Ever since the postseason ended, a lot of New York Rangers beat writers and fans have talked about blowing up the core of the team.
Most view the Blueshirt’s core as Henrik Lundqvist, Derek Stepan, Chris Kreider, Dan Girardi, Ryan McDonagh and Marc Staal, along with Rick Nash and Mats Zuccarello. They often talk about the movement of the torch to the future, Kevin Hayes, J.T. Miller, Brady Skjei, Jimmy Vesey and Pavel Buchnevich.
While obviously some of the past core group need to go for the Rangers to be successful going forward, Derek Stepan, who the fanbase has clamored to as a whipping boy of late, isn’t one of them.