New York Rangers, Bob McKenzie
AP Photo

The New York Rangers rebuild may be completed faster than many believe per TSN’s Bob McKenzie who thinks they want to get this done fast.

Frank Curto

The New York Rangers rebuild needs to take the big plunge this summer because as TSN’s Bob McKenzie said on his Tuesday radio show, “they want to get better in a hurry.”

McKenzie had some great insight on what he thinks the Rangers will do when the team sets their sights on the offseason.

“Well, they’re in a rebuild,” McKenzie said. “There’s no doubt about that, that’s why they traded Kevin Hayes, that’s why they traded Mats Zuccarello, that’s why they’ve made the moves that they’ve made. So they’re loading up on picks, and they’re trying to inject more youth into their lineup.”

McKenzie doesn’t believe the Rangers are in a true rebuild though, as the team is not willing to wait six or seven years but its more of a “soft rebuild”.

He went on to say what many Rangers fans have said this year. It referred to a certain Columbus Blue Jacket who may be set to walk away from his team at the end of this season.

“Don’t be surprised if this summer, when Artemi Panarin is there in free agency, the Rangers are there with bags of money saying, ‘Come see us, come play with us'” McKenzie remarked. “They knew they needed to change gears and start accumulating draft picks and young players, and they’ve started to do that. But they’re going to also do other things, and that is dip into free agency or any player that’s available in a trade – a hockey trade – they’re going to look at all of those things because they want to get better in a hurry.”

Of course, a lot of this is just speculation and the opinion of Bob McKenzie. Then again, if you think about it, is he wrong? I don’t think so. The hockey guru is rarely off his game when it comes to the business side of the game.

The Rangers have been working to get to this point of the rebuild. The time when picks are had, offers can now be made as well as trades in the summer. The hard part lies ahead of them, but general manager Jeff Gorton has done an exceptional job up to this point.

His decision will be final, but those decisions will be based on the valuable input from his scouting staff, the immediate personnel around him and his past experience which hasn’t let him down yet for the most part.

When Bob McKenzie speaks, everyone listens. This time, every Rangers fan has to be happy to hear that this dreaded rebuild is nearing an end.

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A graduate of St. John's University class of '91. I have been a fan of the New York Rangers since the days of Peter Puck. Founder of Ranger Proud, the Facebook page that covers all news, notes, pre /post-game stats, and player quotes. I can be reached at Nyrfc12@gmail.com