NHL Insights: New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Calgary Flames

Welcome to another edition of NHL Insights as we bring it back during the Stanley Cup Playoffs. This time looking at teams who already are in their offseason and the changes they are going through. Those teams include New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Calgary Flames, Winnipeg Jets, and Boston Bruins.

The Winds are Change are happening around the NHL even with the Stanley Cup Playoffs rolling on. While there are eyes on the games on the ice, there are even more eyes on the action off the ice. It seems like there is never a dull moment in the NHL especially when it comes to the big market teams. And there is a lot to discuss when it comes to the changes involving two teams that have been mainstays in the playoffs for several years now. In this edition of NHL Insights, we look at the New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Calgary Flames, Winnipeg Jets, and Boston Bruins.

Time to dive into some NHL Insights for the past week.

NHL Insights: Rangers, Penguins, Flames, Jets, and Bruins

New York Rangers

There have been a lot of changes going on in New York. The Rangers were eliminated in seven games in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs against the New Jersey Devils. Star players like Artemi Panarin and Patrick Kane did not show up when the games mattered most. Chris Kreider had a decent series, but you can throw Mika Zibanejad into that group of players that did not show up.

Thus head coach Gerard Gallant and his staff were relieved of their duties. Considering there was so much pressure on the Rangers to succeed, Gerard was the man that went down with the ship. Even during the season, GM Chris Drury was looking to make a change. But this is now on Drury and owner James Dolan because former GM Jeff Gorton, now with Montreal, and John Davidson, who is back in Columbus, had this team trending in the right direction.

However, Drury made smart trades last year to help the Rangers go deep. This year he went for the splashy moves with Vladimir Tarasenko and Kane. It did not work out, now there are a lot of questions about certain players coming back and what this team looks like going forward.

Pittsburgh Penguins

That was not the only Metro Division team to make a move. The Pittsburgh Penguins right after the season fired their GM Ron Hextall and President Brian Burke. Pittsburgh failed to make the playoffs for the first time in 16 seasons. The problem for the Penguins was they did not address their needs for goaltending at the deadline or in the offseason. It is all well and good to bring back Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang. But the organization needed to make a hard decision on those players as it did with Marc-Andre Fleury.

If reports are true that Hextall did not want to re-sign Malkin and it was on ownership then shame on them. The Penguins needed to sign one or the other, not both. With the team being up against the salary cap, they could not move players. When you thought things were moving in the right direction, Hextall trades for Mikael Granlund and his $5 million salary cap.

Now Pittsburgh will look for a President of Hockey Operations and a general manager and they have themselves to blame for this mess.

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Calgary Flames

Heading out West specifically Western Canada, the Calgary Flames have some issues of their own. First, general manager Brad Treliving stepped down after a disappointing season in Calgary. Now, give credit to him for doing what he could after Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk did not want to return. Signing Nazem Kadri was a good piece. Trading for Jonathan Huberdeau and Mackenzie Weegar as part of the Tkachuk trade was solid. But like Pittsburgh, the Flames could not get out of their own way.

Consistently inconsistent were the Flames this season. Just when you thought they had righted the ship, nope, think again. Bad loss after bad loss cost this team a playoff spot. Similar to the Penguins. Not to mention like Pittsburgh, goaltending was an issue for Calgary. Jacob Markstrom has not been the same player he was last year thanks to the Oilers.

Soon after the Treliving left, Don Maloney, held exit interviews with the players and decided it was time for a coaching change. Darryl Sutter was relieved of his duties and now the Flames are looking for two positions. A big reason why Treliving left was Sutter did not put certain players in a position to succeed. That was echoed by the players in their exit interviews. Another team with expectations looks to start over.

Winnipeg Jets

Then there is the Winnipeg Jets. This is a team you need to watch this offseason. There could be changes coming on that roster as well. Connor Hellebuyck and Kyle Connor do not want to be a part of a rebuild. Pierre-Luc Dubois most likely is heading to Montreal. Maybe? Mark Scheifele sounds like a player that wants to be there long-term. And what about Blake Wheeler?

Well, Wheeler and head coach Rick Bowness have some issues especially after Bowness called his team out after a poor Game 5 performance. And Bowness did that through the media which Wheeler did not like. Bowness is coming back and they can’t bring the same group back after what happened. Sounds like GM Kevin Cheveldayoff is coming back as well and he has some tough decisions to make. Again this team is worth watching.

Other Possible Changes

With the Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning going out in the first round, will these teams be mainstays in the playoffs? Or will the salary cap play a role in whether or not they take a step back next season? We know Boston has some players in Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci could retire. The Lightning will be up against the cap like the Bruins are. Which players return to those rosters?

That does it for another edition of NHL Insights. Stay tuned for another edition real soon.