00:00It's just going to be a rebuild year for the Rangers and head coach Mike Sullivan.
00:04They're 3-5-2 in the first 10 games of the season with losses to the Sharks and the Flames.
00:09So let's talk a little Rangers hockey here and get the pulse of the fan base with Joey and Stevie of the Broadway Block.
00:16Gentlemen, what's going on? How you guys feeling before we get into this? Long time no see.
00:22I'm doing good, man. I need a win tonight in Vancouver and I'll be doing a little better.
00:27Stevie, you feeling all right?
00:28Yeah, suffice to say, I'm still a little bit optimistic, but not a whole lot to like right now in Rangers' world for sure.
00:35All right, Stevie, let's get a little glass half full approach and I'll start with you on this first question and then I'll go to you, Joey.
00:42Well, what's to blame for the Rangers' absolutely boring start to the season?
00:47Are you going to blame the X's and O's or are you blaming the Jimmy's and Joe's?
00:52Well, I mean, I don't think anybody was super high on the roster construction going into the season.
00:57It seemed like there was a lot to be made of some of these longer contracts and getting older.
01:03I was a huge fan of JT Miller coming on and since signing with the Rangers or getting traded rather, he's been a prolific player.
01:10And I think it's pretty clear that this year specifically he's battling an injury and it doesn't bode well for the team at the moment.
01:18And relying on rookie call-ups like Noah Laba and some third-line and fourth-line production before Matt Rempe goes down, their line looked really good.
01:27So I think we were a little bit higher, I think, on the top six.
01:30And it's pretty obvious that you lose Vinny Trocek early on in the season and they've been battling to fill that loss ever since.
01:38It's not an excuse.
01:39There's teams like the Devils that have been off to a great start and they seem to be catching the injury bug as well.
01:45So I don't think anybody's making excuses for the Rangers, but it's pretty clear that right now they're suffering through some injuries and struggling to get their best foot in front of them.
01:54Joey?
01:54Well, I think the top six, obviously Steve touched on Vincent Trocek going down, which he's a vital part to this offense.
02:02And losing Chris Kreider to trading him this year and not having that net front presence really has hurt us.
02:08And I think Vincent Trocek was going to step up into that role.
02:11But another thing is not setting the tone early in games and not finishing strong.
02:16We've allowed 10 goals in the first part of the period and the last part of the period.
02:21So we're allowing teams that we should be dominating to come in and set the tone and not play our 200-foot game.
02:28So for me, I think the Rangers need to get off to good starts and really dominate other teams and do the scoring first.
02:36Again, 3-5-2, 10 games into the season.
02:39Joey, I'll let you start with this question.
02:41Are they doing anything, I guess, on the positive side that kind of gives you hope that they can turn things around like they've done before in recent seasons and keep it at least competitive for the remainder of this season?
02:55Well, I've really liked the third and fourth line, what they've done.
03:00We had Connor Sherry on a paid tryout this season, and he's really excelled what I thought production-wise would have given us.
03:08Also, besides Matt Rempe going down, the fourth line has been giving us great production, and Sam Carrick has been a madman fighting people, putting shots on net, which we've been having a problem with.
03:21And for me, I think that's been the really positive side.
03:24Also, Vincent Trocek is normally our go-to face-off guy, and face-offs have still been above 50% for us.
03:33I think last week they were around 53%, so not losing face-offs left and right is definitely a positive, but I'm a little worried there's more negatives than positives this year, Brandon.
03:44Stevie, bring out those positives, man.
03:47What's your positives on this team so far?
03:50Well, I think it's very easy to sit there and look at the record and look at it for what it is and think that they're a really bad team.
03:56I mean, they sit at the bottom of the Metropolitan right now, having just dropped games to the previously winless Sharks and the Flames, who lost eight in a row and had only won their home opener.
04:07So they were really thirsty for a win, and like Joe said, you need to come out hungry against those teams, but unfortunately, they played to the level.
04:14I think there's some games that you can look back on where the Rangers played a really good game, and there was, I think, some positive takeaways.
04:21For me, so far this year, it's been the story of two different teams, like which version of the New York Rangers are you going to get?
04:27You know, you can look back to the Edmonton-Oiler game where you have Connor McDavid and Leon Dreisaitl, two of the best players in the league.
04:34You keep the game to a one-goal game the entire time.
04:38You keep the two prolific stars out of the game essentially the entire night.
04:44They were pointless until the empty netter.
04:47Two shots on goal for McDavid in that game.
04:49You out-chance a really high-volume team.
04:52I think it was 15-3 as far as high-danger opportunities.
04:56You limit them to just a handful of shots in the second period, a team that was coming off of a game where they were averaging 36 a night.
05:04And you look at that game the way that Igor stood on his head, and it really felt like they gave you a chance.
05:09And even the one goal that goes in is a deflection off of a linesman that comes the opposite way.
05:14Trent Frederick comes in all alone.
05:16And, you know, you can't blame your goalie for giving up a breakaway goal.
05:19But I felt like that was a really good showing of the Rangers in that highlighted a spot where fans seemed optimistic that if they played this style and they could shut down opposing teams' top lines like that, that they would really come out and surge.
05:32Unfortunately, you drop that game, and it's not a huge morale booster, and there's really no moral victories in that point in the season.
05:39But then you look back over to the game against the Montreal Canadiens, for example, where they don't necessarily play their best game.
05:46They don't necessarily put up the best high-quality chances.
05:49But they kind of squeak out a win, getting a little bit lucky with some puck luck bouncing off of JT Miller.
05:54You have a clear-sighted shot from Matthew Robertson for his first NHL goal.
06:00So you get a goal off of a rookie defenseman with a clear shot from the point on a save that Montembeau probably would want back.
06:08And there's times like that where you just kind of get lucky the opposite way.
06:11You don't necessarily play your best game, and you still come out with a win.
06:14And so there's games where we've had a great effort, and it just doesn't materialize into anything.
06:19And then there's games where you kind of limp through it and escape with a victory.
06:24But I'm just kind of waiting for the team to put it all together where you can have those big nights from Igor.
06:29He was very open in his interview from last game saying that he needs to give this opportunity to the team to win.
06:34And he was not blaming anybody else for the loss aside from himself.
06:39So you combine the days where you have a suffocating offense, a good forecheck, and a defense that looks really cleaned up.
06:48And then you have games where there's a lot of holes, including the goalie.
06:52Stevie, let's say they can't fix these holes, and they drop into a hole so deep that they can't get themselves out of.
06:59And then Chris Drury and these guys call it a rebuilding season.
07:03Does the fan base have the patience for a rebuild?
07:06I don't think they do under Chris Drury.
07:09We've been pretty optimistic on our show in the past about trying to find the positives and the moves that Chris Drury's done.
07:17I think that the bad moves he's done are pretty far and few between.
07:20However, you know in New York media, man, it's really you have to have a team that is not just borderline successful, not on the cusp.
07:29You need to have a team that's winning and one of the contenders in the league.
07:32And I think fans have lost their patience.
07:35And to some degree, ourselves included, it is rough to watch year after year as players are getting older and contracts aren't going anywhere.
07:45You look at some of the players that could be stood to be moved.
07:48I mean, there's not a lot of options.
07:50There's not a lot of trade value in certain guys.
07:53You have Brendan Othman, who's a struggling prospect at the moment, picked in the first round, highly touted.
07:58I think fans are excited about Gabe Perrault, but it's not enough to really build off of right now.
08:04So you've got to find some value maybe in swapping out a guy like Othman.
08:07It doesn't bode well for his value, having had not a lot of NHL experience and a lot of NHL success.
08:15Artemi Panarin, who eats up one of the biggest percentages of the cap, is due to have his contract expire this year.
08:20And it does seem to me, especially with the free agency all but taken now, with guys like Conor McDavid and Kirill Kaprizov all signed to their respective teams.
08:31Jack Eichel, the list was massive.
08:33But right now, that list sort of only looks like Artemi Panarin right now.
08:37And I do see that the team could have the opportunity to move on from them and gain some huge cap in the process.
08:44But who do you go out and get?
08:46And do you want to waste another season and squander another opportunity with guys like Igor and Fox in the prime of their career and prolong this a little bit further?
08:55So there's going to be a lot of heavy decisions to make.
08:58We had Linda Cohen on our show, and we all kind of agreed that nobody really wants the job that Chris Drury has.
09:04Joey, finish us off.
09:05Final thought.
09:06Does the fan base have patience for a rebuilding season?
09:09No, it's New York City.
09:11We're starved for a championship in all major sports right now.
09:15And where we saw the Rangers a couple years ago, winning the Metropolitan, winning the President's Trophy, we were ready to click over to that next stage of winning a championship.
09:26And we've just digressed.
09:28The power plays digressed, which we saw have been one of the most dominant power plays for about four to five years.
09:34So, yeah, I do not feel like the fan base are ready for a rebuild.
09:39We touched on our show all summer about that maybe Chris Drury was getting ready to load up for that 2026 free agency class, but we've seen the signings come and go.
09:50So there's not many options out there for us.
09:53Also, our lineup on being on the older age, and as Steve touched on, a lot of high contracts, I don't think we can make a big rebuild, but we're going to have to do something.
10:05And I do not think New York City or this fan base is ready for a rebuild whatsoever.
10:11All right.
10:11There you have it.
10:12Appreciate you guys hopping on with us.
10:14Hopefully they can turn things around soon, but definitely get you guys on pretty soon so we can keep talking Rangers hockey.
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