After being eliminated in five games by the Pittsburgh Penguins, the New York Rangers organization has a lot of tough questions to answer. The biggest one is: Has the window closed for the Rangers? Have the Blueshirts missed their opportunity to win another Stanley Cup during these last few seasons? What does the road ahead look like for the team that plays in Manhattan?
Has the New York Rangers Window Closed?
Henrik Lundqvist
The big question when it comes to New York’s franchise goalie is whether his best days are behind him. Can the Swedish netminder still be one of the best goalies in the league during the gauntlet that is the NHL Playoffs? Henrik Lundqvist turned 34 in March, which means he will be 35 come next year’s playoffs.
It’s not just the age of “King Henrik” one has to worry about but also the miles he has logged. In his 11-year career Lundqvist has played 685 regular season games and 116 post-season games. In addition, Lundqvist has logged at least 60 games played in the regular season eight times. “Hank,” as his teammates call him, is in tremendous shape but one was to wonder how much tread has come off the tires?
Lundqvist era will likely end like Ewing's did…many contending teams…no hardware.
— Robin Lundberg (@robinlundberg) April 23, 2016
The Blueline
Not too long ago many hockey people would tell you the Rangers had one of the best blueline corps in the NHL. But has all the regular season and playoff games taken it’s toll on New York’s defense? The last five years the Rangers have played more playoff games than any other team in the league (81). That is a lot of wear and tear that has been put on Ryan McDonagh, Marc Staal and Dan Girardi. Captain McDonagh is still playing at a high level but Staal has been too inconsistent and Girardi’s play has fallen to a third pairing D-man. Can this trio recapture that high level of play, game in and game out come the playoffs? I don’t think you can turn back the clock.
Offense
This conversation has to start with Rick Nash. When New York traded for Nash from Columbus they thought they were acquiring a franchise power forward for many years to come. But in his four years with the Rangers, Nash has only had one big year in the regular season and more importantly has not been a difference maker come the post-season. With Nash turning 32 this off-season, can he put together a full season where he is a impact player?
After Nash the Rangers have a good group of forwards but they have come up a little bit short when they have gone against the elite teams in the NHL. If New York is going to be a Cup contender over the next couple of years, they need their young guns like Chris Kreider and Kevin Hayes to take it to the next level.
Rangers lack ultimate offensive weapons to tackle Penguins #NYR Mike… https://t.co/N2yPTw1FQs
— BlueshirtNation (@NYRangers_BSN) April 23, 2016
The Pipeline
This is where it gets ugly for New York. According to HockeysFuture.com, the Rangers prospect pool is ranked 27th overall. It hasn’t helped that the Blueshirts have not had a first round pick since 2012 due to various trades. That trend continues this year as the Rangers 2016 first round pick belongs to the Arizona Coyotes as a result of the Keith Yandle trade. In fact, over the next two drafts the Rangers only have one pick in the first two rounds. The only prospect of significance that New York has is winger Pavel Buchnevich. With such a thin pipeline they need Buchnevich to be at minimum a top-six forward.
The Cap
The Rangers cap situation could be an article in itself. Long story short, the Rangers cap is very tight and full of player contracts which give General Manager Jeff Gorton very little flexibility. Yes, Dan Boyle and his $4.5 million cap hit will come off the books (a move that did not work out) but all those cap dollars are going to the Rangers key restricted free agents. Keeping Yandle will be a difficult challenge. Improving this team will take some creative thinking by the GM.
I am not ready to bury the Rangers for the next number of years. Nor am I going to state that this time next year we will be talking about how New York is a lottery team. But the days of the Rangers being an Eastern Conference contender are likely over for the foreseeable future.
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