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Jeff Gorton on Rangers’ future: Trade deadline, goaltenders, playoff push

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — It hasn’t been perfect, but Rangers general manager Jeff Gorton is pretty happy with the 15-11-3 record that the youngest team in the league has put together thus far. Yet that has not clouded a sober focus on the rebuild, with Gorton knowing there are going to be some very difficult decisions coming up before the Feb. 24 trade deadline, and the future remains brighter than the present.

“Everything becomes clearer when you get closer to the deadlines, no matter what the deadline is,” Gorton said here before Monday’s practice, his team preparing to face the woeful Kings in Los Angeles on Tuesday night. “We’re encouraged with how we’re playing. We know that we’ll have difficult decisions to make going forward.





“Let’s see what happens in the next couple months.”

Besides the future of pending unrestricted free agent winger Chris Kreider, the biggest question Gorton faces is with his goaltending. The Rangers are in the enviable situation of having an overcrowding between the pipes, as Alexandar Georgiev has played outstanding — notching two shutouts in his past four starts, including the 5-0 win in Las Vegas on Sunday.

The 23-year-old Bulgarian has now played 57 career games, and when he gets to No. 60, he can no longer be sent to AHL Hartford without clearing waivers (essentially meaning he can’t be sent down). But without hesitation, Gorton said “that’s not something I’m thinking about” and reinforced his confidence in the young netminder.





“Obviously Georgie is a big part of our team,” Gorton said. “There’s a lot written about who’s going to be here, and waivers and all that stuff. We’re just worried about the team playing well, and let events play themselves out.”

Georgiev could be a very attractive piece as the deadline approaches — and the Maple Leafs are such an obvious landing spot that it’s hard to miss — and that would create room for Igor Shesterkin, the long-considered heir apparent to Henrik Lundqvist who is excelling with the Wolf Pack during his first year in North America.

“Like we tell all of them, play well and then we’ll have to make decisions down the road,” Gorton said. “Igor has played really well, but it’s still pretty young in his North American pro career. But all signs are good. He’s been a real competitor. His teammates like him a lot. He’s done everything we’ve asked. I would expect he continue to do that and understand [to] wait for his opportunity.”





As a whole, the Rangers organization is trying to show patience with this rebuild. Coach David Quinn’s team is constantly outshot — “we’re a difficult team to gauge from a shots standpoint because we don’t take them,” Quinn said — but they have shown some mental resiliency, along with the ability to bounce back from bad losses.

So with Lundqvist going back into the net on Tuesday night after dealing with a minor back issue and backing up Georgiev for three straight, there actually are expectations for the team to win.

“I think part of developing is learning how to win,” Quinn said. “I think it’s very important for us to make the playoffs.”

This, of course, is not a declaration that the Rangers are all-in on this year. Gorton is still going to approach the deadline looking for deals that are going to make them a perennial Stanley Cup contender, not just a team that makes the playoffs this season.





It is coming up on two years since The Letter declaring the rebuild was sent out, and things are progressing just about as the organization would have hoped. Quinn is trying to drive home accountability without being overly reactionary with the inevitable mistakes of such a young club.

“We’re going to let people play through some stretches they deserve to play through, especially these young players,” Quinn said. “If they’re making mistakes and have the right intentions, they’re going to continue to play. If they make mistakes where they’re lazy or their intentions aren’t in the right place, they’ll sit. So it’s a balancing act.”

Same for Gorton, balancing the promising start to this season with focus on the future. Big decisions loom before the deadline, and the goaltending situation has to be figured out. But these are good problems to have.

“Like everybody else in the organization, we’re all excited that our team is playing pretty well and had a pretty good start,” Gorton said. “We’ll see how we go forward. But so far, so good.”





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