At least one member of the New York Rangers front office is seemingly not happy with all of the major changes made in the past two weeks. The New York Post’s Larry Brooks reports that Hall of Famer Brian Leetch has resigned from his advisor role with the hockey operations department in New York. The move comes on the heels of President John Davidson, GM Jeff Gorton, and head coach David Quinn and his staff all being fired in recent days.
Leetch, like Drury, is a famous former Ranger, although the two never played together. Leetch’s storied NHL career began with 17 years manning the blue line for the club before final short stops in Toronto and Boston. Leetch retired in 2006, but re-entered the scene in 2017 by taking this role with New York. He has spent the past four seasons working with the Rangers’ prospects in a development role while consulting on the NHL Draft and other elements of hockey ops.
However, after spending that time working closely with several names who are now gone, Leetch seems to have decided to move on as well. He may not be the last either. Many have criticized the Rangers for removing their front office leadership and coaching staff, many of whom had not spent much time in those roles, following a season in which the team finished with the best record of any non-playoff team while facing an all-divisional schedule against arguably the deepest and most talented division in the East. It stands to reason that there are some within the organization who agree with that sentiment, and it feels as though Leetch is among them.
Leetch out Messier in
and the rangers miss the playoffs for the next few years
IMO, a clear sign the owner is out of touch with the professionals that were hired. Sad to see. It is the kinda thing that holds back too many franchises.
Zach, Drury is not a famous former Ranger. Especially in the same sentence as Leetch.
So the front office gets the organization where it needs to be and in comes Dolan and blows it up. Dolan just needs to go – he’s toxic. Getting rid of Davidson and Gorton was terrible. Quinn, while he may not have deserved it, is a casualty, but losing Leetch on his own volition just shows how bad the atmosphere must be in the front office.
Worst professional sports team owner on the planet, and it isn’t close. Awful human, awful owner.
You are way off if you think the front office got the Rangers where it needed to be.Not even close.
Many within the organization thought they would contend for a playoff spot. They took a step back.
Their goaltending also took a step back.
They had an opportunity to remove “bad” contracts,the top pick,and a backup goalie to land a #1 franchise centre.
They chose not to.
Alex will not pan out as well as Schneider at #19. It will take 3 years for this realization.
The club lacks grit. (And you had it and traded it).
But the icing on the cake was Hank.
A $10M a year player,getting ready to be bought out,and you don’t give him a physical? If they gave him the physical,and he failed it(which he would have),you place him on LTIR and you recoup the loss. Instead,you have dead money on the books,all because your terrific front office didn’t do their job. It has cost the franchise millions. JD should have been fired on the spot.
As a former agent,I will add that the dead money could have gone to another player.
If the Rangers’ organization thought they’d make the playoffs in the tough East Division, they were delusional. It was never going to happen. The division was simply too deep. The Rangers were in contention for a long time, but simply don’t have enough on defense to beat out the Penguins, Capitals, Bruins & Islanders. If anyone thought Lafreniere would be a stud right way was unrealistic. He isn’t ready for stardom yet and was going to have growing pains in the division he was in. There are few players who are studs right away like MacDavid was.
Exactly, anyone who thought the Rangers would contend (well, for one, probably underestimated my Pens) this year, wasn’t paying attention.
This seems like what the Flyers did with Hextall, short circuiting the talent accumulation and development phase because of impatience.
Meanwhile, how are they doing? Fletcher just spinning his wheels there.
Yeah, I’d say you’re off on everything you just pointed out. Furthermore, this is the youngest team in the NHL by a full year. The impatience of a bad owner is to blame.
And what bad contract do they have? They moved Staal. No one wanted Smith, nor was the opportunity there. Guess there’s a reason you’re a ”former“ agent.
It’s called retirement
Maybe Dolan’s taking cues from The Fightin’ Pegulas in the upstate area…
I mean when you have a chance to be more like the Sabres, why not. Oh wait, the Sabres, yeah that’s why not!
Mac I tell all my clients if you work for Buffalo-RENT….
@Dave – It’s and oldie-but-goodie, that’s for sure. Maybe “special” situations like this call for “Tent, don’t rent! No 30-days notice required…”
:)
Ok, Dolan sucks. And if its true that a mere physical of Hank would have saved alot of worry , then that falls on Drury also. Trading the number 1 and a back up goalie was not getting you an established top line center man, be realistic. They are going about this the right way, but they need some grit to protect young players, that you can get in free agency. when a former player like Leetch resigns, tells you all you need to know. He is absolutely the worst owner in sports today, so out of touch. Until this franchise loses the owner they will never win the cup again. Look what he did with knicks! Proof is right there in front of you.