In the end, relentlessness won out over resiliency. The relentless Florida Panthers were simply too much for the resilient New York Rangers to handle. Goodbye 1994 parallels; hello futility.
Going into their series against the Panthers, the Rangers knew they needed to have three things go their way in order to have a shot at advancing to the finals: 1. They needed to play almost flawless hockey; 2. They needed to win the special teams battle; and 3. They needed to have Igor Shresterkin be the best player on the ice. As it turned out, one out of three wasn't nearly good enough.
While stats don't always tell you everything about a series, in this case they did. And the stats were not kind to the Rangers: Overall scoring chances: 191-140 Florida; High-danger scoring chances 55-38 Florida; Power play efficiency: Florida 5-19 (26.3%), New York 1-15 (6.7); Shots on goal: 202-151 Florida. About the only stat the Rangers managed to win was save percentage, where Shesterkin edged out his counterpart Sergei Bobrovsky .930 to .921. Indeed, it was only due to the sheer brilliance of the former Vezina-trophy winner that the games were as close as they were. He stole game three, but he couldn't steal the series.
Given the expectations this team had going into the postseason, this will be a very bitter pill to swallow. For the second time in three years, the Rangers made it to the Eastern Conference Finals only to fall short. There will be a lot of questions that need answers to, but before we get to that, let's first acknowledge the accomplishments, and there were several.
The Rangers won the Presidents' Trophy. They set a franchise record with 55 regular-season wins. They led the NHL with 34 come-from-behind victories. Apart from January, where they went 5-7-2, they were the lead dog pretty much the entire year. Their 154 regular-season wins over the last three seasons is fourth best in the league, while their 54 playoff wins since 2014 is tied with the Dallas Stars for third best. Alexis Lafreniere had a break out year under Peter Laviolette. And though they lost to the Panthers, they can boast that they are better than the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Boston Bruins, and, oh yes, the Carolina Hurricanes, whom they've now beaten two out of the last three years.
That's a list of accomplishments most teams would give their eye teeth to have. Whatever else you might think about how the season went, between the two of them, Jeff Gorton and Chris Drury assembled a team that is no worse than fourth best in the NHL. And if they hadn't had the misfortune of going up against the Panthers in the conference finals, they might very well be opening up this Saturday night at the Garden against the Edmonton Oilers in the Stanley Cup Finals.
But here's the thing: they did have the misfortune of going up against the Panthers: a team that, pound for pound, was the most complete in the NHL. And let's be honest. For all their elite talent, the Rangers Kryptonite has always been physically imposing teams that take away the middle of the ice. Against the Blueshirts, the Panthers put on a clinic.
So now we get to the number one question: what does Drury do this offseason? Clearly changes will have to be made. The Rangers have three players who are RFAs this summer: Kaapo Kakko, Ryan Lindgren and Braden Schneider. Does Drury re-sign all three? Or does he trade one or more of them? If it's the latter, the likely one to go is Kakko. For all the intangibles the former number two pick in the 2019 NHL Draft brings to the table, the fact is he just hasn't worked out. Even under Laviolette, Kakko remains a bottom six forward. In hindsight, it was a mistake for Drury not to package him at the trade deadline for a proven scorer.
Lindgren and Schneider made $3 million and $925,000 respectively this past season and both are due for a pay raise. Drury can probably bridge Schneider the way he did with K'Andre Miller and Alexis Lafreniere. $2m x 2 should just about do it. But Lindgren will be a little trickier. He's looking at a multi-year deal in the neighborhood of $4.5 million per. Does Drury want to invest that much in a defenseman who might be the second coming of Dan Girardi? If he can keep the term down to three years, the answer might be yes.
When it comes to the UFAs, it's fair to say that Jack Roslovic, Alex Wennberg, Blake Wheeler, and Erik Gustafsson have all played their last game as a Ranger. The former two were rentals and Drury is not known for re-signing rentals; the latter two were signed last summer to one year deals and have outlived their usefulness. With Brennan Othmann in Hartford, Zac Jones, Matt Rempe and Jonny Brodzinski on the bench, and a - hopefully - healthy Filip Chytil, the Rangers should have plenty of options to fill out their bottom six without going outside the organization.
But the real question for Drury concerns the core of this team. This is now the third year in a row that is has failed to deliver in the clutch. Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider were held to two points a piece against the Panthers. Artemi Panarin had a goal and three assists, while Adam Fox had four assists. As for Jacob Trouba, he was on the ice for more than half the Panthers goals. The cap hit for all five of these players comes out to just over $44 million, or roughly 50 percent of next year's salary cap. Only the Maple Leafs (61.6%) have more salary tied up in their top five players.
We now know that Fox re-injured his knee on that collision with Nick Jensen in game four of the Capitals series. That would explain why he was, apart from a couple of games, a non-factor in the second and third rounds. We'll never know how the Rangers power play would've performed if Fox had been 100 percent. However, the fact that it went 2-25 over the team's last 10 playoff games cannot be a coincidence.
But while Fox may get a mulligan, the other four have no excuse. Zibanejad, in particular, had a very disappointing season, especially at 5v5, where he was one of the worst centers in the league. Panarin had a career high 49 goals during the regular season, but only one over the Rangers last nine playoff games. After recording a hat trick in the series clincher against the Hurricanes, Kreider had just one goal - a shorthander - in six games against the Panthers. And Trouba's performance was so bad, Laviolette was forced to demote him to the third pairing with Gustafsson.
Does Drury really want to run it back next season with this core? A better question might be what choice does he have? Zibanejad and Panarin both have NMC (no-move clause) contracts, meaning they would have to approve any trade. Kreider and Trouba have 15 team NTC (no-trade clause) contracts. The problem with NTCs is that the teams that have the cap space to take on a large contract are typically the ones on the no-trade list, while the teams that aren't on the no-trade list rarely have the cap space to take on said contract.
In other words, barring a miracle, any speculation involving a trade for Brady Trachuk is just that: speculation. With the Rangers having just over $11 million in available cap space and only 18 players signed next season, Drury is going to have to do pretty much what he did last summer: shop at the bargain basement. store. And after the postseason he had, it's unlikely that Barclay Goodrow will be bought out. If anything, the Rangers need more players like him, not fewer. Jake DeBrusk could be just what the doctor ordered, if Drury if he can shed some salary.
Look, I realize things may seem bleak right now. But here's something that should cheer you up. Among the playoff teams in the Eastern Conference that were eliminated, the Rangers are actually best positioned to make a deep run next year. I'm not joking. The Bruins need, not one, but two centers; the Maple Leafs, despite all that top-tier talent, still can't get out of the first round; the Lightning are finally paying the price for manipulating the salary cap all those years; and the Hurricanes will likely lose several key pieces of their team to free agency, plus their goaltending is suspect. Even the Panthers will have to make some tough choices over the summer.
Bottom line: the glass is half full, Rangers fans. Enjoy the summer.
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