By : Mike Rifkin
With their 5-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators the New York Rangers have made the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2017. On February 8th 2018 the Rangers front office wrote a letter to the fan base explaining that the team was going to go through a full rebuild.
Now a lot of the credit belongs to former General Manager Jeff Gorton who put a lot of this roster together. Gorton was able to acquire star center Mika Zibanejad who the Rangers signed earlier this season to a eight year extension for Derrick Brassard. Ryan Strome who has been a big part of this team was acquired for Ryan Spooner. Defensemen Adam Fox, Ryan Lindgren and Jacob Trouba were all acquired via trade by Gorton. Fox, the reigning Norris trophy winner was traded from the Hurricanes for two second round picks. Ryan Lindgren was acquired in the trade that sent Rick Nash to the Bruins. Jacob Trouba was acquired from the Winnipeg Jets for Neal Pionk and a 2019 first round pick which the Rangers acquired when they traded Kevin Hayes to the Jets. Gorton also made a big free agent splash when he signed Artemi Panarin to a seven year 81.5 million dollar contract. Since signing with the Rangers Panarin has 69 goals and 238 points so far. Gorton also did a great job drafting now part of that was luck in drafting Kappo Kakko second overall in 2019 and drafted Alexis Lafeniere first overall in 2020. Gorton also moved up in the draft to get defensemen K’Andre Miller and Braden Schneider. Gorton was fired along with team President John Davidson after the 2021 season. For more on that we did a podcast on it.
The Rangers hired Chris Drury to be the President and General Manager of the team. Drury brought in Gerard Gallant to coach the team. Gallant who saw success as the head coach of the Florida Panthers and Vegas Golden Knights became the coach. The Rangers wanted to get tougher and they brought in not only tough guys but guys who could help the team win. The first move was trading for Barclay Goodrow from the back to back Stanley Cup Champion Tampa Bay Lightning and signed him to a six year 21.8 million dollar contract. Goodrow has already set a career high with 13 goals and 26 points. Goodrow has also been a massive part of the penalty kill and his leadership has been huge. They also traded for Ryan Reaves from Vegas Golden Knights. Reaves has three goals and 11 points in 61 games. Reaves played for Gerard Gallant in Vegas. Reaves and Goodrow both have a ton of playoff experience.
The Rangers got off to a great start and at the trade deadline the Rangers had the most cap space of any team vying for a playoff spot. The first move was trading for Frank Vatrano from the Florida Panthers in exchange for a fourth round pick. In 13 games Vatrano has six goals and nine points. The big move Drury made was trading for Andrew Copp of the Winnipeg Jets for prospect Morgan Barron and draft picks. Copp has four goals and 11 points in 10 games as a Ranger. Other trade deadline acquisitions, defenseman Justin Braun has a goal and two points in four games and winger Tyler Motte has not recorded a point but has brought speed to the fourth line and been a spark on the penalty kill.
For the first time since 2016-17 the Rangers have reached the 100 point mark. But the patience the Rangers showed after the letter have now paid off. No matter what happens in the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs Jeff Gorton deserves a lot of credit for putting the roster together. But both he and Chris Drury deserve a ton of credit because neither one was willing to spend a ton on one superstar. The Rangers are in the playoffs and their future is still very bright.
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