Mark Messier shares theory for why Rangers are struggling this season

Mark Messier knows what it takes to be a champion with the New York Rangers.

But right now, the former Rangers captain says some major issues in the organization need to be repaired before it can lift the Stanley Cup again.

"I think right now the core of the Rangers is fractured," Messier said on ESPN's pre-game show before the Rangers lost 7-4 to the Washington Capitals Saturday afternoon. "And I don't think they're fractured internally, but I think there's a disconnect between management and the coaching staff, there's a lack of trust and loyalty right now. And in order to get over that it's going to take a lot of work."

The Rangers won the Presidents' Trophy last year and began this season with seven wins in their first 10 games. But since Nov. 21 the Rangers have a 5-16-0 record, with a .238 points percentage that sits last in the league over that stretch.

Messier was captain of the Rangers when they won the Stanley Cup in 1994, the franchise's only championship in the last 85 years. Before that, he was a member of the Edmonton Oilers in the 1980s, winning four Stanley Cups alongside Wayne Gretzky.

The Rangers traded captain Jacob Trouba to the Anaheim Ducks in December in a move that frustrated the players. Messier compared the Rangers' current situation to the emotions he and his Oilers teammates felt when Gretzky was traded to the Los Angeles Kings in the summer of 1988. He said he and his teammates were mad at management for the trade but they were able to channel that emotion into another championship in 1990.

"(The Rangers) don't look like a championship team right now to me with the way things have gone," Messier said. "They can overcome it, we were able to overcome it in Edmonton. As mad as we were at the ownership and the management and everything else at trading away one of our brothers. It takes a lot of work, a lot of trust, and I think the Rangers can but it's not going to be easy for them."