Amid Disappointing Season, Rangers Excited for Future of Team

Disappointment of a season ending earlier than they'd like - or are accustomed to - was clear on Tuesday when the Rangers met for exit interviews and spoke to the media for the final time this season.
But also clear was a level of excitement, perhaps for the unknown of what lies ahead for the Rangers heading into next season.
There will certainly be changes to the roster as there are after every season, but there was a level of optimism that was evident throughout the locker room.

"Part of me is a little excited about what's ahead and hope you're going to take some good steps in the right direction," said Henrik Lundqvist, who was coping with the fact he'd not be playing postseason hockey for the first time since 2010, and just the second time in his NHL career.

There are reasons to be excited. As stated, there will be a new voice and a fresh approach as General Manager Jeff Gorton put it on Monday. That change, along with the expected influx of young players that began this season and any additions the front office makes on the trade and free agent fronts this summer, provide plenty of reasons to already be looking ahead to next season.
"It's that weird kind of butterfly excited feeling," said Chris Kreider, who was one of the Rangers' best forwards down the stretch with 15 points in his last 19 games. "I think there's always going to be an excitement, especially around this group. This group's young and going in a good direction."
That direction is youth with the focus on competing. The word rebuild has been used to describe the direction of the team, but the players in the room want to get back to competing.
"As much as they want to call this a rebuild, rebuilds go a lot faster when you have the right mentality and you're pushing for a goal to make playoffs, win a championship," said Kevin Shattenkirk, who missed the final three months of the season with a knee injury. "Because if you're just settling next year, then we're going to be going through this process a lot longer than we need to."

The last two months of the season were as much a learning experience as anything, especially for young players like Neal Pionk and John Gilmour on the blueline, and 2017 first-round picks Lias Andersson and Filip Chytil up front.
Those players not only got a taste of the action, but also contributed down the stretch, with Pionk registering 13 points over his last 19 games. Andersson, meanwhile, scored in his first NHL game while Chytil had three points in his final seven contests to close out the season.
That production impressed many of the veterans on the team, including Lundqvist.
"I was impressed," he said. "The way they came up, they came up at a pretty difficult time, I think. A lot of guys were leaving, good friends, guys who had been here for a long time and we weren't doing great. But the guys came up with a great attitude, they worked really hard and that's what we needed. It was fun to see. It was fun to see them play and their hunger to be here. They did a great job."
The Rangers will now head into the offseason looking to rest, regroup and recharge for next season with the goal of making sure next summer is shorter than this one.
"There's definitely some excitement to come back here and do it better," Lundqvist said, "and see how far we can push it already next season."