Any time a once great team begins to decline, it stems from the aging process and players leaving in free agency. In some cases, the team’s best player is able to defy father time for longer than expected but they are still not at the level they used to play at. In the case of the New York Rangers, Henrik Lundqvist is still very good, but cannot be relied on to win games every night.
There was an expectation that there would be a struggle this season for the Rangers. The roster in front of the netminder was going to be the worst in a long while, but the youth and culture change was supposed to at least serve as a distraction if the wins did not follow.