30 teams in 30 days: New York Rangers
Finished: 7th eastern conference
Playoffs: Lost in 1st round to Washington
Leading scorers: Nik Antropov 59, Scott Gomez 58, Nikolai Zherdev 58, Chris Drury 56
Who did they add?: Marian Gaborik, Donald Brashear, Chris Higgins, Ales Kotalik, Enver Lisin
Who did they lose?: Colten Orr, Fredrik Sjostrom, Nik Antropov, Scott Gomez, Paul Mara, Derek Morris
Overview: Entering the 08-09 season, the Rangers were favorites to come out of the eastern conference and go on a cup run. Many of those predictors had big smiles on their faces throughout the first few weeks of the season, when the Rangers held first place firmly in their grasp. After a while, they started to fall off a bit, getting overtaken by the Bruins and Capitals, and eventually falling into 7th place. Although their 7th place finish last year is quite disappointing to many, the Rangers still have a great team and once again look poised for a stellar campaign. The forward group is solid, led by Chris Drury and new arrival Marian Gaborik. Brandon Dubinsky, Chris Higgins, Ales Kotalik and Nikolai Zherdev are also featured on the secondary lines. This is an offense that should be able to produce in waves, but this didn’t happen last season, perhaps one of the reason’s for the Rangers mediocrity. The defense is a solid group, even with the losses of Paul Mara and Derek Morris. Leading the blue line is Marc Staal, followed by Wade Redden, Michal Roszival and Dan Girardi. The blue shirts don’t have 6 NHL ready defenseman on their roster so they are looking for someone from inside the system to step up. The goaltending is in a familiar spot, not to mention a good one, with Henrik Lundqvist between the pipes. Backing him up is Stephen Valiquette, who proved that he too is NHL ready. The Rangers should be in good shape if they can produce up to their potential and stay healthy. Look for them to compete for a division title, but may fall short due the the level of competition in the very competitive atlantic division.
Winners or losers?: The Rangers are winners this offseason. They replenished most of the things that they lost, except for the defense, but Mara and Morris are aging and now it’s time for more young guys to step up on the blue shirts blue line.
