New York Rangers: Wrapping up a short postseason

It’s time to wrap up what was a very short postseason for the New York Rangers

The COVID-19 virus has robbed us of many things this year.  One was the traditional “break up day” when the players empty out their lockers and reporters get to talk to players and coaches about the season and their hopes for the future.   This year, the New York Rangers have scattered far and wide without a word.  This year, we have to look at social media for some final words.

At break up day, we usually get the word on injuries suffered in the playoffs.  This year, it was Larry Brooks from the New York Post who was able to get the scoop on what was wrong with Igor Shesterkin and Tony DeAngelo.   Shesterkin had a pulled groin muscle, suffered in the exhibition game against the Islanders.  As for DeAngelo, he had what was termed a debilitating hamstring injury that greatly hampered his ability to play.

The only other known injury was to Jesper Fast and the assumption is that he suffered a concussion on the hit from Brady Skjei, but that has not been confirmed anywhere.  Considering his status an an unrestricted free agent, he and his agent must feel the less said the better.

There was no word about any other ailments so while Shesterkin and DeAngelo had excuses, no one else on the team could point to injury as a reason for their poor play.

The final word from the team came in a Tweet to fans.

The players

In a way, the players lucked out because of the pandemic. Since elimination, we’ve only heard from two players, Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider.   With an uncertain future for some players, there would have been some tough questions for players, Henrik Lundqvist in particular

Any comments came from social media.  As usual, Tony DeAngelo was very forthcoming in his message.

His last sentence could raise some eyebrows.  Was he referring to the virus and having fans back in the arenas or his future with the team?

Ryan Strome is another restricted free agent who faces an interesting contract negotiation, but his tweet makes it sound like he doesn’t intend to be going anywhere.

Besides the final press conference, Chris Krieder posted on Instagram the following message:
“Thank you NYR fans for all of the support, beginning to end. Even though it wasn’t the outcome we all wanted, It was truly a season we will never forget. Hope to see you guys in the stands next season!”

The front office

While we can be sure that the players, coaches and front office are smarting from the spanking they took in the series, it would be nice if they had some kind of end of season availability. Beside Zibanejad and Kreider, Coach David Quinn also spoke to the press after the game and he was obviously discouraged and disappointed with his team.

As he did after every Qualifier game, he was not complimentary about the effort in the series, saying that the team “looked like the New York Rangers” for only two periods.   It would be nice to hear from him once the series is more of a memory, when he can reflect more on the season as a whole.

Perhaps Team President John Davidson or General Manager Jeff Gorton will also open up at some point.  Davidson did some interviews on MSG Network during the pause, perhaps the network will pursue some interview so we can get a better postmortem on the season and some insight into the team’s plans for the future.   As for Gorton, he studiously avoids interviews so hearing from him is rather unlikely.

Of course, if the Rangers get the first overall pick on Monday, they will be more than happy to talk about that.