The New York Rangers’ tumultuous offseason began before the season officially ended. It largely stemmed from a rather meaningless game at the end of the season, in which the Rangers were basically playing out the stretch. You may recall the “incident” that had the whole hockey world outraged involving Washington Capitals bruiser Tom Wilson. Wilson set off a butterfly-effect string of events by punching Pavel Buchnevich, who was laying facedown, and then slamming a helmet-less Artemi Panarin to the ice during the ensuing scrum.
At the time, nobody knew this incident would largely shape the Rangers offseason, both on and off the ice.