Brad Richards to New York Rangers: Are Rangers Legit Favorite to Win East?

The New York Rangers have arguably made the biggest splash so far during the 2011 NHL free agency period.

On July 2nd, they inked Brad Richards to a nine-year $60 million contract. Richards was the most sought after player in this year’s market, and he was courted by multiple teams.

The New York Rangers are a better team today than they were a week ago, but are they a legit favorite to win the Eastern Conference crown?

When you look at the powerhouses of the Eastern Conference, they have a few things in common. These common attributes include goaltending, defense and dynamic duos.

For example, the 2011 Stanley Cup Champion Bruins had Vezina winner Tim Thomas, All-Star defender Zdeno Chara and multiple scorers in Milan Lucic, Brad Marchand, David Krejci and Patrice Bergeron leading the way.

Looking at the New York Rangers roster, how would they stack up against the current favorites for the eastern crown?

The most obvious is the newly acquired Brad Richards. Richards is an elite center who makes players around him better. Richards is almost a career PPG player as he has tallied 716 points in 772 career games. He also has 62 points in 63 career playoff games. He is a clutch playoff performer and his Conn Smythe Award is testimony to that fact.

A story came out today on ESPN New York which explained why Richards was worth the price tag. The same story cites quotes from a former Tampa Lightning scout who claims Richards made Lecavalier the player he is today:

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“All he did was win CHL player of the year and lead his team to the Memorial Cup,” the scout said. “He was MVP and put up bigger numbers without Lecavalier. When Richards turned pro he gradually improved his skating to become a top NHL player. Many would argue he made Vinny in Tampa.” 

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In Dallas, Richards had Eriksson and now he has Marian Gaborik.

Say what you will about Marian Gaborik, but he is a talented player. Not many players possess both his speed and hands. He may be injury prone or soft, but he put up impressive numbers in his first season on Broadway when paired with wily veteran Vinny Prospal.

If the duo clicks and has instant chemistry, it is fair to say they will each put up 80 points or more. At the end of the day though, only Marian Gaborik can fix Marian Gaborik and that is the only way things will work for the Rangers moving forward.

In this instance, the Rangers have improved some but they still don't stack up with the Penguins, Bruins, Caps, or Lightning when it comes to offensive fire power.

Goaltending is the next important facet of a legitimate contender.

In the crease, it is easy to see that both Henrik Lundqvist and Tim Thomas are elite goaltenders. Tim Thomas is coming off his Vezina worthy regular season and his Conn Smythe worthy postseason.

Lundqvist had a very good season as well. He led the NHL with 11 shutouts and posted a 36-27-5 record. His goals against average was fifth overall for goaltenders who appeared in more than 30 games.

The obvious difference is age. Tim Thomas is 37 and Henrik Lundqvist is 29. This age benefits the Rangers as Lundqvist is less vulnerable to suffering a debilitating injury. 

Tim Thomas is an amazing goaltender, but at 37 it will be hard to put up the same numbers in back-to-back years.

It would be unfair to say that one is better than the other because it is comparing apples and oranges. Tim Thomas is an old goaltender who has found some success in recent years, and Lundqvist is a young goalie who will continue to get better as he is coming into his prime.

However if Henrik Lundqvist were to suffer and injury or if he is overworked, he will be no good to the Rangers come playoff time.

The bottom line is that the Rangers don't match up so far with the reigning Eastern Conference and Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins.

The last variable is defense. The New York Rangers have a very talented and promising defense core. They are led up front with a top pair consisting of Marc Staal and Daniel Girardi.

The second pair consists of Michael Sauer and Ryan McDonagh. The third pair is currently up in the air but could most likely consist of Michael Del Zotto and Tim Erixon. 

What stands out about the Rangers defense is that they currently have an average age of 23. Despite this youth and inexperience, the Rangers ranked fifth in least goals allowed last year. Henrik Lundqvist played a huge role in this statistic. 

The Bruins blue line consisted of Zdeno Chara, Tomas Kaberle (now a Carolina Hurricane), Johnny Boychuk, Dennis Seidenberg, Andy McQuaid and Andrew Ference.

The Bruins defense was remarkable last year as it ranked third in the league for least goals allowed, and Tim Thomas was a vital player for the Bruins like Lundqvist was for the Rangers.

Once again it is hard to compare. Dan Girardi and Marc Staal are really starting to come into their own and are quality defenders with All-Star potential for next season.

Ryan McDonagh and Michael Sauer have proven themselves as well as they were responsible in keeping Alex Ovechkin scoreless when he faced the Rangers over the course of the year. 

The wild card for the Rangers is Michael Del Zotto and Tim Erixon. Both of these players have minimal professional experience. This is one area where they are vulnerable. This is no knock on either defender but experience is very valuable when the playoffs roll around.

The saving grace for the Rangers however is John Tortorella's coaching style. Tortorella is not a conventional coach by any means. He likes to line shuffle and mix and match based on in-game performance and statistics. 

If a situation were to arise, Tortorella could pair Staal and Erixon as opposed to Erixon and Del Zotto. He is a methodical man and likes to ride players who have the hot hand.

At strategic points throughout the year, players like Sean Avery were given top six minutes when he was on a role. At the same time, if Avery struggled or cost his team by making stupid mistakes, Tortorella had no qualms about benching him as a healthy scratch.

The last thing that would make the Rangers a potential favorite is their depth of players.

The Rangers have quality players in Brandon Dubinsky, Ryan Callahan, Artem Anisimov and Derek Stepan.

All of these players now have their niche and no longer will be pressured to carry the team in offense. They now can do what they do best by providing secondary offense and playing solid two way hockey.

Ryan Callahan is one of the best grinding forwards in the league. He is an avid shot blocker, he throws his body around and throws hits left and right, can be a solid 20-30 goal scorer and is a go-to guy when it comes to killing penalties.

Brandon Dubinsky is developing into a solid left winger who could easily put up 60-70 points. The same would be true in due time with Derek Stepan. He had a good start last season and will benefit from Brad Richards' tutelage. 

In addition, they have role players in Brian Boyle, Mike Rupp, Brandon Prust and Ruslan Fedotenko who can provide 10-15 goals each and will be key penalty killers.

The two holes the Rangers need to plug are simple. They need to acquire a comparable high caliber left winger to compliment Richards and Gaborik. Barring an explosive breakout season by Wojtek Wolski, I don’t think he will cut it in the long run.

The second hole the Rangers need to address is adding a veteran seventh defenseman. I am all for the youth movement the Rangers are cultivating, but if you are in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, I am sending out a veteran over greenhorn Tim Erixon.

The New York Rangers will have the a good chance to win the Eastern Conference in the 2012-13 season.

At that point, prospects Chris Kreider, Ryan Bourque, Christian Thomas, Dylan McIlrath and Carl Hagelin could replace players like Sean Avery, Erik Christensen, Steve Eminger and Ruslan Fedotenko.

The Rangers could also package some of these players and make a deal for a top notch winger. The Rangers have one of the deepest prospect systems in the NHL, so they can afford to deal some away.

This is how the lines could look next year.

Forwards

Kreider, Richards, Gaborik

Dubinsky, Anisimov, Callahan

Bourque, Stepan, Thomas

Hagelin, Boyle, Prust

Extra Forward: Mike Rupp

Defense 

Staal, Girardi 

McDonagh, Sauer

Del Zotto, McIlrath/Erixon

These lines are very balanced. The top line provides high octane scoring and speed, the second line is a good two-way line, the third line has very cohesive chemistry as all the players are best friends in everyday life and the fourth line has some grit to it.

The $64.3 million dollar question at the end of the day is do the Rangers have enough talent to be the favorites to win the Eastern Conference this year?

No.

In my honest opinion, as a stretch I think the Rangers have enough talent to advance to the semifinals this year. If they could slip into the Eastern Conference Finals, I feel they would come up short this year.

Questions that still plague the Rangers are the following

Have they learned to beat the bottom teams? 

Can they withstand injuries to key players?- (Richards, Lundqvist, Callahan, etc.)

What if the other teams get their act together before the Rangers develop chemistry?

While the Rangers are a very good team on the rise, they just need a bit more to take them to that next level. Until that point, I will continue to kick the tires to see what I can get out of them. 

Prediction for 2011-12: Second overall in Atlantic Division No. 6 Seed in Eastern Conference. 

Tom Urtz is a Featured Columnist and is a member of the Bleacher Report's Official 2011 NHL Draft Coverage Team. For more NHL draft news, updates and alerts about prospects:

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