Rangers Fans: It’s Not You, It’s Them—A Case for Moving On

Have you ever had a relationship end where the person says, “It’s not you, it’s me?"

Yeah, having interacted with a great many of you in the comments section I’m going to go out on a limb and say it was probably you. That being said, having seen all the angst that the Chris Drury extension caused, dealing with people who think that Mike Sullivan playing Chris Kreider over Kyle Connor at the 4 Nations Face-Off is a reason to clutch the pearls, and seeing how many of you are convinced that if the Rangers keep their pick in this year's draft they're handing the Penguins the first pick overall in 2026, some of y'all need a hall pass. You know what, you deserve one.

I can honestly say that if you want your relationship with the New York Rangers to end, that’s totally OK. And in this case, it wouldn’t be because of you—it would be because of them.

Look, you've been more than patient with this organization and its feckless leader James “Silver Spoon and Full Diaper” Dolan. It has been 30 years since the last trip down the Canyon of Heroes and every time we think there’s a light at the end of the tunnel it turns out to be a freight train coming your way. The team has shown zero evolution in its approach to hiring or team building. Chris Drury is certainly not the best president/general manager in the NHL, but I’ve been a staunch supporter of keeping him to the point where many have accused me of carrying his water. Why do I want Drury here? It's not because I think he's the greatest GM in the NHL (though he's better than many); it's because I have no faith—none, zero, zilch—that James Dolan would hire anyone better.

How do I know this? The last time that Dolan had the opportunity to completely clean house, to bring in someone with new ideas, a fresh perspective, and a dispassionate eye for what the organization needed, he promoted Chris Dury, an assistant GM whose only experience came working for the guys Dolan had just fired. Even in my column that advocated hiring a new GM (right before the Rangers announced Drury’s extension), I was still advocating that Drury keep his job as team president simply because that would mean someone other than Jimmy D would hire the general manager.

Look at our last thirty years and tell me that anything has changed with this organization.