New York Rangers general manager Jeff Gorton has limited time to save his sinking ship in Manhattan.
If the rumors (i.e. that now-infamous Larry Brooks article’s claims) are true, no Ranger is safe from the chopping board unless his name is Hank, Skjei, or Buchnevich; the team won’t (or can’t) buy out Girardi; and they can’t afford to keep Keith Yandle. Add Minnesota’s flirtation with Derek Stepan and Rick Nash’s generally dismal potential and you’ve got the organization’s overall vibes going into the off-season. Things are going to happen to the Rangers in some shape or form, and it’s up to Gorton to decide just how said things get done.
In short: the Rangers have a legitimate opportunity to fix their problems this year, but Jeff Gorton’s decisions in the off-season are paramount for such solutions to occur.
Focus on gaining rather than removing
The Rangers’ repeated history of making horrible contracts ensures that the Blueshirts will be stuck with less than satisfactory players—significantly Dan Girardi—for a few more seasons.
According to Brooks, the Rangers front office does not intend to buy out the remainder of Girardi’s contract, which keeps him a part of the roster for another four years with an annual $5.5 million cap charge. The series of injuries Girardi played through during the season contributed to the decline in his performance, that’s definite. And resting during the long off-season could prove beneficial to his game. But even if you give Girardi the benefit of the doubt and say his season was impacted by continuous injuries, he would still more than likely be the worst defenseman on the team by a wide margin. Why? Let’s be realistic: at 32, Girardi isn’t getting any better. He’s not a Jagr and thus won’t be playing like an all-star in his forties. In 74 games, he only scored two goals and added 15 assists, amassing just 17 points. Compare that to his early seasons, 2007-08 for example, when he played 82 games and scored 10 goals with 18 assists for 28 points.
Aging is natural and expected. No one thought Girardi would stay young and fresh forever. But you can’t deny that he’s not the player he used to be.
That being said, the team would have to sacrifice something desirable—like a first-round draft pick, or even several picks—in order to get rid of the defenseman. (Honestly, that’s exactly what it is at this point—finding out how to remove Girardi from the roster is like trying to convince someone to take your spoiled milk.) Why is that a problem? Those opportunities allow us to claim young, rising players with the potential to be molded into the next great Ranger.
At the end of the day, the Rangers have little-to-no chance of moving him or his ridiculous salary without a buyout—the implications of which just aren’t worth the effort. Sure, the Rangers have the money, but that money should be used towards building a better future, not fixing past mistakes.
Gorton might be able to play up Girardi’s flops this season as the results of hampering injuries, but ultimately the Rangers are best off looking for players that can eliminate the need to rely upon his usage rather than ways to get him off the squad immediately.
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Invest youth, not in experience
The Rangers want a younger team, but they consistently show a willingness to part with prospects (like Ryan Mantha) for mediocre returns.
In February, the Rangers exchanged a pair of second-round draft picks (in 2016 and 2017) and Finnish prospect Aleksi Saarela for Eric Staal of the Carolina Hurricanes. Staal was captain of the ‘Canes, for which he played since 2003, and won the 2006 Stanley Cup. The face of the franchise, he scored 322 goals and earned 775 points in his 909 games with the Hurricanes. But he’s 31.
Saarela, meanwhile, is 19. He was taken in the third round of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft out of Assat in the Finnish Liiga and significantly was a part of the gold-medal winning team at the 2016 World Junior Hockey Championship, in which he scored four goals and added three assists. He clearly has a solid career already, promising an even more solid career once his performance has matured.
Those two draft picks could have given the Rangers two more Saarelas—two more young players eager to make the Rangers a winning franchise.
The Rangers are too busy relying on past models of success (i.e. Staal) when they instead should be looking at future possibilities. Jeff Gorton must invest in players that can be cultivated into future stars for the team, or even just younger merchandise for the dying machine that is the Rangers.
Stop relying on demigods to save the team
Girardi isn’t the only Blueshirt conforming to his age. Here’s the truth: Henrik Lundqvist is 34-years-old. The godlike specimen of a man everyone is relying upon to give us a Cup, is the third-oldest player on the team.
In hockey years, that means he’s past his prime and has carried the team as long as he can. But we can’t seem to process that. To us, he’s still the one-and-only savior who can’t and won’t be replaced.
Hank may still be performing well (at least compared to the rest of the squad), but how much longer can we rationally expect him to be the beast in the crease? There’s a mythology associated with the goaltender that has permanently created a pro-Hank bias in the minds of fans. Thus, we are stubborn to change, even when that change could be beneficial. Even if that change means preparing another, younger goalie to protect the net when Hank finally decides enough is enough.
But that mythification extends beyond Lundqvist. Fans are already seeing Buchnevich as the Chosen One, as the personification of hope for the team. Now, to be fair, Buchnevich has nice stats: in 58 games this year, he scored 16 goals, had 21 assists and thus acquired 37 points. He also just turned 21, so he’s only just coming into his own on the ice. But he has yet to make a name for himself, or a place for himself, on the squad—we haven’t seen him mesh with the other Blueshirts and actually make noticeably contributions to the team. Already, expectations are weighing down the young player, and it wouldn’t be surprising if they are too overwhelming for his first season in the NHL.
This isn’t just a problem for fans, however. The Rangers front office also holds these biases towards players, believing a meager helping of spectacular players will compensate for multiple mediocre ones. The longer they refuse to accept reality, the longer it will take to improve the team.
Next: New York Rangers Won't Sign Three 2014 Draft Picks
The bottom line: If you build a solid team, wins will come
The Rangers are desperately in need of retooling and have no choice but to make that—not a successfully playoff run—their focus this season. This isn’t the Leafs Curse, in which every season is a rebuilding season while victory is inevitably unattainable. This switching up of the hardware is just the undeniable situation the Blueshirts have put themselves in and now need to get themselves out of.