Washington Capitals: New York Rangers have Closed Metropolitan Division Gap to a Point

We continue our offseason look at the Metropolitan Division rivals and how they stack up against the Washington Capitals. Next up, the New York Rangers.

Prior to the 2017 Amateur Draft the New York Rangers realized it was time to take the first steps toward a rebuild, to be  competitive in the Metropolitan Division for years to come and overcome the likes of the Washington Capitals.

By trading Derek Stepan and Antti Raanta to grab the 7th overall pick, they signaled it was time to address the salary cap crunch and make some serious shifts toward a new start.

With the 7th pick and their own pick at 21st overall, the Rangers would grab a few young centerman in Lias Andersson and Filip Chytil.  The adjustment from losing the veteran presence was not easy as the Rangers would finish last in the Metropolitan the following year.

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Again the Rangers would grab a trio of young players in the first round with the selections of Vitali Kravtsov, K’Andre Miller, and Nils Lundkvist.  After adding all the these prospects you would expect the Rangers to be happy with the progress of their rebuilding efforts, but there is no rest for the weary.

Having the 2nd overall pick from the 2019 Amateur Draft and selecting Kaapo Kakko, arguably the best player in the draft, wasn’t enough.  As the Rangers moved to add a more experienced defenseman in Jacob Trouba by trading Neal Poink and the 20th overall pick to the Winnipeg Jets.

To make room for their next big move the Rangers moved Jimmy Vesey and his $2.275 million cap hit to the Buffalo Sabres. The new found cap space was eaten up and then some to acquire Artemi Panarin via free agency at 7 years and $81.5 million, for an average cap hit of approximately 11.6 million.

Looking at the additions and subtractions to the lineup from a positional standpoint, a swap of defensemen and wingers would reveal the level of improvements seen by these moves.  While Vesey brought consistent results in offensive production, the Rangers definitely improved by adding more offensive power in Panarin who will instantly be the best scoring threat for the Rangers.

As for the trade of defensemen Jacob Trouba and Neal Poink, you have two near same age players but with Trouba being more experienced and productive as a two-way defenseman. As a restricted free agent Trouba was just signed to an extension finalized for 7 years and $56 million for an average cap hit of $8 million.  Another move with little fanfare but needs to be noted is the late season addition of Adam Fox, who is a promising young defenseman who was drafted by the Carolina Hurricanes but would not sign with them therefore forcing a trade.  The Rangers quickly signed him to a entry level contract.

The cost of being aggressive is still being paid, as with these moves the estimated cap space for the Rangers sits at about $1-million over the cap with the added money need to sign additional restricted free agents, most notably Pavel Buchnevich who just scored 21 goals in 64 games. Some feel this will result in another trade, namely Chris Kreider, which would move the team even more so to a younger squad. While freeing up a large chunk of cap space.

How will these drastic moves play out for the Rangers in their goal to take over the Metropolitan?  As for playing against the Capitals they are closer than you might think when looking at the record from last season, the Capitals were 4-0 against the Rangers on the season series.  However, at a closer glance three of the four games took extra time and the other game in regulation took an empty net goal to be secured in the end.

As the season went on and the two teams faced each other the gap between them became less and less, as the final meeting took a controversial turn in the Capitals favor as young goalie Alexander Georgiev threw his goalie stick at the puck knocking it loose from Alex Ovechkin’s stick.  Even in the midst of a rebuild the gap between the division leader and the next to last team in the division is smaller than expected.

Digging deeper into the two big additions of Trouba and Panarin, along with draft pick Kaapo, the Rangers became a better offensive team.  Their possession numbers are an improvement over the players they are replacing, Panarin sports a 55% career Corsi-For% versus Vesey’s 45% career CF% and Trouba has a 51% career CF% versus Poink’s 43% career CF%.

Couple these improvements with the other young prospects looking to break into the lineup and the Rangers will be more formidable.  The real test is will the prospects be ready to fill in this early in the rebuild, or are there still a few years before this team has a real shot at taking over the Metropolitan.

These moves will be put to the test on these dates against the Capitals:

Friday, October 18th @ Home

Wednesday, November 20th @ New York

Thursday, March 5th @ New York

Thursday, March 26th @ Home