Aside from maybe the Sabres, no NHL team needed to step away from their season more than the Rangers did this week.
So much has happened through the first 2 ¹/₂ months of the season.
Two notable trades, two big contract extensions, one league-wide memo and so much more has been compacted into just 34 games.
The very public details of the locker room’s unrest have been inescapable for a group that considers itself to be airtight.
The Rangers have struggled in the first part of this season.
And it has all weighed the Blueshirts down into the basement of the Metropolitan Division, as well as 23rd in the NHL, which is where the club will resume its season Saturday in Tampa Bay.
Hope for a turnaround has dwindled drastically as the Rangers dropped 13 of their last 17 games.
Not just because the number of remaining contests has diminished, but because the team has consistently failed to generate an on-ice product worth believing in.
Just like a lot can happen in 34 games, however, even more can happen in the 48 remaining.
A lot will need to go right for the Rangers to regain playoff position, but it is not impossible.
Sustaining success has not been easy.
Whether it’s shift to shift, period to period or game to game, the Rangers will need to rediscover that part of their game if they wish to keep their postseason aspirations alive.
Most Valuable Player
When you sign your best player to a record-setting contract for his position and said player continues to be your best player, that’s a win.
The Rangers haven’t had many of those lately, on or off the ice, so we’ll give them that one, for sure.
Igor Shesterkin inked an extension to remain with the Rangers for eight more years.
Locking star goalie Igor Shesterkin down for the next eight years at $11.5 million per when the Rangers did was a smart business decision.
Who knows what could’ve happened if the season continued to get out of hand.
Since signing the extension Dec. 8, Shesterkin has gone 2-4-0 with a goals-against average of 2.63 and a .926 save percentage.
Igor Shesterkin makes a save against the Blackhawks earlier in December.
Under the circumstances of the atrocious defense in front of him, that’s about as much as Shesterkin could be doing for his team.
Even his season totals — a 2.91 GAA and a .913 save percentage — are indicative of Shesterkin pulling his weight.
Least Valuable Player
The unfortunate truth is that several Rangers qualify for this title.
Perhaps the most adequate way to measure it would be to consider how much value said player once brought to the lineup.
That would easily classify Mika Zibanejad as the Rangers’ least valuable player right now.
Mika Zibanejad has not been at the top of his game this season.
Zibanejad has been the team’s most defensively responsible forward for much of his New York tenure.
He’s also undoubtedly served as their No. 1 center.
That is, until this season.
His drastic dropoff on both sides of the puck has Zibanejad acting as the Rangers’ third-line center at the moment.
The nine points he’s posted at five-on-five are tied with Filip Chytil for ninth on the team. His 4.9 goals-against per 60 at even strength leads the team.
Biggest Surprise
There was a time when comparing the Rangers with Ryan Lindgren in the lineup versus without made the 26-year-old defenseman look like the heart and soul of the team.
Indeed, he has been just that for a majority of his 362 games as a Ranger.
That’s why the way he’s weighed them down this season has been shocking.
Ryan Lindgren gets into a scuffle with the Canadiens in November.
Whether it’s just a lost step or the pressure of knowing this is likely his last season in New York, Lindgren has been a liability on defense.
In just 29 games, Lindgren is already almost halfway to his goals-against total (21) from last season (43).
The constant misplays of the puck have proven costly time and time again, but that’s also just how this season has unfolded for the Rangers.
Biggest Disappointment
Similarly to how the LVP was weighed, the biggest disappointment would have to be a player who was also a big surprise at one point.
Alexis Lafreniere finally arrived on Broadway last season, but the 2020 first-overall pick has vanished just as quickly.
The fact that his disappearance came right after signing a seven-year, $52.15 million extension, however, is as bad a look as it can get for Lafreniere.
Just as the club rewarded its prized lottery pick, he reverted to the low-impact skater we saw through his first three NHL seasons.
Alexis Lafreniere has not played well since signing an extension.
First seven games before extension: Seven points (4 goals, 3 assists).
Twenty-seven games after extension: 14 points (5 goals, 9 assists) and minus-15.
Best Moment
There haven’t been many, but the 5-0-1 getaway that culminated in a 12-4-1 start to the season was the last time the Rangers’ 2024-25 campaign had a good feeling to it.
The Rangers knew they weren’t playing their best, but they weren’t yet folding at the slightest sign of adversity.
Worst Moment
The way the Rangers buckled in the aftermath of president and general manager Chris Drury’s league-wide trade memo at the end of November was remarkable.
If a response was the desired effect, it produced the complete opposite.
Though it does not appear as though that was ever Drury’s intent.
Chris Drury speaks to the media during the 2024 playoffs.
The goal was to begin addressing a lineup and a core that has clearly run its course, but the way it went down undoubtedly expedited the Blueshirts’ downfall.
Upcoming Decisions
What do the Rangers do now?
Where do they go from here? What is their next move?
Is it a series of trades?
Unloading major players?
Wait and see if they can turn it around?
The trajectory of the franchise depends on it.
