While the recent additions have fired up the fanbase and raised hopes for playoff success, the coming season should be seen as the final year of the “rebuild” for the New York Rangers.
Despite the arrivals of Artemi Panarin and Jacob Trouba, there are simply too many question marks facing the New York Rangers this season to reasonably expect them to be a playoff contender. It would be wise to lower expectations, look at the season as the last of the rebuild and be content with any success the team achieves in the meantime.
While we can expect excellence from Panarin, Trouba and Mika Zibanejad those three players are the only on the roster without question marks next to their names. As much as Ranger fans are hopeful, in reality it is tough to expect this team to improve from the sixth worst team in the league to the top four in the Metropolitan Division.
Here are five reasons (in no particular order) we should be content with a season of progress and not be disappointed if they fall short of the postseason.
Reason 1: The kids
Kaapo Kakko, Vitali Kravtsov, Adam Fox, Libor Hajek. Four new faces expected to have a huge impact on the New York Rangers this season. Between them, they have five NHL games under their belt and they were all belong to Hajek. Yet, these four rookies could make up one fifth of the Blueshirts starting lineup.
Throw in sophomores Filip Chytil, Brett Howden, Brendan Lemieux and Lias Andersson and 40% of the starting lineup will have a year or less experience as pros. That is a young lineup.
We can all hope that Kaapo Kakko will channel the rookie seasons of Teemu Selanne (76-56-132) and Patrik Laine (36-28-64), but will anyone be disappointed if he ends up like Mikko Rantanen (20-18-38)?
19-year old Vitali Kravtsov looks like he will be a star, but there will be growing pains. Nikita Kucherov was 9-9-18 in his rookie season as a 20-year old. Will anyone be disappointed if he emulates Kucherov’s career path?
To expect one third of the Rangers defense to be manned by two 21-year olds without being accompanied by growing pains and rookie mistakes is asking an awful lot of Hajek and Fox. Add a couple of injuries and Yegor Rykov and Ryan Lindgren will also be in the rotation.
Brent Burns is the finest offensive blueliner in the NHL. When he was 21 years old he scored seven goals and added 18 assists. That was his third season in the NHL. He didn’t hit double figures in his goal scoring until he was 22. While no one is saying that Adam Fox will be the next Brent Burns, his reputation as an offensive wizard raises expectations. .
Patience is the operative word when it comes to this youthful lineup.