Fresh off signing Artemi Panarin and trading for Jacob Trouba, the New York Rangers were primed for a new season
The last off-season was one of the most active for the New York Rangers in franchise history. While the company line was that the team’s rebuild was still in full swing, they started calling it a re-tooling and there were reasons to be optimistic about a playoff run.
Just look at everything that happened after the 2018-19 season ended:
- Signed Artemi Panarin
- Traded for Jacob Trouba
- Traded for Adam Fox
- Drafted Kaapo Kakko
- Signed Igor Shesterkin and Vitali Kravtsov to Entry Level Contracts
- Re-signed Pavel Buchnevich to a two-year bridge deal
- Bought out Kevin Shattenkirk
How did it work out? The results were mixed. Panarin, Shesterkin and Fox exceeded expectations. Trouba, Kravtsov and Kakko have to be classified as disappointments. Buchnevich performed as expected and the Shattenkirk buyout impact has been felt this off-season, as expected.
The team made the postseason for the first time in three years, but it was a gift from the NHL as a result of the pandemic. When the season ended prematurely, the odds were that they wouldn’t make the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Rangers then lost meekly to Carolina in three games in the Stanley Cup Qualifier, a result that most observers didn’t anticipate. Despite all of the optimism going into the season the Rangers did exactly what they had been expected to. They were much better than the 2018-19 version, but not good enough.
That leaves us with the big question as we look ahead. Are the New York Rangers a better team going into the 2020-21 campaign?
An overview
A snap judgment is that they will be better, mostly based on the fact that they lucked out and were able to draft Alexis Lafrenière. They’ve also solidified their situation in goal and all of their young prospects will be one year older. Age and experience are important and this team is maturing.
While there are reasons to be optimistic, there are some areas of concern. One huge question is whether the the team’s two best players can actually improve on career seasons. Artemi Panarin turns 29 at the end of this month. Mika Zibanejad will have the pressure of delivering in the season that will result in a new contract. While there is no reason to believe that either player will falter, there is no guarantee that they will do as well as they did last season.
Similarly, Adam Fox was better than anyone could have hoped and Tony DeAngelo had the best year for a Ranger defenseman since the days of Brian Leetch. What happens if Fox is a victim of the sophomore jinx and DeAngelo reverts to his prior form, good but not great?
The team has still not resolved its issues on defense and at the center position. Forward depth is is the same problem that it was last season and despite a slew of collegiate signings, there are no sure things in the group.
Overall toughness is still an issue. Jeff Gorton and John Davidson acknowledged that the Rangers need to be a harder team to play against, but so far, they haven’t solved that problem.
Finally, the salary cap combined with performance bonus exposure has really limited the team’s ability to make any moves this off-season beyond re-signing their own Restricted Free Agents.
So, at this point are they better or worse than last season? We will go through it player by player assuming that they will re-sign Ryan Strome and Brendan Lemieux.