After disastrous 2024-25 season, how can regrouping Rangers learn from this year's Stanley Cup finalists?
As the hockey world experiences another Panthers-Oilers duel for the Stanley Cup, there's no better time to see how the Rangers measure up to the back-to-back finalists.
General manager Chris Drury seemed to already knew the answer last offseason, as he set about trying to retool the team so soon after it was knocked out of the 2024 playoffs by Florida in the Eastern Conference final. Now, following a disastrous 2024-25 season, Rangers fans have been smacked in the face with reminders of Drury's hunch — that this team and this core, despite reaching Game 6 of the conference finals 12 months ago, weren't going to be able to compete with the Panthers or Oilers in the near future.
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While Drury continues the roster makeover through these next few important weeks, here are four areas where the Rangers can learn from these two dominant squads:
Poring over Clear Sight Hockey's scoring chance numbers for the last few seasons, you see a trend: Teams that rank in the top half of the league in high-danger chances against at even strength during the regular season are built for success in the playoffs.
In 2024-25, the Panthers ranked second in the league, allowing 4.73 high-danger chances per game. The Oilers were seventh at 5.29. The Rangers? Tied for 30th with 6.28.
In 2023-24, the Panthers were third (4.78), the Oilers were 12th (5.38), and the Rangers — winners of the President's Trophy for the NHL's best record — ranked 18th (5.70).
The Oilers excel at limiting quality chances in their end by generating them on the other side of the rink, thanks to their dynamic offensive duo of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. With their physical forecheck, the Panthers are built more like a team that prioritizes defense. But the commonality between the two is the ability to transition quickly to offense, whether with the elite skill of the Oilers' top guys or with Florida's aggressive defensemen getting out of the zone and up the ice.
The Rangers' defensive failings were obvious this year. But they've struggled to consistently suppress quality offense for some time —a 13th-place finish in high-danger chances against in 2021-22 remains their best rank in the category since their turnaround began that season. The Rangers need to create more connectivity between their defense and forwards so they can keep the grade-A chances down.
The Rangers' drafting and developing has needed an overhaul for a while, but we're not talking about the amateur side here. The Panthers famously plucked Gustav Forsling off waivers from Carolina four years ago and helped turn him into a standout defenseman, but it was their professional scouting staff who did the requisite homework on big names like Seth Jones and Brad Marchand, clearly ensuring both veterans could fit what Florida does before making those in-season moves.
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And with limited free agency dollars in the 2023 offseason, Panthers GM Bill Zito targeted Niko Mikkola, who had been a Rangers acquisition that season but didn't shine in New York. Now the 6-foot-6 defenseman does his best Victor Hedman impression every so often.
The Oilers have a few high-profile homegrown players too, and it's taken them a few tries (and GMs) but they've similarly utilized their pro scouting staff to solid effect the last couple years. Vasily Podkolzin, Jake Walman, Kasperi Kapanen, John Klingberg, Evander Kane — guys who were ineffective elsewhere have played solid supporting roles. There's even another former Rangers defenseman, in Ty Emberson, shoring up Edmonton's depth.
Drury has been trying to undo the Rangers' cap squeeze, but finding some cheap gems would help.
No one's magically producing another McDavid or Draisaitl, so that's hard to emulate. And for all the Panthers' mean mugging, they have plenty of skill dotted throughout their lineup, especially in goal, where Sergei Bobrovsky is now the second-highest paid goalie in the league behind Igor Shesterkin.
Shesterkin, Adam Fox, Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad — this isn't where the sandpaper is going to come from, but the Rangers still need to provide elite skill to separate themselves during the regular season. Their 'power-play-and-goaltending' ethos over the last few seasons clearly wasn't sustainable, but you can't completely discount the top talent either.
Unless McDavid decides he wants to join the Rangers, they simply can't have what the Oilers do now. They can still highlight skill and supplement it with straight-line players, though.
Perhaps it's a coincidence, but the Oilers didn't become yearly playoff threats until Corey Perry joined up. Kane too. These are two guys who relish the in-your-face, in-the-crease style that drives opponents up the wall. They both have skill, so don't discount that. But Perry is seemingly parked in front of opposing nets in June since forever ago.
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And you'll run out of fingers ticking off the list of aggravating Panthers players: Sam Bennett, Matthew Tkachuk, Aaron Ekblad, Marchand, A.J. Greer, Jonah Gajdovich … . Zito and coach Paul Maurice knew what they wanted the DNA of this team to be the minute Florida traded for Tkachuk three years ago, and they followed through.
The J.T. Miller trade was intended to change New York's core by adding more sandpaper, but it hasn't translated to the ice yet — the locker room was so demoralized by the time he arrived that perhaps players weren't ready to become meaner. It doesn't have to happen every night in the regular season, but once the playoffs roll around, the elbows have to come up.
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