Development camp opening a day after free agency provides the perfect juxtaposition to explain why the Rangers and GM Chris Drury took the road they did on Saturday.
To a large extent, yes, of course the cycle of flat caps produced by the CBA extension forged during the pandemic was the most prominent factor in the Blueshirts’ spending restraint. The proliferation of no-move contracts among the veteran core also played a role in Drury’s limited maneuverability.
But an equally critical reason the Rangers were forced to add multiple veterans to primarily fill roles on the bottom six for less than a $1 million cap hit apiece is because the feeder system of young players who made their unofficial debuts at previous development camps has malfunctioned.
Ideally, the Blueshirts would have a handful of 25-to-27-year-olds holding and competing for support roles. They would have come out of the drafts from 2014 through 2016. But guess what? There’s no one there.
