Progression is not always linear. Yeah, it's an old cliche, but it's true for so many reasons. Life throws too many curveballs for progression to go in a straight line. Nothing personifies this more than the 2022's Eastern Conference Finalists New York Rangers. True, they did not make the 2022 Stanley Cup Finals, but many expected this young promising team to "take the next step." However, the 2022-23 season was like getting a bacon, egg and cheese bagel, taking it home, walking up the steps and falling on your face, skinning you knee badly. Yeah you got your breakfast but you got a bloody knee and didn’t even make it to the door yet. This year, the Rangers stumbled and skinned their shin, but will they eventually get to their door with the bagel in tow next year?
22-23 Expectations: Not doubt about it, the New York Rangers felt like their Stanley Cup window was opening. This was going to be the first time since 1994 that the Blueshirts would return Lord Stanley to Broadway. It began with a 3-1 win over the team that knocked them out last year, the Tampa Bay Lightning. This was a sign that the Rangers were on they way! The 7-3 win over the Minnesota Wild two days later helped fuel the energy. The Cup was not only the goal, but it was ACTUALLY attainable.
22-23 Result: Clearly, the Rangers did not bring home the Stanley Cup. Hell they didn't even get out of the First Round of the playoffs. They were eliminated by the new New Jersey Devils in 7 games after taking a dominating 2-0 lead in the series; winning games 1 & 2 by the score of 5-1. Simply put, the Devils adjusted and the Rangers did not. This was after the New York Rangers added Blues winger Vladimir Tarasenko and defenseman Niko Mikkola right after the All Star Break; followed by a reunion with Tyler Motte and landing the big fish, Chicago Blackhawks Winger Patrick Kane. The Kane trade was for peanuts and he did reward the Rangers with 5 goals and 7 assists in 19 games. Tarasenko notched 21 points in his 31 games on Broadway. Chris Drury bet BIG like Matt Damon at the beginning of Rounders. Unfortunately, the Devils were holding Aces when it came to the river like John Malkovich was at the beginning for Rounders.
What went right: Plenty. The New York Rangers swapped out Ryan Strome for Vincent Trocheck in 2022 Free Agency. Trocheck would deposit the puck 22 times with 42 apples for the Rangers and his 64 points were the 2nd most in his career. He was a superior defensive center to Strome as well while dominating the face-off circle (56.1%) where the Rangers struggled mightily in recent years (2019-22 F/O 46.6%). Though Chris Kreider had a drop from his career high 52 goal season, he still scored 36 goals. Mika Zibanejad had a career high 91 points as he almost scored 40 goals again (39). Artemi Panarin cemented himself as one of the greatest Blueshirt scorers with his THIRD 90 point season with the team that is paying him A LOT. Adam Fox was a finalist for the Norris Trophy (results pending) again, showing that he's one of the NHL's best defenseman. The "Kid Line" of Filip Chytil-Kaapo Kakko-Alexis Lafreniere all hit new career highs in points. This team cleared 100 points again in the Regular Season, even when some of us thought they were dead and buried in December.
What went wrong: Inconsistency. The Rangers often didn't look like the same team in consecutive games. While the Rangers followed horrible stretches, they followed up with incredible streaks. From October 20th to December 3rd, the Rangers were 8-9-5, out scored 59-64 and looked overwhelmed by even the lowly Chicago Blackhawks. Then they went on a 22-4-3 TEAR, outscoring their opponents 113-73 in that span. They promptly sank into a 2-5-1 stretch, outscored 20-30. As horrible as this paragraph was, imagine watching this bi-polar team.
The other problem was 5-on-5 scoring. The New York Rangers were 10th in the NHL at 5-on-5 scoring (182), but in the playoffs they only managed 11 5-on-5 goals vs NJ. NJ actually had LESS than NYR, but it was clear that the Rangers struggled at even strength in the postseason. They need a game that will translate to the NHL playoffs. It's easy to point out the stars lack of production in the 2023 playoffs, but the scheme of the team had something to do with it.
Reasons to be optimistic: The Rangers feature three 39 point scorers under the age of 24. The "Kid Line" saw Chytil notch 45 points, Kakko 40 and Lafreniere 39 points respectively. They were able to do it with an Average Time on Ice of 15:18 (Kakko) or LESS. While Rangers fans have been chirping their 1st round picks - with some deserved criticism - the lack of production could be connected to their usage. One would suggest that increasing their ice time would improve their production. However, Gerard Gallant was reluctant to do so. The Rangers hope 2020 1st Round pick Brennan Othmann can come in and give a new spark to this lineup like he did in the 2022 Pre-Season. One name that will be interesting is defenseman Matthew Robertson. Can he make the jump to the NHL or will the Rangers have to find a 6th defenseman in free agency?
Reasons to be pessimistic: Honestly, this team had 107 points and lost in the playoffs to 112 team. They lost to a better team. Maybe not in roster construction, or in net, but coaching was certainly the difference. As rumors swirl about the future of Gerard Gallant, at the time of this article, he's still the Rangers coach. He stayed-the-course when Devils coach Lindy Ruff made adjustments. By the time Game 4's clock hit 0, it was clear that he lost control of the series. If you want proof, check out the NHL.com Game Recap for Game 4. The Rangers have 2 shots shown. That was it. In Game 5, down 3-0, the Devils BLITZED the Rangers net with 20 shots to the Blueshirts' 2. However no play symbolized the Rangers quit in Game 5 like Artemi Panarin's lazy back check that led to Dawson Mercer's shorthanded goal. The Rangers surrendered 3 shorthanded goals in that series, making them a +3 on the Power Play after scoring 6 power play goals in the series. That's not good!
Note: During the writing of this article, the Rangers parted ways with Gerard Gallant and are now searching for a new coach. Click this link for our reaction stream. The simple fact is that the Rangers need a quality X's and O's coach that will give them structure and a system that will work in the playoffs.
23-24 Expectations: With their current core, the New York Rangers should be be Cup candidates again, but they will need to take a hard look in the mirror. Not sure how much flexibility the roster has under the cap, but is it as simple as finding a new voice? The Rangers had a Cup worthy roster, but failed to get out of the first round despite dominating Games 1 & 2. Is it the players or is it something more? It's questions that are going to need answers soon because the Rangers could enter "Leafs territory" soon.
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