After an abysmal 2017-2018 campaign for the New York Rangers defensemen, there were a lot of questions that needed to be addressed entering this season.
Last year, the defense core was expected to be a strength of the Blueshirts. Instead, it proved to be the team’s greatest weakness, as many players failed to live up to expectations.
Kevin Shattenkirk suffered through an injury-riddled opening to his tenure on Broadway, Brady Skjei experienced major regression during his sophomore season, Brendan Smith’s campaign was doomed from the start when he arrived at training camp out of shape, Tony DeAngelo spent a lot of time in the AHL, and Marc Staal only got a year older, therefore, a step slower.