Ex-captain on Rangers retool: ‘honest assessment … then root like bastard’
One major reason why Dave Maloney is so beloved by the Blueshirts Faithful is his unabashed love for the New York Rangers. His insightful and passionate takes about the Rangers resonate throughout his longtime role as an MSG Network analyst.
That fire was lit more than 50 years ago, when the Rangers selected the heart-and-soul defenseman in the first round (No. 14 overall) of the 1974 NHL Draft. He debuted with the Rangers the next season and played four games as an 18-year-old. In 1978, Maloney was the youngest captain in franchise history, named not long after after his 22nd birthday, and led the Rangers to the Stanley Cup Final in 1979, where they lost in five games to the Montreal Canadiens.
Only eight Rangers defensemen recorded more than Maloney’s 295 points in franchise history. His 605 games played also are ninth-most among Rangers defensemen. For more than two decades, he’s worked Rangers games on both the radio and TV side.
Yes, Maloney bleeds blue. You can hear it these days during the broadcasts — the jubilation and angst, depending on what just happened or the overall state of the team. But it’s always an honest, informed, and extremely passionate take.
So, it feels like a perfect time for the straight shooter to offer up where he thinks the Rangers currently stand during their stated retool amid a flurry of recent offseason moves.
“I think they’ve done a pretty good job,” Maloney told Forever Blueshirts on the Rink Rap podcast this week. “The reality is I go into each season and say how do [the Rangers] match up to the top teams? If you’re realistic, and even with that eternal optimism, you’ve got to come to an honest assessment and go from there, and then root like a bastard!”
Yep, that sounds like Captain Dave.
But coming off a last-place finish in the Eastern Conference, how do the Rangers stack up against the Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes, even after adding young stud sniper Pavel Dorofeyev and fortifying their defense corps with a pair of significant additions in Sean Durzi and Marcus Pettersson?
“I always say there’s only one team that starts at the starting line that doesn’t have to answer to anybody, and this year it’ll be Carolina,” Maloney explained. “Now to varying degrees down to 32 you have a lot more things to answer to, and there are 16 teams that don’t make [the playoffs], that’s 50 percent of the League don’t get a chance.
“Not to kill the dream of winning the Stanley Cup, but how close are [the Rangers] when you go down the roster in experience and makeup to Carolina? And that’s OK, it’s where you’re at. I think it’s fair to assess where you are, make your changes, and just go play.”
Dave Maloney believes ‘bar is pretty low’ for Rangers next season
So, if it doesn’t sound like Maloney is overly optimistic about the Rangers playoff chances, much less Stanley Cup aspirations, next season, well, that’s probably a fair take.
“Finishing 30th overall, the bar is pretty low,” he said about 2026-27 expectations.
But it’s not all doom and gloom. To start, Maloney believes the Rangers have the right guy coaching team.
“There’s an observation out there that maybe the coach was the issue [last season],” Maloney offered. “Let me tell you something, that season, which cratered to where it got to, held some sense of responsibility and character and compete because of Mike Sullivan and his staff. He was terrific.
“By no stretch of anyone’s imagination was Mike Sullivan or his staff an issue.”
Using a comparison, and not throwing a dagger at then-coach Peter Laviolette, Maloney shared his take on the Rangers of 2024-25 and last season, each of which missed the postseason.
“The most disappointing season wasn’t last year. To me, the year before was a disaster,” he explained. “There were so many things going on. They had no business having that December of 2024 with the roster they had, winning four games (actually, 3-10-0). NO BUSINESS!”
Last season’s issues, in Maloney’s opinion, had more to do with “their start at home” and significant injuries to several key players, most notably Adam Fox and Igor Shesterkin.
“You can only put so many fingers in the dyke. You need your best players to win. And the Rangers were so leveraged to those two. And J.T. Miller was banged up all season.”
So, perhaps, there is reason for Maloney and Rangers fans to be somewhat optimistic next season. Though remember that after these past two dismal finishes, “the bar was re-set pretty low.”
