New York’s rebuild has come full circle. After a soul crushing home defeat in Game 7 of the 2015 Eastern Conference Finals, the Rangers’ previous window of championship contention was slammed shut. Although the team qualified for the playoffs the following two seasons and even won a playoff round in 2017, the slow deterioration of a team that had made three Conference Finals appearances and a run to the Stanley Cup Finals in a four year stretch was drastically accelerated by the Tampa Bay Lightning seven years ago.
The captain of those Rangers now plays for the Lightning.