Before a team can achieve greatness, it must build its way up through the muck. The New York Rangers are firmly trapped in the much at the moment. What can be gleaned from the past?
Understanding roster construction at the NHL level comes down to a few different themes. Typically, the lineup is a combination of what the general manager and head coach want in terms of a vision. At the start of the decade, the New York Rangers were a grind it out team under a proven head coach that relied on defense and goaltending.
Ultimately, it required some fine-tuning and a coaching change, but New York did go on to win the most playoff games of any team this decade to not win the Stanley Cup with pieces of the core that almost won the President’s Trophy during the 2011-2012 season. Using that group as a model, we can get an idea of where the current crop of talent is.
With that team’s architect, Glen Sather, still in the fold and influence within the organization, it’s safe to say some of those same ideas may be passed on to his successor, Jeff Gorton. While Gorton has tried to get smaller and more skilled, some pieces, like defenseman Brendan Smith and forward Brendan Lemieux are the type of players Sather coveted.
So, follow along and let’s draw some parallels to the past starting with the bench boss.