New York Rangers: Predicting changes on defense

The New York Rangers’ defense was horrendous last season. What will it look like after this offseason?

The 2016-17 New York Rangers possessed the offense and the goaltending to make a trip to the Stanley Cup Final. However, the defense was so bad that it managed to outweigh the teams’ strengths and effectively eliminate themselves.

Dan Girardi, Nick Holden, Kevin Klein, and Marc Staal all served as some of the worst defensemen in the entire National Hockey League. On the other hand, Ryan McDonagh was his usual phenomenal self, Brady Skjei developed into a budding star, and Brendan Smith fit in perfectly after arriving from the Detroit Red Wings.

This offseason, Jeff Gorton must figure out how to optimize New York’s defense to avoid wasting another year of Henrik Lundqvist’s prime. So what will he do? The Blue Line Station team answers that question in this week’s roundtable.

*Please note this is what we THINK will happen, not what we WANT to happen*