Peter Laviolette Acknowledges Disappointment And Shortcomings From Rangers

From winning the Presidents’ Trophy to fighting to even make the playoffs, it’s been a pretty steep downfall for the New York Rangers to say the least. 

Fans, members of the media, and people within the Rangers organization fully expected to coast into the playoffs without any difficulty. 

However, it’s been far from a cakewalk for the Rangers. They now are six points out of the second wild-card spot with just six games remaining. 

Peter Laviolette admitted that this wasn’t what he was expecting going into this season fresh off of a trip to the Eastern Conference Final.

“If you’d ask me during the summer I’d say yes,” Laviolette said on whether he expected the Rangers to be in this position. “If you’re asking me from yesterday to today, the answer is no. We need to win more hockey games. 

“It’s not something I woke up this morning and was surprised by. We’ve been in this position all year, we’ve been outside the line, we’ve been just inside the line. We are certainly disappointed to be in this position. We gotta win hockey games.”

During the 2023-24 campaign, the Rangers were known to be the comeback kids. No deficit was too much for them to handle while their resiliency was something to be admired. 

However, this season has been the complete opposite as the Rangers’ passion has been in question. 

Time after time, the Blueshirts have disappointed the New York fanbase with their lackluster play and just overall lack of heart. 

There are no more excuses. Laviolette acknowledged some of the Rangers’ shortcomings and was very candid in describing how his team has played. 

“At times you do and at times we are not doing enough to be successful,” Laviolette said. “This year is not last year. Last year was a different year. This year we’ve found ourselves fighting for it the entire year. The play has been not where it needs to be in order to be above the line, in order to be first in the division or to be first in the conference. At this point, we haven't played well enough.”

The Rangers have not been mathematically eliminated from making the playoffs, but time is certainly running out. 

Not reaching the playoffs could result in some major changes. With so much on the line, we’ll see how much heart this team truly has over these next six games.