Up next on the Washington Capitals division preview is the New York Rangers, the team of star goalie Henrik Lundqvist. How will the Caps stack up against a hated rival that’s been the cause of some of their more recent playoff exits?
When it comes to the New York Rangers, two things probably come to mind for many Washington Capitals fans: playoff matchups and Henrik Lundqvist. The first because the Capitals always seem to run into the Rangers in the Stanley Cup playoffs and the second because Lundqvist always seems to be a major obstacle for Caps scorers in the post-season. The most recent example being the second round in the playoffs in 2015, where the Capitals went up 3-1 in the series against the Rangers, but the Rangers managed to storm back and win the series in seven games. To add to that, New York took game seven in overtime and the series happened to be the fifth time that the Capitals blew a 3-1 playoff series lead.
So yeah, Capitals playoff pains do not always involve the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The big question, though, is to ask what happened with New York over the offseason and what did they do to address some of their concerns? To figure this out, we’re going to have to take a look at what happened to them over last season.
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Last Season
The Rangers did not fail to make the playoffs last year, posting 101 points as they ended up placing third in the Metropolitan Division. Despite this, the Rangers seemed to be very average when looking at the stats. Only in goals scored were they actually ranked in the top ten. Their worst stat, penalty killing, was bad enough to have them ranked 26th in the league. Still, they were led into the playoffs mainly due to the work of Lundqvist and team captain/defenseman Ryan McDonagh.
New York started with thoughts that they would end up back in the Stanley Cup Finals, but their dreams were cut short as they were quickly eliminated by the eventual champions Pittsburgh in five games. Save for their one win, the Rangers were never really in any of their games against the Penguins, mainly in part due to their poor penalty kill. The Rangers ended their season getting outscored 21-10, with them being outscored 8-2 on goals coming from the man advantage. With an early exit, the Rangers were left wondering what their next course of action would be.
This Offseason
The Rangers went into this offseason with a lot of turnover in various positions. They ended up trading defenseman Keith Yandle to Florida for draft picks in both 2016 and 2017, and traded second best scorer Derek Brassard to the Ottawa Senators for forward Mika Zibanejad, who was a former first round pick. Given their biggest need going into the offseason, defense, letting go of one of their better players on that side of the puck.
Zibanejad has been improving ever since getting into the NHL, so offensively the Rangers did improve in that area. For the Rangers, who did pretty well offensively last year, that is a good thing. However, the question still remains whether or not they managed to fix their weakest spot in the penalty kill. In addition to that, how exactly will New York fare this upcoming season?
Final Thoughts
Of the teams covered so far in this series, my opinion is that the New York Rangers are the toughest to figure out. Logically, as long as they have Henrik Lundqvist, the Rangers should do fine and contend for a playoff spot. However, by letting go of some of their biggest contributors in Brassard and Yandle, as well as Dan Boyle retiring, one has to wonder if the Rangers will even stand a chance against the rest of the Metropolitan. Of course, the 34 year-old Lundqvist isn’t getting any younger and the rest of the team has to step up for them to stand a chance.
Next: Washington Capitals Metro Division Preview – New York Islanders
The Capitals know the deal with the Rangers, though, and the main game plan has usually been the same: beat Henrik Lundqvist. Of the three games last season where the Caps faced the Rangers while Lundqvist was in the net, they were 2-1-0. So how will the Washington Capitals fare against the Rangers this season? I would expect it to be about the same as last year, if you ask me.
Next time, Stars and Sticks will be covering the Philadelphia Flyers.