DALLAS, Texas — There were smiles and candid conversations among the Rangers at the Stars' practice rink in Farmers Branch on Thursday afternoon.
After President and General Manager Chris Drury addressed the entire team for the first time since getting back on track this season, the Blueshirts had a fun and energetic session that ended with It ended with a full team shootout game.
By full team, yes, that also means head coach Peter Laviolette and the rest of the coaching staff.
This group had an aura of lightheartedness that had been missing lately.
Vincent Trocheck then initiated a scrum and the Rangers beat reporters to clear the air about a specific report that claimed the team meeting after the Kings game was critical of Drury.
“It’s nothing but the truth,” he said matter-of-factly. “If we have a private meeting with just the players, I think the last thing we're going to do is complain to the general manager. When we have a private meeting here, it's about us. It's about what we can do. I mean.
“Obviously we're in a bit of a hole right now, but it's about what we can do to get out of it. It has nothing to do with management. They do their job. Chris , doing my job to get the best players on the ice and be successful. We are those players and we have to go out and perform what we can to be successful. I just wanted to clear the air about that.
“There's a lot of stuff circulating on our team right now, and when you see something like that, you don't even know where it came from. It frustrated me.”
A very captain-like move from the 31-year-old Trocheck, who is not one of the four remaining alternate captains after Barclay Goodrow was fired this summer and captain Jacob Trouba was traded to Anaheim earlier this month. It was.
After a tumultuous month, there was clearly an effort to get everyone back on the same page.
Hits continue to arrive in the Rangers' locker room in one form or another.
Russian star wing Artemi Panarin (upper body injury) skates in a green non-contact jersey, while defenseman K'Andre Miller is in New York after being placed on injured reserve with an upper body injury. I just started skating again.
Two regulars in the lineup have already been traded, with the most recent trade revealed Wednesday night when Kaapo Kakko was sent to Seattle in exchange for two 2025 draft picks and defenseman Will Borgen. It became.
“Sometimes we don't know until a few days later,” Chris Kreider said of trades. “When your schedule goes that way, you try to focus on the next game, the next practice, the next moment. That's the hardest part of this business, and I've worked on it almost every year of my career.”
Drury's league-wide trade memo lists the names of Trouba and Kreider, the club's longest-tenured players, and all of the losses have the rest of the NHL heavily discussing the Rangers.
In this way, details and concrete facts were lost in translation, which prompted Trocheck to set the record straight.
Drury has been meeting regularly with leadership and met with all players one-on-one before Thursday's all-team meeting. The importance of everyone coming together is recognized.
The sound of high-tempo practice has been consistent since Laviolette took over, but the joy and laughter was incredibly welcome Thursday.
“It was great,” Laviolette said. “Everyone's out working. Everyone has to find a way to break through this if they get stuck in that. By practicing like this, you'll probably feel a little lighter and be able to go outside.” It gives us a chance to go out and play and get back to where we were. The best solution to everything is winning, and we have to start doing that. [Friday night]”
