With coach’s future still in doubt, goal of making playoffs a clear one

Despite exit interviews with management and end-of-theseason media availability on Monday, there is still no clarity on the No.1 question heading into the Rangers’ offseason: Will David Quinn continue as head coach?

For neither Quinn nor new president and general manager Chris Drury spoke to reporters during the annual breakup day, leaving the players in the uneasy position of fielding inquiries about how they would personally evaluate the third-year coach.

Naturally, veterans and rookies alike sang Quinn’s praises. Mika Zibanejad touched on the process of “trying to figure each other out” in the beginning of Quinn’s tenure, when he signed a five-year deal with the organization in May 2018. And Alexis Lafreniere discussed Quinn’s influence on how he adjusted to the NHL this season.

“He helped me a lot, for sure,” Lafreniere said. “Just getting here as a 19-year-old, you need people to help you and he was one of the [people] who really helped me throughout the season.”

During his introductory press conference on Thursday, Drury declined to comment on where Quinn stood with the organization. All the newly appointed head honcho said was that evaluations would begin this week.

The Rangers have gone 9687-25 with Quinn behind the bench. After the organization failed to qualify for the playoffs for a fourth straight season, Quinn only has a three-game sweep in the qualifying round of the 2019-20 expanded postseason on his

NHL résumé.

While Quinn was surely a topic of conversation with players, it was obvious that so were the playoffs. Competing in the postseason next year was something nearly every player made a point to mention on Monday.

There is a clear consensus among the Rangers that a playoff berth is expected in 2021-22.

“Our attitude, starting right now when we leave the rink, is we’re making the playoffs next year,” Chris Kreider said. “That’s our goal and everything that we do, everything that we work toward over the course of the summer going into the preseason is going to be built toward that one goal.

“Talk is cheap. It’s something that we’ve talked about and said that we want to do it for a while. And now, we’ve got to act on it and get ready through the course of this summer to show up and be ready to do that.”

As for this season, which players described as bizarre, crazy and unique, the Rangers still feel there were positives to take away from it. From their ability to block out the abundance of outside noise, to the developmental strides they took as one of the youngest teams in the league, the

team seemed proud of itself.

However, even though Drury said making the playoffs wasn’t necessarily the expectation, the Blueshirts were still visibly irked that their season ended on May 8.

“Everyone comes in with the expectation of A. Trying to win a Stanley Cup, or B. At least making the playoffs,” Adam Fox said. “I know we are a young and somewhat inexperienced team, but I don’t think that changes people’s mindset going into the season and trying to win hockey games. It’s definitely frustrating for guys in the locker room not to be in the playoffs and have the season end.

“I think our goal for every season is to come in and try to compete for a Stanley Cup. I think guys in the room understand that. Going into next year, that’ll be the expectation.”