The New York Rangers were in the midst of the best stretch in the franchise’s history until this season. There were several players who made the team as successful as it was.
When a team misses the postseason after being a perennial contender, it’s natural to take stock. For the most part, the teams of the past five years do not have much connection to the current team. Just three players, Henrik Lundqvist, Marc Staal and Jesper Fast, remain from the 2014 Stanley Cup Final team.
One of the more interesting things to watch over time was the development of the team. The Rangers compiled a unique mix of home grown talent and outside hired mercenaries. The team went through two head coaches, and went from bubbling with talent to serious contender. The emergence of a young talented core made the prolonged success of the previous eight years possible.
Unfortunately, the Rangers never achieved their ultimate goal of winning the Stanley Cup. New York came awfully close three separate times. In fact, the Rangers have the most playoff wins this decade of any team that has not won the Stanley Cup. The organization went all in at the trade deadline multiple times and as a result had a barren cupboard of prospects.
Now, the team is extremely green and in dire need of seasoning. This is an ode to the heroes of the Henrik Lundqvist era.