The Rangers post-2005 Lockout Wine Bottle Team

Big shoutout to the homies over at the Ringer for letting (we’ll go with that) me borrow this idea

Somehow, someway, the Rangers don’t have a game for 11 (eleven) straight days. That’s simply preposterous to me, Max Kellerman. So while we’re scrounging up content ideas from the bottom of a Bud Light keg, I figured a change of pace would be nice.

That’s why I present to you the Rangers post-2005 Wine Bottle Team.

To recap: This is an idea that I borrowed from Bill Simmons and the fine folk over at The Ringer (S/O to Nicole Bae, you queen). You pick one season — usually the best season, which should go without saying but if I know my readers it definitely needs saying — for a player and make a starting lineup using that. This idea was meant for basketball, but it can absolutely be translated over to hockey. So here are the basic parameters: we’ll pick a starting lineup — a center, two wingers, two defensemen, a goalie and a coach — consisting of the best season from each individual player.

So without further ado, let’s look at the team, starting with the forwards.

Left Wing: 2011–12 Marian Gaborik

As we all prepare for Artemi Panarin to don the red, white and blue, it’s important to remember that Gaborik was the original Panarin: an electric scoring winger entering his prime, ready to make an impact on an up-and-coming team. Gaborik was the Rangers’ biggest free-agent splash — not counting Chris Drury and Scott Gomez who, at the time, seemed like great signings — in years. They were a young, fun team that was lacking a clear-cut number-one scorer, and that’s exactly what Gaborik brought to the table.

He was spectacular in his first year, notching a 42–44–86 line with 16 power-play goals in 2009–10. Gaborik dealt with injuries in his second season and saw his line drop to 22–26–48 in 62 games. But in 2011–12, as the Rangers prepared to break out, Gaborik was at the forefront. The Rangers had just signed Brad Richards to a massive contract, and he was expected to give them the number-one center they had lacked for years. Gaborik and Richards became the offensive catalysts for the “Black and Blueshirts,” a defense-first, rely on your goaltender team. Gaborik had a 41–35–76 line that season and scored one of the biggest goals in Rangers postseason history: who can forget his triple-overtime game-winner against the Capitals? (Also worth noting: I knew right away when I saw him celebrate that he had a shoulder injury; guy couldn’t get out of that pile quick enough.)

Gaborik tied for second in playoff goals and was third in playoff points that season, which ended in disappointing fashion to the New Jersey Devils in the Eastern Conference Final.

That would be Gaborik’s last full season on the team; he ended his Rangers career with a 114–115–229 line in 255 games. He was the best free-agent signing they had in years and was a bonafide sniper. In 2011–12 he was, by far, the best offensive player on one of the league’s best teams.

Center: 2006–07 Michael Nylander

Whenever we’re talking about post-2005 Rangers history, the Tom Renney era always gets left out. Maybe it’s because they never made it past the second round, but some of those teams were fun as hell, especially the first two years after the 2005 lockout. Nylander formed one of the best — yet surprisingly least talked about — lines in Rangers history with Martin Straka and Jaromir Jagr flanking him. In 2005–06, Nylander notched a 23–56–79 line and one-upped it with a 26–57–83 line in 2006–07. Here are some highlights from the aforementioned Straka-Nylander-Jagr line:

Nylander is the rare case of peaking later; his 79 and 83 point totals were his career high, and they came when he was 33 and 34 years old. He was a gifted playmaker — playing with Jaromir Jagr helps — and was a solid playoff performer; he led the team in points with 13 during the 06–07 playoff run that ended in the second round to Chris Drury — his replacement — and the Buffalo Sabres. Nylander is from a forgotten era of Rangers hockey but is one of the best players the franchise has seen since the 2005 lockout.

Right Wing: 2005–06 Jaromir Jagr

The best skater the Rangers have had in decades. Jagr was a freaking monster during this time. The Rangers fleeced the Washington Capitals, trading Anson Carter for him (the original one-for-one trade). Jagr lit it up his first season with the Rangers, setting the Rangers’ single-season record for goals (54), points (123) and power-play goals (24).

Simply put, this guy was one of, if not the, best players in Rangers’ history. Sure, scoring the first season after the lockout was higher than a college freshman skiing in Colorado, but those numbers are simply obscene. We always talk about the Rangers lacking elite talent these days, and how we’d kill for a player like Jagr. He’s one of the best to do it — in NHL history and Rangers’ history.

Left Defenseman: 2013–14 Ryan McDonagh

It seems like a lifetime ago that Ryan McDonagh made his NHL debut as a tantalizing 21-year-old; many, myself included, thought he and Michael Sauer were the future of the Rangers’ defense. A tragic concussion ended Sauer’s career prematurely, but we were blessed enough to see McDonagh blossom.

McDonagh, who was already a top-pairing, minutes-eating defenseman at this point, took a massive leap the year the Rangers made the Stanley Cup Final. He recorded career-highs in goals (14), assists (29), points (43), takeaways (51) and ATOI (24:49), spearheading him to 8th in Norris Trophy voting. He was also money in the playoffs, playing an outrageous 26:49 per game, while adding four goals and 17 points to boot.

This was the year before he became the captain, a move many people feel hurt his game on the ice. But for this season, McDonagh was tremendous; he and Dan Girardi — before his game began to fall off — were a terrific top-pair, capable of matching up against teams’ top-lines and players. McDonagh was a treat to watch that year, as Ranger fans finally got to see a young defenseman develop into an upper-echelon player on a great team.

Sadly, McDonagh will be remembered for being part of a team that could never win the ultimate prize. But I’ll always remember him for the two-way stud he was, in addition to the balls he showed playing multiple games with a broken foot against the Lightning in 2015. Also, who could forget this gem (S/O to Jesper Fast for that play in the neutral zone too)?

Right Defenseman: 2013–14 Anton Stralman

The most underrated Ranger in the past 20 or so years, Stralman was picked up off the scrapheap during the John Tortorella era and ended up becoming the Rangers’ second-best defenseman during the 2013–14 Cup run. Counting simple stats will never do Stralman justice — he never recorded more than 26 points as a Ranger — but his legacy will be that of a fancy stat darling, a player who always made the right play at the right time.

Stralman carried his pairing with Marc Staal, and was tasked with shutting down Evgeni Malkin’s line when the Rangers played the Penguins during the 2014 playoffs. Stralman was magnificent, as the Rangers overcame a 3–1 deficit to advance to the Conference Final. He was also a great thrower of the hip check, a lost art these days and one of the best hits in the sport:

The Rangers made the wrong choice, extending Dan Girardi and Staal instead of Stralman; it’s a move that submarined two-to-three potential deep playoff runs. But man oh man, when he was here, he was a treat to watch. Now he gets to play with Rangers south and I honestly hope he wins a cup; I’ve got a soft spot for guys who are passed around, find a home, play extremely well and cash in.

Goalie: 2011–12 Henrik Lundqvist

The best player in franchise history. The best goalie to play in the past decade. The King. 2011–12 was not supposed to be a breakthrough season for the Rangers. Sure, they had some solid young players and had just signed Brad Richards to a massive contract, but most were expecting a 4–7 seed for that team. But the Rangers, led by Henrik Lundqvist, finished as the number one seed in the Eastern Conference that season.

Lundqvist was remarkable that year. He posted an outrageous .930 SV%, a 1.97 GAA and won the Vezina Trophy, the only one of his career. (Which, by the way, is a sham. It’s ridiculous he was only able to win one. I guess that’s what happens when everyone is sucking off Carey Price because of the Canadien propaganda networks.) There were some incredible moments from this season, like the triple-overtime game against the Capitals, the marvelous performance against the Senators in the first round and this save on Danny Briere’s penalty shot with 20-or-so seconds left in regulation during the Winter Classic:

Some might say the 2013–14 season should get the nod here, and that’s definitely fair; he was unreal in Games 5–7 against the Pittsburgh Penguins — the Rangers were down 3–1, as the Penguins were the originators of blowing that lead — stopping 102 of the 105 shots he faced. I mean, those are fucking video game numbers. The 2013–14 team had some offensive punch, but this Rangers team, outside of Gaborik and Richards, did not. That’s why 2011–12 gets the nod.

Head Coach: 2013–14 Alain Vigneault

I don’t care what happened the three years before he got fired, or that he didn’t like Pavel Buchnevich. Alain Vigneault is a good hockey coach, and he was exactly what that Rangers team needed. They had talented pieces and he got them to play at a faster pace, with more focus on counter-attacking and shot-quality. Putting together the Mats Zuccarello-Derick Brassard-Benoit Pouliot line is low-key one of the best moves a Rangers coach has ever made. Despite his flaws — and there were many — Vigneault was a great coach at the time and he was the man overseeing the best four-year stretch in almost 30 years. He deserves credit for helping that happen.

That’ll do it for this folks. I hope you enjoyed, and as always, let me know if you think I left anyone off.