I’m not going to draw a straight line between the absence of a captain and Dust-Up in the tunnel between Tony DeAngelo and Alex Georgiev after Saturday night’s defeat to Penguins, which shook the franchise world and certainly signaled the end of Broadway no. 77.
Mark Messier, Vic Hadfield, Barry Beck, Ron Greschner and Ryan Callahan could have worn the sweater and “C” on Saturday and could not have prevented the spontaneous burning that took place.
But I think the Rangers, who seem to be dealing with all sorts of problems as they struggle to find the balance in the goal and regain the positive 2019-20 vibes they apparently left in the Toronto bubble, need a captain. . I think they need an identifiable leader in the leadership group.
And right now, there is no better man for the job than Chris Kreider, who in his tenth year with the organization emerged as the team’s voice.
Before the season, the hierarchy, which includes President John Davidson, general manager Jeff Gorton, head coach David Quinn and assistant general Chris Drury, concluded that the team would benefit from going with four substitutes, rather than a single captain. This suggested that the group did not believe that Kreider or the alleged main candidate Mika Zibanejad were suitable.
Given this, a few weeks ago I suggested that Jacob Trouba be a logical candidate for the position starting next season. This came after the defender was praised by Quinn for his work in the hall, following the 4-0 opening of the new opening of a defeat against the islands.
That was a little over two weeks ago, even though it seems like a decade has passed since then. Good Ship Ranger has started to leak one after another and is in danger of becoming SS Minnow. Of course, the coach will ultimately be responsible for the ship’s fate. But a strong and distinct first partner will also be needed.
And this would be Kreider, who has blue blood running through his veins since joining the Rangers in the early 2012 playoffs, just days outside the BC Chestnut Hill campus.
There may be management concerns – they have certainly gone through years of training no. 20 – that Kreider internalizes too much, worries too much and that the captaincy will become a burden for him.
But the growth of Kreider’s stature has been steady even as the consistency on the ice remains elusive. On Saturday, visibly upset (and now we know why there were reasons to exist, beyond the result) at the Zoom call with the media, Kreider called the team for his old performances, letting another advantage escape from the third period.
This was not Kreider in his closet talking slowly to an individual journalist to get the message out. It was Kreider who used his platform to tell his colleagues that he simply wasn’t good enough. And knowing Kreider, he is very sure that he sent that message directly before throwing it into cyberspace, where it will remain forever or until the cloud is full.
It is one thing to have four substitutes in Zibanejad, Kreider, Trouba and Artemi Panarin, but if there is only one captain, then he becomes the only one responsible for setting the bar. He becomes the player responsible for confronting teammates if the effort is not good enough.
There have been all sorts of wild stories circulating on the internet over the past two days about DeAngelo and his allegedly ill relationship with K’Andre Miller. Many individuals have told us that there is nothing in them and, instead, inventions that fit a narrative.
Rangers is expected to dismiss these stories during a press conference ahead of Monday’s rematch at the Garden against the Penguins. Professional sports teams generally tend to surround the wagons in such cases, but Davidson and the hierarchy should ensure that as much transparency as possible is provided here to counter the stories that have started to make money.
(In addition, there are stories showing that Kreider hit DeAngelo in the face after the initial imbroglio was split by Miller, as reported by The Post on Monday morning. This is simply not true, according to several people with knowledge of the situation.)
A young team with a coach still young in the NHL is in a crisis of confidence. The goalkeeper was shaking. The structure was transient. Now this, causing the forced departure of one of the most important assets of last season.
Rangers need a leader. They need a captain.
He calls Kid K.
Calling Chris Kreider.