Media Bytes: Dolan's Direction, Lamenting Lafrenière, Panarin
As scoring dries up, patience thins, and uncomfortable conversations grow louder, this week’s Rangers media cycle paints a picture of a team—and an era—running out of runway.
Welcome back to Media Bytes, a weekly column from Blueshirt Banter. Every Sunday, we’ll help you start the week right with a quick catch-up on the latest stories and developments around the New York Rangers and the broader NHL media landscape.
Dolan's Direction
1. During his hit on the Sekera & Price podcast, The Fourth Period's David Pagnotta told listeners that the Rangers have joined a group of teams including Utah, Carolina, Montreal, and Seattle who are "being engaged whenever there's a big fish" made available.
David Pagnotta: Teams like Utah; Carolina, Montreal to an extent, Seattle, these teams being engaged whenever there's a big fish; I throw [the Rangers] now in that mix as well and it sounds like this is a message or a directive from ownership - Sekeres & Price (12/18)
— NHL Rumour Report (@NHLRumourReport) December 22, 2025
And it’s easy to see why. No one can be satisfied with how far the Blueshirts have slipped. They enter the week dead last in the NHL at 2.50 goals per game and have already been shut out a league-leading seven times, six of those at Madison Square Garden—an unwanted record of its own. That level of futility has reportedly prompted a message from the top, with James Dolan pushing for meaningful help to arrive sooner rather than later.
Pagnotta was also a guest on The Sheet with Jeff Marek last week, where he again spoke the Rangers' desire to acquire star power and the "mindset slash mandate" from management to help get this team back in the headlines and back in the playoffs.
David Pagnotta: Re Rangers: The mindset slash mandate it seems from way up top is to go get yourself a star, let's get this team back in the headlines for all the right reasons, and let's get this team back in the playoffs - The Sheet (12/19)
— NHL Rumour Report (@NHLRumourReport) December 22, 2025
If Dolan truly has issued a directive of this magnitude, it’s not a particularly comforting sign for Chris Drury’s job security. The last time the owner inserted himself this forcefully into the team’s direction, it ended with the firings of then-GM Jeff Gorton and team president John Davidson.
Food for thought.
