Rangers’ GM ‘comfortable’ with group

There was some belief when the Rangers were bounced in the first round in April that sweeping changes could be coming to the roster, that the group that made a run to the Stanley Cup Final and Game 7 of the Eastern Conference final the two years prior might be broken apart.

While this year’s roster features some new and younger faces, plenty of players from those runs remain. Rangers general manager Jeff Gorton did say Saturday, though, he considered making wholesale alterations during the offseason.

“Yeah, sure,” Gorton said. “That’s part of my job is to see what we can do and how we can make the team better. Based on the fact that some guys who are still here will tell you that what was out there and situations that (arose) weren’t better than what we have right now. I think we have a strong group that has been real successful, and I’m comfortable with the guys we have back now.”

Gorton understood why some felt such changes were due.

“I get it. We had a pretty good run. We didn’t win, obviously what we wanted to do,” he said. “This group has done a lot together. They’ve won a lot of games. If you look at the amount of playoff games those guys have played in, it’s pretty impressive, right? So I think we as an organization feel more comfortable with some of the guys in the organization than maybe some other people do.”

Surely high salaries and no-move clauses involving players like Rick Nash, Dan Girardi and Marc Staal make those players difficult to deal. They’re all back and have expressed in one way or another that they have something to prove entering this season.

Nash said on Friday he didn’t feel like his job was safe.

“I think Nash is gonna make our team,” a somewhat amused Gorton said. “I read the quotes there today, too. I’m pretty comfortable that he’s gonna be on our team.”

Gorton likes that some of the veterans feel they need to prove themselves in the wake of last year’s first-round exit, and sees players who know what’s upcoming and what needs to happen for the team to succeed.

“We’re trying to get to that next level of winning and we continue to do that every day, and I think these guys — there’s a lot of pride in that room,” Gorton said. “They’ve accomplished a lot, and I’m comfortable that these guys understand where we need to go.”

The next level is capturing the elusive Cup, of course, but for now Gorton echoed Alain Vigneault’s sentiment about focusing on getting into the postseason.

“Our No. 1 goal is to make the playoffs and hopefully hit our stride at the right time,” Gorton said. “Obviously last year we didn’t hit our stride at the right time. In other years we’ve done a better job of that. Getting in is what we’re talking about right now and we'll go from there.”