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You 'Orns!
You're partly right: the Rangers return to respectability has a lot to do with Lundqvist. This team wouldn't have made the playoffs without him (though it must be noted that there were several years between Richter's enforced retirement and Lundqvist's arrival in the NHL).I don't know, the Rangers return to respectability has also coincided with Henrik Lundqvist's arrival, which has given them all-star workhorse goaltending year in and year out the way Cujo did for the Blues, Oilers and Leafs. The Rangers are drafting better these days but their tendency to purchase high price UFA talent is the same as when Richter was a Ranger. Seems like the big difference is a goalie who can be the glue to hold things together.
The team is not run the same way at all anymore, however. If you look at the Rangers current roster, you see that its made up largely of young players brought up within the system. They've made some bad free-agent signings, but the new CBA has basically forced the Rangers to strategize. They've drafted a lot better, and we're finally starting to see the results. There's a lot less noise coming from management about the need to fill this hole or that hole via free agency now that guys like Staal, Callahan and Dubinsky are stepping up, and there's a genuine prospect pool in place.
Despite the free agent slip-ups, there's been a rhyme and a reason to the way the Rangers have been run since the lockout, which there never really was before.