In one month, the Rangers have spiraled from the thick of the playoff race to uncontested possession of the Eastern Conference basement, having won only three games since the final week of December.
They saw Igor Shesterkin and Adam Fox go down with injuries.
They read Chris Drury’s latest letter.
They await the trade of Artemi Panarin.
It is a locker room filled with frustration, but also exuberance, attached to newly acquired defenseman Vincent Iorio.
After being waived for the second time in less than four months, the 23-year-old former second-round pick looked like there is nowhere he would rather be.
“Since I’ve been playing pro, I’ve gone through a lot of ups and downs, but for me, just continue to have that positive mindset and just be the happy-go-lucky kid that I am,” Iorio said Monday, following his first practice with the Rangers. “I pride myself on smiling, coming to the rink every day and being happy and I’m gonna continue to do the same thing here.
“I’m just grateful. My parents, growing up, they really preached the 1 percent better each day and being happy with where you’re at in life. For me, playing this game is such a privilege. Playing in this league is such a privilege. Especially a team like New York.
“I was obviously really excited. This is such a storied franchise.”
Iorio, who was claimed off waivers Saturday from San Jose, is a low-risk move for a team in transition, looking to get younger.
Taken 55th overall by Washington in 2021, Iorio spent the majority of his first two professional seasons in the AHL, appearing in 123 games with Hershey, but just 10 with the Capitals.
After being waived in October, the native of British Columbia appeared in 21 games with the Sharks, recording no goals, three assists and a minus-4 rating in 21 games.
“This team has such an amazing and skilled forward corps, so [I want to] distribute pucks to them and let them make plays,” Iorio said. “Just continue to play my game. I thought I did a good job with building on things in San Jose. I just [want] to break pucks out, play hard defensively, not try and do too much and just play simple.”
On Monday, the 6-foot-4 defenseman — who will be a restricted free agent after the season — saw his transition eased by the familiar faces of former teammates Braden Schneider (WHL) and Scott Morrow (Shattuck-St. Mary’s School).
Mike Sullivan saw potential.
“I thought he looked good today,” the Rangers coach said. “First time seeing him up close, he looks like he has decent puck skills, good size. I thought for the first practice, it’s not an easy thing just jumping into a brand new team like that, but I thought he executed pretty well in some of the drills that we were doing. Maybe the biggest thing that jumped out was maybe his ability to move the puck. That skill set will certainly help us.
“Obviously he’s young and has a lot of his career ahead of him. From that standpoint, it’s exciting when you can add younger players like that into the mix and we’ll see where it goes. He’s obviously a young guy that has been fairly sought after. I know his name has come up in a few discussions throughout the course of this season with our hockey operations and we’re looking forward to getting to know him and watching him up close.”