When a team loses a series like the Stanley Cup Final, the default sentence that rolls off the lips of most players is "Now that we know what this is like, we’ll come back stronger and be better for it next year."
With the New York Rangers, you didn’t hear that much Friday night after being eliminated in five games by the Los Angeles Kings.
Perhaps that’s because everyone around the Rangers knows this almost certainly won’t be the same team next year. This was a Rangers team built to win this year, or bust. Not only do the Blueshirts have, according to Capgeek.com, six pending unrestricted free agents, they have five others who can be restricted free agents July 1.
"Who knows if we’re going to have another crack at this? We might not get another crack at this opportunity," Rangers defenseman Dan Girardi told ESPN.com's Katie Strang. "That’s why it hurts, I think, that much more."
One of their top centers, Brad Richards, turned 34 last month and, well, he didn’t look a day under 40 during the Final. Richards was demoted to the fourth line late in ...
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Article written by Adrian Dater
Aging New York Rangers Unlikely to Be Back in Stanley Cup Final Anytime Soon
June 14th, 2014 by Adrian Dater Leave a reply »
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