Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin defends the net against Florida Panthers...

Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin defends the net against Florida Panthers center Jesper Boqvist during the third period of an NHL game Monday in Sunrise, Fla. Credit: AP/Lynne Sladky

A year-ending 5-3 loss to the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers on Monday was the Rangers’ fourth straight, and their 15th in the last 19 to close out the calendar year. They begin the new year in last place in the Metropolitan Division at 16-19-1. They entered Tuesday seven points out of the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Here are three takeaways from the Rangers’ final month of 2024, in which they went 3-12:

1. The clock is ticking on coach Peter Laviolette

He led them to the greatest regular season in franchise history in his first season last year, and objectively can’t be blamed for the team’s big-name players underachieving as badly as they have. He’s tried almost everything to get them going – reconfiguring forward lines and defense pairs; tweaking some systems; adjusting ice time, and even healthy-scratching the team’s longest-tenured player, Chris Kreider. He’s played young players (Adam Edstrom, Brett Berard, Victor Mancini, Matt Rempe), and frankly, it’s hard to see what else he can do. None of that matters, though. If the losses keep coming and things don’t turn around, somebody is going to get fired. And that usually means the coach.

2. Signing Igor Shesterkin to that huge contract isn’t looking like such a no-brainer anymore

The Russian goalie turned 29 on Monday. He signed an eight-year, $92 million deal in early December that kicks in at the beginning of next season and carries an $11.5 million cap hit. Back in October and November, when he was playing lights out and carrying the team to victories most nights, signing him – at whatever the cost – seemed imperative, because where would they be without him? But he’s been pulled twice in his last six starts, allowing 19 goals on 165 shots in that span for a 3.99 goals-against average and .885 save percentage. That’s probably just a blip, but it’s become apparent that no matter how superhuman Shesterkin can be at times, his individual brilliance isn’t enough to deliver the Rangers a Stanley Cup when so many others around him are not doing their part. If some of these guys don’t pull themselves out of the funk they’re in (we’re looking at you, Mika Zibanejad), then having a great goalie behind a not-good-enough team won’t mean much.

3. On the bright side, one down year could lead to a refreshed roster next year and beyond

A full rebuild can’t happen because so many big-salary players (Shesterkin, Zibanejad, Adam Fox) are locked up for years to come. But a quick retool may be possible if GM Chris Drury can sell off a few assets at the trade deadline, get lucky in the draft, and do some smart free agent-shopping over the summer. Forwards Reilly Smith and Jimmy Vesey, and defensemen Ryan Lindgren and Will Borgen will be unrestricted free agents in the summer, and moving some or all of them should bring back some draft picks. If Drury wants more radical change, K’Andre Miller, scheduled to be a restricted free agent in the summer, could fetch a bigger haul if he were traded. And if the team misses the playoffs, it would be in the draft lottery, with a shot at the No. 1 pick overall, expected to be Hauppauge’s own James Hagens. A Rangers roster next season that has 2023 first round pick Gabe Perreault on it, and maybe Hagens, Perreault’s teammate on both Boston College and the U.S. team at the World Juniors, would be intriguing.

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