What Rangers Fans Should Focus On For the Rest of the Season

If you are a New York Rangers fan, you probably want this season to end more than anything.

As of this writing (Thursday, February 26), the Blueshirts are last in the Metropolitan Division, last in the Eastern Conference, and 30th in the NHL with a record of 22-29-6 for 50 points. It is easy to see that this team has no shot of making the Stanley Cup Playoffs this season, which is why their fans just want this season to end.

With that said, there are still 25 games to play. As such, there are a few things that this team's fans should be keeping an eye on as the team looks to close out its season in a somewhat respectful manner.

For starters, fans are probably wondering who is going to be traded at this year's NHL trade deadline on Friday, March 6. There are a lot of names being tossed around, including Vincent Trocheck, Alexis Lafreniere, Vladislav Gavrikov, Mika Zibanejad, and Braden Schneider.

In looking at the names mentioned above, losing Trocheck and Zibanejad would certainly hurt the team's offense. Trocheck currently has 36 points (12 goals and 24 assists) in 43 games, while Zibanejad currently leads the team in scoring with 52 points (23 goals and 29 assists) in 56 games.

Gavrikov's name being mentioned is also quite peculiar, considering he signed a seven-year, $49 million contract with the club this past summer as an unrestricted free agent. With that said, on February 13th, former NHLer Mike Rupp said on the Daily Faceoff Podcast that he heard rumors that Gavrikov "felt that this wasn't what he'd signed up for".

The team's fans should also be watching to see how All-Star and franchise goaltender Igor Shesterkin plays after returning from a lower-body injury. Before getting hurt, Shesterkin was having a solid season as he was 17-12-04 with a 2.45 goals-against average, a .913 save percentage, and one shutout.

The truth of the matter is that as soon as Shesterkin went down with an injury, the rest of the team went down with him. In Shesterkin, the Rangers have a goalie who can win games on his own, make big saves when his team needs one, and keep his team in games every night.

With him out of the lineup, the Rangers lost that. Backup goaltender Jonathan Quick struggled and did not provide the goaltending that was needed to keep this team afloat while Shesterkin was recovering.

Speaking of injuries, fans should keep an eye on defenseman Adam Fox when he returns from his injury. When healthy, Fox is a steady presence on the blueline who can produce, break up plays, be smart with the puck, and jumpstart the offense.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, fans want the season to end because they want the team's general manager, Chris Drury, to get fired. Drury has not done anything to right the team's ship after last season's debacle, and the roster he constructed simply cannot win consistently enough to be considered a viable contender.

There may not be a lot to look forward to if you are a fan of the Blueshirts. With that said, that does not mean that there are not things to watch, look out for, and observe before this dreadful season concludes.