New York Rangers: Ranking the last five offseasons

Fifth: 2015

The Rangers were fresh off a disappointing defeat to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference Finals, and at a crossroads. After winning the President’s Trophy, the season was cut shorter than anyone expected. It was Stanley Cup or bust.

A changing of the guard was needed, and Jeff Gorton was promoted to be the new General Manager. Longtime General Manager Glen Sather would take on a new role as team President.

Draft Day Trades

The Rangers were extremely active on draft day, and traded left winger Carl Hagelin, the 59th overall pick, and the 179th overall pick, to the Anaheim Ducks. In return, the Rangers got back winger Emerson Etem, and the 41st overall pick who turned out to be forward Ryan Gropp.

Trading the speedy Hagelin was clearly a cap saving move, as the Rangers couldn’t afford to pay him a new contract. In retrospect, maybe they should have. Etem didn’t even last one season on Broadway, and was a failed project from the beginning. In 19 games, he had just three assists. He was later traded to Vancouver for forward Nicklas Jensen.

That same draft, the Rangers traded Cam Talbot and the 209th overall pick to the Edmonton Oilers. The Rangers got back three picks for Talbot, but none in the first two rounds.

This offseason was one to forget because the Rangers sold low on both Talbot and Hagelin. The only positive was the trade to bring Antti Raanta to New York for AHL forward Ryan Haggerty. It was an absolute mystery how that’s all it took to acquire a quality back up goaltender.

Other than Raanta, the only other noticeable addtion was Viktor Stalberg. This Rangers team clearly needed a revamp, and didn’t get one. As a result, they were eliminated in five games in the first round to the Pittsburgh Penguins.