5 Examples of the Rangers Mishandling Player Development This Season

The Rangers’ return to action against Buffalo on Saturday after the 4 Nations Face-Off was an utter embarrassment, and not the first one of the season. As I’m sure it did for many fans, the overall effort—or lack thereof—left an awful taste in my mouth. I tend to be a pretty optimistic fan, which gets to be quite exhausting as a fan of both the New York Rangers and New York Mets. Even through the worst stretches of this season, I would remind myself that there’s still time, they’re a better team than this, and that making the playoffs was still in the realm of possibility. 

However, that showing in Buffalo was a brutal wake up call for myself and anyone else who remains optimistic that this team can still make the playoffs let alone do anything in them.

After two uninspired outings in Buffalo and Pittsburgh, it’s become quite clear, if it wasn’t already, what this team is. At this point in the season, we’ve arrived at the harsh reality that there’s nothing this team can do short of going 20-0 to close the season to prove they are anything different than what we’ve seen all year. 

This season is fading, and quickly. The Rangers had one last lifeline with the extended break for 4 Nations to attempt to flip the script and go on a run to get back in the playoff conversation. But that moment has passed. Losing 8-2 to one of the worst teams in the league is inexcusable and, frankly, the final straw. Sure, they pulled off a classic Rangers come-from-behind win in Pittsburgh, bailed out by elite goaltending once again. But that game was just as pitiful of a performance as the 8-2 loss to Buffalo. One period of offense doesn’t negate the first two where they had five shots on goal and couldn’t handle the Pittsburgh Penguins, who need to rebuild more than anyone. 

This weekend was their chance to pull it together and turn the season around. Call it a 4 Nations hangover or blame it on injuries if you want, but they got up to bat and watched three fastballs slide right down the middle of the strike zone. This team hasn’t won more than two games in a row since before Thanksgiving and has only done so twice all season. Expecting them to be capable of winning a seven game playoff series is a pipe dream at this point. 

Nevertheless, it doesn’t need to be all doom and gloom. The Rangers are in a fortunate position to resolve this mess with addition by subtraction. If they do what we’re all suggesting they do and start to sell off expiring UFA’s such as Ryan Lindgren, Reilly Smith, and Jimmy Vesey, they can actually play Zac Jones and other promising prospects, like Brennan Othmann and Brett Berard. Continuing to ice a line up containing guys who aren’t going to be here beyond this season is not only delaying the inevitable, but hurting the potential development of younger players which brings us to the topic at hand today. 

The Rangers have made a number of questionable decisions when it comes to player development in recent history, primarily with players who are no longer here. However the biggest concern with that is they seemingly haven’t learned from those mistakes. While they may not be as pressing of an issue as previous situations have been, these are still little things that are hindering their abilities to develop players internally.

Let's take a look at five things the Rangers have done this season that have potentially affected the development of different players in a negative way. 

Matt Rempe 

I know we all have a million and one thoughts on Matt Rempe’s game but, truth be told, he’s the perfect example of how this organization continues to shoot themselves in the foot when it comes to player development. All opinions of what Rempe does or doesn’t bring to the table aside, the decision to have him skip out on rookie camp this year was absolutely inexcusable. He may have played in 17 regular season outings and most of the Rangers playoff games the season prior (albeit, for only a couple of minutes a night, be that because of coaching choices or because he was ejected) but he is still, by definition, a rookie. 

Take the whole Matt Rempe persona out of this and replace the situation with just a generic hockey player that was selected in the back half of the draft a few seasons ago. Even if said generic hockey player played fifteen minutes a night and put up 30 points in those 17 games, there’s no reason to not have that player participate in rookie camp when, again, he is going into the following season, by definition, a rookie. 

Even if the intention is for the player to spend the full season with the NHL club, what benefit is there to have the player skip out on that part of camp altogether? Aside from providing some assurance to that player regarding his roster spot, it’s difficult to wrap your head around why they would come to that decision. Even if they felt he had too much experience or was “too good” to be there, he could go into that camp as a leader/mentor to the rest of the prospects in the tournament. 

The decision in general proved to be a mistake, but became even more evident when Adam Edström had a strong rookie camp himself, came into preseason ready to build off it, ended up making the team, and essentially took Rempe’s roster spot in the process. Rempe ended up getting called back up later in the season and remains with the team. But you have to wonder: Why have him skip camp just to barely play in those first couple of weeks and then eventually get sent back down? Would Rempe participating in rookie camp have made a difference? Maybe, maybe not. But, the fact is the Rangers made the wrong call with a young player they seemingly had a plan for, but really didn’t.