The modern NHL now has a formula for developing a successful team for a several year window. The New York Rangers are in the middle of step one of the process.
Building an NHL roster that can compete for a Stanley Cup is amongst the greatest challenges in sports. The team has to be consistent enough to hold up to the grind of an 82 game regular season while also enduring the flukiness of the postseason for four series. As the New York Rangers very well know, success in the regular season does not exactly translate to the playoffs.
Right now, the way to win is a hybrid of using the draft and cap space to create the proper mix of talent. Teams that have used this model include the Washington Capitals, Pittsburgh Penguins, Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs and the Tampa Bay Lightning.
All five of those organizations utilized the draft to develop the core of their respective teams. Through the draft a franchise can acquire elite talent on entry level contracts. The entry level contract is typically three years and cannot exceed $925,000 per season. In conjunction with those contracts, a team will typically add through free agency.
Related Story: Ranking Flip Chytil's best potential line mates
The Toronto Maple Leafs are just the most recent team to use this model to great success. Through a slow burn, the team created the perfect storm to add free agent center John Tavares to an already talented group of forwards.
The Toronto Model
Now, it will be difficult for the New York Rangers to exactly duplicate the Maple Leafs model. First, New York will not be as bad as Toronto was for as long as they were. For three consecutive seasons the Maple Leafs selected in the top ten of the entry draft. With those three picks the team selected William Nylander, Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews.
Simply put, New York cannot bottom out the way Toronto did for a pair of reasons. First, there is the obvious, Henrik Lundqvist is not simply going to role over and accept a terrible season. The goaltender is too good of a player and too intense of a player to accept what’s in front of him. There were points during the 2017-2018 season that the Rangers would have been better off not playing the Swede because he was winning games by himself.
So, in addition to Lundqvist, the Rangers also do not have as high end talent as Toronto. Sure, Filip Chytil, Lias Andersson, Vitali Kravtsov and Pavel Buchnevich all figure to be quality NHL players. However, none of them are in the same breath as a game breaker like Auston Matthews. It is early in each of those respective prospect’s development, so anything is possible, but do not expect 70 or 80 points out of any of them.
All about the money
Now, this is where the Rangers can stick it to the rest of the NHL. As things currently sit, the team has $23.725 million in cap space following the Vladislav Namestnikov extension. This is amongst the most cap space in the entire league and allows the front office to have great financial flexibility. The team still has the opportunity to acquire future assets in return for burying bad contracts.
So, even if the team does not trade for Erik Karlsson or Artemi Panarin, the front office can get in on the action. The Rangers could plausibly get a pair of draft picks to bury the Bobby Ryan contract from the Senators while Karlsson goes to a third team. These type of trades are more common in the NBA, but do occasionally happen in the NHL.
There is also the allure of next year’s free agent class. The Rangers could look to pull a page out of the Maple Leafs playbook and court the biggest fish in the pond next summer. As things currently sit, Dallas Stars center Tyler Seguin is to hit free agency on July 1 of next year. The team will have the cap space to offer the multiple time all star the 7 year $11 million per season contract that is the going rate for elite centers.
What to take away
The New York Rangers are the in the drivers seat to controlling their own future. The team has all of its draft picks for the foreseeable future, ample cap space for free agents and extensions as well as time. Outside of Lundqvist, the team has no key contributors that do not fit the team’s window of contention. There is an argument to be made for Mats Zuccarello, however, his 50 or so points is not irreplaceable.
The team has no expectation of competing next season and it will do player development wonders. The Rangers have a new head coach in David Quinn that has to implement a new system and teach it to his players. System implementation is an ugly and often time consuming process. There is the outside possibility the team continues to unwind its long term contracts to secure assets for the future.
Next: Getting to know K'Andre Miller
The Rangers have the resources and the prospect pool to be a competitive team in a few seasons. Combine that with a free agent signing or trade and it is not hard to imagine the team returning to its former success.