Former New Jersey Devils forward blasts Rangers' 'bull%&$!' off-ice antics

It has not been a surprise that the New Jersey Devils are already a much better team than they were last year, but what has been surprising is the lack of competition they've faced from their cross-town rivals, the New York Rangers.

After posting a 55-23-4 record and winning the Presidents' Trophy with an NHL-best 114 points last season, the Rangers have suffered greatly this year, stumbling to a 15-14-1 record through their first 30 games. Following their disappointing Eastern Conference Finals exit at the hands of the eventual Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers, the franchise has been mired in controversy since the beginning of the offseason.

Former Rangers captain Jacob Trouba was involved in just about every trade rumor under the sun and, at long last, was traded to the Anaheim Ducks for Urho Vaakanainen and a 2024 fourth-round pick on Dec. 6.

Oh, and Chris Kreider, the Rangers' longest-tenured player who has been synonymous with the franchise for the last decade, was also floated as a trade candidate by name. All of this has added up behind the scenes to create the slog that is the 2024-25 Rangers season.

Former Devils forward Mike Rupp destroys Rangers' antics

After former No. 2 overall pick Kaapo Kakko was made a healthy scratch on Sunday, NHL network analyst Mike Rupp, who played for both the Devils and the Rangers and won the Stanley Cup with New Jersey in 2003, declared in a post on X that he would "wait 24-48 hrs to comment" on Kakko's benching.

Kakko did not hold back his displeasure about the decision on Tuesday, which apparently prompted Rupp to comment on the Rangers' situation, as promised. Rupp, too, did not hold back.

"Every single player needs to be better. Individually, collectively, and as a group. But I believe, from my experience, in order to do that, you got to have the right environment surrounding the team," Rupp said, kicking off a three-minute-long video discussing the Rangers' situation. "I don't believe that's been cultivated. And you can date it back to the tradings of a couple players and the way those were managed, and that's bled into the locker room. It's been well-documented in that situation.

"It feels like games have been played and players have been manipulated in different ways. I think another way players have been manipulated, as well, is Chris Kreider's name getting out there. I don't believe there's been any intention of the New York Rangers trading Chris Kreider. I really, generally, don't. I do believe his name was actually involved and intentionally leaked out there in order to get a response from the team.

"That's a slippery slope, especially from what's already happened here. And I think there becomes this distrust. You come to the rink, and it's not about working to get out of this. You have to want to come to the rink, roll up your sleeves, pull up your work boots--whatever you want to call it--and get to work to get out of this. But now, all of a sudden, you come to the rink, and there's bulls--t surrounding the team. It's unnecessary stuff that you don't want to deal with, and it makes coming to the rink a drag because you're looking over your shoulder every second."

Rupp goes on to cite Kakko's benching as another example of this. Kakko himself had come forth to say that he was not the worst player on the Rangers and claimed that it was easy for them to pick on the young guy and take him out. Yikes.

"That's a garbage response," Rupp said of the Rangers' decision to bench Kakko in a side-bar. "That's a terrible response. He shouldn't have even been the guy, but that's a whole other conversation."

For what it's worth, Kakko is producing at a near 40-point pace this season for the Rangers, scoring four goals, 10 assists, and 14 points in 29 games.

"You're dealing with bulls--t, as opposed to dealing with the problem you have at hand," Rupp said, circling back to the bigger picture. "I think these players are looking around and they're just seeing everything burning down around them. They just want to survive each day going to the rink. Until coming to the rink is fun, until coming to the rink is... you're connected coming in there, this team ain't gonna get out of this. They need no more bulls--t. No more bulls--t, and maybe this team can start turning this thing around."

With a 20-10-3 record, the Devils will certainly take the Rangers' failures in stride. So far, they're cruising to what should be their second playoff berth in two years while their biggest rivals crumble in the national spotlight behind them. Maybe the Devils can poach a useful player or two come the trade deadline.