Injuries: The Rangers’ season didn’t completely go down the wrong path until they lost Adam Fox and Igor Shesterkin at the same time. Fox, New York’s top defenseman, and Shesterkin, its No. 1 goalie, missed 13 straight games from Jan. 8-Feb. 5 and the Rangers went 2-11-0 without them, allowing 4.62 goals per game. Fox also missed 14 games from Dec. 2-29. Though the Rangers survived, going 6-5-3, their power play was 15.4 percent without him. Forward J.T. Miller, New York’s captain, has also missed 14 games with injuries, including seven straight from Dec. 21-Jan. 5, a 2-3-2 stretch for the Rangers.
The letter: On Jan. 16, two days after an 8-4 loss to the Ottawa Senators, the Rangers’ eighth in nine games (1-6-2), general manager and president Chris Drury released a letter to the fans saying the team was going to start a roster retool and would be saying goodbye to popular players. At the same time, it became public that Drury told forward Artemi Panarin, the Rangers’ leading scorer, that the team was not going to re-sign him and instead would work with him to find a new team via trade. The Rangers were 20-22-6 at the time, last in the Eastern Conference and 10 points out of a playoff spot. They lost seven of nine (2-7-0) after the letter came out leading into the Olympic break. They scratched Panarin for roster management purposes Jan. 28 and traded him to the Los Angeles Kings on Feb. 4.
Reasons for optimism
They have the goalie: Shesterkin is in his prime and in the first season of an eight-year contract (average annual value of $11.5 million). If you’re looking for a bright spot to the season, he continues to be it. Shesterkin, without much support, still has a 2.59 goals-against average and .911 save percentage in 45 games. Among the 39 goalies who have played at least 30 games, he is tied for 12th in GAA and tied for seventh in save percentage. He continues to be the Rangers’ best player, and they’ve got him locked up for seven more seasons.
