Kevin Allen: Five reasons why the New York Rangers were first team eliminated Give the Carolina Hurricanes most of the credit for sweeping the Rangers, but New York was not the same team it was in February.

Agree on your outlook here. I believe that someone in the front office decided this was Lundqvist’s farewell tour. He’s been the King but time to move team forward.

Kevin Allen: spot-on as usual. Lots of off-season storylines for this Rangers team including a possible Henrik Lundqvist buyout or Georgiev trade, Jesper Fast as a UFA, and lots of RFA's,(at least one of which could be traded). I think the big story that emerged in this series is the one Kevin Allen highlighted. The Ryan Spooner for Ryan Strome was a steal and Strome found great chemistry with Panerin in the regular season, but he's not a 2nd line center and Chytil isn't ready for that role yet.

And now they are rewarded