The Sheet with Jeff Marek - On the Sheet: Vince Mercogliano on the Rangers Struggles and Futures

Episode Date: January 16, 2026

Vince Mercogliano of The Athletic joins Jeff Marek to break down everything going wrong with the New York Rangersas the season continues to spiral. Mercogliano details the embarrassing losses, fan chants at Madison Square Garden, and the growing pressure on GM Chris Drury amid talk of a cultural reset. The conversation dives into leadership scrutiny surrounding J.T. Miller, the quiet resurgence of Mika Zibanejad, and what a realistic teardown or retool could look like with so many no-movement clauses on the roster. Mercogliano also examines potential trade pieces like Vincent Trocheck, ownership patience under James Dolan, and why this Rangers team may be closer to a true reset than many expected.SHOUTOUT TO OUR SPONSORS!!👍🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/👍🏼Uber Eats: https://www.ubereats.com/caReach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us!If you liked this, check out:🚨 OTT - Coming in Hot Sens | https://www.youtube.com/c/thewallyandmethotshow🚨 TOR - LeafsNation | https://www.youtube.com/@theleafsnation401🚨 EDM - OilersNation | https://www.youtube.com/@Oilersnationdotcom🚨 VAN - CanucksArmy | https://www.youtube.com/@Canucks_Army🚨 CGY - FlamesNation | https://www.youtube.com/@FNBarnBurner🚨 Daily Faceoff Fantasy & Betting | www.youtube.com/@DFOFantasyandBetting____________________________________________________________________________________________Connect with us on ⬇️Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/daily_faceoff💻 Website: https://www.dailyfaceoff.com🐦 Follow on twitter: https://x.com/DailyFaceoff💻 Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dailyfaceoffDaily Faceoff Merch:https://nationgear.ca/collections/daily-faceoff Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

All right. So from there, we'll go to the New York Rangers. And what's next? After the losses, the post-game interviews, the chance. Vince Bricogliano, buddy, thanks for taking time today. I know it's a busy one for you. That is the largest microphone I've ever seen, by the way. That is massive. Is it?

I thought it was pretty standard. Complete distraction. Maybe it's just close to the camera. But, okay, so you're watching the game last night. and it's four Cobb at the end of the first period and they're chanting fire of drury and then the second period starts and two more go in it's six bagel like what's going through your mind at that point like there's always the idea that you can never hit rock bottom all you can do is decide to stop digging do you have any idea when the rangers are going to

decide to stop digging i do not it felt like a here we go again kind of moment it was almost, I found myself debating, is this worse than Saturday in Boston, which 10-0. Most goals, the Rangers had allowed in a game in nearly 17 years. The players talked about being embarrassed afterwards. It was the most dejected locker room that I've seen in seven seasons covering the beat after the Bruins game on Saturday. And in some ways, I think they played even worse on Wednesday. I mean, the first period was atrocious.

I looked at natural statrick at one point. It wasn't even that they weren't credited with any high danger scoring chances. They weren't credited with a single scoring chance in the entire first period. I mean, they were on their heels. They were hemmed in their own zone. Vincent Trocheck took a brutal penalty in the first couple minutes of the game. Ottawa was out to a two nothing lead before you blink for nothing before the end of the period. It's just ugly.

And the fans, I mean, it's hard not to feel for the fans right now. You look around the guard and this is a place that notoriously is filled. is exuberant. And the empty seats to me recently, each passing game, I'm noticing more of them. And the people that are there, it's like they're going between the booze

and the fire jury chance. And you have to wonder, James Dolan, I believe he was at each of these last two home games, what is he sitting there and thinking? Well, he's already given the seal of approval. And went out of his ways, you know, to mention that.

This isn't just about winning hockey games. This is about changing. the culture in that room, essentially saying not only does Chris Drury have rope here, he's got long rope because changing culture isn't just, okay, you know, you're going to turn it around on a couple of games. Am I reading this correctly? You're there. No, you're reading it correctly. And what he said on the radio last week reinforced what I've been hearing for, you know, pretty much as long as I've been digging on any of this stuff that he thinks very highly of jury. He has given jury full authority to kind of proceed as he sees fit.

And increasingly what I've been hearing recently is that that means if there needs to be some level of sell-off, some level of tear-down, rebuild, whatever you want to call it, that jury has the blessing to do that. Now, I think the optics to Dolan are somewhat important here. I don't think they want to phrase it or frame it as a full-scale rebuild. I think that they would like to think that they can turn this around relatively quickly. This isn't going to be a five-year plan. I think they'd like to take a small step back, sell off some pieces right now that they feel like aren't part of the long-term vision and then be able to flip some of those assets to acquire younger pieces that can help them in the next year or two as opposed to,

you know, a longer-range plan. But I also can't help but wonder as the ugly losses compile. does that confidence at any point does that confidence start to chip away now i've talked to people that have been around this team for a long time in different capacities and a lot of them have really stressed to me that Dolan doesn't really care about the public perception that when it comes to the chance or fans being up in arms about what's going on that that's probably not going to influence him very much but how can you objectively look at the state's of this team and think that they're in a good spot.

Jury is going to come up on his fifth year anniversary taking over in May, I believe. The team is in a worse spot across the board than they were when he took over. The roster has deteriorated. The pipeline is barren right now. Corey Promin from the Athletic, who does a lot of our prospect stuff along with Scott Wheeler. He put out his under 23 rankings the other day. He ranked about 150 guys.

The Rangers had one player on that list, and it was Gabe Perrault. at number 120. So there's not a whole lot coming in the prospect pool right now to feel good about. The NHL roster in my seven seasons on the beat, this is the least skilled team that I have covered by a wide margin. And there's just not a whole lot to look forward to right now. So listen, I agree with you. All signs, all indications are that jury is going to get to do whatever comes next. But it's just hard for me to look at this objectively and say that they're in a good spot right now and not at least wonder at what point do you look at this and say, hey, you know, something needs to change here.

A couple of things there. I want to sort of drill down on one, to the point about about Dolan, watching and listening to that interview, he has, how am I going to phrase this? He has the confidence of that guy calling balls and strikes on the fifth deck of the ball game. Like he is sure. I don't care what everybody else is seeing. I'm up here on the fifth deck and I'm calling balls and strikes and I'm right. That's the kind of confidence that I felt watching it and listening to that interview.

I'll ask you the same thing that I just asked Brian Burke a couple of seconds ago. So there's the Artemi Panarin question, right? And if they go to Panarin and talk about a different address and, okay, that works out. He goes wherever. What's the second act? like Panera might be the easy one and then like what do you do after that you know someone that I really really respect who's on the trajectory to be a GM in the NHL asked me that question this morning I had no answer do you have an answer I do so I think the the easy removes the low hanging fruit the stuff that's probably not going to net you a whole lot in return but seems very likely at this point are you can look at another pending UFA like a car Carson Sousy. You can wonder if any of the other veterans at the bottom of this roster, can they trade them for mid to late round picks? I think those things are all very likely.

The big question that I don't have a firm answer for you on in this moment, but that multiple people around the league have posed to me, within the framework of saying, hey, if they were to go down this road, this is probably the biggest asset that they have in the immediate right now to net a haul for and really kickstart this. rebuild process is Vincent Trocheck because you look at this roster and it is laden with no movement clauses because the Banajan has one. J.T. Miller has one. Vlad Gavarkov where they just signed. I highly doubt they're trading him has one. Igor Shasturkin, who's the backbone of this team, has one. Adam Fox has one. So your most valuable pieces are all locked in with full control.

The guy who isn't is Vincent Trochec. He has a 12 team, no trade list that leaves a lot of remaining teams that you can negotiate with. And this is a guy that I believe, and I've talked to people who echo this, a lot of contending teams would be very interested in him as their second line center. And he's got a really reasonable contract. Three years remaining after this season, about $5.6 million per season in a rising cap world for a second line center, that's a bargain. That's totally.

He's a guy who's going to be an Olympian. We know Bill Garin, among many other general managers, values the intangibles that he brings. This is a guy who's proven he can play with high-level skill players like Artemie Panarin, had his best season a couple years ago when he made the All-Star team playing on that line with Panarin, but also kills penalties. He's a really good face-off guy. He's got the defensive conscious that Mike Sullivan always talks about. So he's a well-rounded player.

I don't think he's a star player by any stretch. But look at the return that the Islanders got for Brock Nelson last year. Well, he was just a rental. He was a pending UFA. Trotcheck, you're going to get three and a half years for. Now, it might not be likely now. Maybe it's more likely in the summer. But that's a guy that if they're going to take this seriously and they take the necessary steps to restock,

what I think we can all agree is a depleted pool of assets right now. I think that's the one obvious guy that you have to consider. If for no other reason, then because he doesn't have the no movement clause that a lot of the other guys we mentioned do. Okay. Let me marry those two statements together. The first part about Corey Pranman's list and then Vincent Trocheck to market. If the Rangers want to restock, you got to find a team that does have something sizable. The name that I keep thinking about with a player like Vincent Trocheck is the Detroit Red Wings,

who have stockpiled and stockpiled. Steve Eisenman, it's the old management saying of patience is action. and there's perhaps nobody more patient in the NHL than Steve Eisenman, and they've built up that pipeline. But right now, this is a team that's looking like they're finally going to snap the drought and get playoffs in a building that we've even stopped saying is a new building in Detroit. Just a building that has never had a playoff game in it.

Detroit, to me, makes sense. I like your idea of Minnesota with Bill Guerin 2. That one makes a lot of sense as well. And we all know that the rest of the league, everybody, even Montreal Canadians, answer. Everybody is looking for a second line center. If they do something, I always wonder about this too. If they do that, if they send Trocheque, if that is the second act after Panarin, do you think that loosens up players

for their no trades? Like the thing that I wonder about is, you know, Drury very deliberately brought in J.T. Miller and made him captain. It almost seemed like if that was a message to the room to everybody who had boo-boo face about how we handled Jacob Truba and how we handle Barclay Goddrow and how, you know, Crieder exited and everybody had boo-boo face on and didn't want to play last year and were pouty. This seemed like it was a deliberate move by Chris Drury to bring in his guy to lead his team and it was either get behind J.T. Miller or get off. Yeah, well, it's interesting you bring this up because I was just five, ten minutes ago texting with somebody who we were kind of bouncing around the same question and they were wondering of the no movement guys who could you maybe see entertaining the idea, especially if it becomes apparent to everybody involved that the Rangers are going to take a step back. And the name that I wonder most about is Mika Zabanajad.

I've gotten to know enough about Mika over the years to know that family is super important to him. We've seen this with other players recently as well, and that he loves being in New York City. His wife and young daughter love being in New York City. He has been resistant to the idea of waiving the no movement clause in the past. I don't believe the Rangers have ever approached him. He told Peter Ball, my colleague, during training camp, I believe it was that the Rangers did not approach him about that. and he's been pretty adamant that he has the power in this situation, and he's earned it.

But this is a guy who's seen some of his closest friends on the team, Chris Kreider, top of that list, shoved out the door. He is going to be 33 very soon, another month or two, I believe. And if the Rangers are going to take a step back, clearly not competitive and going to miss the playoffs again this year for the second straight time, and if next year is going to be part of some kind of rebuilding process and they're getting younger, and they're unlikely to be competitive,

certainly not in position to compete for a cup next year. At 33 years old, does Mika look around and say, you know what, winning is important to me at this stage of my career and going somewhere else will give me a better opportunity to do that? I would not be shocked. I'll just say that. I have not asked Mika this direct question, so I don't want to speak on his behalf at this moment,

but that is a guy who I could see getting there is the way that I would put and he's having a much better season. A lot of guys in this team are having bad seasons right now, but last year was a really difficult one for him. He's been playing fairly well. He's one of the few guys I would point to and say that. So I think the value has probably been propped up a little bit for him with the season that he's having as well.

So I wonder if that's a road the Rangers try to go down, probably not now, more likely in the summer. A quick pick up on that, Vince. Like he's not going to win the Art Ross trophy, but he's going to get some Selky trophy votes. He's not going to win the Selke, but he's going to get some Selke trophy votes. Like at the end of all this, those that are people that aren't really paying attention than Rangers are going to see Zabadad's name sort of down on the list of getting sulky votes and go like, really? He had a season like that's the season Zabandajad's had.

It's really quiet, but that's kind of season he's had. And he's putting up, he's putting up more points. He's just been even just watching the games. Like the points don't jump off the page at you as being that much better than they were last year. I believe he's definitely trending toward having more points this year than he did last season. But just the overall game, he's playing with a lot more confidence. Confidence was a huge, it's a huge thing. He's been open about this.

The mental struggle behind all that. It really got dented last year. And I think he went through some personal struggles as far as dealing with that and coping with that. And it snowballed on him. This year, he just seems like he is much more decisive, much more assertive to me, watching him play. And he's had some good chemistry with Panarin. Like, those guys have clicked.

That's really been the Rangers' only dangerous line all. season. And so, yeah, I think he's, he's boosted his value and his reputation back up with the season that he's having. So I, I love what you did on Twitter X yesterday, putting two comments next to each other conflicting, one from J.T. Miller, one from Mika Zabinajad, where J.T. Miller and Zach, if you have it, if you can fire it up here, um, J.T. Miller saying, and Peter Bott tweeted this one out, as you mentioned, bad for his period, we responded, played pretty well after that. Mika Zabanajad, as you point out, saw

things a bit differently. Is the truth in the middle here? Is one more right than the other? Do you have a gravitational constant that's stronger to J.T. Miller or stronger to Mika Zabanajad based on how they saw the game last night? I mean, I think anybody

who watched that game objectively would lean more in the Mika direction here. The Rangers did not play well in that game. You can spin it any way you want. They got bludgeoned in the first period. They were down 6-0-0 after giving up a couple more goals in the second period. They didn't score until very late in that second period. But Jonathan Quick got pulled.

I mean, by the time they started scoring goals, the final score is deceiving. They were out of it. The game was over. The senators had really no reason to push. They were already up 6-0. So you can spin it however you want. Listen, here's my read on that whole situation. There's a lot of different personalities in this room still.

Mika is quieter, more introspective. I think he's really been struggling. He's been super accountable. A lot of these guys, I'll give them credit. They're facing the music after these losses, which are tough losses. And it's hard for me to hammer the players over and over again. I mean, we've done plenty of it. But the reality for this team is they're just not that good.

You look at this roster construction. There are some pretty fatal flaws here. And especially right now, they don't have Igor Sisterkin. They don't have Adam Fox. what do we expect from this group in this moment? So it's hard to face the music every night when you're not playing well and you're undermanned. And even when you're fully healthy, you're probably not good enough.

So I have some sympathy in that regard. But you've got a guy like Mika who I think has been like, hey, I'm searching for the answers. I don't have them for you guys. I wish I did, but we're just not playing well enough. And then you've got JT. And Mike Sullivan was talking about the whole team, but I think Miller exemplifies this. He said they've been running through the gamut of emotions. And that nobody has that been more evident than J.T. Miller in a lot of these postgame settings

where he wears his emotions on his sleeve. You go to Saturday. Saturday, he was angry. He was embarrassed. He said all the right things. We need to respond. He called himself out for not being a good enough leader. But that was one version of JT that we got.

Then Monday, after the loss to Seattle, he was Kurt. He was short. He wanted to be anywhere else. else, but he was despondent at the same time. He was just kind of looking down extremely short answers. And at one point, when I asked him a question about, hey, you said you wanted to respond, you got off to a good start in the first period and then things tailed off. What did you see from your vantage point?

He basically said, I don't know and walked away. That's not a great look from your captain. I mean, this is a guy who ultra competitive hates to lose. But when you're wearing the sea, you have to be the team spokesman and you're going to have to face the music in a lot of these situations. And we know that's not his favorite thing to do. It's a volatile situation. And then what you get on Wednesday is a guy who is more defiant and pushing back on the questions

and trying to spin it and say, we played well for the last two periods. Like, that's not what the fans want to hear in that moment. And you're not really fooling anybody. You guys are not playing well. So he, I think, has been trying to navigate, like, how to handle these moments. And listen, it's not an easy task when the team is losing at the clip that they're losing. but I think it also speaks to how delicate, somewhat of a ticking tom bomb this could be behind the scenes. This is the risk the Rangers ran in making him captain.

This is a guy who is going to wear those emotions on his sleeve and is going to be volatile at times. We saw it blow up in Vancouver. And as the losses pile up, you just wonder, how is this going to go? Last thought to pick up on there. You're right. There has to be some emotional dissonable. discipline if you're a captain knowing that these questions are coming and here come the cameras and here come the microphones.

But there's a great example that I'll point at for J.T. Miller. Like, you're like, he runs it hot. We all know that about J.T. Miller. Mark Schifley in Winnipeg runs it hot. And in the past, when he was with Wheeler in Winnipeg, they ran that room real hot. But after every single game, there was Mark Schifley. and you would not know that he has certainly you can tell that he's competitive but you couldn't tell that this guy is running that room real hot and that there's an expectation he has of all these guys

and inside it's just tearing them up but he's able to get through the interview to me if i'm j t miller i'm like i need to be more like mark schifley i'm just as hot as he's shifley just as hot as j t miller is but the cameras show up bites down on the mouth guard and says, all right, this is part of the gig. Yeah. And listen, again, there have been times where credit is due. I think he has done an admirable job of that. It's just the frustration is mounting right now.

And that is what makes it feel like this situation where it's like you kind of don't know what you're going to get next. Each time we're walking into that locker room, it feels a little more tense, a little more volatile than it did the previous time. and, you know, listen, you talk about running the room hot. The main thing that he's stressed repeatedly is we got to be mentally tougher, we got to be mentally tougher. But I don't know if everybody in the room responds to that well. Like there are different personalities in there. There are guys that might need to be motivated in a different way other than just saying, hey, you got to get tougher, you know?

So that's another thing. You talked about, you know, that's the direction juries want to take this team. That's why he took the risk on trading for Miller and then naming him the captain. but obviously whatever they've been doing to try to motivate this team and push them forward and change the culture and all that, it's not working right now because look where they are in the standings. What's the old saying? 18 inches between kicking the ass and a pat on the back. We'll see which direction this thing goes.

Vince, you the best. Thanks, as always. Great to see you again, pal. Thanks so much for stopping by today. Really, really appreciate it. You'd be good. Continued great work. I mean, you and Peter got this thing locked down for the appellate.

It's really great to me. Continue to me. 16 hours last night every day I went to the doctor