Despite all of the draft picks acquired by the New York Rangers in trade deadline deals, the most important pick remains their own first rounder. It’s the only guaranteed lottery pick and could mean the difference between an accelerated rebuild and a much longer timeframe.
The New York Rangers have never been awful this season. They are rarely blown out and they have probably exceeded most expectations coming into the second year of a rebuilding process. Their first round draft pick this June may be the best opportunity for the team to get a stud prospect along the lines of Jack Hughes, Kaapo Kakko or Kirby Dach, a player who can step into the NHL immediately and have an impact.
The only problem is that there are fifteen other teams in the lottery sweepstakes. The good news is that of those fifteen teams, eight are in contention for the post season so it wasn’t a pure sell-off at the deadline. For the other seven teams, most trades involved draft picks and prospects, so they will be worse the rest of the season.
The Rangers haven’t been playing like a team that is looking for a top lottery pick. They have gone 10-7-2 over their last 19 games. It’s true that they have been inconsistent, but their never-say-die attitude and comebacks have been encouraging for Ranger fans. That doesn’t do much for their lottery hopes and they are currently ninth from the bottom the NHL standings. It’s a tight scrum of teams and they could easily be fifth or sixth worst by next week. Then again, they could also be 12th or 13th.
The Blueshirts traded three important players on their roster, but even without Hayes, Zuccarello and McQuaid, the team has played well in games against New Jersey and Washington. In essence the two forward are being replaced on the roster by Lias Andersson and newly acquired Brendan Lemieux. While the jury is out on Andersson and Lemieux will fill a bottom six role. it has been an opportunity for players like Jimmy Vesey and Vlad Namestnikov. Adam McQuaid‘s spot is being filled by Fredrik Claesson. It’s one of the benefits of the Rangers surplus of defensemen.
So coming out of deadline day you would have say that the Rangers are weaker, but still have a strong foundation and could play .500 hockey the rest of the season. One thing for sure, there is no tanking on this team.
Ottawa, Los Angeles, Detroit and Anaheim are slowly sinking to the bottom, there are ten teams within ten points of each other in the middle of the pack. It will be a race worth watching.
The standings (Worst is first)
Teams GP W-L-OTL PTS ROW
1. Ottawa 62 22-35-5 49 22
2. Los Angeles 62 23-32-7 53 21
3. Detroit 63 23-31-9 55 21
4. Anaheim 63 24-30-9 57 21
5. New Jersey 61 25-30-8 58 24
6. Edmonton 60 26-29-7 59 23
7. Chicago 63 26-28-9 61 25
8. Vancouver 63 27-28-8 62 24
9. Rangers 62 27-26-9 63 21
10. Arizona 62 29-28-5 63 26
11. Florida 61 28-25-8 64 25
13. Philadelphia 62 29-26-7 65 27
12. Colorado 63 27-24-12 66 27
14. Buffalo 62 29-25-8 66 25
15. Pittsburgh 62 32-22-8 72 31
Second East Wild Card Cut Line: 72 points
Second West Wild Card Cut Line: 66 points
We’ll take a look at the other lottery contenders to see how they did at the deadline and the ramifications for New York