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How The New York Rangers Built This Cup Contender

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It feels like a lifetime ago when Devils and Rangers fans were chanting “we both suck” at a game together. In addition, the letter that Jeff Gorton wrote about a rebuild to the fans feels like ages ago. Fast forward from all of that and the New York Rangers are the cream of the crop in the Eastern Conference. To go from drafting early in the first round to a conference finals trip, it has been a wild ride. But how did they get to that point? Let’s take a look at the New York Rangers roster construction.

How The Rangers Built This Contender

Whoever you want to thank is a different conversation. Two gentlemen have a part for play in how the Rangers got to this point. Jeff Gorton whom is now with the Montreal Canadiens front office, and current General manager Chris Drury. Both have had a different approach to running the show on Broadway, but both have their fingerprints on the outlook of this team.

Life Under Jeff Gorton

When Jeff Gorton took over in 2015, he was taking over a team that made it to the Stanley Cup Final. The results were not what anyone wanted, but this is where the ground work got done.

The New York Rangers roster construction underwent a turnover. Throughout the course of his tenure, Gorton traded away key players. Most notably Ryan McDonagh, Mats Zuccarello, Rick Nash, and Derek Stepan. An emotional Henrik Lundqvist felt the sadness, especially with the Zuccarello move. These moves seemed painful at the time, but not every move was dreadful.

The New Guys On The Block

In terms of building the next wave, the finest work was landing now superstar centre Mika Zibanejad. Ottawa is in a good position now, but giving up on him when they did was puzzling. Another big acquisition was defencemen Ryan Lindgren. He came over in the Nash deal. Lindgren had developed into a top-pair defenseman with shutdown ability. While staying in 2018, in a deal with Ottawa, Gorton acquires K’Andre Miller. Miller finally broke into the league in 2020-21, and has established himself as a top-four defenceman. Miller is currently having a career year across the board production wise. He is a pending RFA this season, but has grown into a promising role with the club.

 

In addition, his biggest move was trading for Adam Fox. The American is the franchise defenceman and arguably the best in the league. He’s an absolute gem. As you can see, Gorton masterfully has built the back end into what it is today. In addition, he acquired Jacob Trouba from the Winnipeg Jets. He is now the captain and is signed long-term. And last but not least, Artemi Panarin is a Ranger and has been sensational. Each player has a vital role and is clutch to what they are building.

Those were just trades. His biggest impact has been at the draft as well. Notably on the roster are Kaapo Kakko, Alexis Lafreniere, and Braden Schneider. Let’s also not forget the transition from Lundqvist to Igor Shesterkin. Just a masterful job by Gorton and laying down the foundation for this team.

The Rangers Era Under Chris Drury

The organization went ahead and dismissed Jeff Gorton. Entering his place was Chris Drury and the New York Rangers roster construction continued. As laid out above, Gorton laid the foundation and Drury went ahead and added to it. Simply put, Drury took an already good team and made it better.

In establishing an identity and wanting to compete further, he made a bold move. Drury traded for and signed two-time Stanley Cup Champion Barclay Goodrow. Bringing a guy in with his pedigree and knowing what it takes to win was great for this group aiming to head in that direction. Drury did his finest work at the deadline. Andrew Copp, Frank Vatrano, and Tyler Motte were all crucial pieces to their run. The Rangers would make it to the Eastern Conference Final.

Fast forward a season and the Rangers are at the top once again. Despite losing all their big deadline acquisitions the year before, Drury refused to back down. Drury would move on from Alexander Georgiev and bring in Jaroslav Halak. Vincent Trocheck is the new second-line centre. Chris Kreider has a new extension in place. Parting ways with young defencemen Nils Lundkvist proved to be worth the haul. In addition, what Drury did with that haul was some of his most magical work.

Luring The Big Fish

Gorton may have laid the foundation, but Drury is furnishing the house. If you thought last year was via best work, this deadline should make him General Manager Of The Year. Next season causes problem with the salary cap, and Drury put all his chips in the middle. Drury went out and got top-six winger Vladimir Tarasenko from the St Louis Blues. Once the deal was complete, a disappointed Patrick Kane made comments about the deal. However, Drury did not rule out getting Kane. How in the world is this possible? Given the contract, there is no way the team can afford it right? Well, turns out Kane is in fact a Ranger. It took a lot of finesse work, but Drury landed the big fish and placed him on Broadway. Give him the keys to the city at this rate. In addition, he brought back Motte whom he acquires the year before.

You can make the argument that the team is deeper than last year. But this is a great Rangers team playing their best hockey.

The Broadway Blueshirts Are Back

This is the New York Rangers roster construction. After their defeat in the 2014 final, this is how they got here. You can credit whomever, but in the end, both men have their hands in this team. It is truly amazing how this team went from a rebuilding letter to a cup contender in a short amount of time. The club will look to make a deep run after clinching the playoffs Monday evening.

Main Photo: Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports

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