The New York Rangers are cleaning house amid shocking firings
The New York Rangers are the NHL’s newest soap opera after letting go of both John Davidson and general manager Jeff Gorton.
This has been quite a week for the New York Rangers. On Monday night, Tom Wilson of the Washington Capitals ended Artemi Panarin’s season thanks to tossing him around like a ragdoll. The next evening, the Rangers issued a statement demanding the NHL remove George Parros from his position as the head of the Department of Player Safety.
On Wednesday, the Rangers announced they have parted ways with both team president John Davidson and long-time genearl manager Jeff Gorton. Assistant general manager Chris Drury will take over as the interim general manager and president for the time being.
To say this is a shocking move is quite an understatement. The Rangers certainly didn’t repeat their success from last season when they made it to the expanded Stanley Cup Playoffs, but they were very competitive in a tough MassMutual East Division. Had Panarin not missed time to deal with a personal situation, the Rangers might have made the playoffs.
According to Frank Seravalli, both Gorton and Davidson wanted to distance themselves from the statement the team made on Tuesday. But according to Darren Dreger, the two departures had nothing to do with the statement.
I’m told the firing of Gorton and Davidson by NYR is coincidental and not related to the statement issued yesterday related to Tom Wilson. Another source says ownership felt the Rangers underachieved this season.
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) May 5, 2021
Who should fans believe? I’d go with Seravalli. There’s no way the Rangers happened to get rid of their team president and general manager the day after they not so subtly suggested the league should remove one of its top officials. Break out your alluminum foil hats, hockey fans, because I smell a conspiracy.
Did Tom Wilson just break the New York Rangers?
Sure, maybe the Rangers only making the playoffs once in the past four seasons had something to do with this. But the timing is way too odd. Why not simply do it after the offseason? According to Larry Brooks of the New York Post, the Rangers recent losses to the New York Islanders didn’t make majority owner James Dolan very happy.
Speaking of Mr. Dolan, this is the least shocking part of this saga, but apparently he was the driving force behind the statement the team made.
Did Tom Wilson just break the Rangers? Only time will tell. What we do know is this is without a doubt one of the craziest 48 hours not just in New York Rangers history, but in NHL history.
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