New York Rangers: The best and worst drafts of the 2000s
Like most teams in the history of the NHL Entry Draft, the New York Rangers have scored big in some and fanned in others. Here are the best and worst Rangers’ draft classes from 2000 to 2009.
It’s time to look at the New York Rangers drafts from 2000 to 2009. We’ve gone through the Rangers’ entry draft classes from 1970 through 1999, and are in a new millennium that brought a “King” and almost another Stanley Cup championship to Broadway.
It would take some time, but just as the internet improved in the millennium’s first decade with the advent of web browsers, social media and blogging platforms, the Rangers would significantly upgrade with some savvy draft selections, trades and free agent signings.
Heading into the new millennium, the Rangers were a mess.
Bogged down by veterans long past their prime, some poor drafts, bad trades and injuries, the Rangers of 1997-98 failed to make the playoffs, becoming only the fifth team in franchise history to miss the postseason since the NHL expanded to 12 clubs in 1967.
The Rangers missed the playoffs in each of the next six seasons, extending their postseason drought to seven years.
Nothing the Rangers tried in the 1998 and 1999 seasons worked.
They relied on veterans. Wayne Gretzky and Pat LaFontaine led the Blueshirts in scoring with 90 and 62 points, respectively, in 1997-98. The following season, at age 38, The Great One led the Rangers in points (62) points, assists (53) and power-play goals (27).
They gave opportunities (at least briefly) to youngsters Niklas Sundstrom, Manny Malhotra, Marc Savard, Eric Cairns and Dan Cloutier, among others. But, as noted in our 1990s draft piece, none spent more than four seasons with the Rangers.
They even tried buying playoff berths. The Rangers had the NHL’s highest payroll in 1997-98. The following season, only the Detroit Red Wings spent more than New York.
The Wings, at least, got a decent return on their investment. They won 43 games and advanced to the conference finals where they lost to Dallas, who beat Buffalo to win the Stanley Cup. The Rangers went 33-38-11 and missed the playoffs by 13 points.
The new millennium didn’t change the same old Rangers. The Blueshirts continued throwing ridiculous money at veterans in the twilight of their career, abandoning the few young players they had, and losing. A lot.
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To put into perspective how far the franchise had fallen: The Rangers had the NHL’s highest payroll three times in five seasons, from 1999-2000 to 2003-04, and were among the league’s top-three spenders the other two years.
Despite the cash giveaway in that span, the Blueshirts averaged 31 wins and 39 losses per 82-game season (157 victories and 195 defeats combined).
Perhaps the worst of the bunch was the 2000-01 club, which lost 43 times to become the fourth team in franchise history to drop 40 in a season since 1949-50, when the NHL moved to a 70-game schedule.
For you glass-half-full types, the 1984-85 Rangers hold the franchise’s record for losses in a season with 44. So there’s that.
The Rangers also lost 40 games in 2003-04.
However, their fortunes began to improve the following September 2004, when the NHL’s Board of Governors voted to lock out their players, delaying the start of the 2004-05 season. In February 2005, the NHL became the first league in professional sports in North America to cancel an entire season.
The issues that brought about the lockout weren’t resolved until July 2005. By then, the NHL had a salary cap in place, while the Rangers had received both a much needed timeout and an opportunity to reset their approach to constructing their roster.
No longer could they simply throw money at anyone and everyone. Instead, the Rangers had to manage their money wisely, pay greater attention to the entry draft, and upgrade their scouting department to help ensure that undrafted free agents at least got a look.
By the time the Rangers hit the ice for the 2005-06 season, they were a different (and much improved) team.
The Blueshirts went 44-26-12 that season and made the playoffs. From there, they had eleven straight winning seasons (fueled by two 50-win seasons and another seven with at least 40 victories) and won a conference championship (2014).
The lockout indeed helped resurrect the Rangers, but so did other factors, including:
• The signings of Michael Nylander, Martin Straka and Brendan Shanahan, who provided the Rangers stronger leadership and more offense than pre-lockout Blueshirts Bobby Holik, Alexei Kovalev, Eric Lindros and Petr Nedved.
• Jaromir Jagr. Acquired late in the 2003-04 season, the Czech-born winger exploded for 109 goals and 290 points in three full seasons following the lockout. His 54 goals and 123 points in 2005-06 are single-season team records. The only other fifty-goals scorers in Rangers history are Adam Graves (52 in 1993-94) and Vic Hadfield (50 in 1971-72).
• The Rangers capitalized on the (still) growing number of top college players, drafting some and signing others as undrafted free agents.
• Shrewd entry draft picks, both pre- and post-lockout, and none better than their seventh-round selection in the 2000 draft.
Let’s take a look back at those entry drafts.