Pre-season is supposed to build confidence in your team. The new guys start to fit in, training is in full swing, maybe some new coaching systems are being learned, and lines are figured out. In the Rangers case, almost all of the coaching staff is new along with head coach Peter Laviolette. So there is a brand new system to learn and become comfortable with for the entire team. That game plan is reportedly to be more aggressive.

Now going 1-5 in the pre-season is not a confidence builder to fans like myself. They beat the Islanders once and that’s it. Game 2 against the Devils was horribly embarrassing. They let 3 powerplay goals in. Special teams have been horrible. 1-20 on the powerplay if I remember tonight’s game against Boston correctly.

It’s hard not to be in a panic right now. The whole “pre-season doesn’t matter” saying is largely true as the games don’t count. But there was little to like in these 2 weeks of games. Yes, most of the line-ups were temporary with all of the rookies taking a spin, but at the end, you expect to and need to see some kind of progress and gelling as a team. Do you know who is doing that? The Devils. The Rangers aren’t. The Devils are in the same division and they are going to be better than last year. The time of the Devils being little more than a speed bump for the Rangers is over.

The last game wasn’t horrible against Boston but losing a 1 goal lead is bad. Letting in another powerplay goal is bad. Not scoring on the power play is bad. A bunch of posts were hit and the defense wasn’t embarrassing, as seen by the penalty kill shutting down Boston proper, twice. Panarin, Kreider, and Zibanejad need to show the hell up and do it quickly and consistently.

There were flashes of greatness, like from Will Cuylle and Kaapo Kakko. Blake Wheeler, Brennan Othmann (will he make opening night?), Nick Bonino, and Barclay Goodrow all come to mind in doing something notable. But Chytil is still hurt and we can throw Lafreniere onto the pile of “wtf is going on?”

The team should be better than last year. There’s a lot of talent that can play scary good. The new players should make a positive impact. The team has to be better because the competition has gotten better league-wide. If the Rangers don’t take the steps forward that they need to, they are going to get run over. Like, last to second to last in the division. That’s kiss the playoffs goodbye. Coach Laviolette and company have a lot to work on over the next week. Buffalo is up first and that is going to be a statement game.