What went wrong for the Rangers this season?

The Rangers had a rough year. There were some with high expectations, apparently in the front office, and others who were just looking for progress. Progress was certainly made, as the Rangers checked four of five boxes in the five keys to success for this season. Yet we aren’t watching playoff hockey. So what went wrong for the Rangers this season?

Depth was lacking

One of the major issues plaguing the Rangers was depth, specifically on the blue line and on the fourth line. The depth concerns were exacerbated by injuries and freak events. The Rangers, at any given moment, had at least one of the following players getting regular minutes:

• Jack Johnson
• Anthony Bitetto
• Libor Hajek
• Tarmo Reunanen (rookie)
• Zac Jones (rookie)

In the last week of the season, with all the injuries and drama, the had as many as four of them in the lineup. It may seem unfair to lump in Reunanen and Jones to the group, and they certainly are better than the trio above them. The Rangers needed to rely on a kid who wasn’t even signed to start the season.

Regarding the fourth line, the Rangers had the forward depth to make it work with a legitimate fourth line. But coaching decisions –we will get to that– made the fourth line worse than it should have been. I’m tired of beating this dead horse, but this lies solely with decisions to consistently play Brett Howden over better players.

Drama, all the drama

Good lord this team went through a lot this season.

• In-team fight, which led to the firing of Tony DeAngelo into the sun.
• Russian political hit piece on Artemi Panarin.
• Entire coaching staff got COVID.
• Mika Zibanejad ghosting for half the season (COVID)
• The Tom Wilson thing
• Firing the GM and President of Hockey Operations

Purposefully left off this list are COVID and injuries, as all teams had to deal with that this year. But this was a year that it was just exhausting to be a Ranger fan. Imagine how it was for the players? They are human too. Drama can be pointed to as an impact to what went wrong for the Rangers this season.

Coaching Decisions

I am a firm believer that coaching cost the Rangers a few wins this season. It may have even cost them a playoff spot. I have been very critical of how David Quinn approached neutral zone and defensive zone play. No team can win consistently without a consistent forecheck that stifles speed through the neutral zone. In turn, that allows the defense to stand up at the blue line, instead of backing up.

Steve Valiquette addressed the system in a pregame, stating that the coaching staff preaches defensive triangles, relying on the back check to force the issue. This makes logical sense, but it wasn’t working. There was too much speed through the neutral zone for the Rangers to back check effectively, efficiently, and consistently.

Another issue, as mentioned above, were lineup decisions. Four righties on PP1 still doesn’t make sense to me, when you have a number one overall pick who is a lefty on PP2. That was a problem and led to an inconsistent powerplay. Another shooting option was desperately needed on PP1.

I wasn’t Team Fire Quinn, nor was I Team Keep Quinn. But it was clear something needed to change.

Fixes for next year

As for what went wrong for the Rangers, coaching was probably the biggest issue. The entire coaching staff is gone. So that’s the low hanging fruit.

The drama can’t possibly repeat itself, right? Of all of these issues, the only one that might repeat itself is the Tom Wilson thing. But with all the talk about adding grit, then you’d assume something will be done to address it.

As for depth, that’s a loaded question. How will that be impacted if the Rangers do trade for Jack Eichel? How many of the next set of kids will be ready? Will the rookies and sophomores again take another step forward? Sometimes the answer isn’t as simple as adding.