Rangers Going Through Difficult Emotions Following Tear Down Of Leadership Core

Brad Penner-Imagn Images

There is a lot to process within the New York Rangers locker room after the team traded Ryan Lindgren and Jimmy Vesey on Saturday.

Lindgren and Vesey have been instrumental pieces for the Rangers for years now as Peter Laviolette admitted that their presence will be missed.

“Obviously the players who moved yesterday, they’ve been here for a bit,” Laviolette said. “They’re connected inside the room. There’s a business side of things in hockey as well. We can’t thank Ryan Lindgren and Jimmy Vesey enough for what they’ve done for the organization long before I got here and since I’ve been here.

“We’re talking about two really good human beings, two really good hockey players. It’s always hard to see change. Change is always tough.”

It wasn’t just on the ice where Lindgren and Vesey had a tremendous impact. As leaders, they held a lot of weight in the locker room.

The two veteran players led by example through the hard-nosed style of play and the passion that they came out with every day.

A Rangers core that once seemed rock solid has suddenly fallen apart over the course of this season.

Rangers president and general manager Chris Drury has let go of Barclay Goodrow, Jacob Trouba, Kaapo Kakko, Filip Chytil, Lindgren and Vesey in a matter of months.

All of that change certainly hasn’t been easy for the players who were two games away from advancing to the Stanley Cup Final just last season and are watching that very same team crumble before their eyes.

“I guess it's a part of the business that sucks,” Mika Zibanejad said. “I don't think anyone enjoys it in that sense. I don't think it's fun for the GMs to trade guys like that either. We've been fortunate the last couple years to kind of stick with the team that we've had for some years now, but we’ve had some changes this year.”

While emotions are running high right now, the Blueshirts don’t have much time to reflect on the past.

They’re in the heat of a playoff battle with 23 games remaining. Laviolette is urging his team to move forward.

“Everybody feels the same. The two guys that left yesterday are two of the most quality human beings as you can get,” Laviolette emphasized. “For me to get the opportunity to work with them and coach them… Those guys have been here for a long time. That’s change and that change could certainly be hard.

“You see it happen all the time in professional sports, it’s a part of the business. We have to turn the page, we have to move on. That was yesterday and today is a new day.”