{"id":35013,"date":"2018-09-13T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-09-13T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=35013"},"modified":"2019-11-08T11:11:13","modified_gmt":"2019-11-08T16:11:13","slug":"puck-drop-preview-2018-19-new-york-rangers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2018\/09\/13\/puck-drop-preview-2018-19-new-york-rangers\/","title":{"rendered":"Puck Drop Preview: 2018-19 New York Rangers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to Puck Drop Preview 2018-19, where\u00a0Last Word On Hockey<\/a>\u00a0gives 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. Make sure to stick around until the end of the series, where we\u2019ll offer our full predictions for the standings in each division, and eventually our 2018-19 Stanley Cup pick. You can check out all our articles on our\u00a0Puck Drop Page<\/a>. Today the series continues with the 2018-19 New York Rangers<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

2018-19 New York Rangers Preview<\/h1>\n

Previous Year<\/h2>\n

2017 Off-season<\/h3>\n

The New York Rangers finished the 2016-17 National Hockey League regular season with a record of 48-28-6 and finished with 102 points and secured the first Wild Card slot in the Eastern Conference. In the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs, they defeated the Montreal Canadiens<\/a> in six games to advance to the second round and squared off with the Ottawa Senators<\/a>. The Rangers and Senators had a dogfight of a series, but in the end, the Senators defeated the Rangers four games to two and knocked the Blueshirts out of the postseason. Summer came early for the Rangers but the front office had big plans for the squad.<\/p>\n

The Rangers bought out the remainder of veteran defenseman Daniel Girardi’s contract first. Then on the day of the 2017 NHL Entry Draft, the Rangers dealt forward Derek Stepan<\/a><\/strong> to the Arizona Coyotes<\/a> in exchange for defenseman Tony\u00a0DeAngelo<\/strong><\/a> and the Yotes first-round draft pick, the pick which would ultimately be Swedish forward Lias Andersson<\/a><\/strong>.<\/strong>\u00a0 The Rangers also made a huge splash on July 1, 2017, when they signed defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk<\/a><\/strong> to a four-year contract deal.<\/p>\n

A Disappointing Season and “The Rebuild”<\/h3>\n

The Rangers opened the 2017-18 NHL season with a 3-7-1 start\u00a0but eventually climbed their way up the standings. However, newly signed D-man Shattenkirk was sidelined for the remainder of the season in January of 2018 with a knee injury. This was the beginning of a dark time for Rangers fans. The team continued to slump, and could not string together wins. Inconsistent play and injuries caused the Blueshirts to struggle. At the 2018 trade deadline, the Rangers front office issued a letter to the fans which read that the team was beginning a rebuilding phase and that some fan favourites would,\u00a0unfortunately, be on their way out of New York.<\/p>\n

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Rangers President Glen Sather and GM Jeff Gorton have sent the following letter to Ranger fans about the state of the team #NYR<\/a> : pic.twitter.com\/YQqys1FHeE<\/a><\/p>\n

— RNYRF (@RNYRF) February 8, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n