With the Rangers recent struggles, it seems that there are now calls for drastic changes, and calls for a big move at the trading deadline.Hmmm.
I seem to remember having suggested a fairly drastic move about six weeks ago in this space, having explored the possibility of bringing Ilya Kovalchuk to New York. The price might have been somewhat steep, but it was something I felt might have been worth pursuing.
Upon having made that suggestion, I was told to have "patience" (along with being publicly being sent to the Principal's office for not signing my name to these posts ... sorry, I just can't shake the rebel out of me). I was then proven wrong once and for all when the Rangers won their next game, proving once and for all that the Rangers were fine and dandy and that we can go about our patient lives, blah blah blah.
Except that now it's six weeks later and, lo and behold, the Rangers are not fine and dandy. They can't score, they have no game changing defenseman (at least not one who changes the game in the Rangers favor), and a good coach is most likely going to take the fall for a GM that has put together a flawed roster with cap issues (and don't think that it's merely coincidence that this has happened since Don Maloney left for Phoenix.) Oh, and they're also sinking like a rock in the standings with a tough schedule coming up.
So my question is this: should I still be patient? Or is it okay to push the panic button right about now?
It gives me no pleasure that the Rangers are in this position. Believe me, I would rather be wrong and have the Rangers in first place than to have been proven to be somewhat prescient and have the Rangers playing the way they're playing. And I still hope to be proven wrong by this team, who have about three weeks until the trade deadline to turn the ship around and save some jobs and some careers in New York. But the proof is in the pudding that the Rangers have made the last six weeks ... and the pudding tastes awful. And if there is a way that the Rangers can make a drastic move (and I'm not sure that's possible with the cap situation the way it is), perhaps a trade for Kovalchuk is worth looking into.
But what do I know? I'm certainly no genius.
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