2014-15 New York Rangers Preview

Sep 30, 2014 - 7:19 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The New York Rangers were hoping for better results in the postseason when they fired head coach John Tortorella and replaced him with Alain Vigneault.

Things did improve in the Big Apple, as the Rangers made it to the final round of the postseason for the first time since winning their last Stanley Cup title in 1994. The Cup Finals trip ended in a five-game loss to the Los Angeles Kings, but it was still the most rewarding Rangers postseason in two decades.

Although New York lost several pieces from its Eastern Conference championship team in the offseason, the club still enters 2014-15 as one of the favorites to win the East.

Vigneault instituted a new system in New York and it obviously paid dividends for the club. Tortorella's shot-blocking defensive style was abandoned in favor of an up-tempo strategy. The Rangers went 3-7-0 to start the season while getting used to the new system, but the players eventually bought into what Vigneault was selling.

The Rangers will have to adjust to a new captain this season, but that shouldn't be too difficult since the club made it to the Cup Finals last spring without anybody wearing the "C." Veteran winger Martin St. Louis, who was acquired mid-season in exchange for former Rangers captain Ryan Callahan, filled a leadership void for the Blueshirts in 2014, but it's been rumored defenseman Ryan McDonagh will be the man replacing Callahan as captain.

New York enters 2014-15 having lost several pieces from its conference championship team, including forwards Brian Boyle, Brad Richards and Benoit Pouliot and defenseman Anton Stralman.

Recent history suggests the Rangers will have a tough time getting back to the Cup Finals. Teams have repeated as conference champions only four times over the last 20 years, but it would be unwise to bet against New York, especially with superstar Henrik Lundqvist coming off the best postseason of his career.

FORWARDS - Although Vigneault instituted a possession-based style of play, New York's strength remained on defense.

The Rangers ranked 18th in the NHL during the regular season with 2.61 goals per game and that number actually dipped to 2.56 gpg in the playoffs. On the flip side, New York's was fourth in the league during the regular season with 2.32 gpg allowed and it stayed relatively the same (2.40 gpg) in the postseason.

The Blueshirts may struggle to put the puck in the net, but Vigneault's system still works because the club has a ton of speed up front and is able to roll with four lines.

If there is one player who could make a positive difference on offense its highly-paid winger Rick Nash, who led the team with 26 goals during the regular season but only scored three times in the 25 playoff games. He also tied the lowest point total of his career with 39 points over 65 games in 2013-14, matching his output as a rookie with Columbus in 2002-03.

Nash managed to fill the scoresheet more in his first season with the Rangers, posting 42 points (21 goals, 21 assists) in just 44 games during the lockout- shortened campaign of 2013. Approaching the point-per-game threshold again this season would be big boost for New York's scoring woes.

New York's biggest issue heading into the season, however, is the club's lack of depth at center. The situation was bad before Derek Stepan suffered a broken fibula in training camp, and it could be a huge problem now Stepan expects to miss the first several weeks of the season. Stepan was expected to center the top line after recording 15 points (5G, 10A) in 24 playoff games. He also finished second on the team with 57 points (17G, 40A) in 82 contests during the regular season.

Stepan's injury leaves Derick Brassard as New York's top centerman with Dominic Moore, J.T. Miller and Kevin Hayes expected to fill in the remaining pivot spots.

Brassard had 18 goals and 27 assists in 81 games last season and has the offensive capabilities to take on the top spot. Moore, meanwhile, is a responsible player but he doesn't add much in the way of offense and would probably be a better fit for the fourth line. But with the losses at center (which in addition to Stepan's injury also includes Richards being bought out of his contract in the offseason and Boyle departing to sign with Tampa Bay) it appears for the time being Moore is New York's second-best option at center.

Miller or Hayes could move into the third-line spot. It seems the former player would be a better fit for the fourth line, while Hayes, a former first- round pick by Chicago in 2010, could take on the third-line spot where more offensive skill is needed. Hayes, however, played for Boston College last season and has yet to be tested at the NHL level.

Maybe the Rangers can cope with the dearth of talent at center by relying on the club's excellent group of wingers. Nash and St. Louis are the best known of the bunch, but speedy wingers Carl Hagelin and Chris Kreider could help as well. It also helps that after last season New York knows it can survive a poor October and still make it deep into the playoffs.

St. Louis, a two-time NHL scoring champion, needed some time to adjust to the Rangers, but the diminutive sniper carried New York's offense on his back at key moments during the memorable playoff run. The veteran winger had one goal and seven assists in 19 games following his trade from Tampa and then led New York with eight goals during the postseason. He also added seven assists in the playoffs and was second only to McDonagh on the team in scoring.

St. Louis' postseason heroics were even more impressive considering his mother, France, died suddenly of a heart attack on May 8. New York was trailing Pittsburgh three games to one in the conference semifinals when St. Louis' mother passed, but the club rallied behind their new teammate to take the final three games and win the series. Many Rangers players spoke about how they were inspired by St. Louis' resiliency and grace under difficult circumstances, as they watched their teammate turn personal tragedy into a touching tribute to his mother.

Although he turned 39 years old in the offseason, St. Louis seems to have plenty left in the tank. He had 30 goals and 39 assists in 81 combined games with the Lightning and Rangers last season.

Kreider, who possesses a dangerous blend of size and speed, figures to play left wing on the first line. The 23-year-old often found himself in Tortorella's doghouse, but he thrived under Vigneault and notched 17 goals and 20 assists in 66 games. Kreider added five goals and eight assists in 15 playoff games after missing the start of the postseason due to injury.

The 26-year-old Hagelin posted a career-best in goals with 17 last season.

Although Mats Zuccarello led New York with 59 points (19G, 40A) last season, the fact that he could find himself on the third line to start 2014-15 says something about the club's depth at wing. Zuccarello only had 34 points over 63 games during his first three NHL seasons before exploding for a breakout season in 2013-14.

Most of general manager Glen Sather's additions to the offense this summer were designed to add depth to the club's bottom six forwards. Wingers Tanner Glass, Matthew Lombardi and Lee Stempniak were cost-effective solutions and should do serviceable jobs on either the third or fourth lines.

Sather also has offered veteran winger Ryan Malone a tryout with the team. Malone has scored 20 or more goals six teams as an NHLer, but he was bought out by Tampa Bay this summer after scoring just 11 goals over the last two season. His arrest in Tampa on April 12 for driving under the influence and cocaine possession also hastened his exodus from the Lightning organization, but perhaps he can get his career and personal life back on track in New York.

DEFENSE - It's no secret the Rangers thrive on defense and goaltending. Although the club's stinginess is mostly attributed to Lundqvist's play between the pipes, it's pretty clear New York's blueliners are a key part of the formula.

McDonagh stands alone as the team's best all-around defenseman after coming off a career season in which he posted 14 goals and added 29 assists. The 25- year-old then went on to pace the Rangers with 17 points (4G, 13A) in the playoffs.

Dan Girardi provides balance on the top defensive pairing, playing the stay- at-home role to McDonagh's more offensive-minded style. Girardi has 24 points (5G, 19A) in 81 games last season and added a goal and six assists in the postseason.

There's a great deal of stability on the New York blue line and the Rangers would like to keep it that way. Girardi and McDonagh are signed through 2019-20 and 2018-19, respectively, and the club is trying to hammer out an extension for Marc Staal, who is set to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of 2014-15.

It seems unlikely Staal will reach free agency, however. Sather made tough decisions to say goodbye to a handful of players this summer and one of the reasons he did so was to free up money to lock Staal up for the long term.

The 6-foot-4 Staal combines physicality with the ability to move the puck. He only had 14 points (3G, 11A) last season and five more (1G, 4A) in the playoffs, but his worth is measured in more than points. Besides, Sather signed veteran offensive blueliner Dan Boyle to a two-year, $9 million deal this summer to bring scoring to the Staal pairing and help with a sagging power-play which ranked 15th in the regular season and scored on only 12.6 percent of its chances with the man advantage in the playoffs.

The 38-year-old Boyle had 12 goals and 24 assists for San Jose last season and has registered 50 or more points six times in his career. By replacing Stralman with Boyle, however, Sather has given up responsible defensive play for a boost in scoring and it should be interesting to see how that choice affects the Rangers this season.

New York's depth extends to its final pairing where Kevin Klein and John Moore are more capable of eating up minutes than most defensemen at the bottom of an average NHL team's defensive rotation.

GOALTENDING - Because his Rangers never made it past the second round of the playoffs until last season, Lundqvist was seen as a playoff disappointment until anchoring New York during last season's Cup Final run.

However, Lundqvist's career playoff numbers tell a different story, as the Swedish veteran boasts a 2.24 goals against average and .927 save percentage over 92 career postseason games. Also, his 43-48 record in the playoffs isn't spectacular but it's more than respectable and blame for most of those losses could easily be assigned to a lack of scoring rather than any perceived flaw in Lundqvist's game.

The 32-year-old netminder went 33-24-5 with a 2.36 GAA and .920 save percentage in 62 regular-season games last season after winning the Vezina Trophy in 2013. Like the key parts of New York's blue line, "King Henrik" is signed for the foreseeable future, having inked a seven-year extension last season that will keep him in the fold through the 2020-21 campaign.

Considering Lundqvist has started 567 of a possible 704 regular-season games for the Rangers since his rookie campaign in 2005-06, there's a good chance backup Cam Talbot won't be needed too often this season. Still, Talbot proved to be more than capable of spelling Lundqvist in 2013-14, going 12-6-1 with a 1.64 GAA and .941 save percentage.

WHEN ALL IS SAID AND DONE - Whether it's due to playing a long postseason the year before or because making it to the Cup Finals puts a target on your back, it's never easy for a team to repeat as conference champions. The fact that New York lost several players off its playoff roster also isn't going to help the team raise another Eastern Conference title banner to the rafters. Still, the Rangers have plenty of pieces left to challenge for the Metropolitan Division title in 2014-15 and with the East as the lesser of the NHL's two conferences it'd be silly to count them out as potential conference champions next spring. However, it does seem the Rangers still lack enough firepower to compete with the best clubs in the West, so the ultimate goal of lifting the Stanley Cup likely is unlikely to be in the cards.