New York Rangers: Rome was not built in a day and neither are contenders

The 2018-2019 New York Rangers, like last year’s iteration, have gotten off to a bumpy start. However, a different season has an entirely different mindset.

Sure, it would have been nice for the New York Rangers to have picked up a win at some point in their first three games. Even last year’s eighth-place team managed to win a game in the first week of the season. There is a distinction between the two teams that makes the similar situations tolerable in the greater context of the organization.

Last year’s team was supposed to be a finished product on opening night. There was not an expectation that the group of players would need to be developed over the course of the year. The veteran group was assembled with the expectation of winning the Stanley Cup.

This year’s team would be lucky to get a cup of coffee. The point being, there is a different feel to David Quinn’s Rangers. The team has a long-term approach to each and every game. The emphasis is on teaching, not punishing when mistakes happen. Whenever a player comes to the bench after a shift, a coach is in their ear providing feedback.

This is a stark contrast to the approach and mindset of a contending team. That is why it is imperative to keep the big picture in mind when thinking about the current group. There are certainly frustrating elements of the team that need correcting. It’s safe to say that defensive core has failed to grasp the zone concept through three games.

In fact, it looks as if the defensemen are regressing into their old bad habits. On multiple goals in the game against the Carolina Hurricanes, Ranger players did not have their sticks on the ice to clog passing lanes. This is an easily correctable habit that can be followed over the course of the season.

The bigger picture

It is certainly frustrating that the team has failed to win early on in the season. Even more difficult is the fact that the Rangers have managed to keep all of the games close. Through three games, New York’s most complete game came on opening night against the Nashville Predators.

Against a far more talented team, the Rangers managed to hang in for about 55 of 60 minutes. That is what to take away, especially early on in the season. For a decent amount of the roster, this is a dramatic change from the established order of things. More importantly, it appears that there is a plan in place.

Unlike years past, the Rangers have a direction and a coaching staff that is in tune with the players. Instead of rehabilitation and rest on off days, the players are going to be practicing and getting better every single day.

While it’s obvious that Quinn to some degree is talking in coach speak, the mindset of “improving at something every single day,” is a tangible and realistic goal. There are clear benchmarks for the season that are tied to player development. For the long term, it is imperative that the team’s prospects learn something in a bad season.

That is the difference between the teams that have successful rebuilds and those that don’t. Teams like the Buffalo Sabres that have been mired in a rebuild for more than a decade simply don’t make progress in development. The team accumulates plenty of high draft picks but never gets anything meaningful out of them.

That is the overall mindset to have when it comes to this year’s Rangers team. It is not about winning every single night, it is about being a Stanley Cup contender again within the next five years.

If Quinn cannot steer the ship in that direction by the end of his contract, the team will have to get a new bench boss to get them there. Simply put, the New York Rangers are not a team that does ten-year playoff droughts anymore. There is an expectation to compete every single season if possible.

While the aging of a veteran core put that expectation on the shelf for at least a year or two, that will not last forever. A franchise can only peddle rebuilding as an excuse for so long before discontent sets in.

It is a lot to process and requires some big-picture thinking. If the team has another bad season, at the very least it would have a high draft pick to further supplement the future. That’s what this year is all about: securing the future

If nothing else, the team can show a little feistiness, and the young guys can get NHL minutes. Worrying about wins and losses in a rebuilding season is a fool’s errand.