New York Rangers: Five things that’ll make this season worth the wait
We know how much the offseason can drag on, but the New York Rangers will do some things this season to make the wait worth while.
As I wrote a few days ago, it is officially the dog days of summer where there really isn’t much news to talk about involving the New York Rangers. With the Traverse City tournament starting on September 7, the league’s general managers and their players are trying to enjoy the last few weeks of free time .
And while it might stink to have to wait another few weeks for the prospect tournament, about a month for preseason and a month and a half for the regular season, their will be enough cool stuff going down in RangersTown this year to make the season worth the wait.
Milestones, victories, trades and clarity are all around the bend for the Garden Faithful soon enough. Of course their will be a lot of loses and injuries that’ll keep the fan base grounded, just like every other season. The caveat is that their will be much more of the former than in previous seasons.
Here is our top five reasons the 2018-19 season will be worth the wait. Let us know what your most excited about for the upcoming season on Twitter by tweeting @BlueLineStation.
A Fresh Start
For a number of players on the roster, a fresh start is needed. They’ll get it when training camp opens up in mid-September.
One of the poster boys of “The Players Who Need Fresh Starts” committee is Brendan Smith. After signing a four-year deal worth $17.4 million, Smith had a very rough season. He reportedly came into training camp out of shape and it showed.
The veteran only spent 44 lackluster games with the Blueshirts before the team put him on waivers. The once thought to be prized free agent signing went unclaimed to the surprise of no one, and he wound up finishing his season in Hartford.
Even his time in Hartford couldn’t steer clear of controversy, as he and teammate Vinni Lettieri got into a fist-fight at a Wolf Pack practice. Smith broke his hand and was out for the remainder of the season.
He’s not the only one desperately in need of a fresh start.
Vladislav Namestnikov was a guy that no one expected to be back with the Rangers.
After not producing well in his 19 games as a Ranger (he only tallied two goals and two assists in those games) it appeared that the team would deal either him or Ryan Spooner at the draft for another mid-tier prospect or mid-round draft pick. That ultimately didn’t happen, and both of them ended up signing identical two-year, $8 million contracts.
Other players including Kevin Shattenkirk, who’s coming off of an injury, Matt Beleskey, who’s coming off the worst season of his career, and more will be trying to do the same thing; reclaim their roles as NHL regulars who give the team a chance to win every night.
The Youth Movement
Amongst the most attractive reasons to look forward to New York Rangers hockey once again will be the amount of youth injected into an old, rotting lineup.
Of course you know the big names like Filip Chytil and Lias Andersson. Both of the team’s 2017 first round picks played a handful of NHL games in 2017-18.
In nine NHL games, Chytil produced a goal and two assists, while Andersson tallied one goal and one assist in seven games. Both will have every chance to make the NHL squad out of camp. Chytil probably figures to play on the second line as a wing while Andersson will likely center the third line.
Part of the reason the Rangers kept players like Spooner and Namestnikov around is so that these two youngsters have some solid NHL talent around them instead of playing with a pile of career minor leagues. That’ll help their development a ton.
Other players expected to take a shot at a full time NHL role this season out of the Rangers’ 11th ranked farm system are forwards Vinni Lettieri, Boo Nieves, Gabriel Fontaine, Ville Meskanen, Michael Lindqvist, Brett Howden and more. There are also defenseman like Ryan Lindgren and Libor Hajek who have a chance to join Neal Pionk, Tony DeAngelo and John Gilmour in one of the league’s younger defensive groups.
Their could be growing pains, but for fans interested in prospect development, this is a great stable of players to observe.
The Dawn of David Quinn
In his first season as an NHL head coach, David Quinn will be tasked with commanding one of the league’s top 10 youngest teams.
After coming to New York from Boston University, Quinn will bring a lot of new things to the organization.
The first thing that Quinn will bring is a new voice. After the Rangers fired John Tortorella in 2013, then general manager Glen Sather told the media that every coach in the NHL “has a shelf life.”
It’s funny that quote is as popular as it is, but it is very true. After a long time, the same voice could get stale. The Rangers new regime figured this out six hours after the 2017-18 season ended when they fired head coach Alain Vigneault. This new voice and new approach will give the players in the room a fresh start.
The second thing is accountability. Quinn has often said that he describes his coaching style as “demanding but fair.” He wants to get the most out of his players and the way he communicates with them helps him do just that. This prevents players from coming to camp out-of-shape or helps them reach new levels in training.
He also believes in holding young players accountable but not taking away their ice time due to mistakes. This is where his skill as a developer will come into play.
A puck-possession, north-south game plan that focuses on defense with a young core? Most of the Rangers’ fan base would sign up for that in a heartbeat.
A Resolution in the Kevin Hayes Saga
The Rangers’ fan base thought it was very peculiar when one of the team’s young leaders was signed to a one-year deal a season before being eligible for unrestricted free agency.
Coach Quinn noted in an interview with NHL.com’s Dan Rosen that Hayes and the team view the contract as an “earn-it” deal.
While that might be the case, the Rangers need to either re-sign him before the trade deadline or trade him. It’s very black-and-white.
While it is on a much smaller scale then the Islanders/John Tavares saga, Hayes leaving the Rangers for nothing in unrestricted free agency for nothing would be a humongous failure for the organization.
While it is understandable that they don’t wanna lock up a player into his 30’s when they have plenty of young, quality prospects at his position. At the end of the day, he could be used as a huge trade asset, but the Rangers need to have a game plan here.
Hayes could very well have a career season in a role that asks more of him offensively and less of him defensively. It will be interesting to see how Quinn deploys him going forward.
No Expectations
When was the last time the New York Rangers weren’t expected to make a playoff push? 2005? It will certainly be a change of pace with the team not having high external expectations.
The team will be playing with house money in 2018-19 and could certainly prove some people wrong.
The Metropolitan Division is deep. The Capitals and the Penguins have combined for the last three Stanley Cup Championships. The Columbus Blue Jackets and the Philadelphia Flyers are serious contenders to win the division. The New Jersey Devils and Carolina Hurricanes have very good core groups and could be in line to finish in the wild card slots.
The Rangers and Islanders are the clear bottom two teams in the division, and while their is probably no way the Islanders finish clear of the bottom five in the league, the Rangers could potentially push for a playoff spot.
They have a pretty deep forward unit, and if Skjei, Shattenkirk and Smith return to form and a player like Neal Pionk continues to develop, the team could have a good enough arsenal to make it interesting.
Next. Looking at the cost of other teams' success around the league. dark
Is it likely? Probably not. But you never wanna count out a hungry, young team with something to prove.