Well, go back about six months and nobody would’ve seen this one coming. The New York Rangers, Presidents’ Trophy winners last season, won’t find themselves in the 2025 NHL Playoffs unless something drastic happens in the next week.
You can just start making a list of everything that’s more likely to happen than the Blueshirts catching a playoff berth. While finishing as a mere wild card team would’ve been disappointing enough, missing the playoffs entirely was something you can’t even use enough words in any language to describe.
But when you look at the big picture this season, the Rangers went from being a great team to a good team to an okay team, and finally, one of the league’s most inconsistent teams. They slumped constantly throughout the season, and this latest slump was one too many. It’s something you can’t do when the season’s on the line and the entire fanbase was relegated to expecting at least a wild card.
New York Rangers latest slump was writing on the wall
For starters, you can’t give up eight goals against one of the worst teams in hockey when you’re just about out of chances. The Flyers scoring had been up and down all season, and a veteran netminder like Jonathan Quick should’ve been better prepared to handle this one. He’d been in rough situations so many times throughout his career, that they should be second nature by now.
No, the Rangers didn’t help themselves, having blown all three power plays and seeing the Flyers block potential shots on goal every time they turned around. All of that said, you can argue the writing on the wall was there before last night’s game.
The Rangers, who dropped to 3-6-1 in their last 10 games, decided late March and early April were the opportune times to get beyond anemic when they had the puck. In five of their last 11 games, opponents held the Blueshirts to just one goal. And with Igor Shesterkin and Jonathan Quick not always playing their best hockey, this is the result you’ll get 100 percent of the time.
Rangers have one offseason to fix this mess and decisive action is needed
Whatever general manager Chris Drury does this offseason, it needs to be decisive. If it means firing coach Peter Laviolette and bringing in someone to instill an entirely new system, it’ll send a shockwave through the locker room when the puck drops again to kick off the 2025-26 season.
If anything’s certain, repeating a season like what we’ve seen throughout 2024-25 isn’t an option. Chris Drury and everyone involved with the Rangers organization know it, and drastic measures are needed to prevent this situation from happening again. The Rangers may not be heading to the playoffs, but it doesn’t take away just how interesting of an offseason they’re about to have.