New York Rangers 2011-2012 Season Preview

With the season a mere 5 weeks away, the NHL begins to brace itself for the grind of yet another long season.  This is a great time of year if you're an NHL fan.  Everyone is optimistic about their team and their chance to make some noise this year.  This is the time of year when every player feels like they may have something special with their particular group of collective talent.  Expectations are high all around the league.

But usually it's decided pretty quickly which teams are the contenders and which are the pretenders.  Several teams made great improvements to their roster this offseason.  Buffalo acquired the likes of Christian Ehrhoff, Villie Leino, and Robyn Regehr.  Florida went out and acquired a dearth of roster upgrades.  Philadelphia completely overhauled their roster by shipping out their two stars in favor of that ever elusive veteran goalie.  Lastly, the Rangers went out and acquired the crown jewel of the free agent class--Brad Richards.  Every team around the league has question marks heading into the season, areas of interest that they may seek to upgrade during the course of the year if you may.  To the contrary, some teams are relying on their youth to push them forward into contention while other teams seek to rebuild their prospect cupboards.  So where exactly do the Rangers fall in this whole scenario?

As mentioned previously, the Rangers had a great offseason by going out and acquiring the number one center and powerplay quarterback they so desperately needed.  The Rangers also went out and acquired stud young defensemen Tim Erixon--son of former Ranger Jan Erixon.  All the while they resigned all their main restricted free agents in Ryan Callahan, Brandon Dubinsky, Artem Anisimov, and Michael Sauer.

Heading into the 2011-2012 season, the Rangers now have two very good lines, to couple with a very strong young defense and elite goaltender.  A lot of the Rangers' success hinges on the chemistry between newly acquired star center Brad Richards and sniper Marian Gaborik.

A lot of the Ranger's success rides on the ability
of Richards and Gaborik to mesh this season.

Should the two manage to mesh because of Richards' elite playmaking abilities, then that sets the Rangers up with two very good lines.  Last year, as the Rangers used the grind-it-out mentality to score goals, which in turn lead to offesnive droughts for extended periods of times in which the Rangers often struggled to get three goals a game, and forcing the Rangers' second line of Dubinsky, Anisimov, and Callahan to see top pairing defensemen a majority of the time.  The cohesion between Gaborik and Richards would take a lot of the pressure to carry the offensive load off the talented young second line and onto more veteran shoulders.  This would allow the Ranger's second line to see weaker defensemen and create better offensive chances.  Meanwhile young center Derek Stepan, a first year player straight out of college, also shoulder a heavy dose of the offensive load putting up very solid numbers in his first NHL campaign.  Similar to the Rangers' second line, a gelling of Gaborik and Richards can give Stepan more time to work on his game while not having to worry as much about carrying the team.

The Rangers had one of the youngest average-aged defenses in the league last year.  With "veterans" Marc Staal and Dan Girardi logging a ton of icetime, that gave the opportunity to youngsters Mike Sauer (and mid-season callup Ryan McDonagh) to get acclimated to the NHL game while steadily giving them an increasing diet of more ice time.  The Rangers top four defensemen proved to be two great shutdown units that can be put up against some of the top players in the game and face little consequences.  The acquisition of Tim Erixon and the hopeful resurgence of Michael Del Zotto only adds to the defensive depth of the Rangers' organization.  Lastly, when all else fails there is always one of the top goaltenders in the league, Henrik Lundqvist, to cover up any noticeable defensive gaffs.

So the Ranger's 2011-2012 success greatly depends on whether Richards and Gaborik can mesh together.  However, that's not the end-all be-all for the Rangers.  The acquisition of Richards gives the Rangers choices if they want to shuffle the lines up and break apart their two top players.  Their offensive depth allows them to do such a thing.

A big question mark heading into the season is whether Wojtek Wolski, who from all indications put in a lot of work this offseason to be ready for the season, can slot into that top line left wing spot.  Wolski, in his near half season with the Rangers last year, showed some flashes of brilliance coupled with long stretches of inconsistency.  Can Wolski harness his talents more consistently, he could benefit greatly from playing alongside Richards.  This would allow the Rangers to keep their second line (dubbed the pack line since all three members were developed by the Rangers Hartford affiliate the Whalepack) intact.  Those three players showed signs of chemistry multiple times last season, and keeping them together would be very important for the Rangers to get a fast start right out of the gate.

Injuries and a lack of confidence riddled the Ranger's 2010-2011 campaign.  With most of the Rangers top offensive players missing extended time at some point in the year.  The hit early on in the year to Marian Gaborik which seperated his shoulder could have caused him to come back tentatively and thus make him lose his confidence in his game.  This could potentially be the reason for Gaborik's lackluster performance last year.  Ranger's sophomore defensemen Michael Del Zotto also suffered from a bruised ego causing him to spend a majority of the season in Hartford after such a wonderful rookie season.  Del Zotto became all too predictable at times last year and suffered from his porous defensive play.  This most likely caused him to lose his confidence and lose his game.  For the Rangers to be successful this year, they need Del Zotto to regain that offensive confidence so to be another weapon to use on the powerplay.

The Rangers also have some very talented players chomping at the bit to try to crack the NHL club.  While Ranger's top prospect Chris Kreider decided not to forgo college in lieu of the NHL, the Ranger's 2011 Entry Draft selection J.T. Miller opted to take his talents North to the WHL instead of going to college.  While both are expected to factor majorly into the Ranger's future, neither will be making an impact on this year's club.  Young Swedish defensemen Tim Erixon is coming into camp with the expectation that it's his roster spot to lose.  The Ranger's feel his is well equipped to handle the NHL now, and should he impress in the Traverse City Tournament and in camp he should find himself heading to Sweden for the Rangers' first two games of the year.

Norwegian-born Mats Zuccarello saw limited NHL action last year.  He frequented Derek Stepan's right wing and showed signs of great playmaking ability and soft hands.  However, his diminutive nature caused him to be knocked off the puck too easily last year and showed limited puck control.  Zuccarello has a shot to make the NHL club as a third line right winger should he have a good camp.  Otherwise he may find himself in the AHL and before long headed back to Norway.

Lastly, the most intriguing player to watch this training camp is diminutive right winger Christian Thomas.  Listed at 5'9, the young Thomas is fresh off a 50 goal OHL campaign.  Thomas has been noted for his incredible one-timer and wrist shot.  Should Thomas be able to manage his height deficiency with his strength and speed, you can look for him to beat out Mats Zuccarello for that third line right wing spot.

Prediction: The East has so much parity this year that it is difficult to see where the Rangers may end up.  Just in the Atlantic Division alone there are major question marks.  For example, is Crosby healthy? Can Philadelphia find chemistry quickly? Will New Jersey be the first or second half team from last year? And can the Islanders put it together and make progress this year?

As of right now personally it seems the Rangers are the second best team in the Atlantic.  However depending on the questions above, it is very conceivable that come April the Rangers could be fourth in the Atlantic and fighting for a playoff spot again.  Should Crosby not be 100%, the Rangers might be able to take the Atlantic Division and grab a top 3 seed in the Eastern Conference.  Again, a lot hinges on the ability of Gaborik and Richards to mesh.  Couple that with the continued growth of their young players, and the insertion of some other young players, the Rangers could be poised for a special year.

When all is said and done, I predict the Rangers to be the 4th seed in the East, with a second round elmination.  A majority of Ranger's fans assume that this really isn't the year where we're bonafide contenders, but expect to hear from us in 1-2 years.  The spotlight might finally be shinning back on Broadway.