I was in 8th grade at the time, just a few months shy of graduation when the hockey team I’d spend school nights throughout the cold winter and spring watching put down innovative words on a paper, and sent it out to their adoring fans all over New York City.
That day was February 8 2018, as I opened up my phone after school and there it was staring me in the face.
There it was, right out of general manager’s Jeff Gorton’s mouth saying that a rebuild was coming, and as fans what we thought was so close was in reality, extremely far away. I had to admit that although I dreaded the thought of being in the league celler, it was vital for the long-term future of this franchise, it was for the greater good.
Seeing as how transparent they were, I was contempt with stepping back from hockey for a bit, understanding that it could be in exchange for a new exhilarating Stanly Cup window in a few years time.
I watched as captain Ryan Mcdonah and star JT Miller were dealt to the Lightning, and cornerstone Rick Nash got traded to the Bruins, with leading-scorer Michael Grabner headed to New Jersey.
Officially, it was a team stripped of parts stuck in a pit with nowhere to turn to.
Looking back now and seeing how far this organization has come and how the window is just opening, you don’t take for granted what has been bestowed on the Rangers over the last couple of years. It teaches me that everything has its timing and happens for a reason, while also showing the virtue that is being patient.
I was excited for the 2021 season as truncated as it was set to be because I saw an organization steadily climbing out of being a laughingstock to a perennial playoff team. But just when we thought we were in the clear, there was still a missing piece to the puzzle, and that was Gerard Gallant, who new GM Chris Druy hired after his predecessor Jeff Gorton was handed his walking papers by ownership, which only told me that the rebuild was over, and a new championship window had officially cracked open.
As we sit here now in 2022, just hours away from seeing the Rangers appear in their first playoff game after five long years (Or 1,820 days) out of the picture, it’s a time to let your emotions run free, and just enjoy the fact that our Blueshirts are relevant once again. Led by a primed foundation of youngsters, veterans and some newcomers from the trade deadline (Wsp Andrew Copp), the bond from the playroom to living room has never been stronger, and whatever goes down in these playoffs, just know that going forward as fans, we have a team we can be proud of. A team that tells 8th grade me, all of it, was worth it.
LGR.
-Marv.
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