The New York Rangers didn’t make their traditional waves in the off-season via trade or free agency, but instead, the Blueshirts made the necessary moves.
The word “off-season” feels all wrong this year. This year, there wasn’t hockey when there should have been. Then there was hockey when there shouldn’t have been…Not that we’re complaining! No one is complaining, but we should be a month into the 2020-21 season already. We should be walking up from Penn Station and seating ourselves six stories up from street level in the Mecca of hockey, Madison Square Garden, preparing to respond to that canary whistle that signals that it’s time to once again pick apart Denis Potvin.
We should be trekking in from our respective boroughs and overpaying for beer and a night of entertainment. We should be donning our whites and our blues and cheering for our boys in coordinating colors. Hell, these are just a few of a thousand things we should be doing this year, but instead, we’re still stuck in the classic Bill Murray flick, Groundhog Day, waiting for 2020 to end.
What’s also off is how the New York Rangers handled this off-season. Fans have come to expect a far more active excursion. Look no further than the past four years for evidence of this.
Last summer, in 2019, the Rangers won the Artemi Panarin sweepstakes. They traded for Adam Fox and Jacob Trouba and then drafted Kaapo Kakko. Earlier in the year, they traded away hometown heroes, Mats Zuccarello, and Kevin Hayes.
2018 was the year of the infamous letter to the fans. J.T. Miller, Ryan McDonagh, and Rick Nash were all shipped out before the trade deadline. This in turn brought in a slew of young players that are just now starting to crack the roster. The biggest free agent of 2018 was bringing in Head Coach, David Quinn, from Boston University.
2017 was the arrival of Kevin Shattenkirk and a problematic Tony DeAngelo. 2016 was the awkward acquisition of Eric Staal, the Jimmy Vesey sweepstakes, the departure of Keith Yandle, and the trade of Derick Brassard for Mika Zibanejad.
Every year, something major happens around the organization. Each off-season has made headlines in one way or another. Trades and signings abound!
Now, in some ways, this year is similar and in some ways, this year is completely different. Some of which for the right reasons and some for the wrong.
Here’s a look at the positive and questionable moves of the 2020 off-season: