The puzzling trend that undermined all the Rangers could have been

I don’t know if this has been a coaching issue or an organizational issue, but at some point, I’d say just about a year ago (during the playoffs that seems like 100 years ago), the Rangers decided to go with players compromised by injury instead of giving healthy roster players a shot.

If this was all Peter Laviolette, well, the coach was relieved of his duties on Saturday. But if the decision to go with players at far less than 100 percent was a collaborative one within the hierarchy, that still needs to be addressed.

Chris Kreider revealed a litany of ailments that surely impacted his season in all the wrong ways. Back issues were well known. There were upper-body matters the second half of the season. Indeed, No. 20 was sidelined three separate times for a total of 13 games.

The winger also disclosed he sustained a left hand injury in Buffalo on Feb. 22 in the first game following 4 Nations that may require surgery this summer. Kreider missed the following six games … but then played the final 20 of the season and was generally ineffective.