On January 16, the New York Rangers released a letter written by their President and General Manager (GM) Chris Drury to their fanbase. This letter comes less than eight years after then-President Glen Sather and GM Jeff Gorton sent a letter to Rangers fans announcing the need for a “rebuild” in the midst of the team’s first losing season in seven years.
Earlier this week, the Rangers publicly announced they will not be offering star winger, Artemi Panarin a contract extension. Earlier this season, Panarin, also known as the “Breadman”, told the Rangers he would not accept an average annual salary less than the $11.64 million he currently makes. Panarin is in the final year of a seven-year contract which contains a full no-move clause, which means that he will have to approve any deal that Drury makes to trade him.
Assuming Panarin is on his way out, that leaves the Rangers with four core players who have full no-move clauses that went into effect this season: Igor Shesterkin, Adam Fox, Mika Zibanejad, and Vladislav Gavrikov. These four are all players who the Rangers could get a lot for in a trade but trading them would require their approval. However, there are three Rangers who would be easier to trade and they are Alexis Lafreniere, Carson Soucy and Vincent Trocheck.
Out of those three, Trocheck would be the one that the team could get the most for. He is in his fourth year of being a top six center and has scored 29 points in 35 games. Losing Trocheck would be hard on the Rangers fanbase, but the letter’s second paragraph prepares the fans for the fact that this retool “may mean saying goodbye to players that have brought our fans great moments over the years.” That’s just reality in the world of professional sports.
This year’s letter starts off with Drury telling the fans that the Rangers front office shares their frustration with this year’s team. “We know and feel your disappointment with how the season has gone to this point. We are just as frustrated and want nothing more than to deliver an on-ice product you can be proud of—it’s what drives us every day.”
Ranger fans have a right to be frustrated. After the Rangers missed the playoffs in 2024-25, fans were hopeful the team would turn things around after Drury hired two-time Stanley Cup champion head coach Mike Sullivan during the offseason. Instead, at this point in the season, the Rangers have the fewest points in the NHL’s Eastern Conference with 48 through 50 games and appear poised to miss the playoffs for the second year in a row.
Drury closed the first paragraph by saying “over the last few years, we’ve had some successes and moments to cherish, but ultimately it was not the end goal.” Drury refers to the Rangers making deep playoff runs in 2022 and 2024, but falling short in the conference finals each year.
The letter’s middle paragraph illustrates the Rangers’ plan moving forward, with the trade deadline less than two months away. “We are not going to stand pat – a shift will give us the ability to be smart and opportunistic as we retool the team.”
Drury goes on to clearly state that this shift will not be a “rebuild”, which is a complete overhaul of the roster that could take several years. Instead, he says it will be a “retool”.
Nick Haydon of The Hockey Writers explains the difference between a retool and rebuild as “a retool keeps some of the core players but brings in new complementary players who will join the core”, whereas a rebuild involves a team trading or offloading “every player aside from one or two youngsters.” A retool for this current Rangers team could involve trading Panarin and Lafreniere and holding on to core players like Shesterkin, Miller and Fox.
The letter provides more detail on how the Rangers plan to retool: “This will be a retool built around our core players and prospects. We will target players that bring tenacity, skill, speed and a winning pedigree with a focus on obtaining young players, draft picks and cap space to allow us flexibility moving forward.” One way the Rangers can free up cap space is by not re-signing Panarin who currently makes the most money on the team and won’t accept a lower salary.
Drury closes the letter by saying fans should expect to see their plan come to light in the next couple of months. Overall, the letter feels like an admission by Drury that this team, from Panarin down to fourth line center Sam Carrick, hasn’t worked and there need to be significant changes. However, as things stand, Drury’s plan is not to make drastic changes but rather to keep the core intact, which is the only choice he has. Drury signed Shesterkin, Zibanejad and Fox to contracts containing full no-move clauses and traded for Gavrikov, and now Rangers fans have to live with these four sticking around during the retool.
