New York Rangers Stanley Cup winning goalie stays positive despite recent outlook of the team
Photo credit: Blue Line Station
Former Stanley Cup-winning goalie Mike Richter knows a thing or two about winning, he did a bunch of it with Mark Messier. He let us in on his perspective of the 2024-2025 Rangers season, and it's hopeful.
The New York Rangers of 2024-2025 aren't unique in the struggles they've faced this year.
Teams before have failed to live up to expectations and fallen from grace. But for this season's Rangers, they still have a shot at making it into the Stanley Cup playoffs, if they continue to play to the best of their abilities.
Mike Richter won a Stanley Cup as the netminder for the Rangers during the 1994 season, with Mark Messier leading the way.
His experience has given him a brighter outlook for this year's team than the rest of us.
«First and foremost, this adversity and these challenges galvanize you and make you a better player and a better organization,» Richter told Forever Blueshirts. «That's what pro sports is about - find a way - because it's the best against the best, the best players in the world, and nobody's giving up an inch easily.»
The team this season started off with a terrible 4-15-0 stretch and would have to dig themselves out of the hole week by week.
«We had some injuries and didn't play our best. We had a target on our back. We were a team that people got up for, it was a different approach others teams had to us. It was a different road to get to the playoffs for us. And we had to learn from it,» Richter explained. «The biggest lesson was little things matter. Attention to detail. The best organizations have that, and we had to learn that
They would, however, hearken back to the 1992-1993 team of Rangers who were considered Stanley Cup contenders but would fail to see the season through with a Stanley Cup.
This only a season after Mark Messier won a Hart Trophy, and the Rangers won a President's Trophy.
They would finish last in the Patrick Division that year, completely failing to achieve the goals for that year.
But anything and everything that could go wrong did for the Rangers that season. From injuries to locker-room issues to a coaching change. Heck, even Messier - yes The Captain - was loudly booed off the ice in his final home game of the 1992-93 season at Madison Square Garden.
It would take tough-as-nails head coach Mike Keenan to turn the team's fortunes around in 1993-1994.
Richter feels optimistic about this Rangers team though.
«They've positioned themselves for great things, but no one's giving it to them. They've got to figure that out as a group.,» Richter stated. «They're a dangerous team. I don't think there's anybody in the East that wants to see them in the playoffs.»
It seems they may not feel as confident about their game as Richter does, and they don't see how dangerous they could be if they weren't acting so rudderless half of the time.
Perhaps they could use Richter behind the bench to fire them up?
Tonight they will need all of their wits about them as they take on Auston Matthews and the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Previously on NYRangersInsider
MUST READ
