Did the New York Rangers improve where they needed to?

The New York Rangers rebuild was going about just as good as a team could hope their rebuild could go. Three years after the letter they sent to fans basically announcing the rebuild, the team has come away with a new star goalie, the NHL’s top free agency acquisition in Artemi Panarin, and a first and second overall pick.

Then Tom Wilson happened. After the controversial Washington Capitals forward forced Panarin to the ice in a dangerous fight, the organization took a drastic turn. First, there was a little Twitter drama between the league and the Rangers. Then, almost out of nowhere and with little left to play in the season, the team fired the architect of the rebuild and beloved fan favorite Josh Davidson.

Davidson landed on his feet and took a job with the team he left for the Rangers in the Columbus Blue Jackets. What Davidson accomplished in his time with the Rangers was nothing short of amazing. Sure he got a little bit of draft lottery luck with selecting Kaapo Kakko second overall and Alexis Lafreniere first overall in back-to-back drafts, but he was building a team to compete year in and year out. Unlike the Rangers less cup contending team that saw key pieces such as Martin St. Louis, Rick Nash and Keith Yandle brought in via trade, the new Rangers were being built via draft (okay, they traded for Adam Fox, but he was still a prospect then, so we’ll let it slide).

What About The Major Additions?

The knee-jerk reaction to letting Davidson go put former Ranger and assistant general manager Chris Drury in charge as team president and general manager. What were his major moves this offseason? First, he traded for and signed former Tampa Bay Lightning winger Barclay Goodrow to a long-term contract far beyond his value. Then he decided to protect Kevin Rooney over Colin Blackwell in the Seattle Kraken expansion draft, with Blackwell being chosen by the NHL’s newest team. Finally, he traded for and signed Ryan Reaves from the Vegas Golden Knights to a one-year extension.

The New York Rangers made a few interesting additions. Will they help improve the team’s performance from last season?

What Drury is doing with the Rangers is not un similar to what the Tampa Bay Lightning did after their surprising first-round sweep at the hands of Columbus in the 2019 NHL playoffs. They’re adding size and physicality to make them a harder team to play against. That was an element the team seemed to be lacking on the night of the infamous tom Wilson incident. It ended up being a winning formula for Tampa Bay. After adding some guts in the lineup in the form of Goodrow, Blake Coleman and Pat Maroon the team won back-to-back Stanley Cups.

What Was Their Real Problem?

The Rangers finished the season fifth in the NHL’s East division and out of the playoffs. The Rangers Achilles heel last year was one-goal games, where they had a record of four wins and 16 losses. Overall, the Rangers had 29 losses including shootout and overtime losses, and those 16 one-goal losses represent a vast majority of the nights the Rangers were beaten. In games that went over three periods, the Rangers were 3-6.

Another interesting stat that popped up was that the Rangers were 6-16-4 when their opponent scored the game’s first goal. Out of the six come from behind victories the team had all year, three were at home and three on the road. For reference, the NHL’s lowly Buffalo Sabres had a record of 7-28-2 in games when their opponent scores first for an identical point percentage.

If the Rangers won an extra half of those one-goal games they would have easily been a playoff team. That would have been a huge step forward for this team that’s rebuilding in the nation’s largest sports market. Instead of addressing this area, they went out to get new players to be rougher and fight a little extra. One Twitter user said it best, “are the Rangers trying to build a winning team, or just a team to beat Tom Wilson?”

Whose In Net?

The Rangers still have an incredibly talented young core and stellar goaltending in the heir apparent to the recently retired Henrik Lundqvist in Igor Shesterkin. What about their goaltending? Right now the backup to Shesterkin is Alexandar Georgiev, who has been rumored to be on the trade block for a few seasons. He’s too valuable of an asset for the Ranges to stash away when the Ranges want to give Shesterkin a day off, so why he is still on the team, instead of being shipped up for assets that can help speed up the rebuild?

So far, the Rangers have played Shesterkin with the workload that he is the undisputed number one. Last year, he started 31 of the team’s 56 games compared to Gerogiev’s 18 starts. So it doesn’t look like using Shesterkin and Georgiev as a 1A and 1B tandem to split starts is in the cards.

The Rangers brought in a new head coach in Gerard Gallant, who had amazing success in his time with the Vegas Golden Knights. Management and fans felt former head coach David Quinn was holding back the team and its young players and a change was needed. Management and fans also feel Gallant is an obvious upgrade.

Maybe the coaching change will help fix some of these problems. Maybe under Gallant the Rangers can learn how to finish and come back and win those one-goal games. It’s definitely a possibility. Still, the players brought in this summer seem to be suited for another purpose. If I was Tom Wilson, I’d be afraid. They might get vengeance for that fight, but it might cost them a ticket to the playoffs.