The New York Rangers were the NHL’s best team in the 2023-24 regular season.
The Florida Panthers won the past two Stanley Cup championships.
Yet, when the Rangers visit the Panthers in Sunrise, Fla., on Monday night, it somehow will be a battle between two of the eight worst teams in the league. Both have been eliminated from playoff contention.
The Panthers (38-38-4) were sunk by injuries virtually from the start. They opened the season with two of their biggest stars — Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk — on the injured list. It only got worse from there.
There are 12 Panthers currently on their injury list — a group that features Barkov; Tkachuk, Sam Reinhart, Brad Marchand, Anton Lundell and Evan Rodrigues.
And those are just the forwards. The Panthers also are without defensemen Aaron Ekblad, Seth Jones, Niko Mikkola, Dmitry Kulikov and Uvis Balinskis.
Even so, the Panthers — a team with tons of pride — won 6-2 on Saturday at Toronto.
“It’s been a roller-coaster season with tough times,” said Panthers forward Tomas Nosek, who scored twice on Saturday.
Panthers coach Paul Maurice said he expects his players to continue to give full effort, even when the dream of another playoff run is over.
“They have to come to work,” Maurice said. “They can’t just show up and go through it. We’re trying to treat the game with respect.”
The Panthers on Monday are expected to start goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, who is having a poor season by his standards. Bobrovsky, who turns 38 in September, has a 3.07 goals-against average. That pales in comparison to his 2.44 GAA last season and 2.37 in 2023-24.
Meanwhile, the Rangers (33-38-9) have gone from the Presidents’ Trophy with 114 points in 2023-24 to 85 points and no playoffs in 2024-25 to 75 points and no playoffs again this season. In fact, with two games left in their regular season, the Rangers are one loss away from clinching the worst record in the Eastern Conference.
New York’s issue has not been injuries. Instead, the Rangers have dumped tons of talent from that Presidents’ Trophy team. Chris Kreider, Artemi Panarin, K’Andre Miller, Jacob Trouba, Kaapo Kakko, Barclay Goodrow, Jimmy Vesey, Ryan Lindgren, Zac Jones and Filip Chytil are among the players who have found new homes.
So, as the Rangers turn to a youth movement, who’s left?
The biggest stars are goalie Igor Shesterkin, forwards J.T. Miller, Mika Zibanejad and Vincent Trocheck and defensemen Adam Fox and Vladislav Gavrikov.
Zibanejad leads the Rangers in goals (33) and points (76). He’s also tied with Fox for the team lead in assists (43).
Fox has 24 points (five goals, 19 assists) over his past 23 games. He missed 28 games due to injury earlier this season, but he is finishing strong.
“When you miss a stretch of games, it takes a bit (to get back on track),” Fox said. “But over the past month or so, I feel good about my game.”
With Fox in the lineup, the Rangers have one of the best power-play units in the NHL.
“He’s an elite player offensively,” Rangers coach Mike Sullivan said. “He sees (the ice) so well. He drives our offense in so many ways.”
