Breaking News: Peter Laviolette lovely wife in a terrible car accident today that Leads to…..

The New York Rangers have had a difficult offseason.

Their precarious salary cap situation forced them into making changes and exploring even more.

They placed beloved forward and bottom-six staple Barclay Goodrow on waivers, a move that stunned Goodrow and his former teammates.

Even after this move, the Rangers still have work to do.

There has been speculation for months that forward Kaapo Kakko and team captain Jacob Trouba are possible trade candidates.

Trouba was even reportedly on the cusp of being shipped to Detroit, but his no-movement clause kicked in and stopped that deal.

The situation seems tenuous now between Trouba and the Rangers, and there is a feeling that the relationship could be fractured.

Former Rangers general manager Neil Smith, who served in the role between 1989 and 2000, is not pleased with how his former organization handled this.

Appearing on the Hockey Night in New York podcast, Smith lambasted the Rangers for fumbling this issue with Trouba.

“Now you’ve got some muddy waters with maybe the most important guy on your team,” he said.

“The captain — the guy that has the most influence in the locker room.

So it’s gonna be something that they’re gonna have to handle. It’s a bit of a mess.”

Elaborating further, Smith took issue with how public this ordeal has been. Since the attempted trade occurred, the media has been all over this.

Will the Rangers trade their captain or will they try to mend a strained relationship?