6 Unanswered Rangers questions before 2024-25 season, including Matt Rempe’s long-term role
The New York Rangers are still in win-now mode and finally hoping to end their 31-year title drought after coming tantalizingly close in the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals in 2022 and last spring.
Health and scoring consistently have been issues for the Rangers in the postseason. New York still has plenty of star power in Artemi Panarin, Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad, Igor Shesterkin, and Adam Fox but questions persist about whether general manager Chris Drury did enough to provide the depth necessary to support the Rangers’ stars.
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The Rangers enter this season with under $1 million in remaining salary cap space and will need to get creative if they have to make in-season deals to enhance the roster. With that in mind, here are the unanswered questions for Drury and the New York Rangers entering the 2024-25 season.
1. What will Igor Shesterkin’s next contract look like?
Igor Shesterkin is heading into the final season of a four-year contract that pays him $5.67 million, which makes him the 10th-highest goalie in the NHL. As much as consistent 5-on-5 play is vital, especially in the postseason, so is Shesterkin continuing his strong track record since debuting in Jan. 2020.
So far, Shesterkin has won the Vezina trophy once and received consideration two other times, including last season when he was 36-17-2 with a 2.58 goals-against average. Shesterkin was even better after the All-Star break by going 17-5-1 with a 2.20 GAA.
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2. Who is flanking Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad on the right wing?
The position has been a revolving door for a while and last season’s trade acquisition of Jack Roslovic did not pan out as a less costly option for GM Chris Drury, who in 2021-22 acquired Frank Vatrano and Patrick Kane in 2022-23.
Drury acquired Reilly Smith in a trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins and is banking on Smith’s past resume of extensive playoff runs with the Vegas Golden Knights and his contributions to their Stanley Cup title team in the 2022-23 season.
3. Can the Rangers consistently produce at 5-on-5?
The Rangers ascended to the President’s Trophy on the strength of the third-ranked power play at 26.4 percent and were a top-10 team on the power play in each of the previous three seasons. At 5-on-5 is a different story for the Rangers, whose 167 goals were below the league average.
To their credit, the Rangers were decent at 5-on-5 in the playoffs by scoring 27 goals on 5-on-5 while going 12-for-50 with the man advantage but 5-on-5 play has been a recent issue and impacted certain players at times. Among the most notable was Zibanejad, who went over a month without a 5-on-5 goal and finished with 12.
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4. Is Alexis Lafreniere’s ascent going to continue?
Through his first three seasons, Alexis Lafreniere had never cracked the 40-point barrier, leaving many to wonder if it was time to give up on the former top overall draft pick. Last season, his production took a significant leap when Lafreniere scored 28 goals and finished with 57 points in the regular season.
Coach Peter Laviolette seemingly found something by putting Lafreniere on the top line with Artemi Panarin and Vincent Trocheck, a trio who finished with 254 points. In the postseason, the 22-year-old was among New York’s most productive players as his eight goals tied with Trocheck and Kreider for the team lead. Lafreniere will be a restricted free agent after the season and his ability to follow up the best year of his young career will be a major storyline.
5. How will the defense unfold?
The Rangers boast one of the steadiest top defense pairings in stalwarts Adam Fox and Ryan Lindgren. Fox provides plenty of offense and Lindgren does a lot of the defensive dirty work which allows New York’s offense to set up for prime scoring chances.
Beyond Fox and Lindgren it could be K’Andre Miller with Braden Schneider and Jacob Trouba with Zac Jones. Miller is still improving but Trouba’s broken ankle sustained in March impacted his performance in the postseason.
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Trouba was beaten for the first Florida goal in Game 6 and the Rangers were eliminated, Drury attempted to trade his captain to free up salary cap space but he exercised his no-move close and the Rangers opted to keep him. The drama could have boiled over but Trouba said in an interview with New York Times he was fine with Drury.
6. What will Matt Rempe’s impact be?
Matt Rempe arrived on the scene and immediately fought Matt Martin in the Rangers’ 6-5 win over the Islanders in the Stadium series. Rempe’s 6-foot-8 frame and willingness to fight and hit anyone in sight made him a cult hero among New York’s passionate fans. It also proved to be a liability by the end of the postseason as Rempe rarely saw the ice.
After never playing more than 10 minutes in any postseason game, Rempe is spending his summer working out with Kreider with the hope he can do more for the Rangers beyond fight and deliver hits in an era when fighting is not as prevalent.
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