Why the Rangers never won a Cup in their most recent window is a much maligned topic. Amidst one of the worst stretches in recent team history, it’s easy to look back at the window with failed expectations and misplaced hope. Expected to compete for a Cup the last two seasons, the Rangers instead were a disaster, so bad they ended 29th in the NHL last season. Last season was the final nail in the coffin of the Gorton/Drury combined era, as the Blueshirts transition to a Drury only era.
Why the Rangers never won a Cup in that stretch is a hot debate, and the answer is that there are many reasons.
While many want to pin why the Rangers never won a Cup on one GM, specifically Drury, the answer is far more complicated. Gorton and Drury are both responsible for this debacle.
Drafting
It’s no secret that the Rangers have been terrible at drafting for a while now, and this really falls on Jeff Gorton. There is some hope finally with Gabe Perreault, but Vitali Kravtsov and Lias Andersson were franchise-altering mistakes made by Gorton. Andersson (7th overall) and Kravtsov (9th overall) were not the consensus picks at their draft positions, with Casey Mittlestadt and one of Oliver Wahlstrom or Evan Bouchard the preferred picks at the time. Hindsight is 20/20, but these were two big misses on top ten picks.
Gorton also drafted Filip Chytil, K’Andre Miller, and Nils Lundkvist in the first round of their rebuild. None are in the organization anymore for various reasons.
Gorton also struggled with finding late round diamonds in the rough. If we mark the 2016 draft as Gorton’s first following Glen Sather stepping down as GM in July 2015, Gorton drafted just one NHL regular from 2016-2018 (Morgan Barron). His 2019 draft was better, but not by much. Matthew Robertson (2nd round) was a very late bloomer who is still a question mark. Zac Jones (3rd round) is likely a bottom pair NHLer on the right team…eventually. Adam Edstrom (6th round) has shown promise, but can’t stay healthy.
In fact, only the 2020 draft has been a true “good” draft by Gorton, a key reason why the Rangers never won a Cup in this window. Alexis Lafreniere (1st overall) is finally out of Artemi Panarin’s shadow and looks poised for a breakout year. Will Cuylle (2nd round) is a wonderful middle six winger. There’s also Dylan Garand (4th round), Brett Berard (5th round), and Matt Rempe (7th round) in varying roles. Braden Schneider (1st round) never met expectations, unfortunately.
Drafting is perhaps the biggest reason why the Rangers never won a Cup in this window, and right now that falls mostly on Gorton. Drury’s drafting will face a big test in this current retool/rebuild.
Development
This is more of a Chris Drury complaint for me, but to be fair, Jeff Gorton was in charge when Kaapo Kakko and Alexis Lafreniere were first developing. New York has this appalling approach where they bring back players from the past and put them in key roles when they have little to no experience. Doing that with Jed Ortmeyer was one thing, but when his tenure was atrocious, promoting his protege Tanner Glass was even worse. New York is where players go to watch their development die.
Trading
I maintain to this day that the Ryan McDonagh and JT Miller to the Tampa Bay Lightning trade is one of the worst transactions in Rangers history. McDonagh alone for the package the Rangers received would have been laughable. Adding Miller to the trade was pathetic. Add onto that the Rangers trading Pavel Buchnevich for peanuts. Throw in the Rangers trading players like Chris Kreider once every drop of value had disappeared. This has been a huge problem in Rangersland and is a major part of why the Rangers never won a Cup in this window.
This one covers both GMs, and doesn’t appear to be getting any better.
Who’s The Guy?
Signing Artemi Panarin was supposed to fix the lack of star power, but Panarin rarely stepped up his game in the playoffs. The best teams in hockey have the guy who they can count on with the season on the line.
For the Rangers? It’s always been the goalie. This is perhaps a building block on drafting and development for why the Rangers never won a Cup in this window. New York time and time again counted on Henrik Lundqvist and Igor Shesterkin to bail them out because they could never find a forward who played like the best player on the ice when the moments mattered most.
This is an issue that will continue to plague the Rangers until they learn how to take risks at the draft.
Why the Rangers never won a Cup – it’s all of it
If you’re looking for a reason why the Rangers never won a Cup, then perhaps it’s a misguided quest. There are many reasons, compounding on each other, that contribute to their failed run. Will Drury learn his lesson? Perhaps. But color me skeptical.