NHL Draft is unlikely to be the route the Rangers will take to improve

NASHVILLE — The Rangers learned through their painful seven-game, first-round loss to the Devils that they need to add both speed and grit to their lineup in 2023-24.

Immediate help is not likely to come through the NHL Draft, which begins with the first round on Wednesday night and rounds two through seven on Thursday.

The Rangers own the 23rd overall pick and also own selections in the third, fifth and sixth rounds for a total of five overall.

But the two-day event at Bridgestone Arena may prove to be fertile ground for president/general manager Chris Drury to either improve his roster via trade or lay the groundwork for future deals this offseason.

The Rangers, under new coach Peter Laviolette, are clearly a win-now team. Former Vezina Trophy winner Igor Shesterkin is in the prime of his goaltending career. Defenseman Adam Fox of Jericho was the Norris Trophy runner-up after winning the award as the NHL’s top defenseman in 2021. Top forwards Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider and Artemi Panarin are all over 30 years old and the Rangers are just one season removed from a berth in the Eastern Conference finals.

In fact, their win-now mode might suggest Drury could do better in trading his first-round pick for immediate help rather than wait two or three seasons for a prospect to develop.

Drury did not speak to the media on Tuesday and almost certainly wouldn’t address that type of speculation anyway.

But offseason change is usually inevitable and the players, speaking after the playoffs ended, are well aware of that.

“There's obviously always a little bit of turnover and some guys could be gone,” center Vincent Trocheck said. “There could be some new guys coming in. But, for the most part, I think the core we have is pretty set. We have a really young team, So I think that we have like a strong base that is good enough to be good for a really long time.”

“You go into any season with expectations, with goals,” Fox said. “Our goal is to win the Stanley Cup. We came up short of that this year. Going into next year it’s going to be the same thing. We’ve got to work towards it. We’ve got to improve and use this loss [to the Devils] as a learning experience.”

The Rangers have approximately $71 million allocated to eight forwards, five defensemen and Shesterkin under the $83.5 million salary cap ceiling. It’s unlikely the Rangers can afford to re-sign unrestricted free agents Patrick Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko.

Losing valuable fourth-liner Tyler Motte as a UFA would dent the Rangers’ depth and speed.

Versatile Barclay Goodrow, who has played up and down the Rangers’ forward lines, could be traded to create additional salary cap space. Goodrow has four seasons remaining on a six-year, $21.85 million deal and his modified no-trade clause allows him to submit a 15-team no-trade list.

Alexis Lafreniere and defenseman K’Andre Miller are key restricted free agents.

Regardless of what moves Drury ultimately makes, the end result should be an effort to make the Rangers a quicker team. They certainly looked sluggish by the end of their series with the Devils.

“You see the teams that advanced and I guess, in theory, every single round was won by arguably the team that played a little faster and a little more skilled as opposed to the team that has a little bit more of a heaviness to their game,” Kreider said. “But I still think that’s an element of the playoffs and I still think you need a mixture of both.”

With Colin Stephenson

By Andrew Gross

andrew.gross@newsday.comAGrossNewsday

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.