New York Rangers are Still Cup Contenders

While they may have a ton of question marks surrounding them, the New York Rangers could very well make a run in the playoffs next year if the players bounce back.

I used to be a very pessimistic fan.

I grew up watching New York Rangers games with my Dad, who has been a huge fan of the team since the late 70’s. Over the years he had seen so many things happen to his favorite team that left him scratching his head time after time. Whether it was a bad trade or a blown lead or whatever the case may have been, he always expected the worst possible thing to happen.

When the team won the Stanley Cup in 1994, he was ecstatic. He never thought he would see the day that a New York Ranger would lift that beautiful piece of glowing silver over there head in his lifetime. After the next few seasons, his pessimism was back in full swing, seeing the Rangers continue to botch opportunity after opportunity just like they did in his early days of watching hockey.

He then passed his fandom on to me.

When I started watching hockey after the lockout of 2004-2005, I was head over heals in love with the game from the get go. My Dad would always warn me, though; be ready to be disappointed. I didn’t know what that meant yet. The Rangers were in first place in the Eastern Conference at the time. Jaromir Jagr was in the midst of his franchise leading 54 goals, 123 point season and the team was absolutely rolling. Then after the Olympic break, gold medal winning rookie goaltender Henrik Lundqvist dealt with a few injuries, which made the Rangers fall down the standings, only to have them swept in the first round of the playoffs by the New Jersey Devils.

That was just the beginning of my pessimism. Add all the horrible signings of guys like Aaron Ward, Scott Gomez, Wade Redden, and Chris Drury which all bombed, the continuous losing in the 1st round of the playoffs and the shootout loss to the Flyers after a washed up Olli Jokinen failed to score the shootout-tying goal in game 82 of the 2009-2010 season, and the pessimism finally consumed my entire being as far as hockey was concerned.

The 2011-2012 season was a welcomed change for me. I wasn’t used to seeing the Rangers win playoff series, so the fact that they won 2 when nobody expected them to do anything was awesome. Losing to the Devils stung, but they exceeded my expectations by a lot, so I couldn’t really be that mad.

Seeing the team go to the conference finals twice in the next 3 seasons including one run to the Stanley Cup Finals was eye-opening and inspiring. It was like, the team that I had known to screw up in every single situation was finally starting to get everything right.

And then came last season.

It was like the team began to revert back into its old habits of trading for washed up stars–like the Eric Staal trade–and misusing personnel–too many players to list. The team got obliviated in the first round by the soon to be Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins.

But I still feel optimistic.

Over the past few weeks, you cannot read a New York Rangers blog post or go on Twitter without seeing tons of negativity. I think a majority of the fan base is on board with the notion that nothing the New York Rangers do this offseason matters unless you trade Dan Girardi or Marc Staal.

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The Rangers forward group as presently constructed may be one of the deepest groups the team has had in the past few years–which is saying a lot. The additions of Michael Grabner and Nathan Gerbe to the bottom 6 really gives you that speed that the Rangers sorely missed last year, and the fact that the both of them are fantastic penalty killers makes the signings even better.

But Rangers fans are right, the defense needs to be improved before people will consider them cup contenders. But all of this is said while also agreeing that the Rangers are a playoff team.

Which automatically makes them a Stanley Cup contender.

Look, if you get to the dance, anything is possible. We see it all the time where a team that nobody expected to win gets very deep into the playoffs. Look at this year’s Stanley Cup final, for instance. On January 2nd, the Sharks were in 4th in the Pacific Division, 2 games over .500 with a total of 38 points. At the end of the regular season, there were only 2 teams in the Western Conference Playoffs with fewer points than the Sharks. Who would have considered the Sharks a “cup contender” then?

There is still plenty of time in the offseason and plenty of moves left to be made. If the Rangers do make a trade and send either Staal or Girardi packing, then, yes they will be a better team and definitely a more credible team.

I do think both players will have better years next season with the extra month and a half off to recover from a stretch of practically playing 6 seasons in the last 5 years. I also think Marc Staal isn’t as bad as we make him out to be sometimes. I think he can be a real solid number 5 defenseman for a team, he just can’t be getting top pairing minutes.

The loss of puck moving defenseman Keith Yandle, and I guess even to a lesser extent Dan Boyle will no doubt hurt the team, but the Rangers have plenty of time to make adjustments there. Brady Skjei will never be the same type of player Yandle was. A better comparable for his game is Ryan McDonagh, so don’t go into the season expecting him to replace Yandle’s offensive production.

I think with the penalty kill improved so much on paper, it will help solve some of our defensive woes to get the team to a 2 or 3 seed in the Metropolitan Division at the least.

Who knows what is ahead of the team. We still have time this offseason to see some moves happen, so the team is probably far from finished, especially on the phones with other GMs. It sounds as if the team knows what areas they need to improve on, so that gives me some faith.

There is still plenty of time left for the names on paper to hit the ice. Until that happens, nobody really knows how the season will shake out. Although their division looks to have gotten stronger with the Devils acquiring Taylor Hall, the Hurricanes making some really smart signings and trades, and having the reigning Stanley Cup champs sitting there as well, the Rangers, while they will still be getting all they can handle, will be a very competitive team.

Last year was a down year for everybody except for Derick Brassard, Mats Zuccarello, and J.T. Miller. What if Rick Nash gets back to scoring 30 goals? What if Chirs Kreider and Kevin Hayes finally break out? What if Alain Vigneault gets his head out of his rear end? So much can change, so considering where this team has been with much of the same core over the last few years, saying that the team has no chance at contention is foolish.

Next: New York Rangers Best of 2015-2015: An Electrifying Comeback

The bottom line is this, the New York Rangers look to be a playoff team on paper, so if the right players bounce back, the others continue to progress in their development, and GM Jeff Gorton continues to make moves putting the team in the right direction, then there is no reason to think the New York Rangers won’t be a team that could win it all come next April when the playoffs are getting underway.

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