The New York Rangers sent their captain to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the biggest deal of the trade deadline. Rangerstown will sorely miss Ryan McDonagh’s presence.
General Manager Jeff Gorton finally ripped off the band-aid. The trade of the Rangers captain dramatically alters the course of the franchise. Long gone are the perennial Stanley Cup contender Rangers of the past decade. The team is officially playing the long game.
The team acquired Ryan McDonagh from the Montreal Canadiens prior to the 2009 NHL entry draft. This deal is one of the best in recent memory as the Rangers sent aging veteran Scott Gomez, forward Tom Pyatt and Michael Busto for the then college sophomore McDonagh.
The build-up was linear and methodical for the franchise’s best defenseman of the Henrik Lundqvist era. After finishing his junior season with the Badgers, McDonagh spent less than half a season in Hartford before making the jump to the NHL as a 21-year-old. Straight out of the gate, then coach John Tortorella rode McDonagh heavy on a young emerging team.
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It did not take long for McDonagh to establish himself as a standout and one of the league’s best. It is not easy to see the defenseman traded away after such a strong start to a promising career. The Tampa Bay Lightning are getting a great hockey player and an even better person.
On the ice
The pipeline’s other defensive prospects paled in comparison to McDonagh. The call-up of McDonagh gave the team’s defense a much needed shot in the arm. At the time, Marc Staal and Dan Girardi were the leaders in ice time for the team. The problem with this was the fact that neither Girardi or Staal had an offensive component to their game.
The emergence of McDonagh as a two-way defenseman stimulated a great overall team defense. At one point, McDonagh and Dan Girardi were arguably the best defensive pair in the entire league. During the team’s second-round exit in the 2013 playoffs, the pair played close to thirty minutes per night.
The following season was when McDonagh made the jump to one of the best in the entire league. The defenseman’s smooth skating enabled quick zone breakouts and his strong instincts made things happen. The team got a view at his ceiling during the playoff run that season when he had 17 points in 25 games.
The Rangers had their number one defenseman for the foreseeable future on a team friendly contract. Around McDonagh however, the defense started to crumble and it took its toll. Pairing a star like McDonagh with an aging Girardi and inadequate Nick Holden was a waste of talent.
The intangibles
Quantifying things that aren’t done with the puck are very difficult. But, there is something to be said for the way McDonagh carried himself, especially once he became captain. Although he was not a vocal leader in the same sense as a traditional captain, he led by example on the ice and commanded respect from his peers with his play.
Away from the rink, there was little McDonagh was not good about. On his walk to the arena, he would always make a point of stopping for fans and not pushing through the crowd. I can personally recollect multiple occasions in which the captain stopped for at least ten minutes to make sure that every single person in a crowd got the autograph or a picture that they wanted.
There are expectations for what a hockey player is supposed to be, especially for an iconic franchise like the Rangers. When he was called up, then head coach Tortorella put an emphasis on playing the game “the right way.” The Rangers owe Tortorella a debt of gratitude for the player McDonagh developed into under his watch.
The guts that the captain played with were absolutely gut-wrenching. For the entirety of the 2015 conference final, McDonagh played through the pain of a broken foot and was still an impact player. The level of dedication to the team that he played with is something all players should aspire to duplicate.
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Watching McDonagh grow into one of the league’s best players was a truly rewarding process. From all of us in Rangerstown, thank you, Ryan McDonagh, for giving it everything you had every single night for each and every one of us. We are going to miss you more than you could ever know, best of luck.