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New York Rangers: Biggest surprises and disappointments so far

With the 2019-20 NHL season on hold we are going to review where each NHL team stands at this moment until the season resumes. Here we take a look at the surprises and disappointments for the New York Rangers.

Adam Fox ended up being far more impactful than Jacob Trouba

While the Rangers’ mega offseason was highlighted by the addition of Artemi Panarin (who has proven to be worth every penny) they also did a lot of work to their defense.

Kevin Shattenkirk was bought out, highly touted prospect Adam Fox was acquired and signed, and Jacob Trouba came in from the Winnipeg Jets.

While Fox was always viewed as a high-ceiling prospect, Trouba was the player that was expected to make the most immediate impact this season. It did not work out that way at all. While Trouba struggled through a disappointing debut season in New York, Fox rapidly emerged as not only the Rangers’ most impactful defenseman, but one of the rising stars in the league. He has not received as much league-wide fanfare as Cale Makar and Quinn Hughes in Colorado and Vancouver, but the gap between them is not that large at all. Fox has been an immediate sensation both offensively and defensively and looks like he has a chance to be a cornerstone piece to the Rangers’ blue line for the foreseeable future.

Henrik Lundqvist gets phased out

It is a little surprising the way it happened, while also disappointing to see his time with the Rangers end the way it seems destined to end.

For more than a decade Lundqvist has been the face of the franchise. Heck, at times he has been the franchise. For years he helped propped up a shaky defense and elevate the Rangers to a level that exceeded their talent level, helping to make them a legitimate Stanley Cup contender. He is the greatest goalie of his era, and one of the best to ever do it. Now his future with the team seems cloudy at best.

As the 2019-20 season went on, it became clear that Lundqvist is no longer a significant part of the Rangers’ plans as he was mostly relegated to backup duties in the Rangers’ three-headed monster rotation.

While Lundqvist still has one year remaining on his contract beyond this one, the team seems ready to roll with the young duo of Igor Shesterkin and Alexandar Georgiev. So much so that Lunqvist started just five of the team’s 32 games after January 1 this season.

What happens next remains to be seen. Is there a trade to be made? A buyout that allows him to become a free agent and choose his destination in a quest to finally get his name on the Stanley Cup? Or perhaps even just calling it a career.

Chris Kreider stays

At the start of the 2019-20 season it seemed to be a foregone conclusion that Kreider was going to be on the move before the trade deadline.

Even though the front office made huge additions in the offseason, it was still a team in the middle of a rebuild and Kreider was a player that seemed poised to bring a strong return.

While the possibility of a contract extension was always on the table, it just always seemed to be a long-shot and the least likely option. But with the Rangers inching back toward playoff contention, and a strong core starting to emerge that could make the Rangers a playoff team as soon as next season, the two sides were able to hammer out a deal to keep him in New York on a seven-year, $45.5 million contract. Given Krieder’s age the term definitely carries some long-term risk, but it is not an outrageous salary cap hit for what he can still provide.

He should still be a quality, productive top-line winger for a few more years before it becomes an issue.

The centers turned out to be a little better than expected

If you were to look at the Rangers’ roster at the start of the season the one big question mark that may have existed was their depth down the middle. And while that still may be the case when it comes to the bottom lines, the top-two duo of Mika Zibanejad and Ryan Strome exceeded any and all expectations.

Zibanejad has always been a fine, productive player, but he ended up being a perfect match alongside Kreider and has turned in a massive offensive performance that has helped form one of the league’s best top-line duos this season.

The bigger surprise was on the second line where Strome has had a career year offensively and is a 22-goal, 68-point pace offensively. He has played his best hockey since joining the Rangers in the middle of the 2018-19 season. He will still be a restricted free agent after this season.

MORE RANGERS:
Looking at the 2019-20 New York Rangers
Rangers’ long-term outlook

Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.