Perhaps the biggest shock in the NHL this season is just how far the New York Rangers have tumbled from being six wins away from a Stanley Cup to the cellar of the league.
The Rangers may have won 2-1 against the Boston Bruins on Thursday, but the state of the team has been nothing short of disastrous throughout the last month-plus.
They have posted a 5-15 record in their last 20 hockey games. They sit in second-to-last place of the Metropolitan Division with 35 points. They have a 2% chance of making the playoffs with more than half the season left.
"There's still plenty of time this season to turn this around. But when you're on a losing streak, I'll be honest: It's miserable going to the rink," said a retired NHL player to ESPN's Greg Wyshynski. "It's hard to have fun in practice. It's hard to put a smile on your face. I think part of how you get out of this is trying to lift your emotions back up and try to enjoy the game again.
This is essentially the same team that got them into the Eastern Conference Final seven-and-a-half months ago minus fourth line forward and alternate captain Barclay Goodrow, who general manager Chris Drury put on waivers in the offseason.
Drury also attempted to ship out captain Jacob Trouba, but the latter refused to waive his no-trade clause, making for an awkward September reunion heading into training camp.
Trouba was eventually traded to the Anaheim Ducks on Dec. 8 and forward Kaapo Kakko, who struggled to become the player he was drafted to be in New York, followed him out the door to the Seattle Kraken 10 days later.
New York started off the year looking poised to make another run for the Cup, sitting at 12-4-1 as late as Nov. 20, but the losing became contagious thereafter.
So, what really could have gone wrong with the same core that clinched the Presidents' Trophy as the best regular season team last year?
Many have speculated it's locker room morale; others think it's the group giving up on head coach Peter Laviolette.
But the truth is that despite the premium core pieces that this team has, it never possessed the makings to be consistent because of its lack of 5-on-5 strength. So when the players who are too heavily relied on for production regress, so does the team.
"Their problems are more on the ice than off the ice," the retired player said. "Their biggest issue is they've got some underperformers this season. Mika Zibanejad is part of the motor that makes that team go, and he's having a bad year. Overall, how quickly the Rangers have fallen off, and the lack of response that you're seeing on the ice has me baffled."
The Rangers were ranked an astounding No. 19 overall in 5-on-5 puck possession in all situations in 2023-24 according to Moneypuck.com. What boosted them past everyone to a franchise-history best of 55-23-4 was special teams units that caught fire.
New York was ranked No. 3 overall in both power-play and penalty-kill efficiency last season. This year, it's plunged to No. 23 overall on the power play. It still ranks third-best on the penalty kill, but the lack of scoring with the man advantage has exposed the Rangers' dry offense — especially when names like Zibanejad, Chris Kreider and Artemi Panarin aren't playing to their usuals.
"Concerning the current season, I'm not sure they were ever really that good to begin with," a current NHL executive told ESPN. "They always struck me as being the kind of team that's reliant on elite special teams. I don't worry about them [against our team] at 5-on-5. When you look at the roster, they have a lot of players who fundamentally aren't that great at even strength. When you don't dominate at 5-on-5, that makes your team susceptible to having tough stretches during the season."
It may feel like the sky is falling in New York, but Drury still has the right pieces to build around. A lot will depend on how the Rangers play between now and the trade deadline on March 8. Zibanejad, Kreider and defenseman K'Andre Miller are all names reported to be in the mix for a change of scenery if it's still anything like what's happening now.
"This core is aging," the former player said. "They just signed Shesterkin to that big-money, long-term deal, so I don't think they're at a point where you need to rebuild. It's probably a "retool" of the core. I definitely think that if it keeps trending this way by the trade deadline, they're going to have some tough decisions on who they keep and what direction they go."
Read more: Rangers' Jonathan Quick is One Win Away From Making NHL History
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