Vincent Trocheck opens up on resentment towards GM Chris Drury in Rangers’ dressing room

New York has won just three of their past 14 games dating back to Nov. 19. and it has been a downhill slide for the team. Rangers general manager Chris Drury has pretty much placed every one of his players on the trade block, and defenseman Jacob Trouba and forward Kaapo Kakko are no longer with the team.

This prompted many reports to emerge on how the Rangers’ players resent Drury and all changes he’s made to the roster. Vincent Z. Mercogliano of the Rockland/Westchester Journal News reported how collection of recent decisions by Drury has caused tension between the front office and the players, and one of them felt it necessary to comment.

Veteran forward Vincent Trocheck refuted reports that the dressing room was angry with Drury, and defended his general manager, per Peter Baugh of the New York Times.

“You never want to see anybody go,” Trocheck said. “But also we’re losing games right now. Chris has a job. You can’t just sit there and let us continue to lose and do nothing. His job is on the line as well. He’s doing what he can to put the right guys on the ice and make the right moves that he thinks are going to help us win hockey games. Yeah, it’s sad, but at the same time you’ve got to win hockey games if you want to keep everybody in this locker room.”

I mean, that’s good news if everyone is on the same page in New York, but it has to start showing somewhere. The current skid has erased a 12-4-1 start to the 2024-25 season and put the playoffs in jeopardy after winning the Presidents’ Trophy last year.

If there is no frustration or resentment in the Rangers’ dressing room, then there has to be some kind of motivation or even desperation to stop the GM from making bold trades before the current lineup is not delivering. I guess Trocheck made it about the players and how they must be accountable for getting back on track.