Blue Line Station
Fansided

New York Rangers: Playing for a job next season

By Steve Paulus

NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 06: The New York Rangers celebrate after defeating the Boston Bruins 4-3 in the shootout at Madison Square Garden on February 6, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 06: The New York Rangers celebrate after defeating the Boston Bruins 4-3 in the shootout at Madison Square Garden on February 6, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
1 of 5
Next
NEW YORK, NY – FEBRUARY 06: The New York Rangers celebrate after defeating the Boston Bruins 4-3 in the shootout at Madison Square Garden on February 6, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY – FEBRUARY 06: The New York Rangers celebrate after defeating the Boston Bruins 4-3 in the shootout at Madison Square Garden on February 6, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images) /

The New York Rangers have less than a month left in the regular season.  It’s audition time to see who deserves to be on the team next year.

The New York Rangers have fourteen games left in their season.  With the playoffs out of the picture, team management will be using this time to determine what next year’s team should look like.

Jeff Gorton has indicated that he will be using the Rangers’ assets, both personnel and draft picks, to improve the team and accelerate the rebuild.  All signs are that the team wants to be competitive next season.

With free agency and the draft lottery ahead, there are enough variables to make it difficult to predict who will make the team next season.  The salary cap, no movement clauses and long-term contracts will make it difficult to move some players.  Buyouts are an option, but they aren’t always the best choice.

Meanwhile, Coach David Quinn has had almost a full season to assess his players and you can be sure that he will be working hard to get Gorton to mold this team in the image that he wants.

Quinn has never deviated from his coaching style. In Quinn’s world, you have to earn your playing time and the harder you play the more ice time you will get. With the recent scratching of Kevin Shattenkirk and the benching of Chris Kreider, Quinn is pushing all of the right buttons to see how players respond.   Consider the next 14 games an audition for next season.

Looking in the crystal ball, here is a guess at what the 2019-20 New York Rangers will look like.

Home/Analysis