Post by New York Rangers on Jul 8, 2022 11:07:53 GMT -6
New York Rangers 2022 Wrap-up
The inaugural season of the PFHL is in the books. A pretty entertaining season by all accounts.
How did the New York Rangers figure in this somewhat unpredictable season? Well, the Rangers certainly left their stamp on both the regular season and playoffs. Unexpected? Sure, but that’s the way sim hockey goes.
The theme for the early season Rangers was unexpected chemistry. Team scoring was robust and covered off the obvious goaltending concerns. With the early team success any plans of roster changes were shelved and the team was left to its own devices. Conventional wisdom would have predicted team scoring coming back down to reality and roster changes to begin. Well…
As the season wore on the Rangers were seeing the impact of emerging all stars Brayden Point, Brendan Gallagher, and Aaron Ekblad. The team took on a run and gun style and continued to outscore the goaltending and team defense deficiencies. For better or worse management decided to let the team run and only tinker with the roster. Two moves were made to bolster team defense. The addition of Adam Pelech and Calle Jarnkrok did ultimately help secure a division title. There were goaltender trades investigated but ultimately the prices were deemed too prohibitive.
Heading into the playoffs the Rangers were playing with house money and it turned out to be a fun run until the devastating collapse in the conference finals. That’s the way it goes sometimes.
Overall, this past season has to viewed as a resounding success. So, what are the positives and negatives heading into this first offseason? The biggest bonus is the state of the Ranger’s bank account. After paying out signing bonuses the balance sits at $44.5M – not too bad at all. Secondly the team will see substantial progression in many players ratings as a result of that high flying offense. By far the biggest headache moving forward is the goaltending situation. Something has to happen on that front. Not far behind that is the concern of an aging bottom four defense with some retirement risks.
We’ve heard the pundits’ views on this team moving forward. How much stock do we put into those drunk opinions? It remains to be seen how this team moves forward. Run it back again next season or start stripping it down with all eyes on the future? Time will tell.
