New York Rangers 2014-15 Season Primer

The New York Rangers will be looking to get back to the Stanley Cup Final, and will have to do so with a roster that may see plenty of new faces.

Use the below Tabs to view Rangers info for this upcoming season, as well as some numbers from last year.

2013-14 record: 45-31-6, 96 points
Where they finished: 2^nd in the Metropolitan; 5^th in the East; 12^th in the NHL; lost 4-1 in the Stanley Cup Final to Los Angeles

Player Salaries: $80,397,222 (22)
Cap Payroll: $67,667,500
Bonuses: $95,000
Cap Space: $1,332,500
Forwards: $35,780,000 (13)
Defensemen: $22,825,000 (7)
Goalies: $9,062,500 (2)
Source: CapGeek.com

In: Cedrick Desjardins G, Chris Bourque LW, Chris Mueller C, Dan Boyle D, Kevin Hayes W, Lee Stempniak RW, Mat Bodie D, Matt Hunwick D, Matthew Lombardi C/LW, Michael Kostka D, Nick Tarnasky LW, Petr Zamorsky D, Ryan Malone W, Steven Kampfer D, Tanner Glass LW

Out: Aaron Johnson D, Anton Stralman D, Benoit Pouliot LW, Brad Richards C, Brian Boyle C/LW, Derek Dorsett RW, Justin Falk D, Micheal Haley LW/RW, Stu Bickel D

2014-15 Team Outlook:

Few teams in the NHL surprised as much as the New York Rangers did last season. First came the trade of 28 year old captain Ryan Callahan to the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for the 38 year old Martin St. Louis, next was trading former top prospect Michael Del Zotto to Nashville for Kevin Klein, then came the playoffs.

In what can only be described as improbable, the Rangers went on a deep playoff run all the way to the Stanley Cup Final before eventually losing 4-1 against the Los Angeles Kings.

New York now finds themselves in an interesting position heading into training camp.

This offseason, after losing a few key contributors to last year’s success via free agency (Brad Richards after his buyout, Benoit Pouliot, Anton Stralman, and Brian Boyle), the Rangers elected to replace those players with several low key signings while keeping cap space available to bring back Derick Brassard on a five-year, $25 million deal.

The offensive unit got a little bit of a shake-up, mainly to the bottom-six. Buying-out the remaining six years on Richards’ contract leaves Derek Stepan as the new number one centre, a spot he took over during last year’s playoffs. Beside Stepan, on the top-line will likely be Rick Nash (who struggled mightily last year, recording only 39 points in 65 games during the regular season and 10 points in 25 games in the playoffs) and one of Chris Kreider or Mats Zuccarello, who lead the Rangers in points last year. The second-line will see Brassard in the middle with St. Louis on the one wing and either Carl Hagelin, Zuccarello/Kreider on the other. J.T Miller may get a shot to centre the third-line with likely Lee Stempniak and one of Hagelin or Zuccarello. On the fourth-line, centremen Dominic Moore could be flanked by any combination of Matthew Lombardi (who spent last season in the Swiss League scoring 50 points in 46 games), Tanner Glass, Chris Mueller and Chris Bourque, as well as prospects Jesper Fast, Oscar Lindberg, Danny Kristo and Kevin Hayes.  The Rangers are also in talks to bring Ryan Malone in on a tryout.

On defense the Rangers are pretty much set. Once again, the defense will be led by a top-pairing of the ever improving Ryan McDonagh and Dan Girardi, with Marc Staal and veteran Dan Boyle making up the second-pair. The 38-year old Boyle was brought in on a two-year, $9 million deal to replace some of the puck moving skills and smarts that left when the Rangers elected to not meet Stralman’s contract demands. The final pair will consist of the two-way defensemen John Moore and Klein. Although the defense appears to be a near lock, veterans Mike Kostka and Matt Hunwick will try their best to get a starting job, although both are better served as extras. Prospects Dylan McIlrath, Conor Allen, and former Union College captain Mat Bodie will also be looking to stick in the NHL this season.

In net, the Rangers will roll out the same goalie tandem as last year, with the starting gig going to none other than “King Henrik”, Henrik Lundqvist, with the backup job belonging to Cam Talbot. Lundqvist is one of the best goalies in the world, that much has been known for years now, but Talbot more than held his own last season. Talbot posted a 1.64 goals against average and a .941 save percentage in 21 games for the Rangers last year after spending the previous three years in the minors. Outside of Lundqvist and Talbot, the Rangers don’t really have much depth in net, proven by the fact they signed career AHL goalie Cedrick Desjardins to a two-year contract this offseason to provide some sort of insurance.

On paper, this Rangers team still looks solid. Losing Richards’ hurt their centre depth, but the Rangers should have more than enough depth on the wings to supply the offense. Much of that hinges on Nash, who has to be much better than he was last season if the Rangers truly hope to excel this season; as does St. Louis. St. Louis was solid during the playoffs last year, but struggled in his 19 regular season games with the club, scoring only one goal and eight points. Both players have to return to near point-per-game producers for the Rangers to play at their best level. The defense and goaltending is rock solid, so even if Nash, St. Louis and company don’t score much, they should still win quite a few games; during the regular reason at least. Expect the Rangers to make the playoffs in a similar position as they did last year, as a middle of the pack to a low seeded team. Expecting the team to repeat as the Eastern Conference champions however, seems like a stretch.

Written by Greg Stamper, who can be found on twitter @g_stamp91.

The depth chart listed below was taken from NHL.com’s 30-in-30. 

FORWARDS
Rick Nash – Derek Stepan – Chris Kreider
Carl Hagelin – Derick Brassard – Martin St. Louis
Mats Zuccarello – J.T. Miller – Lee Stempniak
Matthew Lombardi – Dominic Moore – Jesper Fast
Tanner Glass – Chris Mueller

DEFENSEMEN
Ryan McDonagh – Dan Girardi
Marc Staal – Dan Boyle
John Moore – Kevin Klein
Mike Kostka

GOALTENDERS
Henrik Lundqvist
Cam Talbot

A look at the New York Rangers top prospects heading into this season. Each source may use different classifications as to if a player is deemed a prospect or has graduated on from a prospect.

* Dobber Prospects – Prospects based on relevance in a fantasy-hockey keeper league, not actual talent on the ice.

New York Rangers Draft History from the past five years

Performance and Usage Charts for the New York Rangers from last season, from Extra Skater.