Why New York Rangers don't look like a Stanley Cup contender

After finishing the 2023-24 season with the NHL's best record and reaching the Eastern Conference Final, the New York Rangers entered this season as a preseason Stanley Cup favorite and regarded as one of the best teams in the league.

Through the first quarter of the season, they have not looked anything at all like that team. After Friday's 3-1 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers, their points percentage (.568) is now down to 14th in the league. They are more mediocre than contenders. 

Let's talk about three reasons why. 

Rangers had flaws that were never addressed in offseason

It might seem weird to say about a team that had the league's best record and was just a couple of games from the Stanley Cup Final, but the Rangers had a lot of flaws on last year's roster that were mostly hidden and overlooked. 

They have one of the league's best goalies in Igor Shesterkin, who played at an MVP level. They had a power play last season that was as dominant as any other power-play unit in the league (third in the NHL at over 26%). Those two factors carried them to a lot of wins and masked all of the other shortcomings.

Those shortcomings included a lack of mobility on their defense, poor 5-on-5 play, and, at times, some sketchy defensive zone coverages. 

Great goaltending and a power play can carry a team far over an 82-game season and even through a couple of lower-level playoff teams. 

But teams like that have a ceiling, and it is usually not as a Stanley Cup team. 

The Rangers were blinded by the record and deep playoff run and largely brought back the same roster with almost no changes. The 5-on-5 play and defensive play have not improved, and this time, Shesterkin and the power play (15th in the NHL) are not enough to make up for it.

Not getting enough from some big-money players

The Rangers are paying the trio of Mika Zibanejad, Vincent Trocheck and Chris Kreider $20.6 million against the salary cap this season, which accounts for approximately a quarter of their allotted cap space. 

Add in the $8 million going to defenseman Jacob Trouba, and that is nearly $29 million going to four players.

That sort of roster set-up is not a problem if the players are producing.

The Rangers' quartet is not producing, with those four combining for just 17 goals this season, and nine of those belong to Kreider by himself. 

Together, those four are averaging 0.77 goals per game. A year ago, they averaged 1.14 goals per game. 

It's a problem and an even bigger problem when you take into account that Trouba has been a mess defensively and a constant liability in his own zone. 

That is a lot of money going to players that are not playing to expectations.

Management creating a tense atmosphere

Not only has management not done a great job identifying flaws, fixing them and allocating salary cap space smartly, but it has also done a lot to mess with the vibes of the locker room.

During the offseason, the Rangers waived forward Barclay Goodrow as a means of getting around his no-trade clause so they could dump his salary when they knew the San Jose Sharks wanted it. They then spent the offseason trying to very publicly dump Trouba's contract when he also had a no-trade clause. 

Trouba might have his flaws on the ice, but he is also the team's captain and a leader. 

This past week, not even two months into the season, Rangers management again let it be known that they would be willing to listen to trade offers for core players, including Kreider and Trouba, as a means of shaking up the roster. 

Combine that with the inability of the team to re-sign Shesterkin beyond this season, and there might be a big disconnect between management and the locker room. That can carry over to the ice, and it might be happening right now.