Many will say that the true start of the rebuild began with the controversial trade of Derek Stepan. On June 23rd, 2017 the Rangers traded Stepan and Antti Raanta to the Arizona Coyotes for Tony DeAngelo and the 7th pick of the draft which they used to select Lias Andersson.
Trading Derek Stepan
The immediate reaction was the Rangers made a huge blunder. Some sites pointed to the fact that Derek Stepan was a #1 center, and others called it a mistake almost a year after the deal.
Back in December 2016, I wrote 2 pieces that received considerable flack.