Final Report Card for New York Rangers' 2014-15 Season

The New York Rangers fell to the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final, and it was the first time in franchise history that the Broadway Blueshirts lost a pivotal seventh game at Madison Square Garden.

The sight of a dejected Henrik Lundqvist with head in hands has become an unfortunate and familiar one over the past few seasons. The Rangers did a lot of things right in the regular season, but not all of their success benefited them when it mattered most.

There is a lot of information to go through, and here's the final report card for the Blueshirts' 2014-15 season.

Offense

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The Blueshirts had a number of players contribute offensively this season, and here is a highlight of their top players.

Rick Nash had a solid campaign for the Rangers, scoring 42 goals and recording 69 points during the regular season. Derick Brassard registered 60 points in the regular season, and he led the Rangers with nine goals and 16 points in the postseason.

Derek Stepan was another forward who had a solid season; he tallied 55 points in 68 games after missing the start of the season with a broken fibula. 

Chris Kreider had a solid sophomore season and finished with 21 goals and 46 points. Kevin Hayes was also very impressive as the rookie tallied 45 points in 79 games.

The Rangers as a whole had the league's second-best offense in the regular season, but they failed to score in the playoffs after averaging only 2.37 goals per game. The team has to figure out how to get it done in the postseason, because they clearly know how to get done in October through April.

Grade: B+

Defense

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The Rangers allowed the third-fewest goals this season, and a commitment to team defense allowed them to be successful. 

Ryan McDonagh was solid in the 71 games he played, and he once again remained a positive player while tallying 33 points. Dan Boyle had a rough go of it early on in the regular season, but his game took off in the playoffs, racking up 10 points in 19 games.

Trade-deadline acquisition Keith Yandle tallied 11 points in 21 regular-season games and 11 points in 19 playoff games. His offensive ability should help the Rangers moving forward, although he showed a tendency to cough up the puck at inopportune times.

Kevin Klein had a career year in which he tallied 26 points in 65 games, but his performance tailed off in the second half of the season. He missed some time in the playoffs and just looked a step off once he returned to the lineup.

Dan Girardi and Marc Staal both posted 20-point seasons, but the two players failed to show consistency on a nightly basis in the playoffs. Both had a tendency to drop to the ice trying block shots, and that made them an easy target to skate around.

Matt Hunwick was solid in a platoon role, and he made the most of his 55 games in the lineup with two goals and 11 points.

Grade: B-

Goaltending

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Henrik Lundqvist was as fantastic as usual, and he went 30-13-3 with a .922 save percentage and a 2.25 goals-against average. He was even better in the playoffs, finishing with a line of 11-8 with a .928 save percentage and a 2.11 goals-against average.

Lundqvist was once again the Rangers' best player, and one has to wonder what must happen in order for him to win a Stanley Cup.

Cam Talbot played a bigger role this season and stepped into the starter's role when Lundqvist went down with a throat injury. The Goal Buster posted a record of 21-9-4 with a .926 save percentage and a 2.21 goals-against average in 36 games.

Grade: A+

Special Teams

The Rangers' power play finally got its act together this season, and it was better in the playoffs for a change. The man-advantage unit ranked sixth at 21 percent in the playoffs, an improvement upon the 16.8 percent efficiency rating from the regular season.

Players like Derick Brassard tallied 18 points, Martin St. Louis had 13 and Rick Nash and Ryan McDonagh each had 12 points in power-play situations.

The penalty kill was the exact opposite for New York, as it thrived in the regular season and died in the postseason. The Rangers had the sixth-best penalty kill percentage in the regular season with an efficiency rating of 84.3 percent. That rate dipped to 80 percent in the postseason, a very noticeable drop.

Failure to kill penalties was troublesome against the Tampa Bay Lightning, and it gave the team extra momentum that added a slight edge.

Overall, both units had high and low points, and the reverse of fortune was a negative in the postseason.

Grade: B

Coaching

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Alain Vigneault is a talented bench boss that has accomplished a lot in two years with the Rangers. He went to the Stanley Cup Final in year one, and Vigneault finished as a conference finalist and Presidents' Trophy winner in 2014-15. He was also nominated for the Jack Adams Trophy, but some of his decisions can be described as questionable at best.

Vigneault was very comfortable playing Tanner Glass over J.T. Miller for the majority of the season, despite the fact that Miller was the better player and Glass contributed very little. When Miller did crack the lineup, he was underutilized for no reason. He was good enough to be a member of the second power-play unit, but was relegated to fourth-line duty at even strength. 

Marty St. Louis was given chance after chance on the top line when Mats Zuccarello was injured, and the veteran was terrible in that role. Miller was promoted to that spot late in the Tampa Bay Lightning series, and to the surprise of few, he thrived with Rick Nash and Derick Brassard.

Vigneault's worst move came in Game 7 when he altered the flow of his lineup. James Sheppard was a healthy scratch in order to dress Matt Hunwick. It was revealed that Ryan McDonagh was playing with a broken foot, and the freezing treatment didn't take before the game.

This led to Hunwick entering the lineup, but he only played six shifts. This was a terrible decision by Vigneault, and it would have been better to dress Sheppard and redistribute minutes to the other defensemen if McDonagh couldn't play major minutes.

Game 7 was a carbon copy of Game 5 in every way, and Vigneault's failure to make adjustments after a slow first and second period is inexcusable. Vigneault is a talented coach, but his postseason management was very similar to years past with the Vancouver Canucks.

Grade: B-

Overall

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You can talk about the regular season all you want, but this season was a failure. It doesn't matter that New York had the best record in the entire NHL. This is a team that went to the Stanley Cup Final last season and made moves to go for it all this season.

Failing to win the Stanley Cup is bad enough, but having the season end because of two shutouts on home ice in the Eastern Conference Final is just pathetic. The Rangers have invested young talent and draft picks to get where they are, and they need to win at some point or none of it will be worth it.

This is not to say that the Rangers won't have a chance to be a top contender next season, but the clock is ticking. The management staff needs to take a long look at the roster, and the necessary adjustments need to be made to get this team to the point where it can win in convincing fashion.

Regular-season success is impressive, but eventually you need to get it done in the playoffs.

Grade: C  

All stats via Hockey-Reference.com unless otherwise noted.