The 22-23 Rangers Regular Season Was A True Rollercoaster Ride

As of this writing, the Rangers are scheduled to face their original six rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs in the final game of the 2022-2023 regular season. While this game will have no meaning for either team as they are locked into their positions, it does mark the end of a truly crazy regular season for the New York Rangers.

They entered this season with very high expectations after making the Eastern Conference Final and everyone thought they would dominate throughout the entire season. This was not the case, as they struggled early on until a key moment turned their season around. As the regular season comes to a close, let’s look back on this season and the rollercoaster ride it truly was.

This season started on a high when they beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 3-1 at MSG and they looked dominant in that game. After that game, the Rangers became very inconsistent. Throughout the rest of October and November, they were a .500 team and ended November with a record of 11-9-4. The record was this way because of a variety of reasons.

Igor Shesterkin was not at the top of his game. Jacob Trouba was playing injured and looked horrific and the team was blowing multiple goal lead in many of these games. Games against the Oilers and Devils are perfect examples as they were up 3-0 against the Oilers and 2-0 against the Devils and they ended up losing those games.

Gerard Gallant’s name came up as a potential casualty of this loss and he could be fired just a few months after taking them to the final four. After two more losses to the Senators and the Blackhawks, all hope looked lost. Until the captain woke his team up.

During that game against the Blackhawks, Jacob Trouba decided that enough was enough and after fighting for the second time in the game, yelled at this team to “Wake Up” as he threw his helmet and walked off the ice. It was at this very moment that the Rangers’ season turned around. Following this game, the Rangers went on a seven-game winning streak and they have not looked back.

Since December 3rd, the Rangers have been one of the best teams in the league. The offense looked better, the defense was better and Igor Shesterkin was back to playing like the Shesterkin we know. They looked like a completely different team and while they still had some holes to fill, the Rangers were back and they looked dangerous.

As we got closer to the Trade Deadline, the rumors began to swirl as to who the Rangers were going to be targeting. Names like Vladimir Tarasenko, Patrick Kane, and Timo Meier were the big three linked to the team. While it was likely that they could land of one these names, we did not think they could land two of them. The first domino to fail was the trade for Tarasenko. Along with him came defenseman, Niko Mikkola.

This deal filled the two holes the Rangers wanted to fill and many thought that this would be the big deal for the team. As weeks went on, the news came out that Kane only wanted to play for the Rangers, and through tons of cap management, the Rangers were able to make it happen. They were able to add Kane so this already stacked forward core and both he and Tarasenko have been good fits for the team.

With the last deal bringing back Tyler Motte, the Rangers had a very successful deadline and have looked good coming down the stretch.

We have now reached the end of the season and this season flew by faster than most. The playoffs are next week and the Rangers have clinched third place in the Metro. While it is below where they finished last season, this season was more exciting for sure. All the highs and lows and the additions of Kane and Tarasenko have brought this team closer together and they look better than they did last season.

Panarin and Zibanejad are having amazing years and so many others are having career seasons. This rollercoaster ride has just reached its summit and now, the drop is right in front of us. Buckle up, it’s going to be a crazy finish.