Does trying to make the playoffs benefit the New York Rangers?
The 2020-21 NHL season will be the third season of the New York Rangers rebuild. Having beat the odds at the draft lottery two years running and getting a taste of the postseason last year, the rebuild appears to nearing its end. As camp is set to begin, what should the New York Rangers focus for this season be? Does continued player development take precedence over wins? Or should the team be striving to make a push for the playoffs?
There are arguments to be made for both scenarios. By focusing on player development, the team is continuing to build towards a brighter future. By not being immediately concerned with the game to game results, young players are able to be provided not just more ice time, but important situational minutes. With the young talent being given greater responsibility, it should advance their growth and in turn aid the team to bigger and better wins down the road.
The counter argument is that the New York Rangers, like any other team, needs to play to win. As Chris Kreider once noted “the NHL is not a developmental league.”
Chris Kreider on what he thinks of the word rebuild in the NHL: "The NHL, at least the way it was explained to me early on, isn't a developmental league. This is a what have you done for me lately league, let's win now, especially in New York." #NYR
— Dan Rosen (@drosennhl) April 10, 2018
To play, just to teach for the future, is not enough. There needs to be something to strive for, to bring the players together with a common goal. Playing solely to develop the young talent also wastes the prime years of the team’s current core players like Kreider and Artemi Panarin. It additionally, and more importantly, provides the players an atmosphere where losing is not acceptable.
Quotes from Theodore Roosevelt and Vince Lombardi describe this best:
"“The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly … who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat” – Theodore Roosevelt"
"“Winning is not a sometime thing, it’s an all time thing. You don’t win once in a while. You dont do things right once in a while. You do them right all the time. Winning is a habit … Unfortunately, so is losing” – Vince Lombardi"
A team can be provided a winning culture so long as it strives to win. Failure with effort can be educational, an experience to be learned from. Shrugging off losses in the name of player development is a slippery slope that can slide into perpetual rebuild. When losing is an acceptable outcome, the wrong message is sent and it becomes a weight that drags everyone down.