The Captain-less New York Rangers

As the Rangers find themselves in a 2-1 series hole to the Carolina Hurricanes as of Tuesday morning, this year has most definitely been a success, in their first season under head coach Gerard Gallant, and it is remarkable to see that they have accomplished so much without naming a captain. After shockingly firing Jeff Gorton and John Davidson, the GM and President, respectively, at the end of last season, the Rangers have quickly rebounded in the 2021-22 season with a 52-24-6 record, good enough for second place in the Metropolitan Division. Additionally, they made a tremendous comeback against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round of the playoffs after being down 3-1 in the series.

Aside from the storyline of the team mostly consisting of young talent, featuring the likes of Kaapo Kakko, Alexis Lafrenière, and K'Andre Miller, the other narrative that has been apparent throughout the entirety of the season has been the "No Quit" mentality, or the "No Quit In NY" hashtag on social media. During the regular season, the Rangers were second in the NHL in comeback wins with 27, trailing only the recently eliminated Florida Panthers. One would think a possible reason for this is due to the presence of a vocal leader and captain in the dressing room, however that is not the case.

Heading into the season, there was belief that Gerard Gallant would name a captain, something the Rangers haven't seen since Ryan McDonagh was traded at the deadline in 2018. Much to the displeasure of fans, the Rangers decided not to name a captain and instead ran with six alternate captains in Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad, Jacob Trouba, Ryan Strome, Barclay Goodrow, and Artemi Panarin. While all of these players display great leadership qualities, it seems management felt that there was not one guy who could command the dressing room like former Ranger captain Ryan Callahan, for example. That is, at least not yet.

Throughout the season, Chris Kreider has emerged as the leading candidate to don the 'C', as he has consistently produced for the first time in his career, with a career high 52 goals. Many critics felt that Kreider was too streaky of a player to be named captain, but if he can reproduce his consistency from this season, he would make for a great choice for captaincy.

Even though the Rangers have been successful without a captain this season, they will need one eventually if they want the best chance at winning a Stanley Cup. The last team to win the Stanley Cup without a true captain was the Calgary Flames in 1988-89 when Lanny McDonald and Jim Peplinski co-captained the team to their first championship in franchise history. The reasons for why a captain is necessary don't end there. Take a look at the Chicago Blackhawks, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Tampa Bay Lightning. The Hawks had Jonathan Toews lead them to three Cups since 2010, the Pens had Sidney Crosby lead them to three Cups since 2009, and the Lightning had Steven Stamkos lead them to back-to-back Cups in 2020 and 2021, although he was hurt in 2020. All three of these players change the way their respective teams play on the ice. They set the example, and the rest of the team buys in and follows in their captains' footsteps. The Rangers saw how much of a difference Crosby made when he was on the ice in Round 1. His line was clearly the best on either side through the first five games of the series until he got hurt. After he left in Game 5, the Penguins became undisciplined and started taking penalties, which is something that they did not do at all up until that point in the series. Although the calls were arguable, they were still up in the series, and a costly penalty in Game 6 allowed the Rangers to get on the board and start their comeback. By the time Crosby came back, it was Game 7 and the damage had already been done, with the series being capped off by an Artemi Panarin snipe on the power play in overtime.

Regardless of the outcome of the series against the Hurricanes, the Rangers need to name a captain before the start of next season. The clear choice would be Chris Kreider, but he needs to remain consistent like he did during the regular season this year, and it would be nice for Rangers fans if he could hit an empty netter.

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Photo Credits

Flames photo: Getty Images/HHoF Images

Kreider: Vincent Carchietta/USA TODAY Sports