Where do the Rangers go from here?

[Jerkob Slavin]

From what they told us a couple of weeks ago... golfing.

 

[1909]

If Trouba would concentrate on his d play instead of head hunting, he would be more efficient.

 

[Roomtemperature]

The Rangers made it to the ECF twice in 3 years; no reason to blow it all up. Something the best move is to run it back with some tweaks; imagine if Tampa management had listened to HF after 2019 and traded everyone.

 

[Machinehead]

Fix the defense and then assess what you have.

Even with Fox, they have legit one of the worst defense corps in the NHL and we're sitting here surprised they lost.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Ranger fans thinking they can just jettison off players with NMCs is funny. You’ll have to Tonya Harding Trouba and LTIR him to get cap relief there. 15 team no trade list…

 

[Gardner McKay]

The seemingly "perfect team" just can't get it done when it matters most. Florida completely smothered the life out of the Rags in this series who were probably lucky that it actually went to 6 games. The team core is aging but also pretty locked in at this point. Core is also simply not good enough even with some of the best goaltending in the entire league.

What do the Rags do after this? Run it back and hope Shesterking goes even more crazies in the playoffs or that Laf turns into the piece that puts them over? Trade Panarin/Zib and retool on the fly? Tear it down?

As good as the team is, they are also caught in no man's land of being too good to tear it all down IMO while also not being remotely good enough to win the SC.

Get rid of Trouba and Lindgren and that would be a wonderful start.

They need a brief retool that's it. Can be done in one offseason.

 

[BB88]

They just won the President’s trophy and were 2 wins away from the SCF

They’re just fine the way I see it

Not for long term

They have at best 2 years left with this core
They rushed the rebuild and will be paying the price for it soon

Panarin's contract is not an anchor. Absolutely ridiculous statement. He has two years left, just had an incredible career best season and went nearly PPG in the play offs.

If anything, the team is anchoring Panarin.


That's a coaching issue

If Panarin actually showed up in the playoffs you could say that.

Panarin being average is one of the biggest reasons why Rangers season is done, not even close to being at the same level as Barkov/Tkachuk

 

[PullHard]

Very oddly constructed roster with players like panarin, fox, lafreniere, kakko falling into their lap. No doubt they are a solid team but maybe the worst president trophy winning team on paper in my time following hockey. A couple of bad contracts but they should be able to make their tweaks this summer. Hard to say 1 or 2 obvious moves to make, seems like everyone wants to upgrade the 1C on this team, but they will for sure be running it back.

 

[Grifter3511]

Not for long term

They have at best 2 years left with this core
They rushed the rebuild and will be paying the price for it soon



If Panarin actually showed up in the playoffs you could say that.

Panarin being average is one of the biggest reasons why Rangers season is done, not even close to being at the same level as Barkov/Tkachuk

I'd say Panarin was pretty comparable to Tkachuk in this specific series. After game 1, Tkachuk didn't do much of anything and really wasn't the reason Florida won.

 

[BB88]

I'd say Panarin was pretty comparable to Tkachuk in this specific series. After game 1, Tkachuk didn't do much of anything and really wasn't the reason Florida won.

Tkachuk wasn’t last years Tkachuk but he means much more than the points he brings. They gring and work non stop

Same as Barkov but in a different way. He just completely shutdown the Rangers when he was on the ice

Panarin is all about points and was a no show.
So no credibility to say Rangers were hurting Panarins chances when Panarin wasn’t playing his best hockey, not even close to it

 

[Grifter3511]

Then I don’t know what series were you watching

Tkachuk wasn’t last years Tkachuk but he means much more than the points he brings. They gring and work non stop

Panarin is all about points and was a no show

Yes, you are describing what Tkatchuk normally brings. But outside of a few hits, he didn't really bring any significant grind or snarl to this series. He's fortunate the rest of the team brought plenty.

The only really perceivable difference in the two players this series is one is 3 inches and 3 lbs or so heavier.

 

[Mathews28]

Absolutely - but it’s a common theme for Mika & Panarin. Completely shutdown against the Devils the year prior.

I’m not too savvy on their larger body of work. But you’re right, at some point it becomes a trend.

 

[Roo Returns]

You'd get rid of Gustafsson when he for a very tiny salary was providing the second-best 5on5 advanced stats behind Adam Fox? Also the best xGF% out of all defensemen.

NYR's problem was that they were playing Gustafsson too little, not the other way around. No one else on that team can handle the puck apart from Fox, which is what constantly got them into trouble.

Gus is gone bro. This is his cash out/last chance contract. A team like Carolina which needs D is going to give him three years.

Rangers will play Jones next year. Trouba is probably gone. They might sign a stopgap UFA. There's a slight chance Victor Mancini joins the rotation. He's an older prospect who just joined from the NCAA and looked very good in Hartford's playoff run. He's not an offensive DMan though.

 

[Mathews28]

Didn't you watch the games?

The comment was “Panarin is a one dimensional player”. That’s more than a commentary on the series. That is an indictment on the player over all, and I haven’t watched enough of Panarin’s career to refute or validate the claim that he is one dimensional.

But then again I’m a baseball guy and may not have your keen eye to make such determinations off of one series. Hence my ask of the ranger fanbase.

 

[Peltz]

Rangers just need to go again. They have a good team. Don't get to the conference final and having the best record in NHL being crap. Just need to find a way to counter the heavy forecheck. Move the puck faster and get the puck on net.

If it were their first run at this, then sure. But we've seen this team perform similarly 3 years in a row (last year was a low point though).

They get caved when playing 5v5 hockey against a good forecheck. Heck, I will go so far as saying that beating Carolina looked like it wasn't going to happen until Kreider went berserk for a period. They almost got reverse swept that series.

 

[Fatass]

Enough High end ufas will always want to play for the Rangers that they will be competitive.

 

[Bizz]

There's nothing they can do, just stay the course and hope they get the Capitals for 3 rounds next season.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Get rid of Trouba and Lindgren and that would be a wonderful start.

They need a brief retool that's it. Can be done in one offseason.

Shesterkin should break the Goalie market. I expect an extension July 1st which will kick in for the 2025-26 season and likely be north of $11 million. We're looking at about a $5 million AAV difference against the cap when that kicks in. If they keep Lafreniere around, he'll want a big extension off his bridge as well. They should have tried to extend him for longer last offseason, but couldn't because no cap. Given their Forward core is otherwise quite old, it's probably next year or bust. Other teams with more cap and more in terms of young incoming talent (higher recent draft picks) will likely surpass them by then, and they'll still probably be good enough to make the Playoffs for a bit, but not be much of a threat for more.

 

[eviohh26]

NY's 1st 2 rounds were too easy. They were not ready for the Panthers.

 

[JimmyG89]

NY's 1st 2 rounds were too easy. They were not ready for the Panthers.

I mean cmon the Canes were the #3 team in the league. It was a ton of 1 goal games and the Rangers won them. This series the Panthers won them.

They need to upgrade the backend. Not enough puck movers and too slow.

I think Kakko is done here and could be part of that solution. A disappointing young winger for a disappointing young defender. He needs a change of scenery badly.

 

[Bleedred]

I think they’re gonna feel like they always have a chance at the cup with Igor.

 

[Bleedred]

NY's 1st 2 rounds were too easy. They were not ready for the Panthers.

I don’t think the Canes were easy, but they somehow scored 4 more goals on Igor in the same number of games played (and I think 11 more minutes?) than the Panthers did.

And Andersen allowed I think 4 more goals than Bob did in one fewer game.

I was hard on Bob after game 3 of this series, but how he played in the last 3 games and overall in that series does not at all do anything to flatter Andersen. I think that makes Andersen look even worse than he was looking right after that series ended. It was easy to write that one off as “Igor was just too much to overcome” until we saw the next team score even less on Igor than the Canes did and take the Rangers down in the same number of games that the Rangers took the Canes down.

 

[SympathyForTheDevils]

Tkachuk wasn’t last years Tkachuk but he means much more than the points he brings. They gring and work non stop

Same as Barkov but in a different way. He just completely shutdown the Rangers when he was on the ice

Panarin is all about points and was a no show.
So no credibility to say Rangers were hurting Panarins chances when Panarin wasn’t playing his best hockey, not even close to it

Barkov also shut himself down when he was on the ice. 1 EV point all series. Less than Panarin and Zibanejad.

As much as fans like to harp on it, all top forwards get shut down from time to time (aside from maybe McDavid-tier players). Especially when facing strong defensive teams. The Rangers' real problem isn't their forwards stars, it's their crappy bottom 6, and to some extent, lack of puck skills on the backend.

 

[Grifter3511]

Shesterkin should break the Goalie market. I expect an extension July 1st which will kick in for the 2025-26 season and likely be north of $11 million. We're looking at about a $5 million AAV difference against the cap when that kicks in. If they keep Lafreniere around, he'll want a big extension off his bridge as well. They should have tried to extend him for longer last offseason, but couldn't because no cap. Given their Forward core is otherwise quite old, it's probably next year or bust. Other teams with more cap and more in terms of young incoming talent (higher recent draft picks) will likely surpass them by then, and they'll still probably be good enough to make the Playoffs for a bit, but not be much of a threat for more.

Are there actually teams out there that would spend over 11 mil on a goalie?

 

[Nyr88nyg]

Get a real 1C and two defensemen that aren’t dog shit, or rebuild. Don’t care how it’s done. The current configuration will never win a cup