When the Rangers resume their season Thursday with a home game against old friend John Tortorella and the Columbus Blue Jackets, general manager Jeff Gorton and assistant GM Chris Drury will be out in Vancouver and Victoria, British Columbia, checking out Vitaly Kravtsov, K’Andre Miller and a good portion of the Rangers’ future at the World Junior Championships. That should serve as a reminder to Rangers fans that the organization’s priority right now is the rebuild strategy, not so much winning NHL games in the here and now.
Still, when the Rangers went 9-1-1 in an 11-game run that put them in a playoff spot on Thanksgiving Day, people got excited.