GREENBURGH, N.Y. -- The perception coming from the New York Rangers on their last day together this season was that if they are to be better in 2025-26, communication throughout the organization must improve and they need to more maturely handle high expectations.
"In my mind, something broke during the season and went the other way, and we couldn't handle it," goalie Igor Shesterkin said.
The Rangers (39-36-7) failed to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs despite coming in as a popular pick to win the Cup one year after winning the Presidents' Trophy and reaching the Eastern Conference Final.
"Us players, we have to take ownership of what we do and how we go about things, but I think it has to be cohesive with everyone," forward Mika Zibanejad said. "This organization doesn't work without the players. The organization for us players doesn't work without the people that work above us. Like, we have to work together as one."
The players did not complain about their own communication with former coach Peter Laviolette, who was fired Saturday.
Many said they felt they knew where they stood with Laviolette, good or bad. It echoed what general manager Chris Drury discussed Saturday after deciding to fire Laviolette when he said, "I know for a fact 'Lavi' is really big on communication and communicated to players throughout his two years here on where they stood."
Instead, it appears the communication disconnect is more about the direction of the team and certain roster decisions.
It stems from New York's decision after last season to waive forward Barclay Goodrow when he still had three years remaining on his contract, followed by the strong attempt to convince former captain Jacob Trouba to waive his modified no-trade clause so he could be moved before July 1.
Goodrow, an alternate captain last season who scored five goals in the playoffs, was, much to the surprise of his Rangers teammates, waived June 18 and claimed by the San Jose Sharks the following day.
Trouba was traded to the Anaheim Ducks on Dec. 6, after which he talked about his leadership ability being cut out from under him because questions about his future with the organization became public over the summer.
"When it happens it's, yeah, frustration, when you don't know everything," Zibanejad said. "We don't know everything that's going on. We don't have control over that stuff, but it's still something that we talk about and we have to go through. It's two of our leaders, our captain and an assistant captain, big parts of our locker room, so of course it shakes things around a little bit."
Chris Kreider also became the subject of public trade speculation early this season when it was reported Drury told the other 31 GMs he was being shopped.
Meanwhile, the Rangers squandered a 12-4-1 start by going 4-15-0 from Nov. 21-Dec. 30. They got back into a playoff position March 15 but then went 4-8-1 and were eliminated from contention with a 7-3 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on April 12.
"It's not about blaming people," Zibanejad said. "If we start blaming each other, we're not going anywhere, but we have to realize what our areas of growth could be because everyone wants the same thing. Everyone wants to be here in June and talk to you guys and have a smile on their face and you guys ask us how it was on the parade and how it was to win and what it means.
"I mean, that's all we want, but we're not there right now and we're not going to get there if we don't take ownership."
Part of that is owning the pressure of high expectations that come with being a team built to contend for the Stanley Cup. The Rangers have repeatedly struggled in this department, twice in the past three seasons, both times costing their coach his job.
"I don't know if we think too highly of ourselves after one good year or the good year we have with it being in the conference final," Zibanejad said. "I don't know."
The Rangers had 110 points and went on a surprising run to the 2022 conference final under then first-year coach Gerard Gallant, winning two Game 7s along the way.
The second year was more turbulent and even though they had 107 points, they lost to the New Jersey Devils in the Eastern Conference First Round of the 2023 playoffs, losing four of the last five games of the series and going down without much of a fight in a 4-0 Game 7 loss.
Laviolette replaced Gallant and in his first season the Rangers set team records for wins (55) and points (114) in the regular season. They again got to the conference final, losing in six games to the Florida Panthers.
Then this season happened, and the Rangers are beginning another coaching search.
"It's hard not to look at us as players and say why is that happening?" defenseman Adam Fox said. "We seem to have a lot of success and then, I don't know, it turns. I don't think us as players at any point didn't like Lavi or thought his message wasn't getting through, but it just seemed the execution of it was not there. We want to be able to come in with a coach that's here for as long as we're all here and even outlast us as players because that means we're having a lot of success.
"Whenever a coach gets fired, the players wear that pretty hard because if we did our jobs those coaches would still be here. Whoever the next coach is, it's on us to make sure there is sustained success and not just a quick burst and being back to being mediocre."
That can only happen over several years, but it won't without improved communication and a better approach to managing expectations.
"This year, everyone has to really look in the mirror," Fox said. "The years before we were still a pretty good team, made playoffs, lose in seven, maybe not performing as well as we'd like, but this year was unrecognizable. It certainly feels different and we're all asking why."
