Pool Outlook for New York

Your Eastern Conference Champions... the New York Rangers.

The Rangers were able to make it back to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in 20 years, but their run ended in five games, losing to the Los Angeles Kings.  The Rangers were able to beat the Flyers in the opening round, taking down the Penguins in seven games and then out-skated the Canadiens in six games to make it to the last dance.

In the regular season, the Rangers finished 2nd in the Metropolitan Division, 13 points back of the Penguins for the division title.  I'm sure, at the end of the day, they are pleased as punch that they got the best of Pittsburgh when it mattered the most.

As a team, the Rangers were able to accomplish a lot, but for a number of individuals on the team, their season was mired in disappointment.  Everyone would have been awfully disappointed not to come away with the Cup, but some scoring numbers and performances were also worthy of disappointment and they might incite some change in the off-season.

Of course, New York is one of those markets that will not be satisfied until there is a championship in hand, so what might come as some harsh decisions, I would think we'd all know what the pressures were to get there.

The marquee name in lights over Madison Square Gardens is Henrik Lundqvist and you could imagine his disappointment about his season and his playoff run and not coming away with a Cup.  He was pretty damn good.  In the regular season, Lundqvist finished 8th among goalies in pool scoring, winning 33 games, 5 by shutout and added 4 assists for 80 points.  Overall, he finished 15th in pool scoring and turned many a head in the process.  As always, Lundqvist will be a highly-valued player in the opening round of most hockey pool drafts.

In behind Lundqvist, it was a stunning debut for Cam Talbot, who won 12 games and had 3 shutouts for 30 points in only 21 appearances for the Rangers.  Talbot finished 40th among goalies and likely could have been better, if he featured in more games.

Up front, the Rangers were led by their trade deadline acquisition, Martin St. Louis, who outscored the rest of the team through his time in Tampa and New York, scoring 30 goals and 69 points.  St. Louis finished 30th overall in pool scoring, 18th among forwards and looked fairly comfortable in Ranger blue.  Among the players that played for the Rangers all season, Mats Zuccarello led those players with 19 goals and 59 points in 77 games, finishing 50th among forwards in scoring.  The only other two forwards to finish in the top 100 in forward scoring were Derek Stepan, who had 17 goals and 57 points in 82 games and Brad Richards, who had 20 goals and 51 points in all 82 games.

On the blueline, there may be a rush to pick up Ryan McDonagh in the hockey pool drafts, as he impressed a lot of people with his play in this year's playoffs.  McDonagh didn't have a regular season to sneeze at either, finishing 18th among all defenders with 14 goals and 43 points in 77 games with the Rangers.  His numbers are steadily improving year over year now.  Also in the top 100 of defenseman scoring was Dan Girardi, who had 5 goals and 24 points in 81 games and that's it.  The rest of the blueline was somewhat underwhelming in the 2014 season.

2015 Pool Outlook

The real sexy picks from the Big Apple, as of today, would be Henrik Lundqvist and Ryan McDonagh, as noted above.  Those two have some real value in the hockey pool discussion, but when you dig a little bit deeper, you begin to wonder a little bit.  Players like Rick Nash and Marc Staal were somewhat disappointing, not getting a nod in the top 100 of their positiions, but will likely get picked and they may be somewhat overvalued right now.  The Rangers are expecting some changes to their team going into the off-season, which could make their outlook for the hockey pools a little brighter.  Until then, I remain skeptical about their regular season value.

The Rangers haven't been all that forthcoming with their youth in recent years, as very few drafted players have broken through the depth chart, thanks to wheeling and dealing for more of a veteran presence.  The 2015 season may see a couple more young players jump up out of necessity, if they can't move some of their bigger assets.  21-year old J.T. Miller saw some time in the playoffs and would be the leading contender for an extra eye heading into training camp.  Miller played in 30 games in the regular season last year, scoring 3 goals and 3 assists.

Free Agency and the Salary Cap

Just to change it up a little bit, I am going to lead with the salary cap number, because it will have the most implication going forward.  Currently, the Rangers are coming in at $45.6 million for only 11 players, this coming in as Brad Richards was bought out today, giving the team an extra $6.5 million in cap space immediately.  This leaves the team with roughly $24.5 million in cap space for the next 12 players they can fill their opening night roster with, which isn't the best number in the league, but it is certainly better than what they had before the Richards buyout.

Unrestricted free agency, which starts on July 1st, will see forwards Benoit Pouliot, Brian Boyle and Dominic Moore and defensemen Rafael Diaz and Anton Stralman all go to market, among others, and there doesn't look to be much room for all of them at the moment.

Restricted free agency gets even dicier, as Mats Zuccarello, Derrick Brassard, Chris Kreider and John Moore all need new contracts and it will be tough to bridge any of these guys, except for maybe Moore, but it will all be difficult to fit most of these guys under the cap ceiling.

On the plus side, the Rangers won't have a 1st round pick to sign and possibly have a heavy entry-level contract on the books for next season... if you can call that a plus.  No, the Rangers lost their 1st round pick, thanks to making it to the Eastern Conference Finals, in the deal that brought them Martin St. Louis and sent Ryan Callahan the other way.  The Rangers will also be without their 2015 1st round pick, as that was a definite pick that went the other way, nothing conditional about that one.  But as I had stated in the One To Watch portion, the Rangers don't really push their youth, so I would imagine that any deals they make for big ticket players will see talent come back.

The Rangers making it to the Stanley Cup Finals was likely a surprise to many, but with Boston and Pittsburgh taking 2nd round dives in the playoffs, someone had to be there, right?  The off-season has already gotten off to a tumultuous start, as they have had to swallow a huge pill in buying out Richards and there has to be some belief that more movements are in store, if they can do it. It's a buyer's market, when dealing with the Rangers and it isn't like the talent that they are offering were very hot this past year.  This will be some tough sells, for sure.

I think there is a distinct possibility that the Rangers won't make the playoffs next season.  In fact, I think that will be my prediction, given the parameters that are in front of them going into this off-season.  The overhaul will be a difficult one and no matter how good Lundqvist, McDonagh, Staal or St. Louis play next season, they could struggle to score enough goals to win those tight games.  I won't say that the carpet comes out from underneath them completely, but they will be in the midst of the wild card race and I think there are other teams in the East that could feast on their lack of off-season prowess.  The only saving grace that could turn this prediction around is if GM Glen Sather manages to make that move for Nash that lands a quality player that can keep the franchise on the same path, but he'd have to trade rape someone to do it.