Where Do The Rangers Go From Here?

It was another disappointing finish to the season for the New York Rangers. Despite a record breaking regular season that resulted in a President's Trophy the Rangers still came up short when it counted the most.

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Of course, a devastating end to a season full of expectations will lead to a lot of suggestions on what to do during the off-season. Certain proposals included finding ways to get rid of Tanner Glass and Dan Boyle, not resigning Martin St. Louis (after his one playoff goal), trading a defenseman to create salary cap room, trading Cam Talbot at his peak, and the wildest scenario of all in trading Rick Nash. You certainly do not trade a guy who scored 42 goals while playing all facets of the game (five on five, power play, and penalty kill) unless you are blown away by an offer.

The Rangers will need to fill a few different needs if and when some of these moves are made. They could still use some size in their lineup, they will need another goal scorer to replace the 21 that St Louis had last season, and another d-man to fill in for the one or two they get rid of. Also any late first or early to mid second round talent the Rangers might acquire in a trade could help make up for their lack of picks in the draft as well.

Yes, they will have to get creative with the salary cap and player movements. And yes, they were hit with two pretty major injuries to two of their better players (Zuccarello brain contusion, McDonagh broken foot) and still managed to make it to game seven of the Eastern Conference Final. And yes the window gets a little closer to being shut, but as long as they maintain their core players going into next season they will still have a shot at making a deep playoff run.

The most important thing for them to do is not to panic and tear this team apart. Following their run the season before this they had a very poor off-season (just look at who is playing in the final this season with Tampa Bay) and still almost repeated in the east. If they can turn that around and do a better job this off-season it will help, even just a little, to make the transition into next season easier.