Former New York Rangers Airs Dirty Laundry About Dysfunctional Locker Room and it's shocking
Photo credit: Danny Wild-Imagn Images
NHL Insider Stan Fischler gave us an insight into the New York Rangers locker room in the 2024-25 season. He'd go into detail as Michael Peca (now an assistant with the Blackhawks) would air the dirty laundry regarding the dissension in the ranks at MSG this past season.
Michael Peca was an assistant coach with the Rangers during the 2023-24 season. Now a part of Jeff Blashill's staff in Chicago, Peca would give us an idea how crippled the team was from start to finish this year.
Peca, who would attempt to calm down the locker room by "shutting up and playing hockey" ( our words and a paraphrase of what he actually said):
"There was a lot of stuff outside of the locker room and the coaches' room," said Peca. "We said, 'Guys, don't worry about it, you've got to play hockey.'"
Very, very reassuring after the team was expressing anger and dismay as the team saw Barclay Goodrow being waived in bad faith by GM Chris Drury.
It's almost as if you respond to issues without addressing the cause of the problems, they will lose respect for you.
Which isn't to say that Peca isn't wrong, but how he went about it was.
Nevertheless, we saw the crippled Rangers team put out a miserable performance this season as a result of management acting without regard of the players.
Peca suggested that there was "A lot of stuff" as well as a loss of focus. The coaching staff was "managing emotions" and "trying to clean up the debris."
While Peca's insight itself is helpful to understand where the team was coming from, along with his perspective, you can see just through words alone how the calamity would later play out.
The team would play without spirit and would give up goals easily, and the competitiveness we saw in the last two seasons beforehand was gone.
While it'd been wise for the team to consult a sports psychologist or therapists individually, instead of addressing their problems head-on, they let it bleed out onto the ice.
The group would get another coach fired, after delivering a Presidents' Trophy a year prior.
Ironic.
Yet one name continues to escape blame in all of this from Michael Peca's side, because, of course, Chris Drury isn't to blame?
We all know the reason, the NHL carousel isn't just for head coaches.
| POLL | ||
JUIN 28 | 1195 ANSWERS Former New York Rangers Airs Dirty Laundry About Dysfunctional Locker Room and it's shocking Do you think assistant coach Michael Peca of the New York Rangers ( now with the Chicago Blackhawks) is unfairly placing the blame on the entire team instead of his boss (GM Chris Drury)? | ||
| Yes | 600 | 50.2 % |
| No | 595 | 49.8 % |
| List of polls | ||
TRENDING NOW
