Jan 18, 2015; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; New York Rangers center Dominic Moore (28) and defenseman Kevin Klein (8) and center J.T. Miller (10) and defenseman Marc Staal (18) congratulate Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist (30) after defeating the Pittsburgh Penguins at the CONSOL Energy Center. The Rangers won 5-2. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
It’s only fitting that we come up with a complete Player Power Rankings list for the New York Rangers after such a dominating 2014-15 regular season.
With 52 victories and 111 points, the 2014-15 New York Rangers have put forth one of their greatest regular season efforts in franchise history.
Quite frankly, the year turned out to be a splendid surprise – considering Henrik Lundqvist’s injury was a major cause for concern. Perhaps it was this scary injury which allowed the Rangers to mold themselves into the dominant bunch they are now.
Eyes On Isles
Think about it.
For a long time (especially under John Tortorella), the Rangers relied on the goaltender. Playing such a drastic collapsing defense and coming with the strategy to block shots and win games 2-1 or 1-0, New York had the defensive side ingrained into their DNA.
While Alain Vigneault’s arrival changed the personality drastically, it could be argued the team didn’t fully make their “get it and go” transition until they knew The King wasn’t there to bail them out anymore.
Suddenly the team knew they needed to score goals, and that’s exactly what they did. Along the way, players stepped up and a Presidents’ Trophy winner was crowned.
The question we ask ourselves today, is how would the Rangers roster shake out if we decided to each of them one by one. This list is based purely on the here and now. Yes, history will also be taken into account (as it always and naturally is), but we rank each Rangers player to how talented and valuable they currently are to this squad.
Here are the end of regular season New York Rangers Player Power Rankings:
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