Now that Michael Peca is no longer with the New York Rangers, the former Blueshirts assistant coach is free to be heard about why this past season was such a trainwreck.
The Rangers don’t allow their assistants to speak with the media, except for quick live snippets between periods of games aired with their own MSG Network reporters, like John Giannone. So, outside of former coach Peter Laviolette, no one has heard from assistants Phil Housley, Dan Muse or Peca about this past season’s mess, when the Rangers for the first time in four years.
Until now.
Peca cut right to the heart of the matter when speaking about all that ailed the Rangers in 2024-25 on the Morning Cuppa’ Hockey podcast.
“There was a lot of stuff outside of the locker room, outside of the coaches’ room, that, you know, players in the organization were dealing with, that that did seep into the locker room and which made it tough, because now we’re trying to clean up the debris and get guys to, hey, listen, just don’t worry about whatever the emotional shit they’re dealing with. We’ve got to play hockey,” Peca
Peca explained that juggling the players’ emotions and trying to smooth over the bad vibes that engulfed the team after the way general manager Chris Drury ruffled feathers with his heavy-handed approach to dispensing with popular veterans like Jacob Trouba and Barclay Goodrow, took away from the coaching staff’s main objective.
“Making sure players are well prepared.”
Certainly, the Rangers didn’t look prepared at all, especially during that 4-15-0 face plant in November and December, the absolute nadir of a lost season. Disorganized, disinterested. The Rangers were simply a mess.
“I just think that our focus, and a lot of teams deal with stuff, I’m not saying that we’re the only team in the League that dealt with stuff. Teams deal with stuff,” Peca explained. “As a coaching staff, it just seemed like we got a little distracted having to deal with this and manage emotions now and do all these different things.”
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