Danny Wild-Imagn ImagesWhen looking at the New York Rangers’ roster, there’s certainly a lot you can pinpoint regarding the team’s biggest needs heading into the offseason.
The roster is headlined by veteran players on multi-year contracts, including J.T. Miller, Mika Zibanejad, Vincent Troccheck, Adam Fox, Vladislav Gavrikov, Will Borgen, and Igor Shesterkin.
Then, there’s Will Cuylle, Alexis Lafrenière, and Braden Schneider, the more established young players who have been with the Rangers for a number of years now.
Scattered in the mix are a slew of prospects who were brought in over the course of the season, looking to etch their mark with the Blueshirts, such as Noah Laba, Gabe Perreault, Tye Kartye, Jaroslav Chmelař, Adam Sýkora, and Drew Fortescue.
Chris Drury’s Jan. 16 letter to fans outlining the Rangers’ plan to retool the roster and get younger makes you think the Rangers will continue to scale back during the offseason, with their primary focus on the future, but Mike Sullivan’s comments about the team’s biggest needs they may be looking to fill during the offseason certainly contradict that direction.
“We'll have some opportunities to potentially add some puck moving ability on our blue line,” Sullivan said. “I think there might be some opportunities to improve our bottom six at the forward position... I think those are probably two areas where we could look to improve.”
Drury shared Sullivan’s sentiment on which areas the rangers want to address over the summer.
“I have seen that (Sullivan’s comments) and thought about it, and we've been looking at length about different things we can improve, and we always are, but I thought those were two good comments by him and two specific areas,” Drury said, agreeing with Sullivan.
Sullivan and Drury emphasizing a need to beef up the bottom-six forward unit was puzzling given all of the young players that stepped in late in the season and brought stability to the bottom six, many of whom could be options to make the Rangers’ opening-night roster out of training camp.
As far as puck-moving defensemen, the Rangers don’t have many outside of Fox, but Fortescue emerged late in the season, and showcased his ability to be impactful with the puck on his stick.
Both of these areas of needs pinpointed by Sullivan and Drury seem to be moves that steer the Rangers in a competitive, playoffs-or-bust mindset, which again, contradicts the essence of the letter.
“I think we have the ability to improve and get better in the most immediate future,” Sullivan said. “When you look at our team this year, for most of the year we were right in the hunt. With some tweaks to our roster, get some guys healthy again, I think we have the ability to become a competitive team.”