The fatal blow to the New York Rangers' season came Saturday in a lifeless 7-3 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes — officially eliminated the Rangers from playoff contention.
Making history in a negative way, the 2024-25 Blueshirts are now the second team in franchise history and just the fourth team in NHL history to go from winning the Presidents’ Trophy to missing the playoffs. The other time this happened they finished 34-39-11 in 1992-93 after going 50-25-5 in 1991-92. The results this year served as the final insult to an exasperated fan base, but the origins of this lost season can be traced back much further than any recent results. A damning list of missteps over several months − years, even − culminated with this bitter moment.
Head Coach Peter Laviolette said this is a regret for everyone involved, fans, staff and players alike.
"It's disappointing for everybody. It certainly wasn't anybody's plan coming into the year, especially coming off of last year. Yet here we are," Laviolette said. "We had opportunities in the last 20 games to make our own noise and make our own way and we didn't do that. It's on us. We needed to be better."
And while everyone is disappointed and there's no chance left for postseason hopes, the Rangers still have two games to play:
- Monday, April 14th at the Florida Panthers
- Tuesday, April 17th versus the Tampa Bay Lightning
So, what do the Blueshirts have left to play for a prove with their season officially coming to an end so soon?
The Fans
Obviously most are frustrated and it is likely that many of the Blueshirts faithful will not turn their televisions and streaming devices to catch the Rangers final two games. But, there are some diehard fans who will still tune in.
There are some diehard fans who already believe the Rangers can turn things around next year — and here's why.
Flipping the Script
What appears to be the only light in the darkness is the fact that the last time the Rangers won the Presidents’ Trophy and missed the playoffs the following season, the very next season they won the Stanley Cup.
By this logic and assuming the Blueshirts play well against the Florida Panthers and the Tampa Bay Lightning in order to end the year on a high note, maybe they can prove to the fans that history can be repeated. There will also need to be some improvements made this summer, but we have time to talk about that in more detail in the coming weeks.