The Rangers once again failed to achieve the ultimate goal this season.
After securing the Presidents’ Trophy in a stellar regular season showing, New York’s postseason run came to a disappointing end as they were defeated by the powerhouse Florida Panthers in six games in the Eastern Conference Finals.
There’s no denying that this is a talented group of players, but with them falling short again down the stretch, it has led to countless questions about whether or not they are good enough to do the job.
Blueshirts President and CEO Chris Drury discussed that question and a host of other issues during his season-ending conference call with reporters on Friday afternoon.
“It was a disappointing end to the season,” he told reporters, including Vince Mercogliano of USA Today Sports. “But I do believe in our players individually. A lot of players have had great seasons and some of them have been really good Rangers for a long time.
“This is the part of the job where we have to figure out if this group can collectively get us to where we want to be, and that process is already underway and will continue throughout the offseason. We are constantly trying to figure out how we can get better and how we can reach our ultimate goal.”
New York dealt with numerous lingering injuries to their defensive core along the way, including a broken rib Ryan Lindgrena broken knee Adam Foxand a broken ankle for Captain Jacob Trouba but that’s still no excuse.
Their key players simply didn’t show up when it mattered most in the Florida series Mika Zibanejad And Artemi Panarin combined for just one goal during the six games, which came with less than a minute remaining in the elimination loss.
So now New York finds itself in numbers that are going to be a very interesting offseason, because they could decide to do it with the same group again, or it could shake things up a bit.
Drury, as always, wouldn’t comment on specific players or contract talks, and he danced around whether or not he would consider moving one or more of his core group of players, but he did emphasize that “nothing is off the table.”
New York will look to add a proven scorer to the mix to pair with Zibanejad and Chris Kreider on the top line, but the third-year GM also added that they will try to become a “more physical team.”
The Blueshirts certainly have some intriguing internal candidates to help fill that roster with youngsters Matt Rempe And Adam Edstrom both impressed in their first professional stints this season.
Drury has plenty of work to do this season and he can rotate in a number of ways, so it will be interesting to see what this club looks like by the time training camp rolls around.
