The conventional measure of a team’s success is their wins and losses record and how they do in the playoffs. However, the New York Rangers cannot properly asses its season in the standard way.
Typically a team’s quality can be tabulated through simple wins and losses. In the short term a team’s record can be misleading, over the course of an entire season though, it typically finds its level. There are always teams that exceed their preseason expectations. But, in the case of the New York Rangers, is their a quantifiable benchmark for a positive season?
A rebuilding team does not have the same desired outcome as a contender, so it would mean a different goal. For the longest time, the Ranger organization was obsessed with winning the Stanley Cup at any cost. Often at the expense of the future with little regard for the consequences.
In turn, this set the franchise up on a precarious path that was unsustainable. Quality teams can only stay at the top of the league if they have young cost efficient players to replace those who leave in free agency or get traded.
Now that the organization is somewhere on the course of a rebuild, there still needs to be some long term goals. Coming up with achievable goals is part of developing institutional success in helps of eventually returning to contender status.
When a team embarks on a rebuild without any direction, it ends up like the Buffalo Sabres and Vancouver Canucks. A nice collection of high draft picks and overpriced veterans that are always one year away from being ready. These perpetual rebuilds are a cycle that breeds toxic management and stunts player development.
Youth integration
First and foremost, rebuilding teams fail when they don’t put their young players in a position to succeed. Whether it be asking the prospect to do too much or playing them in the wrong situation, it is harmful either way.
Take the development of Pavel Buchnevich for example. The Rangers’ former head coach, Alain Vigneault, failed to put the Russian forward in the right situation. As a rookie Buchnevich was forced to play on the fourth line with less talented players, a waste of his skillset. This stunted the forward’s development by a season.
For this upcoming season, the Rangers need to see tangible progress out of several prospects. The big two, Lias Andersson and Filip Chytil, have a lot invested in them. As first round picks, both forwards are valued as potentially franchise shifting players.
New York needs to get a return on investment in the 2017 first round picks to see where the organization is in terms of the rebuild. If both stick on and play well at the NHL level, the team can turn its attention to other parts of the roster. The team’s defense is still an issue for the long term, but if either Andersson or Chytil have issues, the prospect(s) will need to be evaluated.
Culture development
The other reason that rebuilds fail is a lack of culture. All good teams have developed a culture and carry themselves a certain way. Last year’s Ranger team was a failure for a number of reasons including a lack of culture. The players on the ice looked like they were going through the motions and when something went wrong, they did not know what to do.
This can be chalked up to Vigneault having no idea how to handle young players. Under his style of leadership, the players were left to police themselves and lead through example.
On the other end of the spectrum is the team’s new coach, David Quinn. The Boston University alumni has changed the attitude within the team during his brief tenure already. While it is early to say that Quinn has the players where they need to be, the guys on the ice look infinitely more engaged.
If the Rangers lose a lot of game this season, but play tough, that would be clear tangible progress. Instead of the egregious blowouts that the team suffered last season, hanging in would be a sign of character. The team does not have a ton of talent, especially on defense, but there are a few pieces that should keep them in games.
In conclusion
If the new coaching staff can integrate the young talent into the team and instill a culture of discipline and accountability, it would be a productive year one. Of course, these are not the only steps to a successful rebuild, but it would be a trend in the right direction.
The team needs more talent to be seriously competitive but it can still make progress. Take last year’s Arizona Coyotes for example. Though the team missed the postseason again, the Coyotes got meaningful play out of Clayton Keller and played tough down the stretch. In fact, Arizona went 15-7-2 in the team’s final 24 games, well above the team’s pace during the regular season.
Arizona is a team trending in the right direction, something New York should look to emulate. If the Rangers could manage 30 wins and get meaningful contributions out of Chytil and Andersson, it would be a successful season.
There are still two preseason games to go, but there are definitely conversations being had about the team’s goals for this season. If nothing else, professional athletes do not like being told they play on a bad team and should just not even bother showing up.