Their veteran core is getting older. However, can the core of the future for the New York Rangers keep the current Stanley Cup window as contenders alive? This is the question looming ahead of the Rangers 2024-25 NHL season. Disappointment and frustration defined the past two Eastern Conference Finals, erasing patience from the fans’ vocabulary. Artemi Panarin has two years left on his contract, as does Jacob Trouba, and the trio of Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider, and Vincent Trocheck aren’t getting any younger. With one Stanley Cup since 1994, and the only Cup won since the outbreak of World War II, the Rangers can’t afford to go another 54 years between championships.
A Brief History of the New York Rangers Home the Madison Square Garden
The Case for the 2024-25 Rangers as Stanley Cup Contenders
This is a crucial time for the Rangers, especially for the veterans who have received letters of leadership, top-end minutes, and pretty paycheques. They’ve gone through a carousel of coaches that reads like Goldilocks and the Three Bears: this one’s too tough, this one’s too soft, this one is just right. A reckoning is coming for the current core. If they can’t get the Rangers over the hump, some drastic changes will be made. Will that be it for the Rangers’ Stanley Cup window? Or can the Rangers’ youth keep the dream alive?
The Current Window and an Aging Core
Let’s start with the big three with Panarin, Zibanejad, and Trouba, who are the three highest paid players on the team. They have had their moments to shine, but they have had more than their share of frustration and disappointment. Panarin followed a 49-goal, 120-point regular season with 15 playoff points, including five goals in 16 games, but was less dynamic against the Carolina Hurricanes and Florida Panthers. Zibanejad’s lack of even strength scoring not only plagued him during the playoff run, but was amplified, as the Rangers’ billed number was outperformed by Trocheck. And Trouba? Well, if you have been paying attention to the New York Rangers, there’s not many more words left to spare toward the Trouba plight.
Not all veterans were a disappointment. Chris Kreider was the hero of the Eastern Conference semifinals with a series-clinching hat trick on the road in Carolina in a must-win Game 6, and Vincent Trocheck was simply masterful with 20 points and eight goals, including an iconic overtime winner against the Panthers. They performed admirably, but you can’t expect them to drag the team to the Cup when Panarin and Zibanejad are kept off the scoresheet.
The uncomfortable truth is all five aforementioned players are getting older. The aging curve will hit them all if it hasn’t hit already. Chris Drury and his team have made it clear that they are losing trust in this older core, to the extent that they unceremoniously exiled Barclay Goodrow to San Jose, despite bringing him in for his leadership and playoff experience. Drury tried to do the same with Trouba, the team’s captain. If that isn’t an indictment of this current group, we are not sure what is. From experience, history has taught that when someone tries to tell you who they are again and again, it’s best to listen. The last three years have shown that they can’t, so why expect them to be able to now?
Who Can Keep the Stanley Cup Window Open?
There is hope for the future. We know what Adam Fox and Igor Shesterkin are. The weapon in the new and emerging core, however, is Alexis Lafreniere. Lafreniere, who turns 23 in October, is among the NHL’s top 5v5 scorers. His breakout 2023-24 campaign saw 26 of his 28 total goals scored at even strength. Remarkably, that’s better than Connor McDavid, Sebastian Aho, Jake Guentzel, Sam Reinhart (he of 57 goals), Jesper Bratt, Matthew Tkachuk, and others. Lafreniere outscored all of his teammates except Panarin in that category! The 2020 first overall pick added eight goals in the postseason, four of which came against the Panthers in the Eastern Conference Final. All eyes will be on the St-Eustache-born kid to elevate his game even higher in 2024-25.
Kaapo Kakko still has a role to play, though it may be his last chance. Filip Chytil, if he can stay healthy (a big “if”), can provide some much-needed scoring depth down the middle. K’Andre Miller and Braden Schneider have become the second and third most important defencemen behind Fox. Moreover, Zac Jones will get his shot. The emergence of Will Cuylle, Adam Edstrom, and Matt Rempe has bolstered the bottom six. Even Brett Berard, and Brennan Othmann will get extended looks this training camp. And let’s not forget Gabe Perreault, who continues to look like the steal of the 2023 NHL Draft. The freshly drafted E.J. Emery could very well become a K’Andre 2.0 with his size and reach.
By rights, the Rangers are the Metropolitan Division’s best team. They’re the defending division champions and Presidents’ Trophy winners. The current veteran core is responsible for that level of success. Conversely, that door is closing. The veteran core only have one, maybe two more runs at it together before Drury does something drastic. But as we have shown, there is still hope. Adam Fox, Igor Shesterkin, Alexis Lafreniere, K’Andre Miller, and Braden Schneider are all major contributors. Are they ready to step into the role held by their elders? They’ll have to be, to keep the Rangers’ Stanley Cup window alive.
Main Photo Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports
