The New York Rangers became a playoff contender this season. While it wasn’t a complete surprise it was a little ahead of schedule. What do they need to take the next step next season?
There are so many uncertainties as we look ahead to the 2020-21 season for the New York Rangers. When will the season start? What will the salary cap ceiling be? Will there be compliance buyouts? What will happen at the NHL Entry draft?
With no answers to those questions , let’s see where the Rangers are in their retooling process. What’s important to bear in mind is that the expectation is that any moves the team takes will be the moves a contender makes. Up until this February, all of the team’s actions were those of a team in the middle of a rebuild/retool.
That changed in February when the team re-signed Chris Kreider to a seven-year, $45.5 million contract. They also didn’t trade pending free agents Jesper Fast and Greg McKegg and the only move of a current asset for the future was the salary cap dump of Brady Skjei for a first round draft pick.
So, what do they need to do?
Key assumptions
With all of the questions surrounding the coming season, we have to make some key assumptions.
The most important assumption is that the team will keep their current core.
They will re-sign their restricted free agents.
They will resolve their three-headed goalie situation, most likely through a buyout or trade of Henrik Lundqvist.
The will not rush kids who are not ready to play in the NHL into the starting lineup. That means K’Andre Miller and Nils Lundkvist will not be on the active roster when the season starts.
The most important assumption is that the team is ready not only to make the playoffs, but to go deep.