New York Rangers: Midseason State of the Union Address

Given the President’s State of the Union address this week, we thought it would be fitting to follow suit and share some thoughts on the state of the New York Rangers season as they find themselves in a rat race heading into the final stretch.

The New York Rangers emerge from the All-Star break in a rather precarious position as they currently sit one point out of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Since the new format was initiated in 2013-14, the competition in the Metropolitan division has been getting tighter and tighter each year and this year it has reached its true peak.

The Metropolitan has been a game of musical chairs all season, as every night it seems like someone is in and another is out. As of right now, all eight teams are within eight points of each other.

It is obvious that this means with 32 games left and a possible 64 obtainable points, every single point is so essential if the Rangers want to extend their playoff streak to eight and make another legitimate cup push in the Henrik Lundqvist era.

Each game in the month of February will matter towards the decisions made for the approaching trade deadline at the end of the month.

The New York Rangers always seem to make a splash at the deadline but given their mediocre standing after years of salvaging the core, it is rumored the front office could be making some big moves.

Each summer it seems as though one big player from the core is sacrificed, while the identity of the team is maintained in order to make another cup run the following year. We saw it with Brad Richards (2014), Carl Hagelin (2015), Derrick Brassard (2016), and Derek Stepan (2017).

However, it seems that this year the possibility of general manager Jeff Gorton giving up on this “win now” mentality and cleaning house come deadline time is in the stars.

In order to dissect the New York Rangers’ current state of affairs, we decided to break down the team by position and take a close look at each area’s status and needs for improvement. We are also going to speculate as to who may be safe versus not safe in terms of the trade deadline.