The Rangers find themselves in familiar territory. For the second time in eight years, the organization has released a letter marking the end of the season and the quest for the Stanley Cup, signaling the start of a partial rebuild with hopes of reaching what they call the Valley of Heroes.
Let’s rewind to February 8, 2018. The creators of the first letter were then-General Manager Jeff Gorton and then-president Glenn Sather. Interestingly, the language used back then was almost the same as it is now.
In 2018, the Rangers had made the playoffs for seven consecutive seasons under coaches John Tortorella and Alain Vigneault. They had reached the Conference Finals in 2012 and were runners-up in the 2014 Stanley Cup Final against the Kings. They also nabbed the Presidents Trophy and made it to the final four again in 2015. But after two early playoff exits and a last-place finish in 2018, Gorton and Sather felt compelled to take similar steps as Chris Drury is doing now.
transaction
The first significant move involved Rick Nash, traded to Boston in exchange for three picks, one of which was Ryan Lindgren, and two others, one of which contributed to the first overall pick in 2018. Ryan Spooner was traded early the next season for Ryan Strome, which turned out to be beneficial.
Then Ryan McDonough and JT Miller went to Tampa Bay, yielding first- and second-round picks that led to Vlad Namestnikov, Libor Hajek, and Brett Howden. Unfortunately, that trade was largely disappointing, as the Rangers gained little from those players while the Lightning secured two Stanley Cups.
Mats Zuccarello, Kevin Hayes, and eventually Marc Staal would also find themselves leaving New York. All of this is part of the effort to cultivate a new core that aligns better with the pandemic era and the leadership of David Quinn.
What did I do wrong?
There were misses in both drafting and player development. Vitali Kravtsov was a poor choice at No. 9 overall in 2018, and Nils Lundqvist, who was picked 28th, never made it to Broadway after being sidelined by K’Andre Miller. The Rangers did win the draft lottery twice, selecting Kaapo Kakko second in 2019 and Alexis Lafreniere first in 2020, but neither has emerged as a superstar.
What worked?
They did experience some lucky breaks, notably reaching the Conference Finals in 2022 under coach Gerard Gallant and again in 2024 with Peter Laviolette at the helm, during which they picked up another Presidents Trophy.
The key factor in their resurgence was the readiness of Igor Shesterkin to step in and take over as a top goalie. Adam Fox also made it clear he wanted to join his childhood team, making it tough for Carolina and Calgary to hang onto him.
In July 2019, the team committed to Artemi Panarin with a seven-year deal worth $81.5 million, positioning him among the best free-agent acquisitions in Rangers’ history.
Will there be a pot of gold at the end of this makeover?
Panarin is viewed as one of the priciest players in the league, even as a possible rental. Will they consider trading valuable players like JT Miller or Mika Zibanejad, or do they see them as essential to the future core Chris Drury envisions?
Recreating the circumstances that brought Shesterkin and Fox to the team will prove challenging, especially since there aren’t many players of Panarin’s caliber available in free agency these days.
Can we really expect the Rangers to draft and develop better talent than they have in the past eight years? This rebuilding effort should have begun last season with trades for Kakko, Jacob Trouba, and Chris Kreider. It begs the question: will Drury strike it rich in the next round of trades compared to the past?
