The New York Rangers rebuild was supposed to be flawless. Lottery wins, elite prospects, Panarin, a Vezina goalie, deep playoff runs. So how did it all collapse? This video traces how a perfect NHL rebuild unraveled, why patience disappeared, and how a Presidents Trophy contender ended up starting over again.
twitter – https://x.com/hectichockey
instagram – https://www.instagram.com/hectichockey
44 Comments
Where do you guys think Panarin goes? My guess is Detroit
16:20 F*** Adam Fox. I love that he chose this for himself, I have absolutely relished what has happened to him while with the Rangers (a team I have no issues with whatsoever). I hope every team he ends up on fails.
The Rangers drafted everybody they should’ve in the last few years. It’s the five or six years before that that they drafted horribly and that’s what’s affecting them today. Lias Anderson. Vali Kraztov. Chytil. Kappo. Laf. Othman. K’andre miller. And I can keep going and going. Just like Winnipeg if you draft the wrong players, you’ll never win.
Boston pushing NY to write letters twice in a decade is absolute hilarity. Doesn't get much better honestly, except for following along with the fallout from the ny fanbase as things crumble in the aftermath. What a treat. LOL
By firing Jeff Gorton who began the rebuild which he warned would take close to five years was a mistake because there were sign this Rangers team were beginning to look like champs. FYI to anyone that is pointing fingers at Sullivan they can forget about that, this team problem began last season and lingered into this season and it has to do with management, players are making it look as though they are playing but in reality not to their potential.. I expected more from this team but until they get rid of the nonsense this team won’t live up to their name.
Great video, no BS. I had never seen the channel before. Nice to see no ranting and raving. I had to subscribe. 👍
Rangers and Devils both did
Shitty coach first for all.😂😂😂😂
Have fun with Sullivan I’m sure he’ll be riding the penguins success for another decade or two
It Lafrenière wasn’t a complete bust this would be a different story I think
The Rangers are overreacting. They def need to perform better, so do the Jets. This type of letter and negative energy isn't going to help. Drury needs to keep his mouth shut and choose actions over words
Thanks for Jeff Gorton.. but keep in mind that what made all the differences in Montréal is that he was free to reshape the culture, organization and get a GM that compliments him perfectly with the full support of Geoff Molson. What they did is impressive in Montréal because they started the right way. 1. The improve the communication and PR department with Chantal Machabe in order to handle the whole Carey Price injuries, Mailloux problem and team being bad. 2. They improve the entire draft twam and development team with Nick Bobrov as a second director and adding Adam Nicolas who's a genius at development. 3. Draft well, sign well and trade with max results like with Monahan. Results…a new superpower is rising in the Atlantic and we are just starting to see them rise !! I wish you luck Rangers fans…
To me this all starts with when they traded Barclay Goodrow
womp womp
Would it be funny if Gorton won again the Panarin sweepstake but for Montreal ?
Chris Drury is the kinda person to place 11th in a 10-player game
Probably the most incompetent runs of front office management in sports history. The Rangers stumbled into soooo much luck and good fortune during their rebuild and yet produced nothing more than a brief flash.
Tom Wilson not only broke the Rangers but gifted the Habs Jeff Gorton
Ehem canucks ehem canucks
I still remember sitting there in 2019 and them getting Panarin and Trouba and thinking "Didn't they just say they were rebuilding a year ago?" I mean a few years later it seemed like the right move but now they are where they are.
Mr. Commissioner, a second letter has hit the Rangers organization.
Imagine if they hit on the 1st and 2nd overall draft picks, would have hid a lot of their flaws.
2022Looked impressive until you realize they beat an older PITT team and CAR teams in first 2 rounds which lacked goaltending. Reaching conference finals in both 2022 and 2024 faced deeper teams in TAM and FLA which also matched them in goal. No real mystery.
It's hilarious reading comments like they shouldn't have traded away the 2nd round pick in 2023 or this one trade in 2022 is what ruined the team. These fools unironically made JT Miller their captain lmao it was always doomed
James Dolan is a terrible owner coming from a Tampa fan
this video wasnt just informative, it told a story. chills.
Two words. Chris Drury
This story cant be told without mentioning the Goodrow trade. That was really the catalyst that destroyed the locker room…
Adam Fox is a giant red flag thats an entitled little brat who will never win anything as the #1
If you don't like soul crushing disappointment, you don't like Rangers hockey.
I’m a huge Isles fan and a season ticket holder. The Rangers downfall is shocking to say the least. In the final four years with Lou Lamoriello as Isles GM, we were definitely losing patience because after the two runs to the conference finals in 2020 and 2021, he kept bringing in talent with trades to try and win now while not preparing for the future. The team was wildly mediocre and there was no focus on the long term goals. In May of 2025, the entire course for the Islanders changed after a stunning draft lottery win that awarded them the first overall pick that they used to select Matthew Schaefer. Shortly after they won the lottery, they hired Mathieu Darche as their new GM. On draft day in June, Darche traded Noah Dobson to Montreal for Emil Heineman, as well as the 16th and 17th overall picks in the first round that night. These two picks were used to select Victor Eklund and Kashawn Aitcheson respectively. The team has exceeded expectations this season and has been very good. They should not make any major moves at the trade deadline in March to push for a Stanley Cup. This is not the right time to go all in. The Isles have some really good prospects and I’m certainly not giving up on them when none of them have played an NHL game yet and are all so young.
1. Young talent like Chytil, Kakko, Laf never panning out
2. Never trading them for elite talent and held them too long where their value tanked.
3. Trading players for nothing (Pavel)
4. Signing awful contracts (Trouba and Goodrow)
5. Last years drama
I hate being a rangers fan
Fk the Rangers
Chris Drury ruined everything. Thanks James Dolan. Once again firing because everything isn't flipped positive in a year or so. Sad. I love Igor, Laffy, Bread, and others. My heart sank losing to the Panthers that year. But we couldn't score well at fill strength at that time
Drury is the worst GM in hockey.
First thing the Rangers need to do is get rid of homosexual night
As much as it is easy to see what went wrong, its still crazy to me that Laf and Kakko didn't work out.
I get development / being rushed but those should have been players immune to that. Crazy how important that can be
As an Islanders fan, keep Drury and trade panarin to the isles!
How Dolan ruined the Rangers’ “Perfect Rebuild”
Step one, take drury to live on a nice farm
I don't know if it's just me but I'm hearing a lot of AI isms in the script. "It didn't just do this, it did this" like five times so far. I enjoyed the video but those were pretty clumsy ways to end sentences over and over even if they aren't AI generated. Just something to look out for, thanks for the video I enjoyed it.
Go isles
Ha ha ha ha. Because you guys hired a shitty Coach.
What a horrifying act of violence…