New head coach Peter Laviolette has been facing the same maddening Rangers squad that helped send Gerard Gallant to the unemployment line after the 2022-23 season.
Kevin Labanc (62) attempts to tip a shot past Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin (31) as defenseman K’Andre Miller provides support – Photo by Jack Lima
The exhibition games are for learning what teams have, and need to do.
Laviolette is seeing how the Rangers are as inconsistent, lackadaisical, and uninterested as they have ever been.
A recent loss to the New York Islanders in preseason summed up the Rangers. A poor first period, a middle frame with all the emotion of a wet paper towel, and third period filled with pseudo urgency.
This is a make or break season for the veterans on this club. Too many are being paid too much for too little.
“There is a really good team here,” Laviolette said after being hired. . “I think any time that you don’t get to the level of success that you want or you’re expecting from inside your organization, and this goes for any team not necessarily just the New York Rangers, there is a sense of disappointment and there is a hunger to do more, to achieve more. I definitely picked that up from him and that’s a really positive thing for me as a coach to know that there is a thirst in there to be successful.”
It would be interesting to hear his inner thoughts now as he navigates the cloud of mystery in Manhattan.
“Everyone who I’ve talked to loved playing for him,” forward Barclay Goodrow said of Laviolette. “As players all you can do is prove yourself to him.”
Apparently not everyone is ready.
Mika Zibanejad, Artemi Panarin, Chris Kreider, and Vincent Trocheck have been injured or invisible so far in training camp. And don;t go down the road of then saving themselves for the regular season. This IS who the New York Rangers are.
It’s been the new faces who have brought the energy including Blake Wheeler, Nick Bonino, Tyler Pitlick, and Erik Gustafsson.
The aging kids of the group can no longer blame youth and inexperience on their limited successes for the past two season. Kaapo Kakko, 22, Alexis Lafrenière, 21, and Filip Chytil, 23, will need to make dramatic changes to their game to see ice time.
“There’s definitely going to be competition to see where the lines and minutes fall out,” Laviolette said. “What’s exciting about training camp for me this year is to see who is going to bust through the door.”
Brennan Othmann is slated for next season, but has been making noise this training camp and has scored one of the few goals the Rangers have potted this exhibition season.
“Knowing he had to go back to junior last year, the message from the development staff is we want to see more of a 200-foot game, attention to details,” Rangers director of player development Jed Ortmeyer said. “It’s understanding what you’re going to have to do at the pro level to stay in the lineup every night. That was the idea going back to juniors, putting himself on the biggest stages and in the pressure moments and excel. It proves he’s a gamer.”
Will Cuylle has been making noise on the ice by throwing his considerable size around and impacting games. He is slated for this season, and if the veterans continue their lackluster approach to training camp he may end at Madison Square Garden and not Hartford this season.
“He has taken each step and then comes in last year ready for camp and solidified a role with Hartford on the penalty kill, some power play and led them in goals in his first-year pro [season],” Ortmeyer said. “Getting better one step at a time.”
Defenseman Zac Jones is expected to make the team next season, but again, if the Rangers continue to be well, the Rangers, he can expect to find himself in Manhattan sooner.
“He got some experience the last couple years,” Ortmeyer said. “Coming to Hartford last year he focused on his defensive play, getting a little bit stronger with his ‘D’ zone coverage and ending plays. He did everything we asked him to and the experience of playing a ton of minutes in all situations, I think that will help him and give him a lot of momentum going into training camp this year.”
Laviolette came to New York preaching hard work. His players seem to have not gotten the message. At least the lazy veterans have not.
“That’s why I said from Day One, it’s time to go to work,” Laviolette said. “It’s time to compete and go to work every day.”
It is hoped that Jonathan Quick can provide reliable back up to Igor Shesterkin in net this season. The preseason has shown he needs a better team in front of him to succeed.
The enigma is Lafreniere. The first pick in the NHL draft in 2020. He has shown flashes of what he can do. His time on ice was pitifully low last season, and seems to have been in Gallant’s dog house for much of the season.
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