A Once-Bright Future Looks in Jeopardy for the Rangers After Playoff Exit

A first-round exit was certainly not in the range of acceptable outcomes for the New York Rangers in 2023. Not after an Eastern Conference Final appearance a year ago and the loudest trade deadline since 2014.

Yet while the Rangers' defeat to their rivals across the Holland Tunnel might be poignant, perhaps it shouldn't be surprising. Yes, the team accumulated 107 points during the regular season and were certainly perceived as at least something of a contender.

But this was not a particularly encouraging regular season for the Rangers, whose early-season losing led to ESPN's Emily Kaplan reporting that team ownership was "paying close attention" to head coach Gerard Gallant. Following the trade deadline, the team struggled to cohere, dropping winnable games that could have earned them home-ice advantage in Round 1.

It's not too dissimilar from the previous season in which a team constantly hemmed in its own end got bailed out by superstars, an elite power play and one of the best single-season goaltending performances in league history.

This time, a number of star players did not turn hero, and the power play failed to capitalize in Games 3 to 7. Igor Shesterkin did his best to drag the team into the second round, but it was not enough.

A second straight series in which the Rangers fell apart after winning the opening two games illuminates the shortcomings of Gallant. After the Devils opened the series with humiliating losses, the team, led by Lindy Ruff, adjusted, forechecked more aggressively and constricted space in the neutral zone. Once it was clear the Devils had tilted the ice back in their favor, Gallant had no counterpunch except to once again reach for a jumbling of line combinations.

AP Photo/Adam Hunger

Certainly, the Rangers' roster was not perfect. But general manager Chris Drury kept much of the team intact from last season. He reunited Gallant with center Vincent Trocheck. The team swung big at the deadline. Twice. The defense was built with big, physical players ostensibly primed for playoff-style hockey. There are other playoff teams who have done more with less.

Gallant may be right that talented players can only go so far, and how well they connect is more important. Yet that observation is a self-indictment.

Commandeering a group of talented players to buy into a coherent plan that maximizes their output through cohesion isn't just in the job description. It is the job description.

Not often this season did the Rangers appear to have an identity.

Drury may dismiss Gallant by the end of the week. Perhaps he should. But while that may address a short-term problem, it will leave the Rangers' GM to come to terms with a series of bold moves on his part that did not manifest success.

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How did Vladimir Tarasenko and Patrick Kane play for the Rangers? There was some good, some bad and some ugly.

More pertinent is how the Rangers ended up in a position in which management felt those moves were necessary. The trading of Pavel Buchnevich to St. Louis is among the worst deals in franchise history. Former top prospect Vitali Kravtsov became a bust. Barclay Goodrow ended up on the fourth line for a reason. Sammy Blais went back to St. Louis having not scored as a Ranger.

Last season, Drury successfully rescued the team with rentals of Andrew Copp and Frank Vatrano. It worked then. It didn't work this season. Now entering the offseason, the organization is exactly where it started. Kaapo Kakko, Goodrow and Jimmy Vesey top the depth chart on right wing.

No solutions are coming internally; top prospect Brennan Othmann is not NHL-ready, with one NHL scout calling his timeline to the NHL "elongated" following a lukewarm junior season. Will Cuylle, if he's ready and able, projects as a depth player.

The Rangers had arguably the biggest, most physical defense in the league, but that came at the cost of moving the puck. Save for Adam Fox, no Rangers blueliner was capable of collecting pucks in the defensive zone and moving them forward with possession. The Devils' speed kept the Rangers in their own end and unable to break out and forecheck, while the team's inability to stretch the ice from the back suffocated hopes of rush offense. As poorly as many of the Rangers' forwards played, they weren't granted with many opportunities at even strength to enter the offensive zone with possession.

It's difficult to see how this gets better. Based on Evolving Hockey's projected costs of two-year deals for RFAs K'Andre Miller ($4.039M) and Alexis Lafreniére ($2.94M), the Rangers would have around $5.64M in cap space to then fill out six roster spots; or roughly $940K per opening.

Drury will have to promote minor leaguers or sign from the bargain bin to fill out the roster unless he can make cap space elsewhere.

How he'd do so is unclear. Jacob Trouba is a third-pairing defenseman with an $8M cap hit that implies Norris-trophy expectations. He'd be unmovable even if he didn't have a no-movement clause. Trocheck, Artemi Panarin, Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad are also signed long-term and can veto any trade.

Goodrow has a 15-team no-trade clause and is signed to an unpalatable $3.641M cap hit through 2027. He is movable, though the Rangers may have to pay heavily from a quickly diminishing prospect and draft pick cupboard to make that happen.

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The organization wanted to expedite the rebuild after the 2020-21 season. It signed multiple older players to long-term contracts and moved draft picks for rentals. The head coach said his job was not to develop the young players.

Now the bill has come due.

Panarin, Zibanejad, Kreider and Trocheck will all be over 30 years old by the end of next season. The prospect pool is well below average, and the Rangers will be short on draft picks again this summer. With little cap space with which to drastically improve the team during the offseason, what you see is what you'll probably continue to get. The Rangers finished fourth and fifth in the East the previous two seasons and entered the playoffs with dark-horse playoff hopes reinforced by expensive trade deadline mercenaries.

Barring some surprises or very clever cap management, the Rangers are built to be no more than that for the near future.