LOS ANGELES — This was the most successful Rangers team in the past 20 years, and odds are it’s going to look a lot different come training camp in September.
The Blueshirts lost a difficult Stanley Cup finals series in five games, culminating with an emotional 3-2 double-overtime defeat in Game 5 on Friday night at Staples Center. Now they must start thinking about the major questions looming this offseason, most notably all the pending free agents on the roster.
Yet the first situation that will dictate the rest of them is the team’s final amnesty buyout, which almost assuredly will be used on veteran center Brad Richards, wiping clean his annual $6.67 million salary-cap hit through 2019-20.
“Tonight is not a night to reminisce,” Richards said after the game.
Without addressing the fact that bedrock players Marc Staal and Martin St. Louis are both entering the final year of their deals before unrestricted free agency — and likely will be looking for extensions — there are four currently unrestricted free agents who could significantly change the dynamic of the roster.
Checking forward Brian Boyle probably made himself some money with a terrific postseason, even showing a bit of offensive flair with his highlight-reel short-handed goal in Game 5. Dominic Moore, the apt-skating and intelligent center, is coming off his one-year deal, as is the mercurial winger Benoit Pouliot.
Second-pair defenseman Anton Stralman is also unrestricted, and if the Swedish family man should decide to test the open market, he likely will find more money than what the Rangers could offer.
Then come the list of restricted free agents, a young group probably more important to the Rangers’ future.
If general manager Glen Sather is going to stick to his mantra about only giving out two-year “bridge deals” to these players, then a couple of contentious negotiations might ensue. First is 26-year-old center Derick Brassard, who for two seasons has shown himself to be not just a playmaker, but a big-game player.
“At the end of the day, our main goal was to win,” Brassard said, “and when you fall short, it hurts.”
Fan-favorite Mats Zuccarello is also restricted, as is former wunderkind Chris Kreider. Zuccarello is 26 years old, and he led the team in the regular season with 59 points. Kreider, 23, has speed and physicality, two attributes that cannot be taught. Although he’s probably eating himself up about the two failed overtime breakaways he had in the finals — one in Game 2 and one in Game 5 — he probably will demand a pretty penny.
Also joining the restricted list is 23-year-old defenseman John Moore, who played important minutes on the third pair all season. Depth defenseman Raphael Diaz is unrestricted.
On the lesser scale, rugged forward Dan Carcillo is unrestricted and rarely used defenseman Justin Falk is restricted.
So, there are many questions, and there will be significant turnover. And it’s all going to come soon enough.
“Obviously everybody’s very disappointed in the outcome,” coach Alain Vigneault said after the Game 5 loss. “That being said, I think in a couple of days, you know, we’re going to reflect.”