New York Rangers: The five most important moments of 2018
As 2018 came to a close, the New York Rangers as an organization made a series of choices that set the team up for the long-term future. Here are the five biggest moments of the 2018 calendar year.
In the 2018 calendar year, the New York Rangers’ front office made the most consequential decision for the franchise in more than a decade. Opting to blow up the old core of the group that was a perennial contender in favor of a true rebuild was not an easy decision to make and something that effect will be looked back on for decades to come.
Over the course of 2018, the Rangers went from a team that made the postseason for ten straight years with the expectation to compete for a playoff spot to a rebuilding team geared towards the future.
The year started with New York taking on the Buffalo Sabres at Citi Field on New Year’s day and concluded with the team stealing a win on the road against the St. Louis Blues. The arch to get from winning on New Year’s day to having just two regulation wins on the road in mid-December is one that can be told in a series of decisions.
The Rangers went from having an Alain Vigneault coached team with Ryan McDonagh as captain to David Quinn coaching a group with no captain. Here’s the year in just five moments.
Rangers remain undefeated outside
As one of the NHL’s signature franchises with one of the best fan bases in sports, it’s not exactly a surprise that the Rangers were selected to participate in a second winter classic. Following the team’s success against the Flyers back in 2011 and the two wins in the Stadium series games in 2014, the team returned to brave the elements for the fourth time.
On a blisteringly cold New Year’s day that required multiple stoppages due to an extreme wind chill that pushed temperatures into the single digits, the Rangers kept on rolling outside. At this point in time, the team had just lost Chris Kreider to a blood clot in his shoulder and were just a few weeks away from losing Kevin Shattenkirk to knee surgery.
The Rangers jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on goals in the first period from Paul Carey (remember him?) and Michael Grabner. However, like many games last season, once New York got a lead it began to coast and it allowed the Sabres to sneak back into the game.
However, then Ranger darling J.T. Miller won the game for New York in overtime and sent the majority Ranger fan crowd home happy from Flushing. As someone who braved the frigid temperatures that day, I’ll remain grateful to Miller forever for saving me from having to sit through a shootout in the single digit weather.
The letter sets the agenda
Anytime a team’s front office is transparent about its agenda with its fans, they should be commended. Being that James Dolan is the owner of the Rangers, it’s a miracle that Jeff Gorton and Glen Sather were able to set the course of the team without meddling from upstairs. As the Rangers’ cotenant, the New York Knicks, know Dolan has a way of interfering for the worst.
On February 8 of 2018, the team’s President and general addressed a letter to Ranger fans and gave them a view behind the curtain. In five paragraphs, the team said it would be focused on adding young and competitive talent while having to trade away familiar faces.
For any team, let alone one in New York to announce that it would be acceptable to lose and rebuilding was a drastic departure from the Rangers’ standard business procedures. For as long as Henrik Lundqvist was in between the pipes for the team, the front office burned through the future to help win right away.
This was an important change in direction and something that could not have been avoided. Losing both Kreider and Shattenkirk to injury put the nail in the coffin on the 2017-2018 Rangers. Without its best goal scorer or marquee free agent, there was no point in trying to make the playoffs just to get throttled in the first round.
Goodbye captain Mac
Anytime a team elects to trade its captain and best defensemen, it’s the equivalent of waving the white flag for that season. Ever since the University of Wisconsin product was traded, the Rangers have been a team without a rudder. The defense was the heart and soul of the team during its postseason success, now it’s an outright mess.
Things came down to the wire on February 26th of 2018 as trade deadline day developed. There were rumors out there that New York was shopping pretty much every and any player on the roster with a soon to be expired contract including McDonagh. However, it was a situation in which people were going to wait and see.
But, where there’s smoke, there’s fire and about 3:55, with just five minutes to spare, the news came across the wire. New York had agreed to a blockbuster trade with the Tampa Bay Lightning, sending McDonagh and Miller to the sunshine state in exchange for Bett Howden, Libor Hajek, Vladislav Namestnikov and a pair of draft picks.
This trade was the move that really put an emphasis on just how serious the front office was about rebuilding. This move gave the team two key parts to the future in Howden and Hajek as well as draft capital which was used in June.
This also led to a beautiful tribute from the Rangers when McDonagh and Miller returned to the Garden in March as members of the lightning.
Draft night sets up the future
The Rangers used ten draft picks in the 2018 entry draft, including three in the first round. Blowing up the roster for draft picks was a necessary and fruitful decision. Given that the Rangers went several years without a first round pick, it was imperative to restock the pantry to give the future some shape.
New York went off the board at ninth overall when it selected Russian forward Vitali Kravtsov, traded up to get K’Andre Miller from the University of Wisconsin and finished out the round with Swede Nils Lundkvist.
With so much turmoil on the Rangers’ blue line, selecting two defensemen in the first round made perfect sense. As for Kravtsov, although somewhat mysterious at the time, the forward has continued to grow and looks pretty good playing for Russia in the 2018 World Junior Championship.
The team’s draft history is not exactly great, especially in recent years. It’s hard to get good talent when you’re picking in the back half of the first round, but teams that are successful find a way. The three first rounders will be important for years to come
David Quinn gets the keys
It seems like forever ago that Vigneault was passionately defending why he should keep his job after the Rangers laid an egg on the last day of the season in Philadelphia. It was clear that the coach who got New York so close to capturing the Stanley Cup on three different occasions could not be the man to lead the team into the unknown.
In changing the mentality of the team, the front office needed to find a different coach. For all of his warts, Vigneault was effective at communicating with proven veterans and getting maximum results from them. Yet, as the team transitioned to more youth and players in need of development, he failed to adjust.
New York was the last team to hire a coach in the offseason. In fact, Quinn initially publicly rebuffed New York’s advances and said he would not be leaving Boston University. However, things changed and he obviously took the Rangers’ head coaching job. In conjunction with a youth influx, the team would have a rookie head coach.
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The Rangers had an eventful 2018 that changed the direction of the team for years to come. These are just five moments in a year filled with them. What will you remember most about 2018?