Rangers’ youngsters ‘hungry’ to stick after making most of late-season opportunity

(Danny Wild-Imagn Images)

1 / 2

Rangers’ youngsters ‘hungry’ to stick after making most of late-season opportunity

1 / 2

Rangers’ youngsters ‘hungry’ to stick after making most of late-season opportunity

2 / 2

Rangers’ youngsters ‘hungry’ to stick after making most of late-season opportunity

(Danny Wild-Imagn Images)

While it was overall a disappointing season for the Rangers, entering a retool did give them the opportunity to see some of the organization’s young talent down the stretch.

New York remained in the basement of the Eastern Conference, but they actually ended up playing some of their best hockey with the youngsters on the ice.

Head coach Mike Sullivan certainly liked what he saw.

“We’ve made strides,” he said in his exit day interview. “Look at the first 20 games, they were playing the game we set out to play and our record wasn’t a reflection on how well the team was playing -- the middle part is where we faltered off.

“But I think we made a lot of strides along the way. We had some young guys come into our lineup later on and I thought they played extremely well for us, so from that standpoint, I think we made a lot of progress.”

Jaroslav Chmelar, Adam Sykora, and Dylan Garand were three of the biggest standouts.

Chmelar and Sykora helped make up one of the Rangers’ most impressive late-season lines, sliding in with Noah Laba to bring a combination of spark and speed to the bottom-six.

The best friends combined to produce 10 points and 73 hits.

“It was one of my goals to get here and stay here,” Sykora said. “It was one of my most successful seasons, so not I just have to elevate it and keep going.”

“To get that extended opportunity to play, it’s been awesome,” Chmelar added. “I’m as hungry as I’ve ever been -- I’m going to work my ass off to get here next year.”

As far as Garand, he only saw three starts, but certainly impressed as well.

The 23-year-old netminder looked calm cool and collected as he won two of the three appearances, allowing just four goals on a total of 91 shots.

He’s in good position to compete for the backup spot with Jonathan Quick retiring.

“For me, a big thing is just staying present,” Garand said. “I can only do what I’m doing today, but I honestly just believe in myself so much, and that’s a big thing in this league and -- whatever you believe in yourself you can do, it’s true.

“I have a lot of belief in myself, I know what I am capable of doing, and I know how hard I am working day in and day out -- I’m hungry to be here and I think it’s just an exciting opportunity moving forward.”