New York Rangers: This may take longer than expected

Following the New York Rangers trading of both Kevin Hayes and Mats Zuccarello, it’s become apparent that the perceived timeline was off.

Coming into the year, the New York Rangers spread the message that the team expected to be on the fringe of being a playoff team and could possibly sneak in the back door. However, the defense was too much of a problem for the forward group to overcome and there just simply was not enough talent to truly be in the mix.

As of now, the Rangers are lighter a Mats Zuccarello and Kevin Hayes. Two key contributors from teams in year’s past that made deep postseason runs earlier this decade are now pieces with other organizations. Unfortunately, Zuccarello suffered an arm injury during his Dallas Stars debut and will likely miss around a month.

However, when it comes to New York, it’s time for an honest appraisal of the team’s direction. The organization is flush with draft picks, cap space and a developing prospect pool. The prospects range from developing at the NHL level like center Filip Chytil to years away like college freshman defenseman K’Andre Miller.

The telling move was the lack of negotiation with Hayes during the season prior to this month. If the Rangers’ front office genuinely thought it was only a year or so away from contending for a playoff birth, it would have ponied up the salary that Hayes was requesting.

Although numbers have not officially been reported, the rumored figure was $7 million per year for seven years according to Larry Brooks of the New York Post. On the open market, an unrestricted free agent Hayes would easily be able to command that figure, though the term may be slightly shorter.

The reality

As things currently sit, the Rangers have one of the least talented rosters in the entire league. Yet, the group has shown considerable resilience in the face of the rumor mill. It’s unlikely that head coach David Quinn will be able to keep the team as engaged for the final 21 games of the season with the lingering reality around the organization.

It’d be better for the team to lose than win, but no one is ever going to willfully lose in the NHL.

The Rangers’ front office’s plan is hard to discern based on the moves it is making. With ample cap space, the team is obviously in play for free agents this upcoming summer. However, it’ll be difficult to lure someone like Artemi Panarin to the big apple if there’s no one for him to play with right away.

The more likely scenario requires the Rangers to struggle for several more seasons before returning to the playoffs. With such an emphasis on acquiring draft picks and clearing space, it is clear that the front office wants to build the team from the ground up in their way. The team’s system was depleted from years of picking at the end of the draft or not having picks at all.

Making the team into a modern contender will require years of draft picks. With the Rangers’ checkered history of player development in terms of draft picks, having as many as possible will help. For perspective, the team’s draft classes from 2014, 2015 and 2016 have played a combined total of five games at the NHL level.

To be fair, those were drafts under different situations with lower quality draft picks.

A new timeline?

The biggest change following this deadline is the timeline for a return to the postseason. Barring something drastic this summer, the team will be in a similar position next year. A team that isn’t horrendous but certainly isn’t a playoff team. It really will be a matter of if Quinn can push the right buttons and get the young players trending in the right direction.

Realistically, the team expects Vitali Kravtsov, Yegor Rykov and Igor Shestyorkin to all make the jump to North America this summer. Then, down in the AHL, Ryan Lindgren, Libor Hajek, Ty Ronning and Tim Gettinger are all on the fringe of NHL readiness. There are pieces on the horizon, however, player development takes time.

Look how long it took for Hayes, Chris Kreider and J.T. Miller to all finally break through and become the players they were supposed to. If the front office wants to slowly transition the roster over to its developing talents, that’s fine, but it needs a nurturing enviornment to be successful on a grand scale.

A team cannot just throw a bunch of 19 and 20 year-olds out at the NHL level and expect them to all develop well. There needs to be a variety of veteran presences to serve as a buffer and leaders. Granted, Kreider, Henrik Lundqvist and Marc Staal are still in the dressing room, but that’s not a whole lot to work with.

The Rangers youth movement was a long time coming, the team was able to contend for eight years with the last core. It took years of drafting well and developing the picks as players to put a quality team together that was able to win a President’s Trophy, make the Stanley Cup Final once and the conference finals twice.

Things have to get worse before they get better and in the Rangers’ case, it’s going to require a two or three-year growing period. There is potential with the core on the horizon, Quinn certainly has the chops to bring along a young group. But, players take time to grow, at minimum, it’ll be two or three years before this group of prospects can fill in holes at the NHL level.

The Rangers are going about this the right way, it’s just a matter of drafting right and Quinn teaching the right way to play.