Puck Drop Preview: 2014-2015 New York Rangers

Welcome to Puck Drop Preview 2014-15, where our hockey department gives you a detailed look at each team from around the NHL leading to the start of this hockey season and offers our insight and analysis. Makes sure to stick around until the end of the series, where we’ll offer our full predictions for the standings in each division, and eventually our collective LWOS 2014-15 Stanley Cup pick. You can check out all our articles on our Puck Drop Page.  Today is the 2014-2015 New York Rangers.

Last Season:

Last year it was a tale of two teams, as the Rangers started the season by being embarrassed on every level during an opening west coast road trip. Tomas Hertl famously deked Marty Biron into retirement and a desk job at the MSG Studios, while people were openly calling for Alain Vigneault’s head. After years of John Tortorella’s shot-blocking, “jam”, and a heavy emphasis on defense, the Rangers struggled to adjust to the speed and skill-based system implemented by Vigneault.

Henrik Lundqvist looked human for the first time in his career, being outplayed on some October nights by backup Cam Talbot. Add in Carl Hagelin and Ryan Callahan missing almost all of training camp with injuries and a Rick Nash concussion in the third game of the season, and this slow start was something everyone should have seen coming.

What nobody did see coming, however, was how the third line of Mats Zuccarello, Derick Brassard, and Benoit Pouliot gelled incredibly well in mid-late November and began pushing the Rangers towards their peak.

After the Olympic Break, despite playing some of their best hockey of the year, all people could talk about was what was happening outside the rink. Dan Girardi and Ryan Callahan both needed new contracts by all metrics and neither were asking for team-friendly deals.  The Rangers were reportedly offering Callahan a six-year $36 million deal, while he and his agent were reportedly countering at eight years.

People were speculating if the Rangers were going to trade one or both players, when it was announced that Girardi had signed a six-year, $33 million contract. The writing was on the wall for Callahan, and on deadline day it was official as Martin St. Louis came to NY for Callahan and two drafts picks. St. Louis struggled mightily as the regular season wound down, scoring one goal in 19 games.

In the playoffs however, the world saw how dangerous this team really was. Taking seven games to down Philly, it was the defense on Claude Giroux, and the ability to score with every line, that saw them taking what seemed like the 80th consecutive playoff series that the Rangers had to play all seven. Pittsburgh had the Rangers dead to rights, down three games to one, but the Rangers once again used their depth and skill to overpower the Penguins bottom six and slower defensemen for, yet another, game seven victory.

The Eastern Conference finals began with the Rangers using their speed to blow the Canadiens out of the water but instantly became mired in turmoil as Chris Kreider collided with Carey Price, knocking the gold medalist goalie out for the series, and Brandon Prust broke Derek Stepan’s jaw. The loss of Price, combined with Ryan McDonagh’s breakout performance (10 points, two goals, eight assists), sent the Canadiens home in six games, which seemed to be the quickest the Rangers have ever* finished off a series (* or more realistically three years).

The LA Kings took the Rangers best punches and never seemed to be phased, as they always had an answer for everything New York tried. The Rangers were outclassed in almost every way, as they couldn’t keep up with LA’s pressure from all four lines, a fact that became painfully more evident as the series wore on. Ultimately, the Rangers would lose the Stanley Cup final in five games.

Puck Drop Preview: 2014-2015 New York Rangers

Offseason Changes:

Gone are Anton Stralman, Brian Boyle, Derek Dorsett, Raphael Diaz, Michael Del Zotto and Benoit Pouliot either via free agency or trade, while Brad Richards was bought out this off-season.

Dan Boyle was the biggest name signing for the Rangers, as he lends help replacing Anton Stralman until Brady Skjei and (hopefully) Dylan McIlrath are ready to come up in the next few seasons. Lee Stempniak and Matthew Lombardi have both come over to help replenish some of the depth lost in Pouliot and Dorsett. Kevin Hayes recently signed with the team and is expected to compete for, and win, a winger position (read all about Hayes from LWOS prospect wizard Ben Kerr).

The Rangers, apparently deciding they have been making too many smart decisions in the past few free agency periods, decided to go out and get themselves Tanner Glass. Just acquiring Glass is a move that clearly states, we still think that grit and face punching is important even if the guy is a possession black hole, can’t skate or play smart hockey. But no, the Rangers went out and wildly overpaid for Glass too. Three years, $4.35 million total is ludicrous, especially when you consider they signed Stempniak to a one-year, 900k deal a week later. That’s right Ranger fans, you are paying Tanner Glass more money to be a terrible liability than you are to Lee Stempniak to be a competent third or fourth liner. The Rangers also wisely re-signed Dominic Moore, Brassard, and Zuccarello.

 

Line Projections:

Rick Nash – Derek Stepan – Chris Kreider

Carl Hagelin- Derick Brassard – Martin St. Louis

Mats Zuccarello – J.T. Miller – Kevin Hayes

Matthew Lombardi – Dominic Moore – Lee Stempniak

I can just as easily see Vigneault switching Hagelin and Zuccarello to keeping the chemistry between Brassard and Zuccarello intact, but right away the team’s speed once again jumps off the page at you. Miller and Jesper Fast will be battling it out for the third line center position and based off raw talent and potential it is definitely Miller’s job to lose. Miller has issues with training and focus, so it won’t take the world’s largest leap to envision him squandering this and giving it to Fast in the process.

Dan Girardi – Ryan McDonagh

Marc Staal – Dan Boyle

Kevin Klein- John Moore

 (Dylan McIlrath)

Right off the bat, yes the third pairing will feature Moore over McIlrath, however Moore has still not re-signed with the Rangers so McIlrath may fill in until Moore does re-sign. Conor Allen is another player who could be knocking at the door for Moore’s spot but, once again, McIlrath’s talent and his hulking presence will give him a strong advantage at the start of camp. Boyle will without question bring his offensive skills and defensive prowess, but does he still have a full 82 game season in him? With the pace of play the Rangers like to bring it’s hard envisioning Boyle jumping into the rush ala McDonagh or Staal, but his offensive presence should be felt on a power play that wasn’t god awful for the first time in years.

Henrik Lundqvist

Cam Talbot

No brainer here as Lundqvist will be the number one goalie. Don’t be surprised to see Talbot staring more games as the season drags on though, the Rangers have signed Lunqvist until he is 40, and would like to make sure he’s physically capable of playing that long. That isn’t a knock on Talbot either, he is the first back up in a while that Ranger fans have confidence in his ability to hold court when the king needs an off day.

 

Players to watch:

• Chris Kreider
• Kevin Hayes

The Rangers don’t have many unknowns about their players this year, hence the two biggest players to watch are Hayes and Kreider. With Hayes, it will be important to see how he transitions onto the team, where he fits best, and how quickly he can adapt his game from college to the pros. None of that will be an easy task and he’s being asked to do all this and be productive immediately for New York.

Kreider absolutely flourished in Vigneault’s system after trying and failing to stay in New York under John Tortorella. Kreider taking yet another step forward towards becoming the dominant, high flying forward he shows flashes of being will be key to the Rangers success this season.

On the Rise:

• Ryan McDonagh
• Derek Stepan
• Mats Zuccarello

It might seem odd to see McDonagh’s name on this list but that is a testament to his ceiling and how he, much like Drew Doughty, is barely starting to reach it. Last year was the year the McDonagh started to feel confident enough to move around and take chances in the offensive zone, and this year should be the year he finally places himself in the lead for the “Brian Leetch best American offensive defenseman award” which is an award I just made up. Few players are as defensively sound as McDonagh and even less have that combined with his offensive talent. This should be a fun year to watch him.

Stepan is the team’s number one center and this is the year he finally proves it. Playing between Nash and Kreider should give him the opportunity to rack up assists and he is the hardest back-checking forward on the team, but he needs to put it together for a full season now. Stepan doesn’t have any flash to his game but he works hard and has all the ability to launch himself into the top 15 centers in the NHL.

Zuccarello’s story is similar to Kreiders. Could never crack the line-up regularly under Torts, as he didn’t have the size Torts wanted, but fits in perfectly in Vigneault’s system. Expert passing combined with great vision will allow Zuccarello to mesh with anyone on the ice this year and he’ll be expected to carry Miller and Hayes through their development as well as produce. He should be more than up to the task.

 

On the Decline:

• Dan Girardi
• Dan Boyle
• Kevin Klein

Dan Girardi was the biggest victim of the Tortorella era. Leading the team in blocked shots every season has clearly hurt his body. Every year he slows down as the season goes along, struggling at the end to keep up with the pace of his teammates and making more errors as the games go by. Girardi will hopefully begin this season with a new outlook, one less focused on shot blocking and more on playing within the current system, or else he will decline in March yet again.

Boyle is 38. His legs are not what they once were, and he’s still going to be a very good player in spite of that. But when push comes to shove, he is a 38-year-old defenceman in the NHL and fatigue will take it’s toll.

Klein came to New York in exchange for Michael Del Zotto and immediately put up the best possession numbers of his career. Those numbers are likely to regress and Klein will come back to his career average. He will still be a smart stay-at-home defenseman, but he won’t be the possession monster everyone saw throughout his brief tenure in New York.

 

2014-2015 season expectations:

The Rangers are no longer the dark horse pick to make the Cup final like they were a year ago. With the teams around them mostly getting better, losing a good portion of their top point-getters makes this team not as strong as last year. But don’t worry Rangers fans, you still have Lundqvist between the pipes, and a strong defense in front of him. Hagelin, Stepan, and Brassard should all continue to grow and produce. Nash and St. Louis are still scary offensive threats.

The Rangers will most likely sneak into the two seed in the Metro again, however only a few missteps will have them on the outside of the playoff picture entirely. If Miller or Fast can’t hack it, Boyle shows his age, or any of the core is forced to miss extended time they could be in real trouble. The depth in Hartford is onec again non-existent, as the Rangers wait for Brady Skjei, Anthony Duclair and Pavel Buchnevich to play at least another year in their respective leagues. It isn’t all doom and gloom for Rangers fans though, as they should make the playoffs, and then they can ride Lundqvist as far as he can take them.