The lockout, the Rangers and likely the Stanley Cup
The New York Rangers have their best chance of winning the Stanley Cup since Mark Messier ruled Manhattan, when he essentially guaranteed his supremacy and solidified his legend.
Captain Ryan Callahan made no similar guarantees as the Rangers made it to the Eastern Conference Final last year, their best post-season performance since 1997, and the Rangers ran out of gas against the surprising New Jersey Devils. To build on their success, Glen Sather went out and acquired superstar winger Rick Nash after a seemingly never-ending standoff with Columbus GM Scott Howson.
But even with Nash, the Rangers faced an uphill battle to start the year and their chance at Stanley Cup glory was hardly certain. Now, three months after the season should have started, the Rangers confront a much less formidable challenge. In many ways, the lockout saved the New York Rangers.
The Rangers benefitted from some great fortune in last year’s playoffs, avoiding the Penguins, Flyers and Bruins—the three Eastern Conference teams with the best Stanley Cup odds (not including the Rangers, who had the second-best odds). The Penguins and the Flyers beat each other to a bloody pulp in Round 1, and the Flyers couldn’t rally to beat the Devils in the second round. Meanwhile, the reigning Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins fizzled out in the opening round against the Washington Capitals.
The Rangers, in comparison, had to go through the eighth-seeded Ottawa Senators, a team with the worst Stanley Cup odds, and the Washington Capitals, a team with the third-worst Stanley Cup odds in the East. Neither team was easily dispatched by the Rangers, both forcing decisive Game 7s that the Rangers narrowly won 2-1. Not exactly the calling of an elite team.
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Despite finishing tied for second in the NHL with 109 points during the regular season, the Rangers were not your typical elite, powerhouse team. With Henrik Lundqvist a rock in net, head coach John Tortorella squeezed every last ounce out of the rest of his group, getting career years out of previously unheralded players like Dan Girardi, and relying heavily on a workmanlike, hard-checking game to overcompensate for a lack of scoring outside of Marian Gaborik. The Rangers led the league in hits and were fourth in blocked shots during the regular season, and come playoff time the bruised and battered game plan became a major storyline.
The Rangers were definitely a good team, but one that Tortorella had to coax out by pushing all the right buttons—and pushing them hard.
After coming within two games of the Stanley Cup Final, the Rangers faced a shortened offseason, a major concern for a team that plays such a physical style, and were facing life without Gaborik, who underwent surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder. Even with Nash filling in for the injured Gaborik, the Rangers would be largely in the same situation as they were last year—a defensively-capable team relying heavily on an out-of-this-world goalie and one superstar to provide the bulk of the goals. That would mean a demanding Tortorella would once again be asking players to bring their tired, weary bodies and grind their way to victories. Sure, they would be battled-tested come playoff time, but after going through the same rigours the year before, what would be left when they got there? It can work, but it’s a tough way to get through an 82-game season and then win 16 increasingly gruelling games.
Instead, the lockout gave the Rangers extra time to heal—Gaborik won’t miss any games despite requiring five to six months recovery time—giving the Rangers one of the best one-two scoring punches in the league. Tortorella can mix and match his two superstar wingers with all-star center Brad Richards and Derek Stepan, or load up for a super-line and deliver an offensive onslaught.
Just as important, the increased firepower will allow Tortorella to not lean so heavily on the rest of his players; he no longer has to push them to the limit in every practice and every game. Oh, Tortorella is still going to be a surly, hard-ass coach, but he doesn’t have to become a modern-day Mike Keenan, a coach whose unrelenting, ultra-demanding style quickly tired with players and produced diminishing returns. Tortorella can now give a few more carrots rather than relying exclusively on the stick.
Furthermore, a shortened season, while certainly a sprint to the playoffs, will mean fewer physically taxing games on the Rangers’ bodies (because a Tortorella-coached team always plays hard). That means come playoff time the Rangers should be more physically ready for the playoff grind than they would be if they went through a normal regular season.
The lockout has also given the Rangers more time to evaluate some of their younger players, such as Chris Kreider, who made his NHL debut in last year’s playoffs. Kreider has had a rough year so far in the AHL, scoring only 12 points in 33 games, giving the impression that he might not be as ready for the Broadway lights as was believed during his hype-making start. Now with the extra time to evaluate, the Rangers won’t have to give a roster spot to a player before he’s ready, something that might not have been as apparent if the Rangers brass only got a look at Kreider during training camp.
For all these reasons, the New York Rangers should be thankful for the lockout, especially considering they reside in the NHL’s toughest division.
Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Claude Giroux might generate more headlines among the Atlantic Division powerhouses, but it is New York that will triumph in 2013, winning their first Stanley Cup since Messier’s heroics. You can thank Glen Sather for the free agents and the trades, and you can thank the scouting staff for the young core that will soon hit their peak, but in some small way, you can also thank the lockout.
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