Is It Possible That Maybe the Rangers Just Aren't That Good?

"I do think they will make the postseason; they have too much talent not to."

- Peter W. Fegan

Some days I thank my lucky stars that I don't put my money where my mouth is. I'd be living in my car right now, or under it. Look, I realize it's still early; after all, the 2013-14 Rangers got off to a 3-7-0 start under Alain Vigneault and they not only made the playoffs, they went all the way to the Stanley Cup finals. This core is only one year removed from winning the Presidents' Trophy; certainly there's plenty of time to turn this ship around.

God, I wish that were so, I really do. But if we're being honest with ourselves, the only thing that Rangers team has in common with this one is the logo on their jerseys. This team looks old and slow. With the exception of two road games against the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Montreal Canadiens and two home games against the Washington Capitals and the Edmonton Oilers, they have been outplayed in all the other games. FYI, they lost both those home games. Think about it: they're 2-2 against teams they outplayed, and 1-3-2 against teams that outplayed them.

The top six has looked more like a bottom six. Artemi Panarin is tied with Adam Fox for the team lead in scoring with seven points, and four of those points came against the Canadiens; Mika Zibanjead has three goals, and is on track to finish the season with 50 points; the "Captain" J.T. Miller has two goals and six points; and Alexis Lafreniere hasn't scored since October 9. There are kids on milk container cartons that are more conspicuous. At times this season, the bottom six has performed better than their top six counter parts. Exhibit A: perennial fourth liner Taylor Raddysh leads the team with four goals. 

The Rangers are the second worst scoring team in the NHL this season. Last night, they gave up five goals to a Calgary Flames team that had scored even fewer. And that was two nights after they lost 6-5 in overtime to the previously winless San Jose Sharks. Think about it: against two of the worst teams in the league, the best the Blueshirts could muster was one point. Just imagine what's going to happen when they start playing the elite teams. If the season ended today, not only would the Rangers not qualify for the playoffs, they'd be in excellent position to win the draft lottery. 

It's time to admit a painful truth: this team may not be as talented as I and others like me thought they were. Even with a healthy Vincent Trocheck - who, by-the-way, still hasn't resumed skating and is likely out until late November - this roster doesn't exactly scare the pants off you. From the 2021-22 season through the 2023-24 season, the Rangers power play was fourth in the NHL at 25.3 percent. Not coincidentally, they posted records of 52-24-6, 47-22-13 and 55-23-4. But last season, that vaunted power play plummeted to a paltry 17.6 percent, (21st) and as a result, the Rangers finished 39-36-7 and missed the playoffs.

This season, the power play has gotten off to an even worse start. After last night's game in Calgary, it's 19th in the league at 16 percent. For a team that struggles as much as the Rangers do at even strength, that simply isn't going to cut it. Let's face it: for three straight seasons, under two different coaches, the formula was pretty simple: score on the power play and let Igor Shesterkin do the rest. If either one didn't come through, the result was typically a loss. And that is precisely what we've been seeing the last two seasons: a flawed team that relied way too much on its power play and its goaltending to win, and is now sowing what it reaped.

So what happened? How did a team that went through a four-year rebuild end up with a three-year window? It's complicated. 

Let's go all the way back to that memo then G.M. Jeff Gorton sent out in the winter of 2018 informing the fanbase that he was going to break up the core and start a rebuild. Over the next twelve months, the Rangers traded Rick Nash, Michael Grabner, Ryan McDonagh, Miller and fan favorite Mats Zuccarello. As a result, they missed the playoffs two straight seasons. 

But while Gorton may have cleaned house, he did not strip it down to the studs, so to speak. He left enough talent in place for the team to be competitive. That spring, the Rangers wound up with the second overall pick in the Amateur Draft and selected Kaapo Kakko. The New Jersey Devils, with the first overall pick, chose Jack Hughes. The consensus at the time was that Kakko was a can't miss prospect who had the potential to be an elite winger in the NHL.

Then in the summer of 2019, Gorton short-circuited his own rebuild by trading for Jacob Trouba and signing Panarin to a seven-year contract worth $11.6 million per. While the Rangers record improved enough to qualify for the play-in round against the Carolina Hurricanes, they were none-the-less swept in three games. It wasn't a total loss, though; the Rangers wound up with the number one pick in the 2020 Amateur Draft, which they then used to select Lafreniere.

I'll say it again: both Kakko and Lafteniere were considered legitimate picks at the time they were taken, especially Lafreniere, who all the scouts agreed was the best player on the board. That neither has blossomed into the elite forwards they were projected to become, does not change anything. When you have the number one pick, you take the number one prospect. 

But even with two promising young wingers and Panarin, the Rangers still missed the playoffs. Owner James Dolan was growing impatient with the rebuild and after the Tom Wilson incident at the Garden, he lost it. In what can only be described as the most bizarre moment in Rangers history, he fired Gorton and Team President John Davidson.

Enter Chris Drury. Dolan gave the new President and GM two marching orders: 1. Make the playoffs; 2. Make sure the Wilson incident was never repeated. Drury fired David Quinn and replaced him with Gerard Gallant. He then traded Pavel Buchnevich for Sammy Blais and used the remaining cap savings to sign Ryan Reaves and Barclay Goodrow. Under Gallant, New York had its best season since 2015. With Reaves and Goodrow, the Rangers were no longer easy pushovers. They not only made the playoffs, they advanced all the way to the Eastern Conference finals before losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning in six. 

Despite the loss, the season was considered a glowing success. Zibanjad, Panarin, Fox and Chris Kreider all had career years. Shesterkin established himself as an elite goalie. The Kid Line of Kakko, Lafreniere and Filip Chytil, whom Gorton had drafted in 2018, was growing up in front of our eyes. The future certainly looked bright for the Blueshirts.

But when the 2022-23 season didn't get off to a good start, doubts about the core began to creep in. Trouba, who had been named captain before the start of the season, threw his helmet and screamed at his teammates. Drury grew frustrated at the inconsistencies he saw on the ice, and went whole hog at the trade deadline, acquiring both Vladimir Tarasenko and Patrick Kane. The Rangers went into the playoffs with arguably their most talented roster since the 1991-92 team. It didn't matter. After going up 2-0 against the Devils, New Jersey won four of the next five games to eliminate New York.

Drury pinned the blame for the collapse on Gallant and replaced him with Peter Laviolette. And just like they had done in Gallant's first year behind the bench, the Rangers not only had a great season under Laviolette, they won the Presidents' trophy for the first time since 2015. Once more, they advanced to the conference finals where they lost to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers. It was a bitter end to an otherwise excellent season, but this time around, Drury saw something that didn't quite sit well with him.

Despite their record, the Rangers were still a middling team at even strength. Too many of their wins were owed to their special teams and goaltending. The Panthers didn't just beat them, they schooled them. To his credit, Drury took notes. That summer, needing cap space, he waived Goodrow and attempted to trade Trouba. The former complained; the latter balked. The offseason maneuvering did not sit well with the players. Despite getting off to a 12-4-1 start, Drury still didn't like what he was seeing. He sent a letter to every GM in the league indicating he was open for business. Both Trouba and Kreider were mentioned in the letter. Trouba eventually cried uncle and accepted a trade, while Kreider, who was already having an off year, sulked along with his BFF Zibanejad. Kreider would eventually be traded this summer while Zibanejad reiterated he had no intention of going anywhere. The only good thing to come out of that hellish nightmare of a season was Drury reacquiring Miller for Chytil, who despite his enormous potential, could never stay healthy.

Once more Drury changed coaches. Mike Sullivan replaced Laviolette behind the bench. The hope was that Sully would be able to motivate this team, but that hasn't happened. The same issues continue to plague them: an inability to generate offense at 5v5; over-passing in the offensive zone, poor puck management in the defensive zone; an ineffective and predictable power play. When Igor isn't standing on his head, this team looks absolutely pathetic. 

So here we stand: a Rangers team that, on paper at least, should be better than its record indicates. Despite an average age of 28, most of the core is over 30, with Panarin leading the way at 34. And while Panarin will be a UFA next summer, Zibanejad, Trocheck and Fox are signed for the next several years to contracts that have either no movement or no trade clauses. That means Drury is as stuck with them as we are.

I honestly don't know where we go from here. What I can tell you is this: the Devils are a good, young team with a much more promising future than the Rangers, and at UBS Arena, the Islanders, thanks to winning the draft lottery, have the best young defenseman to lace up a pair of skates since Cale Makar. 

I'm old enough to remember the mid-1970s when the Rangers couldn't get out of their own way and a GM by the name of Bill Torrey assembled a team on Long Island that would go on to win four consecutive Cups.

I would not be in the slightest bit shocked if history ended up repeating itself. 

For the Rangers, the Inevitable Becomes Reality

Come on now, you didn't really think the Rangers were going to win out, did you? A team that hasn't had a three-game win streak since mid-November was somehow going to miraculously run the table while the Montreal Canadiens simultaneously were going to lose out? 

That team? 

Seriously? 

Right, and your kid's gonna get a personal visit from the Easter Bunny next Sunday. 

THE Easter Bunny. 

You heard it here first.

Throughout this hellscape of a season, the Blueshirts have had numerous opportunities to take charge of their own destiny and they failed to do so every time. You can point all you want to the horrific December they had - and it was pretty horrific - but there was still plenty of time to climb out of the hole they dug. 

The talent was there. Please spare me the bullshit about how they suddenly got old. Teams don't go from winning the Presidents' Trophy one season to the retirement home the next. That's not how it works. True, several key players had off years, but even allowing for that, the talent on this roster was still better than the one that beat it out for the last wild card spot; in fact, it was better than both wild card rosters.

But then talent was never the problem, was it? To quote former head coach Gerard Gallant, "I love to have talent, but you love to have a work ethic." Tragically for this group, work ethic proved to be its kryptonite. In a league that values grit over glitter, the Rangers were simply unwilling to pay the price to win. The last two games epitomized how their season has gone. Against an Islanders team that was badly outclassed, they had their way with them; against a Hurricanes team that is a genuine playoff contender, they were exposed. Poker players can bluff all they want, but not hockey players. You either have a Royal Flush in your hand or you have a pair of deuces. There's no in-between.

So where do we go from here? For starters, don't expect Chris Drury to go anywhere. James Dolan may not like how this team unravelled this season, but from everything we've heard coming out of the Garden, his job appears to be safe - for now. That's more than can be said for Peter Laviolette. Frankly, I would be shocked if he wasn't relieved of his duties shortly after the season is over.

I've said it before, and it bears repeating, Laviolette doesn't deserve all the blame here. As I wrote back in March, "Coaches can scream till they're blue in the face, but the last time I checked, they're not the ones wearing the jerseys."

But they do make out the lineup cards. And as long as we're being totally honest here, it was Laviolette's refusal to hold his veteran players accountable that proved to be his undoing. The power play was a case in point. It was painfully obvious that the first unit was struggling most of the season, especially down the stretch. But rather than swap out units, he simply moved a few players around, which was the equivalent of rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Why Laviolette was this stubborn, we may never know. At this point, it's academic. Barring a last-minute change of heart - doubtful - there will be a new coaching staff behind the bench next season. Whoever it is better be able to motivate this core or next time it'll be Drury who gets the pink slip. 

And speaking of Drury, picking a new coach isn't the only thing on his plate. It's clear this core has some major issues that cannot be resolved with a mere pep talk or shouting match. As I also wrote in that piece back in March, "Scotty Bowman would have a hard time coaching this group." You can fault Drury for the manner in which he moved out Barclay Goodrow and Jacob Trouba, but you can't fault him for realizing that both players had outlived their usefulness to the team. And in the cap era, the Rangers simply couldn't afford to keep either of them. If anything, Drury should've played hardball with Trouba in July rather than let things simmer the way they did over the course of the season.

But that's water over the dam now. Drury doesn't have the luxury of indulging in hindsight. He has more "dead weight" on this roster to contend with. Chris Kreider will almost certainly be the next player shown the door. But where? The thirteen-year veteran has played his entire career with the Rangers. But his 26 points in 66 games was a career low for him. Moving him will not be easy, especially since he has a 15-team No Trade Clause. If Drury can find a team willing to take on his entire $6.5 million contract, he can use the cap savings to go shopping for an impact player that can move the needle on this team; someone like Sam Bennett, who's an unrestricted free agent after this season. 

Then there's Brady Tkachuk. While the Ottawa Senators have publicly said they're not interested in trading him, perhaps a package of Alexis Lafreniere, Gabe Perrault, Brennan Othmann and a first rounder - which could conceivably become a lottery pick if the Rangers lose out - might be enough to change their minds. Imagine a line with both Sam Bennett and Brady Tkachuk on it. Hey, a fella can dream, can't he?

But before Drury does any of this, he has some unfinished business at home. Calvin de Haan, the defenseman he acquired from the Colorado Avalanche for Ryan Lindgren and Jimmy Vesey, apparently wasn't too thrilled with being benched the final 15 games of the season, in which the Rangers went 6-8-1, a fact he emphasized in front of the beat reporters yesterday, and later tweeted about. de Haan isn't the only player who has a beef about the way he was utilized, or underutilized. Zac Jones was benched in favor of Carson Soucy, even though it was painfully obvious Soucy was having problems in his own end since his arrival from the Vancouver Canucks at the trade deadline. And then there was Perrault, the highly-touted prospect Drury was forced to burn a year of his ELC in order to keep him from going back to Boston College. For some strange reason, he was a healthy scratch the last couple of games. Thankfully, the kid never said anything about it.

Yes, this will be a busy offseason for Chris Drury. His team shit the bed; it's on him to clean the sheets.

It's Miller Time

Make no mistake about it, the New York Rangers were twenty minutes away from not only losing their fourth straight game, but from finding themselves on the exit ramp as far as the playoffs were concerned. After a crushing loss to the Colorado Avalanche in the final seconds of regulation, the Blueshirts followed that up with two uninspiring performances against the Carolina Hurricanes and Boston Bruins. The reason they were only trailing the Vegas Golden Knights 2-1 going into the third period was because Jonathan Quick was keeping them in the game. Their postseason hopes were on the brink.

That's when the prodigal son came through. With the Rangers on the power play, J.T. Miller took a cross ice pass from Artemi Panarin and fired a shot towards Adin Hill that he was unable to handle. Mika Zibanejad pounced on the loose puck and deposited it in the back of the net to tie the game. A few minutes later, K'Andre Miller blasted a shot from the left point that beat Hill cleanly to give New York a 3-2 lead. And with under two minutes left in regulation, and the Rangers on another power play, Panarin scored the insurance goal to ice the game. J.T. Miller assisted on that goal as well.

In just two games since returning to the Rangers, Miller has two goals and two assists. He was the lone bright spot in Boston, scoring twice and leading the team with six shots on goal. Against Vegas, he was a plus 2 and was on the ice for three of the Rangers four goals. His presence has been felt both on the bench and on the ice. How significant has Miller been? Mika Zibanaejad had his best game of the season with a goal and two assists, playing on Miller's right side with Panarin on the left. The trio combined for two goals and six assists. It's no exaggeration to say that every time that line was on the ice they were creating scoring chances. 

Peter Laviolette has gotten a lot of criticism this season - most of it justified - for the way his team has played. But his decision to unite his three best offensive players is, for now at least, an unqualified success. Most coaches would've just buried Zibanajead on the third line given the way he's played, but Laviolette realized - correctly, I might add - that if this team is going to make a run at the playoffs, it will need contributions from number 93. Credit him for that much.

But it wasn't just the three points Zibanejad registered that was noteworthy. He looked like a man possessed out there. He battled all game long. He kept the puck in the zone on the Rangers first power play goal. Frankly, I haven't seen him play with this much intensity in well over a year. If Miller can motivate this guy, this might just go down as the most consequential Rangers trade since October of 1991. Yes, I went there. But before you get on my case, I'm not suggesting that J.T. Miller is Mark Messier. I may be old but I'm not senile. What I am suggesting is that Miller, like Messier before him, is a passionate player who can't stand losing. I'm positive that's what led to his "leave of absence" earlier in the year, which eventually led to his exit out of Vancouver. Sometimes you're the cancer; other times you're the cure. In this case, Chris Drury is hoping it's the latter.

And speaking of Drury, his detractors might end up eating crow before the season is out. Since last summer he has unloaded both Barclay Goodrow and Jacob Trouba without retaining a cent of their respective salaries; acquired two stay at home defensemen in Urho Vaakanainen and Will Borgen who have solidified a blue line that was as leaky as the RMS Titanic; and landed a number one center in Miller for a player whose next shift might well be his last and a lottery protected first round draft pick. 

As a result of his wheeling and dealing, the Rangers currently have $9.3 million in available cap space, which translates to $16.5 million in deadline cap space, meaning if the Rangers actually do make a run at the postseason, Drury will have a boatload of cap space at his disposal to further tweak this roster. Maybe he isn't Mr. Congeniality, but the guy knows his shit. He's ten times the GM Glen Sather ever was. 

But all that may be irrelevant if the Rangers don't make the postseason. After last night's win, they're currently five points out. Between now and the NHL trade deadline on March 7, the Blueshirts play eleven games. All but three are against teams that are currently in the playoffs. Conservatively speaking, New York will have to win at least eight of those games in order to get within striking distance of a wildcard spot; no small feat given how erratic they've been. 

Indeed, for the Rangers to avoid being only the third team in NHL history to miss the playoffs after winning the Presidents trophy the season before, they will likely have to go 21-8-1 over their last 30 games. They would then finish with a record of 46-31-5 for 97 points. And even that might not be enough to get in. That's how tight the playoff race is in the Eastern Conference this year.

The problem with digging a hole halfway to China is that sometimes you wind up closer to downtown Beijing than you do to midtown Manhattan.

Rangers In A Free Fall

I have watched the New York Rangers since 1971. Trust me. I have gone through my fair share of downturns. 1976-78, 1987-89, 1998-04 & 2018-21. The 1998-04 period was particularly rough. No playoffs and some of the worst trades in franchise history. But in all that time I have never seen what happened Saturday afternoon at Madison Square Garden. The team I have followed since I was 10 years old did the equivalent of a lay down in front of 18,000 loyal paying fans. It was a pathetic performance from a group of players that last season won the Presidents' Trophy. 

I have tried as hard as I can to wrap my head around what is going on here and quite frankly I'm stumped. Not only is this team not playing well, it doesn't appear to be even trying. Against the LA Kings, they looked listless and uninspiring; as if they didn't give a shit. Small wonder they were booed off the ice after the game.

The Rangers have lost 9 of their last 12 games. At 15-13-1, they are currently in 5th place in the Metropolitan Division. Not only would they fail to make the playoffs if the season ended today, with 31 points, they are actually closer to the bottom of the standings in the Eastern Conference than they are to the top. Thank God for the Montreal Canadiens and the Columbus Blue Jackets.

I've heard all kinds of explanations for the dumpster fire currently residing at Penn Plaza. It's Chris Drury's fault for mishandling the Barclay Goodrow waiver and the Jacob Trouba trade; it's Peter Laviolette's fault for not being tough enough with his players. I call bullshit on both. 

True, Drury could've done a better job with both situations, but what was he supposed to do? The Rangers needed cap space badly and, let's face it, Goodrow and Trouba were the logical choices to be moved over the summer. The same people who are now bemoaning the way Goodrow and Trouba were treated couldn't wait to send them packing a few months ago. It was nothing short of a miracle that Drury got every penny of their cap hit off the books without surrendering anything of value in exchange. But by all means let's make him the bad guy.

Did you see what happened down in Tampa Bay? Julien BriseBois did everything except drive Steven Stamkoss to the airport; then turned around and signed Jake Guentzel to replace him. Stamkoss had played his entire NHL career with the Lightning and BriseBois showed him all the love and respect of a worn out lightbulb. Last time I checked the Bolts were in 4th place in the Atlantic Division, currently holding onto the number one wild card spot.

Spoiler alert: players get waived and traded all the time in professional sports. It's part of the business. Yes, Trouba was the captain. Guess what? Captains get traded too. Ask Brian Leetch what being a captain means. He was traded to the Boston Bruins literally on his birthday, two weeks after he asked Glen Sather not to be. General managers aren't paid to be guidance counselors or therapists; they're paid to put a competitive team on the ice. And in a league that has a hard salary cap, sometimes they have to make tough decisions about who stays and who goes.

Regarding Laviolette, yes, I'd like him to be tougher on his players. But last season this head coach, who, it should be noted, guided three different teams to the Stanley Cup finals and one to a Cup championship, was principally responsible for this team not only winning the Presidents' Trophy but setting a franchise record for most wins and points in a single season. Had they not faced the Florida Panthers, they would've made it to the finals. All of a sudden he's fucking Jean-Guy Talbot? Please spare me. 

David Quinn was too tough; Gerard Gallant wasn't tough enough. What's the excuse with Laviolette? He parts his hair on the wrong side? I agree with Larry Brooks: this core doesn't get to fire another coach. Besides, the way this team is playing, Scotty Bowman wouldn't make a difference. If you're looking for someone to put the blame on, how about the players? Last time I checked, they're the ones wearing the uniforms. Is it Laviolette's fault that Mika Zibanaejad can't hit a wide open net? Or that Ryan Lindgren can't back check worth a damn? Or that Chris Kreider has become a statue on the ice? Or that the only goal Adam Fox has scored all season was an empty netter? How is it that on a team with this much talent, its best player is Will Cuylle?

Enough with the excuses; enough with the rationalizations. It's time this group of players took a long, hard look in the mirror and manned up. It is inconceivable that a team that went to the conference finals twice in the last three years could've fallen off the cliff this quickly. So the answer must lie elsewhere. 

What isn't the answer is firing the coach and/or GM. The truth is there's more than enough talent on this team to still make the postseason. Whether there's enough pride is another matter. 

Drury Has the Last Word with Trouba

What do Patrik Nemeth, Barclay Goodrow and Jacob Trouba have in common? All three were signed to contracts that turned out to be richer than the Rangers could afford, and all three were moved off the roster by Chris Drury without incurring so much as a nickel's worth of salary retention. 

Nemeth was sent packing to the Arizona Coyotes, along with a couple of draft picks, for Ty Emberson in the summer of 2022; Goodrow was waived and later claimed by the San Jose Sharks this past summer; and, yesterday, Trouba was "traded" to the Anaheim Ducks for Urho Vaakanainen and a conditional draft pick. I put the word traded in quotation marks because it was widely reported, and later confirmed by Trouba himself, that had he not accepted the trade, Drury was prepared to waive him just like he did with Goodrow over the summer.

Know this about Drury: whether you think he's been a good general manager or not, when he realizes a mistake has been made, he's not one to stand on ceremony. It takes a certain amount of talent to completely erase a mistake; one his predecessor Jeff Gorton, unfortunately, did not possess. 

Of all the mistakes this organization has made over the last few years, Trouba was, by far, the worst. Since his arrival from the Winnipeg Jets in 2021, he was, at best, an above average defenseman with a penchant for throwing bone-jarring checks that often knocked opponents out of the game; at worst, he was a defensive liability, whose mistakes proved costly to his team. The most egregious of those mistakes came against the Florida Panthers in game six of last year's Eastern Conference Finals. Trouba attempted to throw one of his patented checks on Evan Rodrigues late in the first period, and when he missed, Rodrigues set up Sam Bennett for a goal to give the Panthers a lead they would never relinquish. Game, set and match for the Blueshirts.

Bottom line: at $4 million, Trouba was overpriced; at $8 million, he was an albatross around the neck of the cap-strapped Rangers. And with several players due to hit free agency next year, Drury needed to clear cap space fast.

He tried trading Trouba. The Detroit Red Wings expressed interest in acquiring him last summer, but before Drury could pull the trigger, he needed to know whether Detroit was on Trouba's 15 team no trade list. So he asked Trouba's agent and, well, you know the rest. Captain Elbow threw a hissy fit and that was that.

As it turns out, Steve Yzermann couldn't take on Trouba's contract because he wasn't able to clear enough cap space on his own to make it work, which was just as well because the deal the two men had in place called for the Rangers to retain $2.5 million of Trouba's salary. Sometimes the best trades are the ones you don't make. Five months later, Drury was able to unload Trouba's entire contract and he actually got something in return besides $8 million of cap space.

So now that Trouba's is gone, the sixty-four thousand dollar question remaining is whether Drury is done? That depends on what happens over the next few games. Let's not kid ourselves here. While last night's win was sorely needed, it was hardly reassuring. The Rangers barely beat a Pittsburgh Penguins team that has even more question marks than the Blueshirts; two games ago, the Rangers needed a late power play goal by Kaapo Kakko to avoid what could've been an embarrassing OT defeat to the Montreal Canadiens. The fact is of New York's 14 wins, only two have come against teams that were in the playoffs last season: the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Vancouver Canucks. The rest? Well let's just say if the Rangers could play the Penguins, Islanders, Canadiens and Red Wings the rest of the season, they'd win back-to-back Presidents' trophies.

So if I had to guess, I'd say Drury isn't done tinkering with this roster. I could see at least two more trades on the horizon. One involving the forwards; the other the defensive pairings. Thanks to the largess of Pat Verbeek, the Rangers are flush with cap space. With the salary cap expected to go up to $92.5 million for the 2025-26 season, Drury will have about $22 million to play with next summer. And assuming he doesn't bring anybody else up from Hartford, he'll have $24 million in deadline cap space to go shopping with this March.

One thing off Drury's plate is who the starting goaltender will be next season. About an hour before last night's game it was announced that the Rangers and Igor Shesterkin had agreed on an 8 year, $92 million contract extension. On any other team a goalie with an $11.5m AAV salary could be considered insane; on the Rangers it's an absolute necessity. Let's be honest: without Igor, no way this team would've advanced to the conference finals two of the last three seasons. You know it and I know it. There was never any doubt Drury was going to re-sign him; the only question was for how much. Frankly, given the numbers we were hearing coming from Shesterkin's camp, $11.5 million seems more than reasonable.

So, Drury rid himself of an overrated, overpriced defenseman and locked up arguably his best player for the next eight years. Hate him if you want, but he had himself quite a day. 

Is Chris Drury Done?

That Chris Drury was looking to shed salary going into the offseason should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with this team's cap situation. After re-signing Kaapo Kakko to a one-year extension worth $2.4 million, the New York Rangers had $10 million in available cap space, per Puckpedia, with 18 players - 12 forwards, 4 defensemen and 2 goalies - signed for the 2024-25 season. Assuming he re-signs Ryan Lindgren and Braden Schneider, both of whom are RFAs, that will increase the number of signed players to 20, two below last season's roster total.

Let's say Lindgren agrees to a 3-year extension at $4.5 million per, and Schneider agrees to a two-year bridge deal at $2.5 million per. That reduces the available cap space Drury has to work with to $3 million. For a President and GM who said at his last press conference that "everything was on the table," $3 million doesn't go as far as it used to. Remember last year's offseason when the cap-strapped Rangers were forced to shop at the bargain basement? No? Do the names Nick Bonino, Blake Wheeler, Erik Gustafson, and Tyler Pitlick ring a bell?

Well, this time around, Drury wasn't going to let that happen. So on Tuesday, he waived Barclay Goodrow and his $3.64 million contract. And the following day, the San Jose Sharks claimed him off waivers. To say Goodrow was displeased would be putting it mildly. Seems the 31 year-old forward had a 15-team no trade clause and apparently the Sharks were on it. Oh, well.

To be honest, I'm impressed Drury went the waiver route instead of a buyout. The latter would've allowed Goodrow to sign with any team he chose while netting the Blueshirts $247,222 in cap space this coming season. But it also would've shackled the organization with cap hits ranging from $1 million to $3.5 million over the following five years. Clearly, Drury didn't want to repeat the same mistake his predecessor Jeff Gorton made when he bought out the contracts of Dan Girardi and Henrik Lundqvist.

Now for the sixty-four thousand dollar question. Is Drury done, or is Goodrow the first of several high-priced contracts headed for the exit? That depends on how he feels about this core. Does it need a tweaking or a partial teardown? If I had to guess, I'd lean more towards the former. Remember, this is a team that played most of the season with only two legit centers and no 1RW, yet still won the Presidents' Trophy. And as I pointed out in my last piece, had they not had the misfortune of going up against the Florida Panthers in the Eastern Conference Finals, the Rangers would now be battling the Edmonton Oilers for the Stanley Cup. As disappointed as Drury was at how the season ended, I'm quite certain he knows that.

Having an extra $3.64 million in the kitty could mean the difference between signing a top-six forward or a bottom-six forward. Just imagine how good this team might be next season with a bonafide right wing on the first line and a healthy Filip Chytil centering the third. You can bet the ranch Drury's imagining it. That's why I don't think we're looking at wholesale changes here. Assuming Lindgren isn't unreasonable with his contract demands, I expect Drury will use the lion's share of his cap space to go shopping for an elite scorer to play on Mika Zibanejad's right side. While that won't be enough to land Jake Guentzel, it might be enough to get Jonathan Marchessault or Jake DeBrusk. And if those two prove too costly, there's always Patrick Kane as a fallback. The last time "Showtime" was on Broadway it bombed royally. But maybe playing a full season for a coach like Peter Laviolette who can incorporate his talents into this lineup will be just what the doctor ordered.

How does this roster look?

Forwards:

Kreider - Zibanaejad - Kane / Marchessault / DeBrusk

Panarin - Trocheck - Lafreniere 

Othmann - Chytil - Kakko

Cuylle - Brodzinski - Vesey

Rempe

Defensemen:

Lindgren - Fox

Miller - Schneider

Jones - Trouba

Mackey

Goalies:

Shesterkin - Quick

While some fans may be disappointed that Jacob Trouba will still be here next season, the fact is I don't think there's an appetite within the Rangers organization to move on from him. A buyout would mean a dead cap hit of $4 million for the next two years - a non-starter - and a trade, assuming Drury can find a willing partner that has the cap space and isn't on Trouba's no trade list, would be nothing more than a salary dump. Period. Besides, when fully healthy, number 8 brings certain things to the table that will be hard to replace. Drury already got rid of one leader in the locker room; I doubt he's willing to vanquish another.

Of course, I could be dead wrong. Maybe Drury has a couple more moves up his sleeve before free agency begins. I guess we'll know soon enough, won't we?

Goody Enough

For sixty minutes, the New York Rangers threw everything they had at the Florida Panthers. They fought tooth and nail for every inch of ice. They scraped, they clawed, they hit and they got hit. They were twice the team they were in game one. And all it got them was a 1-1 tie going into overtime. The Panthers, having won game one at the Garden 3-0, and with it home ice, were playing with house money. A win would give them a stranglehold on the series going back to their home arena. The Rangers were looking at an almost impossible task, one that only one team since 1945 had accomplished: winning a best of seven conference or league final series after dropping the first two games at home.

Barclay Goodrow's snapshot from the slot at 14:01 of OT didn't just win the game for the Rangers, it saved their season. If ever there was a must win situation, last night was it. So now the Presidents' Trophy winners get an opportunity to recapture home ice with a split in Sunrise, Florida. The hockey gods were indeed merciful, for a change.

But while Goodrow's teammates celebrated their good fortune, there is still much work that needs to be done if this team is to advance to the finals for the first time since 2014, and only the second time since their Cup year of 1994. For starters, the special teams have been anything but special of late. After going 11-25 on the power play in their first six postseason games, the Rangers have gone 1-16 over their last six, including 0-4 last night. The Rangers record over those first six games was 6-0; over the last six, it's 3-3.

The concern is palpable. Going into this series with the Panthers, the Rangers had two advantages going for them: their goaltending and their power play. Well, Igor Shesterkin has held up his end of the bargain. The former Vezina Trophy winner has gone toe to toe with Sergei Bobrovsky. Not counting the own goal Alexis Lafreniere deflected past him in game one, Shesterkin has stopped 51 of 53 shots on goal for a .962 save percentage through two games. That's the sort of brilliance that can earn a player the Conn-Smythe Award.

But no matter how brilliant Igor may be, he cannot drag this team across the finish line all by himself. He needs help. Put succinctly, there is no pathway to a Stanley Cup for the Rangers that doesn't include a productive power play. None. Their 5v5 play simply isn't good enough. During the regular season, New York had a GF% of 50.15 at 5v5. By contrast, Florida was 56.57. The fact is the Rangers got lucky last night. They actually outscored the Panthers 2-0 at even strength. Depending on that luck to continue would be foolhardy.

The problem is a familiar one. For all the elite talent on this team, the Rangers power play remains as predictable as dirt. They tried mixing it up a bit against the Washington Capitals and Carolina Hurricanes, and, eureka, it worked. But then like a drunk on a bender, the old habits returned. Since game three of the Canes series, the Blueshirts have stubbornly resisted even tweaking their power play. The results - one power play goal in the last six games - speak for themselves. The Panthers know exactly what's coming and they are prepared for it. In the first two games of this series, the Rangers have yet to register a single high-danger scoring chance with the man advantage. If Peter Laviolette and his staff don't rectify this problem soon, game five will be the last home game of the season for this team.

But even if they manage to fix the power play, there's one more nagging issue that besets them. The Rangers continue to have trouble exiting the defensive zone. While not as proficient as game one, Florida was still able to pin New York in its own end most of the game. The lack of clean exits is bound to take its toll as the series progresses, especially the way the Panthers take the body. The Rangers must find a way to get the puck into the neutral zone that doesn't involve multiple hits along the boards. Laviolette was hired because of his ability to make adjustments on the fly. Now would be a good time to make at least two of them.

Game three is Sunday afternoon. The Rangers are tied with the Panthers. They have Barclay Goodrow to thank for that.

Lamoriello's Obstinance is Costing the Islanders

Before I get to the main topic, I'd like to say a few words about the late, great Mike Bossy who passed away this month at the age of 65.

While number 22 was not the fastest skater in the NHL, the puck always seemed to find his stick. And though he did not have the hardest shot in the league, it was, by far, the most accurate; around the net no one was more lethal. 

Unlike a lot of scorers of his day, Bossy never hung out in center ice looking for a breakaway. He took care of his own end first. And only when his team got possession of the puck did he head up ice. Much of that is attributable to his coach, Al Arbour, who instilled a team-first attitude in all his players. But the rest is owed to Bossy who bought in.

He never wilted under the spotlight; the bigger the game, the better he played. After a disappointing performance in the infamous 1979 semifinals against the Rangers, Bossy would go on to lead the league in postseason goals from 1981 thru 1983, including an overtime goal with two seconds left against the Vancouver Canucks in game one of the '82 finals. He was the epitome of a winner.

Until Alex Ovechkin surpassed him this year with his tenth 50 goal season, he held the mark, along with Wayne Gretzky, for most 50 goal seasons at nine. And had it had it not been for a series of back injuries which forced into retirement at the ripe young age of 30, there's no telling how many 50 goal seasons he might've had. Eleven? Twelve? The sky was the limit. 

As a Rangers fan, it pains me to have to admit this, but he was in a class all by himself. And I weep at what might've been had then Rangers GM John Ferguson selected him in the 1977 entry draft instead of Lucien DeBlois. Sadly, we'll never know.

Now onto the main course. 

Forgive me for being insensitive and perhaps a bit too blunt, but I've had it with all the apologists who insist that had it not been for the rough start the Islanders had this season - 13 consecutive road games to open the season, Covid outbreaks, injuries - they would've been a playoff team. Based on just a rough analysis of the available data, that assumption simply isn't true.

The fact is this team, which was largely intact before the arrival of Lou Lamoriello and Barry Trotz, isn't nearly as good as many - including yours truly who, truth be told, picked them to win the Stanley Cup this year - thought they were.

Our blind spot? We confused spit with polish. Yes, the Isles have been the hardest working team in the NHL the last three years under Trotz. They had to be. After their top scorer John Tavares bolted to the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2018, they were forced to play a defensive system. And it worked brilliantly. In Trotz' first season as head coach, the Isles allowed a paltry 196 goals, the fewest in the league. However, they also were 21st in goals scored; a problem that has plagued the team ever since.

Lost in all the hoopla over their consecutive trips to the conference finals the past two seasons is the fact that had it not been for the suspension of all sports in the spring of 2020 due to the pandemic, the Isles would never have gotten into the playoffs. At the time the regular season was suspended, they were in 6th place in the Metropolitan Division. Only a qualifying round, in which they beat the Floridas Panthers to advance, prevented them from missing the postseason altogether.

This season, apart from Brock Nelson, who's having a career year with 36 goals, and Anders Lee, who's second on the team with 26, there isn't one player on this team who puts the fear of God into opponents. For all their blood, sweat and tears, there is a staggering dearth of elite-level talent on the roster. Mathew Barzal continues to be an enigma. After a promising rookie campaign in which he posted 22 goals and 85 points, he has struggled to become the offensive leader this team so desperately needs.

Part of the problem lies in the system Trotz employs; a system that while effective at limiting the number of scoring chances by the opposition, has had the unintended consequence of stifling many of their own. Then there's the toll that playing such a physical style of hockey exacts on the human body. Yes, it helped them beat the Boston Bruins in last year's conference semis, but it eventually caught up with them against the Tampa Bay Lightning. By game seven, they looked gassed.

But the real problem is Lamoriello himself, who since his hire four years ago has failed to address the lack of scoring. Why is that? Put succinctly, Lamoriello has long eschewed stars. Maybe it's because he doesn't like dealing with egos. This goes back to his days when he ran the New Jersey Devils. To be fair, the Devils did win three Cups and reached the finals five times. But they also had the best goaltender in the business in Martin Brodeur and one of the best defenseman to ever play the game in Scott Stevens. As good as Ilya Sorokin and Noah Dobson have been this season, they can't hold a candle to those two.

Since the beginning of March, the Islanders are 6-11 against playoff teams, and they continue to have one of the most anemic offenses in the league. But rather than cut his losses at the trade deadline by moving unproductive players like Josh Bailey and Anthony Baeuvillier (12 goals a piece) for badly needed draft capital, Lamoriello doubled down and extended perennial grinder Cal Clutterbuck another two years.

Much has been made of the Rangers offseason acquisitions of Barclay Goodrow, Sammy Blais and Ryan Reaves. But while they may have stiffened up their spine a bit, this is still a team that relies on stars like Chris Kreider, Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad and Adam Fox to carry them. The sad truth is there isn't a single Islander capable of doing that for this team. Not one. There is such a thing as having too much grit.

Ironic, isn't it, that the Islanders are wearing numbers 22 and 9 on their jerseys in memory of Bossy and Clarke Gillies, who also passed away this year. Those two hall of famers were members of one of the greatest dynasties in NHL history. They won four consecutive Cups from 1980-83; the last time a team won more than two in a row. Yes, they outworked their opponents; but they also dominated them, as well. I oughta know, one of those opponents was the Rangers, who had the misfortune of losing to them in '81, '82, '83 and '84.

At the end of the day, talent counts, even in a league as backwards as the NHL. It's time Lou Lamoriello woke up and smelled the caffeine.

The Rangers at the Halfway Point

41 up, 41 down. Halfway through the 2021-22 season, the New York Rangers are 26-11-4, tied for first place in the Metropolitan division and fifth overall in the NHL with 56 points. If you had this team with that many points challenging for first place in late January you're a better person than me. Last night's disheartening loss to the Carolina Hurricanes notwithstanding, this season has been an unqualified success, so far.

I say so far, because while there are many things to be happy about, there are a few that continue to be a concern. Let's look at the record, shall we?

Against teams with losing records, the Rangers are 12-0-1. Against teams with winning records, their record is 14-11-3. However, against teams that are playoff contenders they're only 11-11-2, 1-5-1 against teams that are either in first place or tied for first.

What that means is that the Rangers are cleaning up against the bottom feeders in the league, as they should, but against the better teams, the results are more mixed. For instance, against teams that excel in the transition game like the Colorado Avalanche, Vegas Golden Knights, Florida Panthers and Carolina Hurricanes, they've been outscored 15-28, including last night's 6-3 drubbing in Raleigh. However, against the rest of the league, they've outscored their opponents 107-77.

So what we can conclude from the above statistics? For starters, despite the acquisitions Chris Drury made during the offseason, the Rangers remain a work in progress. While they have shown themselves to be far more resilient than last year's squad, they are still learning how to play a full sixty minutes. The last two games are a microcosm for how the season has gone, so far. In both games, the Rangers fell behind by two goals early. Against the Toronto Maple Leafs, they recovered and won going away; against a more disciplined and better-coached Hurricanes team, they weren't quite as fortunate.

Is this something to be concerned about? Most definitely. Assuming they make the playoffs - and at this point, with a majority of their remaining games at home, anything else would be seriously frowned upon by ownership, i.e., James Dolan - how far the Rangers go will be determined by how willing they are to play a complete game. Teams like the aforementioned Hurricanes will make quick work of them if they play like they did last night. Think '06 against the Devils. Yeah, that bad.

Part of the problem is psychological. The core of this team - Mika Zibanejad, Artemi Panarin, Ryan Strome and Chris Kreider - are far more comfortable playing an east-west style of play. Head coach Gerard Gallant has tried to get them to play a more conventional, north-south style of play, with some success. The 4-0 win they had against the defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning was the most compete game they've played all season. Zibanejad scored a hat trick, while Kreider picked up three assists. If Gallant could somehow bottle that performance and get his players to drink from it on a consistent basis, this team would be a legitimate Cup contender.

But, alas, he hasn't. And that's why it's incumbent upon Drury to look outside the organization to acquire the missing pieces that will give this team a fighting chance in the postseason. But which pieces should Drury be looking for?

Contrary to what I may have written before, I think it would behoove him to trade for a player with some grit, someone who can drive to the net and knows what to do with the puck when he gets there. Someone like Jesper Fast, for instance. It pains me to admit this but it was a mistake for management to let him go after the '20 season, especially when the Hurricanes are only paying him $2 million a year. Last night, the right winger scored his ninth goal of the season. To put that in perspective, that's only three less than Kaapo Kakko, Dryden Hunt, Julien Gauthier and Ryan Reaves have scored collectively.

If you're as embarrassed about that as I am, you're not alone. The entire league knows the Rangers don't have a legit top six right winger. Kakko has been ineffective on either the Strome or Zibanejad line, to put it mildly. Apart from his two-goal performance against the Coyotes in Arizona on December 15, the third-year forward has been virtually invisible the last two months. Filip Chytil, with the exception of a handful of games at right wing, has been a bust. And neither Hunt nor Gauthier are sufficiently talented enough to warrant being anything more than what they are: fourth liners. As for Barclay Goodrow, the Swiss-army knife's talents are being wasted as Gallant keeps shuffling him around the lineup, desperately looking for some spark that can jumpstart this team's anemic 5v5 play. Last night, his physicality drew a penalty that the Blueshirts converted on. The Rangers need more of that if they intend on making a deep run in the postseason.

The top five players are pulling their weight, but the drop off from there is profound. Among playoff teams, only the Boston Bruins have a similar drop off. Not even the Maple Leafs are this shallow. If this lack of depth isn't addressed, it will threaten the second half of their season. 

I'm guessing Drury already knows this, so look for him to make a move or two. The only question is cost. I don't expect him to part with any of the top prospects in the system, but the first round pick is definitely in play. Depending on how reasonable the other GMs are, help should be on the way soon. Fortunately, the Rangers will have an abundance of cap space at the trade deadline with which to accommodate salaries. That's what happens when you don't waste money on overpriced contracts just to appease the Twitter mob.

The bottom line is the Rangers, after 41 games, have exceeded even the most optimistic expectations. They are tied for first place in their division. They have some very exciting players, including Norris trophy winner Adam Fox and Vezina trophy candidate Igor Shesterkin. With the right additions they could surprise even the experts this spring. But if they do fall short of the Cup finals it will not be the end of the world.

After four long years in the wilderness, it's refreshing to have something to look forward to.

Evaluating Chytil is the Key to Rangers' Future Success

Some thoughts on the news that Sammy Blais will miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL due to a collision with P.K. Subban, and where the Rangers go from here.

One, it's time the NHL finally dealt with this man. This is not the first time Subban has injured someone by slew footing them. Ryan Reeves was almost seriously injured during the pre-season when Subban stuck out his leg, causing Reeves's right leg to buckle and landing him on his ass. And while technically, Subban did not slew foot Blais, he definitely stuck out his leg and caused Blais to go down awkwardly. A simple fine won't be sufficient; the league must suspend him in order to send a clear message.

Two, while Blais was having a good season, four assists in 14 games is hardly what I would call indispensable. It's amusing to see the same people who publicly ripped Chris Drury a new one for only getting Blais in return for Pavel Buchnevich now proclaiming Blais as the second coming of Stephane Matteau. At best, he's a third or fourth line winger. The fact that he was on the first line says more about the team's lack of depth at right wing than it does about Blais' bonafides.

Three, having said all that, it was a relief to see that Gerard Gallant resisted the urge to replace Blais with Filip Chytil on this line. While my first choice would've been to move Chris Kreider over to right wing - where he's scored all but 3 of his team-leading 12 goals - and promote Alexis Lafreniere to the first line, I can live with Barclay Goodrow there for now. He does have 7 points so far this season and he's played alongside Kreider before; it was Goodrow's pass from center ice that set up Kreider's goal in Seattle earlier in the season. And I must admit, having Lafreniere on the third line with Chytil and Julien Gauthier, who scored his first goal of the season last night against the Habs, does make this team deeper and harder to play against.

But the biggest reason for keeping Chytil at center has more to do with next season than it does this season. As I've mentioned before, the Rangers have a salary cap problem that is going to profoundly impact the roster for the next several years. They may have $7 million in available cap space now, but once the season is over, all that goes out the window. Both Adam Fox and Mika Zibanejad's contract extension's kick in next season. Between the two, the Blueshirts will have to pony up over $11 million in additional salary. 

But they're not out of the woods just yet. That's because Ryan Strome, who's currently making $4.5 million, is a UFA. When you factor in that Kaapo Kakko and Alexandar Georgiev are both RFAs, the total hit to sign all could well exceed $15 million. Even if the team decides to let Georgiev walk, they still have to come up with a suitable backup goalie, and that won't be cheap. Neither Tyler Wall nor Keith Kinkaid seem like viable options - Kinkaid looked average at best in his brief stint with the Rangers last season - so Chris Drury will most likely have to look outside the organization to find one.

Clearly some tough decisions are going to have to be made if this franchise is to make the jump from playoff contender to Cup contender. While Strome is having another solid season anchoring the second line with Artemi Panarin on the left and Kakko on the right, unless Drury can convince him to re-sign for the same salary, he will be gone next year.

And that means it is imperative that Gallant find out whether Chytil can handle the 2C position. Before he got hurt in a collision with Blais a week ago, Chytil had a goal and an assist in the game at Edmonton. Last night, he put on a burst of speed, blew past the Montreal defense and hit the goal post. His forecheck helped set up Gauthier's goal in the 3rd period. When he's been healthy, he has shown signs of promise.

And that's the rub for Chytil. He has proven to be brittle. Last year he missed 14 games due to injury. Assuming he has what it takes to be the second-line center, can management entrust him with the duties knowing he's one hit away from being out for an extended period of time?

Now you know why Drury signed Goodrow instead of Blake Coleman. Goodrow has played both center and wing throughout his career and is comfortable playing either. If push comes to shove, Drury can always trade Chytil for a bruising winger. Then maybe Strome re-ups for, say, $5.5 million, and Goodrow centers the third line. Not ideal, but it works (see chart below).

But none of that can happen until a full assessment is made of Chytil. He is the key to any future success this team has. If he develops into a solid 2C, then Strome is gone; if he doesn't, Drury will likely trade him and do his best to retain Strome.

It's all on Gallant's shoulders. He has the unenviable task of determining who plays and where. We know David Quinn wasn't up to the challenge, which is one of the reasons why he's no longer behind the bench. Gallant has gotten teams with less talent into the postseason. The question that begs to be answered is whether he can navigate a team coming out of a rebuild into the postseason while not sabotaging its still uncertain and fragile future.

Season	2022-23
NHL CAP	$82,500,000.00
Forwards
Panarin	$11,642,857.00
Zibanejad	$8,500,000.00
Kreider	$6,500,000.00
Strome	$5,500,000.00
Goodrow	$3,641,667.00
Kakko	$2,300,000.00
Reaves	$1,750,000.00
Blais	$1,500,000.00
Lafreiniere	$925,000.00
Cuylle	$850,833.00
Gauthier	$775,000.00
Hunt	$762,500.00
Rooney	$750,000.00

Total	$45,397,857.00
Defensemen
Fox	$9,500,000.00
Trouba	$8,000,000.00
Lindgren	$3,000,000.00
Nemeth	$2,500,000.00
Lundkvist	$925,000.00
Miller	$925,000.00
Tinordi	$900,000.00

Total	$25,750,000.00
Goalies
Backup	$1,000,000.00
Shesterkin	$5,666,667.00

Total	$6,666,667.00
Buyouts
Girardi	$1,111,111.00
Shattenkirk	$1,433,333.00
DeAngelo	$883,334.00

Total	$3,427,778.00
Total Cap Hit	$81,242,302.00
CAP SPACE	$1,257,698.00

Bread Man and Circuses in Toronto

Any doubts that Igor Shesterkin is an elite goaltender and worth every penny of the $5.6 million the New York Rangers are paying him were, hopefully, put to rest after the performance he displayed in Toronto Monday night. The man put on a clinic that invoked memories of his predecessor, Henrik Lundqvist. In all, Shesterkin stopped 40 of 41 shots, including one while he was 20 feet out of his crease in overtime.

I won't mince words here. The Rangers stole two points; or rather their goaltender stole two points. I haven't seen a game this lopsided in years. The Blueshirts were outshot, out chanced and out hustled by a Maple Leafs team that looked more like the '76 Canadiens than the team that choked in the first round of the playoffs last season. The only stat they managed to win was hits, and that was because for the vast majority of the game they were chasing the puck around the rink like a cat chasing a laser pointer.

Indeed, the winning goal by Artemi Panarin was set up because Mika Zibanejad had the good sense to go forward on the draw rather than back and somehow managed to get the puck to the Bread Man, who wristed it past Jack Campbell. It was one of only 13 face-offs the Rangers won in the game, and it was Panarin's first goal of the season. Prior to that, the all-star winger was so invisible there were milk cartons in Manhattan with his picture on it. 

Look, I know they're shorthanded. Both Ryan Strome and Kaapo Kakko are out of the lineup. The former is due back Thursday against the Predators; the latter probably won't be back for a while. But shorthanded or not, there was no excuse for this performance. Apart from Shesterkin's brilliance in net, Zibanejad, Chris Kreider and Adam Fox are the only skaters on this team pulling their weight.

That is not nearly enough for a team looking to take the next step to playoff contention. In their first four games, the Rangers have played exactly one excellent period of hockey: the second period against the Dallas Stars in game two. They got blasted by the Caps in the season opener, lost in OT to the Stars in their home opener, were good enough to beat a Montreal team few if any expect to make the postseason, and, as I mentioned above, stole two points from Toronto. Just imagine what's going to happen to them when they start playing the elite teams in this conference like the Islanders, Bruins, Panthers, Hurricanes and Lightning. And don't forget Western conference teams like the Avalanche and the Golden Knights. Shesterkin is going to be shellshocked by the All Star break.

Mollie Walker of the New York Post is right. The Rangers can't expect their goalie to continuously bail them out every night. "It's unsustainable." For the team to win it has to do more than just hit. It has to be able to carry the play. The Islanders hit, but they forecheck the hell out of their opponents. It's the number one reason why they've made it to the third round of the playoffs two years in a row and why they were five wins away from winning the Stanley Cup last season.

Adjustments are clearly needed, and Gerard Gallant may have stumbled upon one by accident. He put Panarin and Zibanejad together on the same line half way through the third period and the two generated some scoring chances, including the overtime winner. Until this team gets comfortable with its new faces and its new system, it would behoove Gallant to at least have one cohesive line out there that opponents actually fear. Right now, no one fears this team.

Another thing he can do when Strome and Kakko come back is to elevate Filip Chytil to the second line centering Alex LaFreniere and Kakko. David Quinn tried this combination a few times with mixed results. If the Rangers are going to go anywhere this year they have to figure out whether these three players can handle the load. The sooner they find that out the better. Strome can center the third line. Unless the NHL substantially increases its salary cap - don't hold your breath - Strome is likely going to be dealt at the trade deadline or walk after the season. They simply can't afford to keep him, especially if, as expected, Fox re-signs in the $9 million neighborhood.

And finally, if this team is going to establish a real physical presence, Gallant has to keep Sammy Blais and Barclay Goodrow on the same line. Blais reminds me a little bit of Blake Coleman the way he pursues the puck and finishes his checks. The two could be an effective tandem, but only if they play together.

Bottom line? While it's too early to panic, it's not too early to be alarmed. The problems that are besetting this team, if not addressed soon, threaten to undermine what was labeled as a breakout season.