2009-2010 New York Rangers Preview

Broadway hasn’t had much luck in recent years competing for the Stanley Cup. While the Rangers have at least competed for playoff berths, it has been a long time since the Blueshirts were truly considered a threat to win Lord Stanley’s chalice. After a major offseason of movement, can the new-look Rangers make it back to the playoffs this year?

Looking Back at 2008-2009

The Rangers had a moderately successful season, finishing with a 43-30-9 record, which earned them 4 th place in the Atlantic Division and the 7th seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. The major offseason acquisitions of centers Chris Drury and Scott Gomez flopped as neither really found the scoring touch that defined their previous stays in Buffalo and New Jersey, respectively. No team that qualified for the playoffs scored less goals than the Rangers and it caught up with them as they were eliminated in the first round by Washington.

The Offseason

GM Glenn Sather went about altering his roster in a major manner this offseason, walking away from a big money arbitration decision for enigmatic winger Nikolai Zherdev and shedding salary cap space by dealing Gomez for Christopher Higgins. Markus Naslund retired and Nik Antropov, Paul Mara, Derrick Morris and Blair Betts all left the light of Broadway behind via free agency, giving Sather lots of space to maneuver.

Sather took advantage and made a few big moves, most notably bringing in superstar scorer Marian Gaborik from Minnesota. Other notable acquisitions include scorers Ales Kotalik, Vaclav Prospal and tough guy Donald Brashear.

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2009-2010 Outlook

The Rangers will have a strong group of forwards up front, with Drury, Gaborik, Prospal and Kotalik joining with rising star center Brandon Dubinsky and notorious ‘bad guy’ Sean Avery to produce a mixture of grit and scoring. Don’t forget about winger Ryan Callahan, who scored 22 goals last year, and could be a breakout player this year. The Rangers should improve their scoring this season. Don’t underestimate’s Avery’s impact either: He will cause more than a few opponents to find their way to the penalty box this season and give New York chances on the power play.

On defense, the Blueshirts haven’t really upgraded their corps, which is anchored by the able pairing of Wade Redden and Michal Rozsival. Redden is due for a good season after a few disappointing years and Rozsival is a solid two way player. Youngster Marc Staal is ready to step into a featured role and Dan Girardi is the consummate defensive defenseman. However, this group is good but not really great and will have to deal with some serious scorers in their division, leaving me with some worries about their ability to get out of their own end heading into the season.

Luckily, the Rangers have Henrik Lundqvist as their starting goalie and he’s simply one of the best goalies in hockey. King Henrik will bail out any mistakes and should eat up the vast majority of the Rangers’ games. Expect another great year from one of the best players in the world.

PREDICTION: :The Rangers have continued their trend of icing teams that are heavy on star power with the acquisition of Gaborik. Frankly, the Rangers should be improved scoring goals this year and will benefit from a better year from Drury, who never really got on track last year. However, there are still concerns about their depth and I think that their defense is going to struggle at times clearing the zone. Despite Lundqvist’s excellence, the Rangers will allow more goals this year. With chemistry as another concern and the very real possibility that the Avery ticking time bomb goes off, I’m going to predict the Rangers to finish 4th in the Atlantic Division and miss the playoffs.

By Matt Baxendall
DFN Sports & ProHockey-fans.com Staff Writer

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