Daily Report – 2/6/26
Rangers
The Rangers haven’t earned a regulation win at home since November 24. Today is February 6, and with their ninth shutout loss of the season yesterday, the Rangers are one away from the franchise record. The Olympic break has begun, which means the Rangers will not play again until February 26.
Two years ago, the Rangers achieved records in points and comeback wins. Now, as the Rangers sit one shutout loss away from matching the franchise record, one thing is clear: Their general manager, Chris Drury, must be relieved of his duties. Effective immediately.
Dark times lie ahead of the Broadway Blueshirts, a team that self-destructed last season under Drury’s watch. Now that Artemi Panarin has been traded to Los Angeles, only 11 players from the 2023-24 Presidents’ Trophy-winning team remain.
Drury probably could have garnered a greater return for Panarin, his team’s best player, but he settled for a prospect and a conditional third-round pick. That said, Panarin held a no-move clause, and since he was only willing to go to Los Angeles, it was better for the Rangers to at least get something for him than if they let him walk this offseason.
“I don’t know if I should say this,” Panarin told reporters in Los Angeles, “But I feel like [the Rangers] contract offer was like, ‘We’re not sure if we want you or not.’ That’s why I’m not signed. Yeah, we [didn’t talk] much in the beginning before the season started, and then after, obviously, my start of the season was not great. And then, probably, we talked in the middle of the year. But not much.”
But Drury put himself in the position to be forced to trade Panarin. It’s his fault the Rangers are retooling because last season, he failed to address his players’ concerns after waiving Barclay Goodrow and forcing out Jacob Trouba. Not to mention former first and second-overall picks, Alexis Lafrenière and Kaapo Kakko, who endured miserable starts to their careers under Drury’s watch.
Also, the Rangers cannot afford to “rebuild” because they lack the draft capital required to acquire sufficient young talent.
The Rangers certainly miss Panarin. Without him, their roster is barely two lines deep. While head coach Mike Sullivan has been consistently playing Gabe Perreault, he benched Brennan Othmann last night in favor of Anton Blidh. If it isn’t time to let the kids play now, what does that say about the quality of the Rangers’ top prospects?
“You know that we’re not going to plug a player in, and he’s going to replace what [Panarin] does for this team,” Sullivan said. “I think what we’re trying to do is build a team game where we can replace it by committee, so to speak. I think we can do a better job at being harder to play against, giving up fewer opportunities on the defensive side, which should allow us an opportunity to create some offense off of that.”
With a 2-0 loss to Carolina last night, the Rangers lost the season series to the Hurricanes, 3-1. After Andrei Svechnikov lit the lamp at 6:26 into the first period, Jonathan Quick stood on his head, stopping each of the next 35 shots he faced. He finished the night with 41 saves.
The 40-year-old Quick was marvelous yesterday, but unfortunately, he can’t score goals. Apparently, neither can his teammates. Carolina outshot the Rangers 43-16, whose abysmal performance throughout the game fueled a loud chorus of “Fire Drury” chants from the Garden Faithful.
When asked about his message to his team heading into the Olympic break, a dejected JT Miller replied, “I don’t know. We’ve got to come back with a better mindset. It hasn’t been good enough for the last little while, so let’s try to regroup, freshen up, and – I don’t know. I really don’t know. We just need to take time – I literally don’t know. Come back with a better mindset, I guess.”
Yikes. Miller is the captain of the Rangers. If he can’t help his team respond, no one can.
Clad in their Centennial Jerseys, as the Rangers honored their history of sensational goaltending, they ran into a hot hand in Long Island’s Brandon Bussi, who grew up a Rangers fan. After the game, Bussi admitted that his performance was electrified by the ceremonies the Rangers held throughout the game, honoring legendary former goaltenders.
In his rookie season, the undrafted Bussi holds a 23-3-1 record and a .908 save percentage. Last night was his second shutout of the season.
Bussi certainly deserves credit for his performance last night, especially because seven of the Rangers’ 16 shots were high-danger. But the Rangers didn’t show nearly enough passion or commitment to their game. Can you blame them? Maybe not, but they still have to show some level of competition when they play, especially in front of their high-paying home fans.
“I thought they outplayed us,” Sullivan said. “My message to the group tonight was, ‘I will acknowledge that we’re in a little bit of a difficult circumstance, and none of us really want to be in this position or have any sort of enjoyment or fulfillment in this position that we are in, but the reality is, we are where we are.’
“I’m trying to be understanding of that as their coach and do our best as a coaching staff to support these guys and push them through the process,” Sullivan added.
Heading into the Olympic break, the Rangers hold a 22-29-6 record, and their 50 points through 57 games put them at the bottom of the Eastern Conference, eight points behind the 15th-place Devils. Meanwhile, only two teams – St. Louis and Vancouver – have earned fewer points than the Rangers.
“I thought tonight, we lacked a certain competitive spirit,” Sullivan proclaimed. “That is simply unacceptable on our part.”
Schedule
This weekend is arguably the biggest sports weekend the United States has seen this century!
Tonight 2/6:
7:30 PM (6:30 PM CST): NYK at DET; MSG, Gotham Sports
Saturday 2/7:
7:30 PM (6:30 PM CST): The Olympic Zone; NBC, Peacock
8:00 PM (7:00 PM CST): The Games of the XXV Winter Olympiad (Milano Cortina) – Primetime in Milan; NBC, Peacock
11:30 PM (10:30 PM CST): The Games of the XXV Winter Olympiad (Milano Cortina) – Olympic Late Night; NBC, Peacock
Sunday 2/8 (The Biggest Day in Sports):
7:00 AM (6:00 AM CST): The Games of the XXV Winter Olympiad (Milano Cortina) – Cross-Country Skiing, Men’s Skiathlon; NBC, Peacock
9:20 AM (8:20 AM CST): The Games of the XXV Winter Olympiad (Milano Cortina) – Alpine Skiing, Women’s Downhill; NBC, Peacock
10:15 AM (9:15 AM CST): The Games of the XXV Winter Olympiad (Milano Cortina) – Speed Skating, Men’s 5,000 M; NBC, Peacock
11:45 AM (10:45 AM CST): The Games of the XXV Winter Olympiad (Milano Cortina); NBC, Peacock
12:30 PM (11:30 AM CST): NBA on ABC – NYK at BOS; ABC, ESPN App
6:00 PM (5:00 PM CST): Super Bowl LX – Seattle Seahawks (14-3, 1st in NFC) vs. New England Patriots (14-3, 2nd in AFC); NBC, Peacock
12:00 PM (11:00 AM CST): Road to the Super Bowl; NBC
1:00 PM (12:00 PM CST): Super Bowl LX Pregame; NBC, Peacock
10:45 PM (9:45 PM CST): The Games of the XXV Winter Olympiad (Milano Cortina) – Primetime in Milan; NBC, Peacock
12:35 AM (11:35 PM CST): The Games of the XXV Winter Olympiad (Milano Cortina) – Olympic Late Night; NBC, Peacock
