For coach David Quinn, Rangers' playoff chase has always been real
Kaapo Kakko of the Rangers looks to pass as Adam Boqvist of the Chicago Blackhawks closes in at the United Center on February 19, 2020. Credit: Getty Images/Jonathan Daniel
David Quinn was really loose on Friday, as loose as he has been since he took over as Rangers coach little less than two years ago. He had a twinkle in his eye, and he laughed easily, dropping quips and throwing one-liners left and right in the bowels of the PNC Arena in Raleigh, N.C. as his team prepared to play its biggest game in two seasons. As he waited for the faceoff that night, Quinn was relaxed. And happy.
Being in an actual, honest-to-goodness playoff race can do that for a coach.
Coming out of the All-Star break, the Rangers were 11 points out of the second wild-card playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Sure, mathematically, they weren’t out of it, but realistically . . . let’s say they were the longest of long shots.
But Friday night, after the 5-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes, the Rangers had shaved the gap between them and a playoff spot to five points. And suddenly, the idea that the Rangers really were in the race, with 22 games to go, became real. For everybody else, that is. It had always been real for Quinn and his coaching staff.
“I might have been the only one standing here that thought that,’’ Quinn said with a laugh at his postgame news conference, when asked why he always believed the Rangers were legit.
That’s why the Rangers’ story has been such an interesting one as the trade deadline — Monday, 3 p.m. — has loomed. Weeks ago, some players’ attitude was that if they could win enough to get in the playoff race, they could convince GM Jeff Gorton not to be a seller at the deadline, as he has been the last two years. And they’ve done their part, winning six of seven heading into Saturday’s home game against the San Jose Sharks, including sweeping their last two road trips and winning their last seven road games, tying the franchise record for consecutive road wins.
Along the way, Chris Kreider, the No. 1 name on the trade market all season long, stepped up with some huge goals to power some important wins. And Gorton began serious negotiations with Kreider’s agent to try and sign him to a contract extension. The Rangers even added a player before the deadline — a small deal, to be sure — but they dealt a prospect, 20-year-old Hartford defenseman Joey Keane, for an older prospect, Julien Gauthier, 22, a former first-round pick they think may be able to help at the NHL level.
And so, the team that began the season as the youngest in the league is in the hunt for a playoff spot. And there is excitement in the locker room.
Which is what makes this trade deadline so interesting. If Gorton trades Kreider and Fast — Kreider, especially — in the middle of a playoff race, what effect will that have on the other players in the locker room, specifically Mika Zibanejad, Kreider’s longtime linemate?
Conversely, how energized will the room be if Gorton keeps the team together?
The Rangers’ rebuild isn’t over, but the teardown part of it ended at last year’s deadline, when Mats Zuccarello and Kevin Hayes were traded away. And the build part began when Gorton traded a couple draft picks to Carolina for the rights to Adam Fox, then traded for Jacob Trouba, and then signed Artemi Panarin. They don’t need to sell off pieces Monday, as they did last year. If trading away pieces now makes sense in the long-term plan, then, fine, do that. But if keeping those pieces, and fighting like heck to make the playoffs, makes more sense, then by all means, do that.
Because there is no better way to accelerate the development of the young guys, like Fox, and Ryan Lindgren, and Filip Chytil and Kaapo Kakko and Brett Howden, and Igor Shesterkin, than having them gain experience in a playoff race. Having the young guys play in big games now is the best way to prepare them to play in more big games in the next few years — whether they end up getting there this year or not.
And that could help explain why Quinn was so happy on Friday.
“One of the things that you do when you’re evaluating your team (is), you’re trying to size it up,’’ Quinn said. “Do you have the characteristics you’re going to need to win important hockey games? And I think as the year was going on, as a group, we were acquiring those characteristics you’re going to need. We thought we had enough talent. Obviously, we’re not the most talented team in the league. But in this sport, you don’t need to be the most talented team; you have to have enough talent.’’
The Rangers have good young talent, and more is coming soon. Being in a playoff race now is helping them groom some of that talent.
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
