I’ve taken some time to collect my thoughts about this season. It was an up and down ride, that’s for sure. The start of the season was great. The end of the season was great (forget that they didn’t make the playoffs, the run to get in position to make it was fun to watch). The middle sucked. Unfortunately, the middle sucking portion was too long.

We know about the scoring issues, the defensive lapses, the inconsistency. An inconsistent team doesn’t make the playoffs, and if they do, they aren’t there for long.

Let’s face it: The Rangers are never in position to make the playoffs if it wasn’t for strong play by: Henrik Lundqvist, Marc Staal and Michal Rosival. Yes, Michal Rosvial. Those three guys led the charge, and made this a fun team to watch. Marian Gaborik showed his scoring prowess, but would benefit from a true number one center.

This is a young group, with a couple of expensive veterans. I don’t want to see them broken up. I want to see Gaborik back with Christensen and Dubi. I want to see Callahan playing on a line with Anisimov. I want to see Redden bought out and give one of the young defensive prospects a shot. I want to see a more balanced lineup: Two scoring lines, a grinding line and an energy line. I think the Rangers should go for cheap scoring, like Ruslan Fedetenko, Mike Comrie and Marek Svatos. I actually wouldn’t mind them trading Rosival–his value will never be higher. With a few tweaks, this could be a really good team.

I’d be very happy if the forwards looked something like this:

Dubinsky-Christensen-Gaborik

Avery-Anisimov-Callahan

Fedetenko-Comrie-Svatos

Prust-Drury-Shelley

I know Drury would be an expensive fourth liner, but he does all the little things so well, and this team is not as good without him.

I’m still quite upset that the Rangers didn’t make the playoffs. But, next season isn’t going to be that bad. There’s a lot of young talent, and with a few smart pickups, this team is right back in the playoffs. Maybe this will serve as a warning to the GM to weed out the old and unproductive players, and keep with the youth movement. It will work.

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