The most effective argument in opposition to the Islanders occurring a rebuild or retool route over the previous three years was at all times that they didn’t have a versatile sufficient cap sheet for it to be doable to do it successfully.
Effectively, Chris Drury may be about to offer a reasonably fascinating counterpoint.
As a result of if the Rangers can transfer out a few of their marquee veterans in what would represent a retooling of a core that has made two convention finals in three seasons whereas navigating a cap sheet during which Mika Zibanejad, Vincent Trocheck, Alexis Lafreniere and Adam Fox are signed via a minimum of 2028-29, with Igor Shesterkin doubtlessly quickly to comply with, that might type of make you surprise: What if the Islanders had determined again in 2021 that their core had gone so far as it might go?
True, it’s not a like-for-like comparability, however such a factor is rarely actually going to exist.