Former New York Rangers forward Sean Avery has strong opinions on the state of the franchise.
The Rangers are in the midst of a horrible stretch as they have lost 13 of their last 17 games and their play continues to deteriorate.
Whether it’s Peter Laviolette’s fault or not, Avery believes it’s time for the Rangers to fire Laviolette as the team’s struggles reach a boiling point.
“I would fire him today.” Avery said. “Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. We have to, we have to, guys. In a market as big as this, last year’s Eastern Conference Finals were so close. It’s starting. Unfortunately, this is part of it. Yeah, coach comes first, but that’s where I get nervous.
“The coach is leaving, so who is going? So who are you bringing in? The whole system is down, and the iPads on the bench. What do you want to see? You want to look at your exit point on this one like, “I need you in the game, guys. »
Laviolette is in his second season of a three-year contract with the Rangers. He is coming off a year in which he helped New York win the Presidents’ Trophy while reaching the Eastern Conference finals.
This season hasn’t been as kind to Laviolette and the Rangers. The Bueshirts have lost their identity and things seem to be only getting worse.
Meanwhile, several Rangers players find themselves in trade rumors, including Chris Kreider, Ryan Lindgren and Reilly Smith.
Avery believes K’Andre Miller is the guy the Rangers should try to shop before the end of the season.
"As for K’Andre, you need to move him now," Avery said. “You have to move him now, even if he has commercial value, it’s not going to work… So if you’re leading the team, if you’re managing this org chart, and you’re also trying to stay there, you move it now.»
If these struggles don’t stop, Rangers general manager Chris Drury will have some important decisions to make regarding the future of the organization.
