Rangers have a lot to prove as training camp gets underway on Thursday
Rangers center Mika Zibanejad sets before a face off against the Calgary Flames at Madison Square Garden on March 18. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
It’s been a long summer for the Rangers, but it’s finally over. Training camp opens on Thursday, and that’s when new coach Mike Sullivan and the team can get started putting the disappointing 2024-25 season behind them and resume their quest to win the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1994.
Of course, after missing the playoffs, trying to rebuild the roster on the fly and firing coach Peter Laviolette after only two seasons, general manager Chris Drury’s group doesn’t look as close to doing that as they did a year ago.
Last year, they were coming off a six-game loss to the eventual champion Florida Panthers in the Eastern Conference Final. Now there are questions to answer and more than a few players who need to prove they are better than what they showed last season if this team is going to get back into the playoffs, let alone challenge for a Stanley Cup.
“There are a lot of questions, a lot of topics that we can talk about and try to learn from and try to move forward,’’ Mika Zibanejad said at the team’s breakup day in April. “Because I still believe. I still believe in the group of guys that we have here.’’
Zibanejad is the No. 1 player who needs to improve his game from last season, when he struggled for most of the first half before finishing with 20 goals and 62 points and a ghastly minus-22 in 82 games.
But there are others. Alexis Lafreniere appeared to have a breakout season in 2023-24 but fell off dramatically after signing a long-term extension early last season. Adam Fox’s 10 goals and 61 points in 74 games were fine, but he wasn’t the dominant offensive force from the blue line that he’s expected to be. And even Igor Shesterkin, who also signed a huge extension ($11.5 million average), didn’t have a banner year. The porous defense in front of him certainly didn’t help, but his .905 save percentage was by far the worst of his NHL career.
“I can play much better,’’ Shesterkin said on breakup day. “I just need to make more saves. Don’t give up easy goals.’’
Sullivan, who replaced Laviolette behind the bench, now is charged with improving the Rangers’ defense, getting the forwards to forecheck harder and finding a way to get Zibanejad back to being the dynamic player he was three or four seasons ago.
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
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