The end of Game 6 in the Eastern Conference Finals last Friday was a tough, bitter pill for Ranger fans to swallow especially considering how much the Rangers scratched and clawed their way through two equally tough series' against Ottawa and Washington. Fans should be proud of how the 2011-12 Rangers laid the groundwork for the future successes of the franchise in the very near future. The signing of Brad Richards last July was a very large piece to the Rangers' Stanley Cup puzzle and he'll continue to be a big part for the next several years. What was unexpected was the emergence of Carl Hagelin and the immediate dividends he paid as well as the sheer dominance of one Ryan McDonagh filling in for Marc Staal for half of the season. However what was not unexpected was the production from guys like Marian Gaborik, who had a fantastic comeback year from his injury riddled 2010-11 season and new captain Ryan Callahan, who set a personal career high in goals this season.
I strongly disagree with the notion that the Rangers "overachieved" this season. Tortorella had the Rangers giving it 110% in each game and in each practice. When some teams went in the tank in December and January, the Ranger coach would not allow his team to become complacent and always had them pushing forward. Still, one has to wonder how much the Rangers truly had left in the tank at the end of the season. The Rangers did not have the greatest March and had to hold off late season pressure from the Pittsburgh Penguins. In my final State of the Rangers column here, I showed how important it was for the Rangers to have a good final month leading into the playoffs. When you count the entire season, the Rangers finished with a record of 61-34-7. From the trade deadline to game 82, the Rangers were 12-9-1 and extending that record into the playoffs, the Rangers were 22-19-1. Adding up all those numbers, 56% of the Rangers total losses this season came only after the trade deadline on February 27th. Playing barely better than .500 hockey since February 27th is not the mark of a champion. By comparison, the Devils are 25-11-2 and the Kings are 24-7-3 since the trade deadline.
Numbers aside, the question now is what do the Rangers have to do personnel-wise in free agency to get them over this hump and into the Stanley Cup Final. The Rangers are very capable of keeping with most of the teams in the Eastern Conference. As far as the offense is concerned, Rick Nash, No. Zach Parise, too expensive. It wouldn't surprise me to see the Rangers move that 28th overall pick in the draft as part of a package for a player the Rangers really like in exchange for one of the Rangers blue-chip prospects. It's too tough to speculate who the Rangers will go out and acquire who they think will put them over the top. Perhaps they move a player like a Artem Anisimov or a Brandon Dubinsky. When you bring in big money salary, somebody has to go and the Rangers cannot stand pat, especially after doing virtually nothing at the trade deadline. Defensively, the Rangers are just fine, although there will be slight tweaks on the back end of the Rangers 6 defensemen. Whether it would be acquiring Justin Schultz's rights from Anaheim or hoping that Michael Sauer is able to recover from his concussion and going with a nearly identical defensive corps is up to Torts and Sather.
Perhaps a change to the Rangers offense philosophically is in order. If you look back on the playoffs, the Rangers generated most of their goals from shots on net by their defensemen. Girardi, who had just 5 goals in 82 games this season, scored 3 times in 20 postseason games and was second on the team in postseason points. Think about that, Dan Girardi, ahead of Gaborik, Callahan and Stepan who were all top 5 in points in the regular season. Del Zotto had 2 fantastic rounds scoring 9 points in the first 14 games, before being consistently victimized by the Devils 4th line all series long and only contributing 1 assist in the Conference Final. So perhaps that kind of offensive style that starts with shots from the point with 2 forwards in front of the goaltender to get to rebounds rather than the cycling along the half wall and behind the net looking for the perfect pass to the middle of the slot is an idea the Rangers can toy with leading into next season. Boston works it to perfection and they aren't half bad, are they? No the Rangers don't have Zdeno Chara but that doesn't mean it can't work.
As I said up top, Ranger fans should be very proud of this team. The Ranger players themselves were far too proud to admit at the end of Game 6 that they just didn't have enough legs to keep up with the Devils in the end. Whether or not the Rangers will be able to replicate their regular season success into the 2012-13 remains to be seen, but that shouldn't prevent fans getting even more behind their hockey club in what is only the beginning of the most successful period in Rangers hockey.
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