The All Star break is a natural point in the season for reflection. Teams take a collective deep breath ahead of the sprint to the trade deadline and then, the playoffs. The Rangers have had a very up and down season thus far and opinions on the team’s future short (and long) term future vary wildly. With that said, let’s catch up on where the Rangers are, heading into the second half and beyond.
Glass Half Full
The Rangers special teams have been atrocious, Henrik Lundqvist has been up and down (and abandoned), some of the ‘kids’ haven’t progressed as hoped/expected and the defense has seemingly and collectively taken a BIG step back and yet, this team sits 3rd in the conference and 7th in the league (with a 27-17-5 record). Washington are sauntering to the conference’s number one seed but that doesn’t automatically mean a Stanley Cup parade.
The point is this: this Rangers team, with all its apparent warts (and obvious) flaws are still well in contention in the East and maybe have as much upside or room for improvement as any team in the entire league. The Rangers should be stronger up front when the league resumes. If Rick Nash figures it out, if Chris Kreider builds on his recent (mini) surge and if Derek Stepan can return to better days there’s no reason the Rangers – despite the absence of elite individual offensive talents – can’t hold their own offensively against any team in the East outside of the nation’s capital.
Glass Half Empty
Has Henrik Lundqvist peaked? Have the kids (Hayes, Kreider, even Stepan) actually maxed their potential? Does Rick Nash remember how to score? Can this defensive group reduce the countless mistakes made and improve on its inconsistent play? There are a lot of question marks facing the Rangers in the second half of season.
The playoffs (assuming the Rangers get there – there are just 9 points separate the Rangers in 3rd from the Flyers in 13th) are where special teams matter and when teams tighten up defensively. The Rangers need to get better with their special teams and they certainly need to tighten up. The concern is that this team has lost its structure and only the next few months will tell us whether this team can regain its identity from the past few years where it was consistently one of the last teams standing. Do Dan Girardi and Marc Staal have more to give? Rangers fans better hope so.
What needs to be done?
The Rangers are a good team, playing inconsistent hockey but they are no longer a great team – if that’s even something they have ever been. They need to better protect Lundqvist, they need to finally determine what six defensemen represent their best chance of success and they need to improve on special teams. If they do all those things then there’s no reason they cannot emerge from the East.
Jeff Gorton is facing arguably his biggest decision since taking over the GM mantle from Glen Sather with the looming Keith Yandle situation. Assuming Yandle doesn’t re-sign anytime soon, trading the talented but misused defenseman doesn’t need to mean the Rangers are giving up on this season but the return for Yandle needs to be a strong one – both for the present but above all, for the future. One look at Anthony Duclair’s solid development in Arizona is all that is needed to remind the Rangers of what they lost.
Long beyond this season
The Rangers are at a crossroads and on the face of things look a somewhat confused franchise. They’re plenty good enough to stay in contention but need (outside) help to do so. They’re young and talented but don’t have too much on the horizon and have little margin for error if certain younger prospects (both on and off the NHL roster) don’t progress quickly.
This is perhaps the most critical trade deadline for the Rangers since Glen Sather gutted the franchise and chose a full blown reboot over a decade ago. That period of change brought the Rangers back to respectability and ushered in a generation of sustained success. Will this February help keep the Rangers amongst the elite?
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