Kaapo Kakko, Matt Rempe and the Rangers: When expectations and development do not mix

We need to talk about the New York Rangers again and what exactly it is they are doing.

Even with their success over the past few years it is worth wondering if the New York Rangers actually know what the hell they are doing as an organization.

You can not dispute the results.

They have won a lot of games, they have been on the doorstep of the Stanley Cup Final two times in three years, and they pretty quickly navigated their way through a rebuild to get back contender status. There is a lot of good there. There is a lot to be said for that. Most organizations are not that fortunate. A lot of teams would happily trade places with them over the past four years.

But even with that success there should also be a sense of frustration if you are a Rangers fan given the way things are going this season. Mostly because it kind of feels like they have fumbled this entire process a little bit and not fully taken advantage of their opportunity or the window that opened for them. It is like an entire organization of Homer Simpsons just stumbling into the plant the day it opened and getting the cushy job without “even knowing what a nuclear panner plant was.”

What has gone right for the Rangers is that Igor Shesterkin blossomed into the best goalie on the planet and the type of player that can completely change the course of a season and a franchise. He is one of the biggest game-changers in the league, and arguably the most impactful player in the sport when it comes to his ability to elevate an entire team. He is that great.

They also had a couple of prime free agents choose to play for them.

Artemi Panarin signing with the Rangers in free agency, and being one of the few big-money free agents that actually turned out to be worth cost, rapidly changed the timeframe and accelerated the process for their rebuild.

Adam Fox, one of the top defense prospects in hockey, refusing to sign with anybody but the Rangers and using every ounce of leverage he had at his disposal to force his way there was another piece of good fortune. Especially since he turned out to be even better than anybody could have hoped.

Then they also had draft lottery luck on their side, getting consecutive top-two picks without every having to bottom out in the standings. They used those picks to select Kaapo Kakko with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft and Alexis Lafreniere with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft.

This is where we start to get into the question of “do they really know what they are doing.”