There are mounting cries for GM Chris Drury to do something and to do something now in the midst of these early-winter doldrums through which the Rangers have won just eight of their past 16 games (8-7-1) while allowing at least six goals in a game four times and four goals in a game eight times.

Unfortunately for the Blueshirts, it is not so simple to make trades in the month of January in a cap-driven NHL in which, according to CapFriendly, 17 teams are currently using long-term injured reserve to maintain compliance. Those teams’ caps are frozen in time.

Beyond the cap, it is too early for teams in the vast middle class to declare as buyers or sellers in a market that generally percolates only 10 days or so before the deadline, which is set for March 8 this year. There are examples of jumping the market, though those are somewhat rare.

Drury and the Rangers acquired Vlad Tarasenko and Niko Mikkola last Feb. 9, three weeks ahead of the 2023 deadline. The Islanders’ Lou Lamoriello moved earlier than that, getting Bo Horvat from the Canucks on Jan. 30. That was the same date on which Carolina GM Jim Rutherford acquired Doug Weight in 2006, a key move that triggered the Hurricanes’ run to the Stanley Cup.