After the Rangers blew a golden opportunity to improve their chances of making the playoffs in a 3-1 loss to Montreal on Tuesday night, their captain blew his stack in the locker room.
Chris Drury hasn't been known for his speechifying since coming to New York, but push a man far enough and this is what you get.
"It's immaturity," said Drury That's what it's been all year. Grow up real fast, in the last 12 or 13 games or whatever the hell we have left, or we will be watching playoff hockey."
If what Drury says is true, the Rangers can expect to be in front of the TV just as soon as they play their final regular season game. If this group of players haven't grown up by now, it ain't going to wind up happening.
With a few exceptions, the Rangers are a team led by seasoned veterans who have been around the NHL far too long to lean on immaturity as an excuse for anything other than why they don't partake of Early Bird specials at the closest Denny's.
We can all agree that age and maturity don't always go hand in hand, but watching the Rangers reveals a much deeper set of problems.
Immaturity would explain a team that played with too much fire and made mistakes borne of overly aggressive play. It doesn't explain a team that showed no fire on their home ice on Tuesday night and it doesn't explain a team that can go weeks without showing the kind of effort it takes to win consistently. If anything, that kind of disposition speaks to too much maturity. These guys are so mature that they know that getting paid has nothing to do with actually going out there and giving it their all.
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There's also the rather obvious talent deficiencies on the roster, something that has nothing to do with the players themselves but bears mentioning in any discussion of why the Rangers are currently on the wrong side of the playoff wall. No amount of growing up is going to change certain facts.
Drury isn't wrong to rip into his mates, we just find his wording less than precise and, frankly, he doesn't go nearly far enough.
Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City and is a contributor to FanHouse.com and ProFootballTalk.com in addition to his duties for NBCNewYork.com.
