James Dolan’s Firings Shock Rangers Fans

How It Started:

February 8th, 2018 the New York Rangers President Glen Sather and GM Jeff Gorten informed fans, with a written letter, about their plans for a full rebuild.It’s not often in sports we see teams say to their fans, “Yes we’re going to trade players you love and yes we are rebuilding from the ground up.” That’s exactly what the rangers did and the rebuild was quicker than anyone ever expected.

The Rebuild:

We saw fan favorites such as Matt Zuccarello, Ryan McDonough, Rick Nash, JT Miller, Marc Stall, and Henrik Lundqvist all depart. In trades and buyouts and the faces of the rangers were changing from their Stanley Cup runs. Fast forward to 2021. The Rangers had some lottery luck, good trades, and good draft picks to make a good mix of veteran and skilled players.

They drafted Kappo Kakko second overall in 2019 and drafted Alexis Lafrenire 1st overall in 2020.The rangers have Adam Fox who was a steal for a 3rd round draft pick and has turned himself into a Norris Trophy candidate this season. The Rangers have Artemi Panarin who is a top 5 player in the league and Mika Zibanejaed who is an elite first line center and is deadly on the powerplay. They also have a young elite goaltender in Igor Shesterkin, who will be in the pipes for the next decade.

I could go on and on about this team, the young talent, and good players they have. I thought the future was looking great with John Davison as President and Jeff Gordon as GM. The Rangers are a young competitive team and were a piece or two away this summer from making a playoff run…aka a Jack Eichel trade!

The Firings:

The notorious James Dolan, the most beloved guy in all of New York Sports, thinks otherwise. James Dolan stunned the Rangers fan base by firing Jeff Gordon and John Davison Wednesday out of nowhere. Dolan believes they haven’t done enough to be a legitimate playoff contender. He also says he didn’t like the overall direction the team was trending in. The team was competitive all year, during a covid shortened season. Not to mention, they played as the youngest team in the toughest division in the NHL. James Dolan knows nothing about hockey and it’s a shame he has the power to do what he did to the fans and two well respected hockey minds.

Mind blown, confused, and devastated are all words that come to mind when thinking about this decision. I in no way agree with the firings and believe James Dolan should sell the team. But I have to look at the glass half full.

Chris Drury:

The only positive of the firings is my man Chris Drury, one of my favorite Rangers players i’ve watched in my time as a fan. He is a former Rangers captain and assistant GM and has now been appointed the New York Rangers GM/ president .I do believe Chris Drury will get the job done. I believe he has a good hockey mind and he will indeed bring a stanley cup back to New York.

Three Predictions Chris Drury will do:

1- Fire David Quinn
2- Trade for Jack Eichel
3- Reunion with John Tortorlla as the new coach of the New York Rangers

Chris Addorisio (Addorisio19)