Bold trade suggestion surface after Rangers’ humiliating loss

The Carolina Hurricanes crushed the New York Rangers 6-1 at Madison Square Garden last night, and have their special teams to thank for. Contrary to the Rangers… They surrendered two power-play goals and lost to a divisional rival for just a third time in 2023-24.

This promoted Larry Brooks of the New York Post to suggest how general manager Chris Drury should fix his roster between now and the March 8 trade deadline. While he notes the Blue Shirts’ hard work on at full and even strength at five-on-four and four-on-five, he believes Drury needs to figure out “whether this successful regular-season team can successfully make the transition to the postseason, where time and space shrinks for elite talent and will trumps skill in a rock-paper-scissors competition, are going to be exacerbated by this one.”

He looks back at the Rangers’ only championship in 1994 and thinks Drury should pull similar trades to what was done by GM Neil Smith 30 years ago.

“It will be on GM Chris Drury to fortify his team between now and the March 8 deadline with players who fit the playoff profile, not necessarily ones with marquee names or fancy scoring totals. That, by the way, is what 1994 was all about. That was what Tony Amonte for Stephane Matteau, and Brian Noonan and Todd Marchant for Craig MacTavish were about.

"Thirty years ago, GM Neil Smith did not have to deal with a cap. He did not have to deal with no-move clauses, one of which surely would have been granted to Mike Gartner back in the day, and oh, how Mike Keenan would have loved that, right? By the way, Smith dealing with Keenan was surely more of a challenge than hypothetically dealing with the cap.”

Brooks sees the loss to the Hurricanes as a preview to what could take place in the postseason if Drury does not look at the trade market for solutions. He dares to conclude his article with:

“The Rangers got exactly what they earned against a team that could very well be in their way come April or May. Which was nothing.

"Uncle Chris Drury should have taken notice.”

So, will Drury do something along Brooks’ lines?

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