In 2018, the New York Rangers management released a letter to the fans after a dismal 6-1 drubbing at Madison Square Garden from the Boston Bruins. The letter stated the Rangers commitment to a rebuild which would require the Blueshirts trading away popular players in the franchise for future assets. Flash forward to 2022 as the New York Rangers were eliminated by the two-time Stanley Cup winning champion Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference Finals; leaving Rangers' fans disappointed, but focus on the right words in that sentence and you'll see the optimism on Broadway. Can they take the next step that eludes many teams in their position? Let's break it down.
2021-22 Preseason expectations: The New York Rangers tied the Dallas Stars for the most points in the NHL of teams that didn't qualify for the playoffs. They also sported a +20 goal differential and a ton of young talent that got pushed around by the Washington Capitals and Tom Wilson. This led to the reshaping of the team after the unexpected firing of president John Davidson and GM Jeff Gorton. Chris Drury took over and immediately made the team tougher with additions of Barclay Goodrow, Sammy Blais and Ryan Reaves and hired former Vegas coach Gerard Gallant to raise expectations. However the Rangers were in the NHL's Metropolitan Division, which is Murder's Row. The Carolina Hurricanes were back in their division after winning the President's Trophy, the New York Islanders made back-to-back conference finals and oh yeah...Crosby and Ovechkin still play in their division. Could they make the playoffs? Gonna be tough.
2021-22 Season Results: As stated above, the New York Rangers won two playoff series and even put the defending champs on notice with a 2-0 series lead and a 2-0 Game 3 lead before they woke up a monster. After finishing second in the Metro, the Rangers took down the Pittsburgh Penguins in a controversial 7 games (Panarin in OT of Game 7) and then dismantled the Carolina Hurricanes in Carolina, where Carolina was unbeaten. The Rangers propelled themselves to the top of the NHL in November and remained in the leagues top 9 teams all season long - even a few times being tops in the league.
What Went Right: Even though Gerard Gallant's finger prints were all over this team, the Rangers got a career best 50 goal season out Chris Kreider and stellar performances from returning stars Adam Fox, Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin. However, the player with the biggest impact on the team was Vezina Trophy winning goaltender Igor Shesterkin. The Blueshirt goalie recorded a 36-13-4 record with a league BEST .935 save % and a 2.07 GAA. His efforts made him a finalist for the Hart Trophy (MVP). Despite a late season hiccup, Shesterkin was the ultimate deodorant for the Rangers when they stunk. When the young core improved in March - especially Filip Chytil, K'Andre Miller and Alexis Lafrenière - Shesterkin didn't have to work as hard at times down the stretch. After a rough first four games of the first round, Shesterkin dominated the crease for his remainder of the playoffs, never surrendering 4 goals in a game the rest of the playoffs.
What Went Wrong: It wouldn't seem like much went wrong for the Rangers in the season, but there were flaws that were masked by the MVP play of Shesterkin. The bottom pairing defense pair never fully gelled. Whether it was Patrik Nemeth's lackluster play, the slow development of Nils Lundkvist, Justin Braun being an adequate stop gap or the occasional rookie mistake out of future stud defenseman Braden Schneider, the Rangers bottom pairing was a constant problem for Gallant and his staff. It sounds minor but it's not. If the Rangers intend to compete at the highest level next season, their bottom pair cannot hinder them.
Reasons to be Optimistic: There's many of the Rangers youth that can fill this section. Kaapo Kakko looked dominant with the puck at time. Alexis Lafrenière notched 19 goals without much power play time. K'Andre Miller took a MASSIVE development leap forward during the month of March, but there's one player that may have turned the corner during the playoffs. Center Filip Chytil had 8 goals and 14 assists in the regular season and looked out of place at times at center. After a move to the wing, the Rangers put him in the middle of "The Kid Line" and he flourished down the stretch. Chytil scored 7 times in the playoffs to encourage the Rangers faith in him as a potential second line center. However, his 2 assists make you wonder if the 22 year old Czech can make the jump as a play maker.
Reasons to be Pessimistic: With a cap crunch coming due to raises to Shesterkin, Zibanejad and Fox -as well as $3.4m in cap penalties, the Rangers CURRENTLY do not have much along the lines of free cap space at the end of the season. They will need to address their backup goaltending situation with Alexander Georgiev, re-sign Kaapo Kakko and potentially bring back Tyler Motte and Andrew Copp. It'll be a bit of Cap gymnastics for GM Chris Drury and his front office, but that's what they're paid to do. First on the ballot is to move on from defenseman Patrik Nemeth, who has an 8 team no trade list, but Drury should find a taker. Drury cannot overspend because contracts for Chytil, Lafreniere and Miller are due in 2023.
What this team needs: The New York Rangers are a top heavy team with core that eats up plenty of ice time, so they don't need to swing for the fences and acquire a big name for no reason. Their power play is set and takes up a ton of time, so building PP2 is not necessary. What this team needs to do is improve their 5-on-5 play with another two way center to replace Ryan Strome. If the Rangers elevate Filip Chytil to the 2nd line center job, that would open a third line center opening and then the Blueshirts would not have to use Mika Zibanejad for match-ups. They need a steady veteran to anchor the bottom pairing - perhaps moving Jacob Trouba down but that's unlikely. Think Justin Braun in 2017... if only they had him. Perhaps they could look into Ian Cole to fill that position for the right price. For the third line center, Nick Paul certainly looked good in the ECF. Perhaps the Rangers can lure him in without breaking the bank.
2022-2023 Expectations: Ok, the Rangers have skipped a lot of steps in their rebuild process. They never really bottomed out, won two lotteries, signed two big name free agents, didn't make the playoffs and then made the Eastern Conference Finals. Pinpointing their expectations next year is difficult. Can the Stanley Cup window REALLY be opening? The Rangers were a dark horse to make it this far and some critics will say that they beat the Penguins and Hurricanes because of controversy and facing a backup goalie. All critiques aside, who in the Metro is really getting better next season? Canes have tons of free agency questions. The Penguins and Caps are getting older on top of their own roster decisions and the Islanders have moved on from Barry Trotz. Is it unreasonable to think the Rangers can win the Metro and compete for the Cup? It may not be after they made the ECF and threatened the Lightning before they shut it down. However, this team has to improve at 5-on-5 if they want to play in the Stanley Cup Finals.
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