For a young team of Rangers who are at the end of a reconstruction process and looking to establish themselves as a consistently competitive organization, assessing expectations in one of the most abnormal seasons in NHL history can be more complex than normal.
“Expectation is a funny word,” said Chris Kreider in a Zoom conference call on Wednesday. “You ask every player on any team in the league and their expectations will be higher for themselves and their group than anyone outside the group could put on them.
“I think it is our goal [to make the playoffs] as opposed to an expectation. You have no right to anything or anything in this league. You have to earn it every night, there are no bad hockey teams in this league, each team has depth and talent – there is a reason to be the best league in the world. [Playoffs are] the goal. To achieve this goal, we have to play one game at a time and continue to build and continue to progress because it will be routine. In a way, it’s going to be a long season, and also a short one, I think. “
With management, coach David Quinn and the players, all keeping throughout the training ground that winning a playoff spot in May is a realistic goal, Rangers will have to adjust to the loss of lineup elements, integrate new faces and improve as a cohesive team to get there.
At the same time as it competed in an East division loaded and realigned in a condensed schedule of 56 games, featuring intradivision games in the midst of a growing pandemic.
“We don’t have 82 games to discover,” said Kreider, who is entering his ninth season on Broadway. “A major focus on our training ground was recognizing that we don’t have much time to prepare over the training ground, we don’t have that many games to mark our ticket. The most important thing is to start on the right foot and start well. “
The Rangers will open the 2020-21 season Thursday at Madison Square Garden against the Islanders. Henrik Lundqvist will not be on the network for the first time since 2005, Marc Staal will not be on the blue line for the first time since 2007 and Jesper Fast will not be on the wings for the first time since 2014.
The Rangers will have a highly praised goalkeeper, Igor Shesterkin, a young and burly defender in K’Andre Miller and a unique talent in a generation, Alexis Lafreniere. Shesterkin and Miller are maturing in the organization’s system and have finally been picked for the opening night squad. And the Rangers won the right to draft Lafreniere in the first place when their logo appeared on a lottery machine in August.
The future is here, and all three newcomers have been given important roles this coming season.
“We certainly have a lot of young people, I think we will probably be one of the youngest teams in the league,” said Kreider. “The older guys we have, the guys who have experience, have really helped the young people and got along very well, getting to know the young people. As young as our group is, something I saw are guys who should have been 18, 19, 20 years old last year and some guys in the first year seem much more comfortable on the ice in the room. I think the group has been together long enough for there to be that [comfort] with all. The new guys were welcome and I think they adapted immediately.
“I think the exciting thing about having such a young group is how much potential that group has, how much potential each individual has to grow, day by day. It is a very exciting time to be a Ranger and a fan of the Rangers. “