Each spring 16 NHL teams play for Lord Stanley's Cup. At the end one team is left holding the cup while the other 15 teams can only think of what could of been. 

This is about one of the 15 teams who wasn't so lucky.

New York Rangers: 

How They Finished: Finished 44-33-5 93 points. 

3rd in the Atlantic Division, 8th in the Eastern Conference.

What Went Wrong:

The Rangers lost Ryan Callahan to a broken ankle right before the start of the playoffs. Callahan only played in 60 games this season but he finished 2nd on the team in goals (23) and points (48).

More importantly he was one of those forwards who could do just about anything. He score goals, he could set up goals, he could play defense against the other teams top line. In the 5 years Callahan has been in the NHL he has become one of the most important players on the Rangers. His presence simply can not be replaced. 

And yet if Callahan was healthy I'm not sure it would have made a difference.

The Rangers clinched their playoff berth thanks to a Carolina loss on the next to last day of the season. If Carolina wins that game the Rangers miss the post-season for the 2nd year in a row. 

However Carolina lost allowing New York to finish 8th in the East and face Washington in the 1st round.

In the series Henrik Lundqvist played well enough in goal to give the Rangers a chance to win but Michal Neuvirth played just as well in goal for the Capitals leading them to wins in the first two games of the series.

The Rangers were able to win game three back in New York and had a 3-0 lead in Game four before Washington scored three unanswered goals to force overtime. In double overtime Jason Chimera scored a freak goal to give the Capitals a 4-3 win & control of the series.

In Game 5 the Rangers needed to take control of the game early and plant a seed of doubt in the heads of the Capitals & their fans. Instead the Capitals scored the first goal of the game and added two more before New York scored with 31 seconds left to play. At that point the game was in hand & the Rangers season was coming to an end. 

Where Do They Go From Here: 

The Rangers actually did a lot better than I thought they would this season.

At the start of the season I thought they would miss the playoffs & John Tortorella would be fired as head coach.

Well it took until the penultimate day of the season but New York did make the playoffs.

One thing the Rangers have managed to do a good job of the last few years is drafting & developing homegrown talent instead of trying to build an all-star team through free agency.

Ryan Callahan, Brandon Dubinsky, Henrik Lundqvist, & Marc Staal were all drafted by the Rangers and make up the core of the team that should keep them competitive.

What the Rangers need is for their goal scores to show up. Marian Gaborik was a non factor this season scoring only 22 goals in the regular season and one goal in the playoffs. If I was the Rangers I would be expecting a little more out of my forward if I was paying him 7.5 million a year.

The core of this team is good and as long as Lundqvist is in goal the Rangers will be a threat to make the playoffs but they need more scoring from their forwards if they want to take that next step. Otherwise another one and done is likely to be expected come next April.