shift in philosophy begins.
True or false, Jeff Gorton and John Davidson had a plan and we all knew what it was. James Dolan’s patience ran out, and she took half measures after they were fired. Now we sit here in the middle of May, looking for a new bench coach after two of the most successful regular seasons in Rangers history. Teams can fake it in the regular season, but the Rangers need an identity to be successful in the playoffs.
Rangers should look to successful franchises that have won multiple cups. The Oilers and Islanders dynasty had plans and systems in place all the way down to the scouting department to figure out how to find players and mold them into what they needed to win. Recently, the Blackhawks, Kings, and Lightning have followed this mold even when things have gone bad and haven’t deviated from their organizational structure. It resulted in multiple championships for all three clubs.
The current iteration of the Toronto Maple Leafs does not have this type of structure. Although they gathered quality talent, it did not lead to playoff success. Unfortunately, the Rangers are closer to being Maple Leafs than the Blackhawks, Kings, or Lightning are, which is a shame.
Given their resources, the Rangers’ inability to draft and develop top-tier talent is problematic. Lias Andersson and Vitali Kravtsov have already joined the likes of Hugh Jessiman in Rangers lore, and unfortunately Alexis Lafreniere is on his way to joining them.
How can this continue to happen to a professional franchise? It is because this team is not really invested in finding, developing and nurturing young talent. This is what separates Rangers from the three clubs mentioned above. The Rangers need an identity, and it starts with setting the right tone from the draft table.
It’s part of why it’s so important to hire coaches for this Rangers team. This franchise needs to win now. If you hire Peter LavioletteYou’re telling everyone that you think your competition window is the next couple of years. The Rangers need an identity, and signing Laviolette is just another half measure of building a team that wins now rather than a perennial contender.
Can Rangers and Chris Drury juggle in a cup, like Rangers 1994? Sure, but the prospect of doing that in today’s NHL is extremely unlikely with the salary cap. The Rangers need an identity, and Chris Drury needs to find a way to get Dolan on board while being a little patient and copying the plan that another successful team has to build a sustainable winner.
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Rated: Offseason