The New York Rangers were arguably the most disappointing team in the 2024-25 NHL season. Just one year after claiming the President's Trophy as the best team in the league during the regular season, the blue shirts tumbled down the standings and failed to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since the shortened 2020-21 season.
The team has won 18 fewer games than last year and earned 33 fewer standings points. Head coach Peter Laviolette appeared to be out of answers as early as April 7, after the Rangers lost 5-1 at home to the Tampa Bay Lightning, when he made some surprising comments to reporters.
"I don’t have a message right now. I don’t go into the locker room after the game," Laviolette said, sounding like he was waving the white flag on the season already.
Rangers' fall guy for poor season won't be general manager Chris Drury
The 60-year-old Laviolette has one last year remaining on his contract, but reports indicate he could be on his way out as soon as this week.
"In talking to other people around the league, the low-hanging fruit, the expectations from a lot of people I’ve talked to is that Peter Laviolette could get fired," TSN's NHL insider Pierre LeBrun said on Thursday. "I can tell you that there’s absolutely no word out of the Rangers, themselves. Very tight-lipped about what might transpire here over the next week or so."
He added that Laviolette's comments and body language in recent weeks have been the biggest indicator yet that he's read the writing on the locker room wall.
"When you look at the body language and the performance of the team over the last month, again, when I’ve talked to other people around the league, that’s probably the easiest conclusion, and so, we’ll see whether or not that happens," LeBrun continued.
One would think president and general manager Chris Drury's job might also be on the line after such a fall from grace, but LeBrun rejected that notion, adding that team ownership may afford him more leeway to make adjustments in the offseason.
"My sense there is that he should be okay. I think there’s a lot of loyalty from Jim Dolan, the owner," he said. "Chris Drury was pretty busy out of the trade deadline, too, really kind of setting up his off-season with a lot of moves he made. I think Chris Drury plans to be aggressive in trying to retool the Rangers again here this summer."
It's a rare occasion when the Rangers miss the Stanley Cup Playoffs. In fact, this year is the first time in the history of the NHL in which they, the Boston Bruins and Pittsburgh Penguins will all be absent. Drury will likely be on a short leash next season to make a significant turnaround.
For the first time in NHL HISTORY, the Rangers, Penguins, and Bruins, have all failed to qualify for the playoffs 😳🚫 pic.twitter.com/mV4JXChAjW
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) April 12, 2025