If the Rangers sign no free agents they're still very likely to be a better team next year than they were this year. You can expect improvement out of kids like Chytil, Howden, DeAngelo, Buchnevich maybe even Pionk. Quinn ain't tied to Henrik like he was last year. He knows the team better and if Georgiev plays better than Henrik he'll play him more. As well I would expect that Kakko is going to come right in and be an important player right off the bat. Kravtsov could be a big deal too. Lemieux will be better. The coaching staff isn't starting from scratch this year either. They have a lot better idea of who can do what and they'll make fewer mistakes.
As well the Rangers were competitive in most of their losses. They didn't get blown out very often. Most games they lost by one goal--sometimes two because of an empty netter. You can expect a team like that to improve.
So this idea that we're going to be a bottom 5 team and win the lottery all over again---it's possible that if we don't make the playoffs we'll win one of the lotteries again but expecting it to happen is setting yourself up for disappointment because it's a lot more probable that it won't happen.
Here's the thing about zeroing in on guys via free agency. You can zero in on anybody but letting Panarin pass this year and then zeroing in on someone that's kind of good next year because now all of sudden it's okay is kind of ****ed up. Anyone that's any good is going to get paid and they're going to get term. The great likelihood is we're not going to see anyone nearly as good as a 27 year old Panarin next year or the year after and as far as trades go once we get rid of Kreider there ain't a whole lot left as far as vets that is going to get you anything worthwhile. Potential trading partners anyway will be more interested in our young.
