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What the New York Rangers rebuild could resemble

By Jim Madden

NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 08: Former Rangers color commentator John Davidson (R) and play by play announcer Sam Rosen (L) speak to the crowd prior to the game against Carolina Hurricanes during the 1994 Stanley Cup Anniversary event at Madison Square Garden on February 8, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 08: Former Rangers color commentator John Davidson (R) and play by play announcer Sam Rosen (L) speak to the crowd prior to the game against Carolina Hurricanes during the 1994 Stanley Cup Anniversary event at Madison Square Garden on February 8, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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NEW YORK, NY – FEBRUARY 08: Former Rangers color commentator John Davidson (R) and play by play announcer Sam Rosen (L) speak to the crowd prior to the game against Carolina Hurricanes during the 1994 Stanley Cup Anniversary event at Madison Square Garden on February 8, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images) /

The teams that have won the Stanley Cup this decade are prime examples of successful rebuilds.  These examples offer the New York Rangers attributes and models to follow.

Rangers fans recall the fateful day in February 2018 when General Manager Jeff Gorton issued “the letter” to the club’s fans. Gorton knew the direction he was going to take and wanted to share his vision as well as alerting fans to the likelihood that fan favorites would be dealt at the trade deadline

“The decisions we make going forward will be based on long-term and not trying to save the season,” Gorton said.  “We need to do what we can to get as many assets as we can and give us as many chances to rebuild this as we can, and basically try to find the kind of players we want. We want fast players, we want character players, we want players we can build our team around. That’s what we’re looking for.”

Despite the urgings of local beat writers, bloggers and fans for the Rangers to buy their way through and accelerate this rebuild, Gorton has stuck to his plan.  Over 70% of the Rangers roster consists of draft picks and players acquired through trades and amateur signings since the 2016-17 season.  The rebuild approach was acknowledged by newly introduced team President John Davidson, who remarked at the press conference that rebuilds “require both patience and resolve”.

It’s hard to find examples of full rebuilds in the NHL.  However there are several  resets and retools.  The Gorton-led makeover of the Boston Bruins is comparable with the drafting of Milan Lucic, Brad Marchand and the acquisitions of Tukka Rask, Marc Savard and Zdeno Chara.  The Pittsburgh Penguins are another example of a team that went through a complete gutting of their team with the good fortune of getting Sidney Crosby, Marc Andre Fleury and Evgeni Malkin after years of being basement dwellers.  The Washington Capitals’ rebuild commenced with drafting Alexander Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom and culminated in a Stanley Cup last spring.

More recent examples include the Tampa Bay Lightning on the championship cusp which began with taking Steven Stamkos and Victor Hedman with their lottery picks.  The Toronto Maple Leafs are past the cycle point of prominence currently riding the tandem of Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner.  No surprise the Lightning and Leafs are among the teams seen as pre-season favorites to compete for the Stanley Cup.

The NHL salary cap has a lot to do with triggering contemporary rebuilds and resets while the added dimension of the NHL expansion rules has forced league GM’s to juggle all of these variables.  It has become near impossible for a team to sustain itself long term among the league’s elite.  Each year at the trade deadline teams must decide if their window is closing or if it’s reached the time to retool or start over.  Teams that have acknowledged the end of the road have recovered faster than those who have mistakenly held on too long.

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