Head coach John Tortorella milked the most he could out of the New York Rangers in the 2010-11 season, but it became fairly evident that the Rangers were simply a few bricks short of a load.
After the Rangers barely edged their way into the
playoffs, they were quickly ushered out by the top-seeded Washington Capitals.
It’s become very clear that if the Rangers have any hope
of improving, they need to put some quality defensemen in front of Henrik
Lundqvist and find some offense.
The Rangers have to straighten out their salary cap
situation first, but if they can orchestrate a couple of buyouts and players
in free agency, there’s a good chance they’ll have a team that is capable of
going further in the playoffs next year.
What They’ve Got:
Henrik Lundqvist. Beyond that, not a whole lot.
While the Rangers have one of the best goaltenders in the
game, they don’t really have a noticeable supporting cast around him. Marc
Staal and Daniel Girardi are the only two defensemen to be on next year’s
roster for sure and while the front lines have the likes of Marian Gaborik,
that’s not saying much anymore considering how pitiful of a season he had.
The Rangers do have Chris Drury on the roster, who might
be bought out along with Wojtek Wolski. If the Rangers can pay those guys off
to just go away, then they’ll free up some cap space to be serious players in
free agency. If they can’t, the good news is that the Rangers will be working
with a completely clean slate in 2012-13.
What They Need:
Two major priorities will be re-signing restricted free
agents Ryan Callahan and Brandon Dubinsky. The Rangers don’t have much up
front, so keeping these two is critical – especially Callahan, who is considered a
potential future captain.
This team desperately needs scoring. Marion Gaborik is coming
off an atrocious season where he scored 22 goals, but 12 of his goals came in
four games against the New York Islanders, Toronto Maple Leafs and Edmonton
Oilers. He’s clearly overpaid at $7+ million, but he’s not as bad as he looked
this season. The Rangers kept changing the center he played with, which really
affected his play and signing a guy like Brad Richards could really have a big
impact on the Rangers first line.
On defense, the Rangers need a couple of things: a No. 1
shutdown defenseman and a power play quarterback. It’s unclear how – or who –
will solve that need, but Michael Del Zotto clearly didn’t as he took a step
back in his second season.
If the Rangers can build a first line with Richards and
Gaborik, bring back a secondary unit with Callahan and Dubinsky, then use Sean
Avery on the third line as a pest, they won’t be in bad shape.
Overall, they should find themselves with a lot of cap
space of the next two seasons but they have plenty of work to do (who else in the NHL needs tweaks?).
Outlook:
The Rangers made the NHL playoffs this year but they have a
lot of work in front of them.
Callahan, Dubinsky, Artem Anisimov, Brian Boyle, Matt
Gilroy, Mike Sauer and Chad Johnson are restricted free agents, while Alexander
Frolov, Vinny Prospal, Ruslan Fedotenko, Bryan McCabe and Steve Emingers are
all unrestricted free agents. Any way you cut it, NHL bettors should expect for the
2011 Rangers squad to look very different than the 2010 unit.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but to compete in the
NHL, consistency is a big key.
Truth
be told, the Rangers are almost starting from scratch. They have Gaborik,
Staal, Girardi and King Henrik. While they made the playoffs this year, they
are going to need quite a bit more if they want to make a bigger statement in
2011-12.
Once released, future odds for hockey betting will be posted, but as this is a team that looks to make some key adjustments, the lines will be likely to change.