Rangers in position to compete annually, but will this era include a Stanley Cup?
Rangers center Mika Zibanejad (93) celebrates his goal against the Carolina Hurricanes with center Ryan Strome, left, left wing Artemi Panarin, second from right, and defenseman Adam Fox (23) during the first period of Game 5 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup second-round playoff series Thursday, May 26, 2022, in Raleigh, N.C. Credit: AP/Chris Seward
This could be just the start for the Rangers.
But can they take the next step and finish? That is, win a Stanley Cup during the next few seasons?
The Rangers certainly still had Cup aspirations entering Saturday night’s Game 6 of their second-round series with the Hurricanes at Madison Square Garden.
But president and general manager Chris Drury’s blueprint takes a much longer view than just his first season in office. Windows can close quickly under a salary cap, but Drury, working off the foundation laid by deposed predecessors John Davidson and Jeff Gorton, does have the Rangers in position to be an annual contender.
Yet the franchise already has been at this point of fielding a legitimate Cup contender three, arguably four, times in the post-Original Six era.
But since the NHL doubled to 12 teams in 1967-68, the Rangers have won just one Cup, in 1994, with additional trips to the Cup Final in 1972, 1979 and 2014.
For all the talent the team has brought in the door, that just doesn’t feel like nearly enough. (Perhaps the Maple Leafs, without a Cup since 1967 or even a Cup Final appearance in that span, could argue.)
The Rangers certainly have key pieces in place for sustained success, starting with goalie Igor Shesterkin, the next link in a chain of post-Original Six Cup-worthy netminders that includes Eddie Giacomin/Gilles Villemure, Davidson (had he not been hurt), Mike Richter and Henrik Lundqvist.
The defense is stocked with young talent, some of which hasn’t arrived yet, and a savvy veteran in Jacob Trouba. Jericho’s Adam Fox is to this group what Brian Leetch was to the 1990s Rangers. Ryan Lindgren, gutsy all playoffs as he fights through a lower-body issue, is a heart-and-soul player.
There’s elite-level talent up front, both veteran in Mika Zibanejad, Artemi Panarin and Chris Kreider — even if Panarin and Kreider have not had the consistent impact in these playoffs the team needs — and youthful in Alexis Lafreniere, Kaapo Kakko and Filip Chytil.
The Rangers should be able to keep the core of this team together for the next few seasons and thus have an extended window to win at least one Cup.
But the best-laid plans sometimes (often?) do not produce the hoped-for results.
The franchise knows that all too well.
Perhaps none better than the late Emile Francis, the Rangers’ GM from 1964-76. His early-1970s squad, featuring the Vic Hadfield-Jean Ratelle-Rod Gilbert GAG Line, Giacomin, Villemure and Brad Park on defense, among the standouts, generally is acknowledged as one of the best teams to have never won the Cup. Ratelle breaking his ankle shortly before the 1972 playoffs began may have kept that group from lifting the prize.
Similarly, the John Tortorella/Alain Vigneault squads circa 2011-15 seemingly always were on the precipice of the Cup.
In 2012, the Rangers battled their way through an intense seven-game second-round series against the Capitals, leaving them exhausted in the Eastern Conference finals against the less-talented Devils, who won in six.
Vigneault replaced the hard-driving Tortorella and led the Rangers to the 2014 Cup Final against the Kings, who won in five games. That included three overtime wins in Los Angeles, with Games 2 and 5 going to double overtime.
Next season’s team was even better, winning the Presidents’ Trophy with 113 points. But the Lightning shut them out, 2-0, in Games 5 and 7 of the Eastern Conference finals at the Garden.
The Neil Smith-constructed, Mark Messier-led team of the 1990s fulfilled its destiny in 1994 after winning the Presidents’ Trophy with 105 points in 1991-92 but losing in the second round to the eventual Cup champion Penguins in six games.
Also, the Rangers were frustratingly the second best in New York as they were eliminated four straight times by the dynastic Islanders from 1981-84.
Will this era end in frustration for the Rangers, or will they finish what they seem to have started?
Both are possible.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
