NHL BEST TEAM: An insiders look on minor moves that helped Rangers become NHL best team

The New York Rangers are rolling in the Eastern Conference. They won the Presidents’ Trophy and, minus a Game 4 hiccup against the Carolina Hurricanes, are undefeated in the playoffs.

They are one win away from the Eastern Conference Finals and nine away from their first Stanley Cup title since 1994.

The Washington Capitals, a team that barely made the playoffs, was one thing. Dominating a second-round game against the Hurricanes, a team many had pegged to reach the Stanley Cup Finals, is another.

This team was the best in the conference and maybe the NHL.

Which players have the most points per game… What makes the Rangers’ rise this season so impressive is that it felt like a season where they took a step back.

Last season, they went all-in at the trade deadline to acquire Patrick Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko, but the New Jersey Devils were swept in the first round of the seven-game series.

In many ways, this series felt like a changing of the guard in the Metropolitan Division, where a winning team was replaced by an upstart. They didn’t make any big moves in the 2023 offseason, and frankly, they couldn’t. They’ve invested heavily in their core, and with five skaters taking up most of their cap space, they haven’t had the opportunity to add many elite players. However, they are in the driver’s seat to win the trophy. It’s worth looking at the little moves and little additions that made this team great.

IT started in free agency, but goes further for a top-down well-managed team. Minor Additions in the Offseason The Rangers’ first move this summer was to acquire Blake Wheeler. They then signed Erik Gustafsson and goaltender Jonathan Quick to ensure players were added to all three units. Those three players paid the team a combined $2.4 million, the minimum for three roster spots. Wheeler had an uneventful season, with just nine goals and 12 assists in 54 games, and ended the season with the injury bug.

Gustafsson and Quick, meanwhile, played key roles for the Rangers and helped them put together a great season. Gustafsson had six goals and 25 assists, but was the team’s best defender in a late pairing role with 3.2 ppg and 66 blocks.

Meanwhile, Quick provided reliable defense for the Rangers with a .911 save percentage (SV%) and 2.62 goals against average (GAA) on 771 shots and a 5.5 goals against average (GSAA). Teams pressed against the cap make these types of signings. They add depth players to the minimum, knowing the risk of them failing, but also weakening them to fill out the roster.

Gustafsson and Quick did just that defensively and at the guard position, and that helped them get going. Rangers sign Roslovic, Wennberg After entering at the 2023 transfer window, Rangers took a path that, frankly, made more sense and was chosen by many cup teams.

They acquired Alex Wennberg from the Seattle Kraken and then Jack Roslovic from the Columbus Blue Jackets. The price for both skaters was a second-round pick and two conditional fourth-round picks in the 2025 NHL Draft. Any team could have made moves for Wennberg and Roslovic, with two players only paying the minimum, but Rangers were the only ones to do so. Wenerg hasn’t done much since the trade, with just one goal and four assists in 19 games, but Roslovic made a big difference in the playoffs with two goals and three assists as a deep attacker.

When the Vegas Golden Knights won the Cup, they made similar moves. They didn’t make a big splash at the trade deadline, but they did make some small signings, starting with Phil Kessel in the offseason, Michael Amadion early in the season, and Ivan Barbashevin at the trade deadline. Rangers have become that team this season and the moves have helped them put together a great season and put themselves in a great position to win the cup. Steady production in the making It’s always difficult for a team to know when their prospects are NHL ready and who can join the roster and fill certain needs. The Rangers have the better farm system, but they found those skaters throughout the season that especially kept the team from falling apart in their late lines and pairings.

Matt Rempe is a prospect that everyone knows about. He’s a tough forward who can drop the gloves at any moment, which has helped produce some of the most memorable fights this season.

However, there are many other young skaters who have helped make NHL rosters, especially when sidelined by injury. Adam Edstrom was called up for 11 games, while Jake Leschyshyn and Brennan Othmann played a handful of games. The Rangers’ ability to call up prospects can be attributed to a good team in the American Hockey League (AHL), and especially a well-coached team. The Wolf Pack will play in the Atlantic Division Finals at the Calder Cup thanks to Steve Smith bringing out the best on his roster.

For the guards in particular, he prepares the players of the team for the NHL, allowing them to call all the players they can and knowing that they are in good hands. The Rangers offer plans to other teams that feel stuck.

The Rangers are a reminder that teams that choose to build around a “core four” or invest in a few star players can still build a contender. It’s easy to look at free agency, the trade deadline or an aggressive team as a poorly managed team, but the Rangers proved otherwise.