Despite postseason disappointment, the Rangers’ future is still bright

Now is the perfect time for some perspective when it comes to the New York Rangers

Today has been tough for the New York Rangers and its fans after the Carolina Hurricanes swept this Best-of-Five Qualifying Round series with a clinical 4-1 win on Tuesday.

It hurts.

And it should hurt given all the hope and all the expectations heading into this very weird and very surreal postseason.

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But let’s not get crazy here.

Yes, the Rangers were not the Rangers we really fell in love with down the stretch and believed that they could mix it with the best on any given day.

They were bullied, outfought, outmuscled and just outclassed from the first drop of a puck by a team that reached the Eastern Conference Finals last year.

The Blueshirts were just beaten by a better and more experienced team.

There is no harm in that.

Granted, mistakes were made throughout the series, be it Head Coach David Quinn’s over reliance on certain players or the likes of Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin just not reaching the peak of their powers when it really mattered.

But the Canes were just better in pretty much every single area, and their aggressive and almost suffocating forecheck will cause even the best teams a lot of problems down the road.

It was a rude awakening for the Rangers who still have a lot of work to do before they morph into a genuine force and powerhouse in the NHL, but let’s not loose sight of the truth here.

Social media is a cesspool at the best of times but it takes on a whole new meaning after certain events, and Rangers Twitter was a depressing and, quite frankly, a frustrating place to be on Tuesday night.

From fans calling for Quinn’s head to some even claiming they are done with the team, emotions were certainly high.

However, as disappointing and heartbreaking as it was that the Blueshirts were the first team to be eliminated from the expanded postseason, this is the beginning rather than the end.

Firstly, any postseason success this year was going to a nice bonus given that making the Stanley Cup Playoffs wasn’t an expected goal or ambition prior to the start of the 2019-20 regular season.

Any exposure to the actual Playoffs would have been a real blessing for what was one of the youngest rosters in the postseason, but this current vintage will learn a lot from the sweep at the hands of the Hurricanes.

And that’s only a good thing long-term.

David Quinn will also be better for this experience and, going by the larger sample size, he is absolutely the right man to lead this group for the foreseeable.

For those of you calling for his head already, just check yourselves please.

Then, boasting genuine stars in the ilk of Chris Kreider, Jacob Trouba, Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad in addition to young studs in Igor Shesterkin, Adam Fox and Kaapo Kakko, the pieces are in place for sustained success.

Yes, there will be a lot to be done this off-season, as mapped out by our Steve Paulus here, but the New York Rangers are standing on the precipice of something great.

And that should excite us all.

So, while we should be hurt and disappointed by what transpired in Toronto, let’s not lose sight of what was an absolute thrill ride of a year, a season that really made us fall in love with the Rangers all over again.

And, more importantly, do not let postseason disappointment taint what is an incredibly exciting and bright future for this storied franchise.

(Especially if Alexis Lafreniere ends up in The Big Apple).

Bring on 2020-21.