New York Rangers: The future is now. Get used to it
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.
The roster
While the belief is that the core of players who were on the team in 2019-20 will return, there will be some changes. Here are the players who will most likely be on the team.
Centers (4): Filip Chytil, Brett Howden, Ryan Strome, Mika Zibanejad
Wingers (7): Pavel Buchnevich, Julien Gauthier, Phil Di Giuseppe,Kaapo Kakko, Chris Kreider, Brendan Lemieux, Artemi Panarin
Defense (6): Anthony DeAngelo, Adam Fox, Ryan Lindgren, Brendan Smith, Marc Staal, Jacob Trouba
Goalies (2): Alexandar Georgiev, Igor Shesterkin
There are a few kids who have a chance of being on the roster when the season starts.
Forwards (4): Lias Andersson, Patrick Khodorenko, Vitali Kravtsov, Justin Richards,
Defense (5): Libor Hajek, Nils Lundkvist, K’Andre Miller, Matthew Robertson, Yegor Rykov,
The big question for 2020-21
So, in looking at the roster, the big question is whether this is a better team than the one that took the ice in 2019-20? Once again, it’s time for some assumptions:
- Artemi Panarin will replicate his first season. Okay, it may be too much to expect him to score at the same pace, but at age 29 the expectation is that his production will be close.
- The young core will get better. That means improvement from Igor Shesterkin, Kaapo Kakko, Adam Fox, Tony DeAngelo, Ryan Lindgren, Brendan Lemieux and Filip Chytil specifically.
- The veterans will improve. They are still young, but in their prime. In order for the team to make postseason hay, Mika Zibanejad, Jacob Trouba, Chris Kreider, Ryan Strome and Pavel Buchnevich will all have to have similar if not better seasons.
If all of this happens and there is no reason to believe that it won’t, the 2020-21 Rangers will be a better team. But, there are still holes in the roster and the key question is how to fill them.
The holes
The Rangers will need to replace some key components of this season’s team. Jesper Fast will probably leave the team to free agency though if he is willing to take the hometown discount, he may return. Brady’s Skjei’s departure leaves a gaping hole on the left side of the defense that for now, will be filled by Brendan Smith. Greg McKegg will need to be replaced as the fourth line, defensive center.
There are other questions. Will Julien Gauthier be ready to step in as a regular forward? He’s been a top scorer in the AHL, but is still looking for his first NHL tally after 17 games. Is Phil Di Giuseppe a player you would expect to be a regular on a playoff team? The same goes for Brendan Smith. Can the team be a Stanley Cup contender with Smith and Staal filling regular slots on the defense?
If the Rangers expect to make a deep playoff run, filling the holes is not going to be as easy as taking young prospects and throwing them into the deep end to see if they can swim. Theoretically, Fast’s role will be filled by Kravtsov, but if the 20-year old isn’t ready they will need to look elsewhere.
A recent post on Blue Line Station proposed some free agents to target this off-season. While at first glance, the idea of pursuing Derick Brassard, Joe Thornton, Carl Soderberg, Wayne Simmonds and Ily Kovalchuk may sound completely illogical, for a team expecting to contend in the playoffs, it may not be.
Honestly, would Derick Brassard be an upgrade over Greg McKegg? Would a Joe Thornton playing sheltered minutes on the fourth line be a step up? Is a 32-year old power forward like Wayne Simmonds an element the team is lacking? This is not an endorsement of any of those five players, but the basic premise that it is time for the team to look for key veteran pieces to fill out the roster has merit.
If the rebuild is over
If the rebuild is really over, and it certainly looks like it, every move the team makes going forward has be made with a Stanley Cup championship in mind. The mantra for two seasons has been to “give the kids a chance.” Thankfully, they did and now it is time to go for it.
That means finding someone who can win defensive zone faceoffs. That means finding someone who is willing to crash the net and stay there. That means finding someone with a mean streak who can intimidate opposing teams. That means finding depth scoring on the third and fourth lines.
The great news is the organizational depth is still strong. The prospect pool is one of the best in the NHL, ranked second overall by The Hockey News Future Watch. There’s no reason to believe that the team will abandon its structured, logical strategy of building for the future, but they will also be building for the present and that is very different story.
That means that Rangers fans will have to take a 180 degree turn and look at all of these moves from the perspective of a team looking for the final pieces of a Stanley Cup puzzle. That could mean age and experience over youth. It’s happened before.
Once upon a time, a contending Rangers team signed a free agent center. He was 33-years old, but was excellent defensively and could win faceoffs. The year was 2013 and the player was Dominic Moore. He played a key role in the Stanley Cup contending Rangers of 2013-15. If this summer the Rangers sign this year’s version of Dominic Moore at the expense of playing time for Brett Howden or Justin Richards is that really a bad thing? Not if they win.
light. Related Story. Why they should trade Georgiev