An Early, Realistic Rangers Offseason Outlook

Less than a week after losing the Stanley Cup Final in five competitive games to the Los Angeles Kings, the wounds are beginning to heal and it's time to look forward to an offseason full of questions for the New York Rangers.

THE BRAD RICHARDS SITUATION:

The absolute first and foremost task at hand is what to do with Brad Richards. The 34-year old center has just finished the third year of a nine-year, front-loaded contract with the Rangers. However, he has six years remaining on his current deal with a huge cap hit of $6.67M per year.

Despite what many Rangers fans will tell you, Richards has been a nice player for them. Now, he hasn't played like a player that earns the high cap hit he's signed to, but he has not the disaster some have made him out to be. In the two full seasons he's played with New York (excluding the lockout-shortened 2013 season), Richards has totaled 107 points.

Granted he's had his share of regular season success, his postseason resume while with New York has been less-than-stellar. His brightest moment came in his first season when he scored the tying goal in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals in 2012 with 6.6 seconds remaining in regulation:

In two playoff appearances since, Richards' has seen his role to diminish to a healthy scratch under former coach John Tortorella in 2013 and a demotion to the fourth line in this prior season's Stanley Cup Final.

On Tuesday, Richards' agent Pat Morris told Sportsnet's Fan 590 that he has a "gut feeling" the Rangers retain Richards.

I honestly see no possible way Richards returns to Broadway next season in a Rangers sweater. Listen, I like Richards, but as they say, this is a business. It's nearly an impossibility the Rangers can keep Richards because of the length of the contract, the huge cap hit he's responsible for and the many holes the Rangers now have on their roster.

This is also the final year NHL clubs can use their two compliance buyouts on any player on their roster. The Blueshirts have already used one to get out of Wade Redden's horrendous contract and it makes perfect sense to use their second on Richards.

RESTRICTED FREE AGENTS:

Should the Rangers use their "get out of jail free" card on Richards, the $6.67M cap hit can and should be used on four of their restricted free agents: Derick Brassard, Chris Kreider, Mats Zuccarello and John Moore.

The Rangers absolutely need each one of them back and it starts with Kreider. Finally out from playing under Tortorella, Kreider has begun to emerge as the star he was portrayed to be while he played his college hockey at Boston College. He put up 37 points in an injury-shortened regular season before returning to the team in the postseason.

Out of the four, Zuccarello is the most due in line of a pay raise. The 5'7" Norwegian had a major coming out party this past season leading the team in assists (40) and points (59) at a minuscule $1.15M cap hit....a bargain any team in the league would sign up for.

Brassard was a key contributor to Zuccarello's success as the two of them, along with Benoit Pouliot, formed the most consistent line for the Rangers throughout the season.

UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENTS:

Pouliot is among the many unrestricted free agents I'd love to see return to the Garden along with Brian Boyle, Anton Stralman, Dominic Moore and Raphael Diaz.

Pouliot was the definition of a bargain buy in free agency last season as he signed a 1-year, $1.3M contract and really played well in the second half of the season and into the playoffs. While he took a stupid amount of offensive zone penalties, Pouliot flourished at times in Alain Vigneault's offense.

I don't see the Rangers retaining Boyle or Stralman as I expect them to seek raises and bigger opportunities elsewhere. Boyle has even publicly stated he's looking for "more responsibility."

A last-minute, trade deadline acquisition, Diaz saw limited action but showed he can move the puck well on the power play. Also, should Stralman depart, his right-handed shot on the blue line could be something the Rangers can ill-afford to lose.

NHL FREE AGENTS:

The biggest name on the NHL free agent market is Colorado's Paul Stastny. Coming off his best season in four seasons, Stastny has said he would like to stay with the Avalanche and Colorado has already offered him a multi-year deal. Regardless if Stastny stays with the Avs or not, his cap hit should hover around what Richards earned with the Rangers which would handicap the Rangers from keeping their depth. I doubt Stastny comes to New York.

It's actually hard to imagine the Rangers going after any of the major free agents this offseason, a move in which GM Glen Sather is well known for, just because it might be financially impossible. Going for lower cost players and depth while keeping most of the current roster might be the smart play this summer.

Should Richards get bought out, that'd leave a void at center, which could be filled by Dave Bolland. Bolland missed much of last season with an injury, but is a solid player that could bring Stanley Cup experience as he's won two with the Chicago Blackhawks.

I'd also like to see the Rangers take a look at wingers Radim Vrbata and, if affordable, former Islander Matt Moulson.

Rangers In Unfamiliar Territory Four Wins Away From Their Ultimate Goal

Let me welcome you all to the New York Rangers bandwagon....a bandwagon I could have never fathomed of existing. For the newcomers, know one key piece of information: this whole "winning" thing is not what this organization and fanbase is used to.

Since defeating the Montreal Canadiens in six games to advance to the Stanley Cup Final, the constant reminder the media has given us is this is the Rangers' first trip to the Final in 20 years. Yes, we all want to live in the positive that the Rangers are here, but what they fail to remind us of is that this Original Six franchise has won a grand total of one Stanley Cup in the last 74 years. Seventy. Four. Years.

To say the Blueshirts need to take advantage of this opportunity is the understatement of the century. In fact, in the last 10 seasons, the Eastern Conference has been represented by seven different teams. Just getting this far in the playoffs has an immense level of difficulty.

Defeating the Los Angeles Kings in a best-of-seven series will certainly be no easy task. The 2012 Stanley Cup Champions have a very deep, star-studded and battle-tested roster with a Conn Smythe winner between the pipes in Jonathan Quick. They've played the maximum 21 games in the first three rounds of the playoffs this year, winning and eye-popping three Game 7s on the road, a feat never accomplished in the history of this great league. They have the chance to shock the hockey world and no one is giving them a chance to beat the Kings in a race to four wins.

The Rangers certainly have the team to get this done. In fact, they are the absolute definition of "team" as compared to recently assembled Rangers squads. Head coach Alain Vigneault has used all four of his lines and each of them have contributed, something we have not seen in recent years under former coach John Tortorella. They all came together during the tragic time of the passing of Martin St. Louis' mother and rallied from a 3-1 deficit against the rival Pittsburgh Penguins, something never accomplished in the franchise's history.

They play for one another and are playing at the peak of their game.

The Rangers get contributions from every player that dresses as opposed to their 2012 run, under Tortorella, in which they lost to the New Jersey Devils in the Eastern Conference Final. During that run, it was mainly Henrik Lundqvist driving the ship while getting a timely goal here or there from Brad Richards or Marian Gaborik. Oddly enough, the Blueshirts face their former leading goal scorer in Gaborik as he leads the NHL in goals scored this postseason with the Kings (I still don't know what to do with my Rangers' Gaborik jersey).

Their best line all year has been their second line of Mats Zuccarello, Derick Brassard and Benoit Pouliot. Aside from Pouliot taking a number of really bad penalties this postseason, they've been the most consistent and it'll be interesting to see how they mach up against the Kings' big bodies.

During NHL Network's Media Day coverage Tuesday, analyst Barry Melrose noted the team really came together with the acquisition of St. Louis at the trade deadline when they shipped captain Ryan Callahan to Tampa Bay along with two draft picks. St. Louis didn't get off to a flying start with his new club, but man has patience paid off. St. Louis has emerged as a major leader in the clubhouse in his brief period on Broadway and it's hard to say the Rangers would be here without him.

The Rangers are fortunately a healthy squad heading into the Final and they'll get defenseman John Moore back from suspension in Game 2 and Dan Carcillo back from suspension (if they need him) for Game 4.

The experts seem to think this series is mainly one-sided and believe the Kings will cruise to victory. THN's Ken Campbell thought the Penguins would breeze through the Rangers and also said the Rangers wouldn't get by Montreal after that. He says the Rangers' only hope is if the Kings are out of gas.

Look, I understand the Kings are a really, really good team, but so are the Rangers. They've come together better in the last three rounds than I've seen a Ranger team come together in, let's say, 20 years.

The Rangers have just as good of a shot to win the best trophy in sports as Los Angeles does. There's no reason we can't see a parade with Lord Stanley being the guest of honor down Broadway in a couple of weeks. Rangers in 6.

Rangers Overcome 3-1 Series Deficit; Easily My Favorite Moment in 20 Years

Admit it, you didn't think a comeback was possible. Now tell yourself it's OK to admit when you're wrong.

For the first time in the history of the franchise, the New York Rangers overcame a series deficit of 3-1 to defeat the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

After the Rangers scored twice in overtime to beat the Penguins in Game 1, the series spiraled out of control in favor of Pittsburgh. The Penguins rattled off three straight wins in dominating fashion, outscoring the Rangers 9-2 in those games and posting shutouts in Games 2 and 3. The Rangers power play unit was something like 0-for-the-century, Rick Nash still hadn't scored (and still hasn't). It was bad. Really bad.

The Rangers looked dead. Hell, I even thought the season was over based on what I witnessed in those three losses and so did many others. It even led to Ken Campbell of THN to declaring them dead and suggesting the front office blows the team up (Mr. Campbell faced a severe amount of backlash from Ranger fans on Twitter Tuesday night).

But one thing you can never hang your hat on in the Stanley Cup Playoffs: declaring a team dead. Just in the opening round of this season's Playoffs, the Los Angeles Kings overcame a 3-0 deficit to the San Jose Sharks and won the series 4-3.

After the Game 4 loss, the Rangers held a closed-door meeting before the team addressed the media. We don't know exactly what was said, but Joe Micheletti said on WFAN on Tuesday that it was led by Brad Richards and Martin St. Louis, who know what it takes to win a Stanley Cup.

On the following day, St. Louis' mother unfortunately passed away. Perhaps the team used that as a rallying point (after Game 7, Brian Boyle told NBCSN's Pierre McGuire that it brought the team closer). At any rate, the Rangers came out with their hair on fire in Game 5 matching their series total in goals scored to that point with a 5-1 beatdown of the Penguins (and actually scored not once, but twice, on the power play). They followed that up with close victories in Games 6 and 7 to complete the comeback.

The team MVP by far and away throughout the comeback was Henrik Lundqvist who held the star-loaded Penguins to just one goal per game in the final three games of the series, including stopping 35 of 36 shots in the deciding Game 7.

This Game 7 victory was easily my favorite moment as a Ranger fan in the last 20 years. Now, the Rangers haven't had exactly a lot of success since winning their first Stanley Cup in 54 years in 1994. In fact, my favorite night as a Ranger fan up to this point since that magical Cup run was Game 5 of the 2012 Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Washington Capitals when Richards tied the game with 6.6 seconds left and Marc Staal winning it in overtime.

To rattle off three straight wins against that Penguins team after looking so, so terrible in three straight losses could not have been predicted by the most optimistic of optimists. I'm still trying to fathom how this team was able to turn on the switch and do what they did. Again, the franchise had never come back from a series when trailing 3-1.

As to who I wish the Rangers face in the Eastern Conference Final (can't believe I'm saying that)....it's difficult to say. They'll be facing a team that's been through the ringer just like they have as the Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins face off in a deciding Game 7 of their own tonight. The Bruins ousted the Rangers in five games last season in the Eastern Conference Semifinals and are 3-0-0 against New York this season. The Canadiens are 2-1-0 against the Rangers this season and beat them on the final day of the season winning 1-0 in overtime and seemingly own the Rangers at the Bell Centre.

I don't want to eat my words, so I'll take whoever comes out on top in tonight's Game 7 in Boston. The Rangers are playing with house money and are half way home to a Stanley Cup. They'll start on the road regardless this weekend. LGR.

*Rangers photo by Gregory Shamus/NHLI via Getty Images

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UPDATE - 5/14/14 @ 12:00 PM - new, exclusive video of the Penguins collapse: