Don’t count out Rangers in the NHL’S parity party
IN THE 52 NHL seasons from 1947 through 1998, there were eight repeats, two threepeats, two fourpeats, plus a fivepeat. The Stanley Cup was as much an heirloom as a trophy. And then came the hard cap that was meant to squash greatness, eliminate dynasties and turn the world’s greatest hockey league into a day camp with the philosophy that “Everyone wins!”
There has been one repeat winner since the cap was instituted in 2005-06, the Penguins going back-toback in 2016 and 2017. The Blackhawks’ three Cups in five years from 2010 through 2015, is considered a minidynasty and could be as good of a facsimile as we get.
Because there is not only arbitration, free agency and the traditionally unyielding hard cap. There is now the coronavirus, whose impact on league revenues is expected to produce a flat cap for as many as the next three to five seasons.
So squads like the Avalanche, Oilers and Canucks that have an abundance of young talent will face extensive challenges maintaining their personnel. But allow me to suggest Team Never Dynasty — also known as the Rangers — could have a shot.
Young talent abounds, and if Igor Shesterkin isn’t necessarily considered a young NHLer at age 24, he is the prime age to backstop a Dynasty Team. Rookie defense partners Adam Fox and Ryan Lindgren are 21, Tony DeAngelo is 24, Jacob Trouba is 25. Mika Zibanejad, who might have been the best player in the world the final month of the NHL play (24-16=40 in 25 games), is 26 and Artemi Panarin, who changed almost everything, is just 28. Chris Kreider is 28.
And of course, Kaapo Kakko is 19, Filip Chytil is 20 and Brett Howden is 21. Pavel Buchnevich is 24. And the prospects: K’Andre Miller and Vitali Kravtsov are 20 and so is Nils Lundkvist. Morgan Barron is 21.
The cap is going to present challenges — e.g., how to keep Zibanejad, set to blow through the $10 million-per number when his contract expires following 2021-22 — that will be exacerbated by the effects of COVID-19.
An NHL dynasty seems very far away, but the Rangers have as good a shot as any team to pull it off. Of course, starting with one would be nice.