When the New York Rangers traded Ryan Lindgren to the Colorado Avalanche at last year’s trade deadline, most analytically-minded fans like myself felt more relief than anything else. The Rangers organization is best known for handing long-term contracts to aging, declining defensemen. Think back to the contracts of Dan Girardi and Marc Staal, two players who went from beloved Rangers to despised for their on-ice play by Rangers fans. With the Rangers facing their friend last night in Seattle, this was a good time to remember the good.
Ryan Lindgren never quite reached that point with the Rangers, but by the end of his tenure with the team, it was clear that the Rangers did not have a player who would be worthy of his next contract. While Lindgren appears to be appreciated in Seattle, I have no doubt that had the Rangers held onto him, his tenure with the Rangers would have ended much like Girardi’s or Staal’s.
Still, while Lindgren’s on-ice play was never anything to write home about (though he did have some genuinely strong defensive seasons), I’m not here to dump on the former Ranger. I’m actually here to do the opposite.
Ryan Lindgren was everything right about the New York Rangers.
Think back to the 2022 playoff run. A run in which the Rangers were two wins away from making the Stanley Cup Final. A run in which if the Rangers didn’t blow a game three lead in Tampa Bay, the Rangers would have been up 3-0 in the Eastern Conference Finals. Before the season the Rangers weren’t even certain to make the playoffs. Going into the postseason, many protagonists had the Rangers losing in the first round of the playoffs.
Instead, the Rangers battled. And battled. And battled. And until they finally ran out of gas in game six, the Rangers truly gave it everything they had. Truthfully, they embodied the spirit of Ryan Lindgren.
While Ryan Lindgren has always been a defensively gifted player, fans took to Lindgren early and often during his Rangers career because he never backed down. Even when the Rangers seemed to be sleepwalking, you could always find Lindgren jumping into a scrum, laying a big hit, or making a key hustle play. We saw Lindgren get bloodied, beaten, and somehow get up every time.
During the 2022 and 2024 runs, the Rangers were the type of team that would never back down. Coming back from a 3-1 deficit in 2022 showed resiliency, while the 2024 team just kept finding ways to win. Some of the best memories many of us will have of the 2020s Rangers teams will be of plays and games Ryan Lindgren was involved in.
Lindgren never wore an A as an Alternate Captain with the Rangers, but he never needed to. Every night we knew exactly what we were getting out of the defenseman. Maybe it was never an All-Star defenseman, but it was a player who cared, tried, and hustled. Maybe that’s one thing we miss right now.
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