GREENBURGH Philadelphia Flyers Hats Authentic , N.Y. (AP) After missing the playoffs for the first time in eight years, the New York Rangers are going all in on a makeover.Several star players were jettisoned at the trade deadline for youngsters and draft picks, there’s tough decisions to be made with free agents, and they’re seeking a new coach to lead the way.”We all know there’s going to be some changes during the summer,” veteran goalie Henrik Lundqvist said.”Part of me is a little excited about what’s ahead. I hope we take some good steps in the right direction. … Whoever is going to be here, we are going to compete and be sure to have a better year.”After a slow start to the season, the Rangers picked up their play but injuries to key players such as Chris Kreider, Kevin Shattenkirk, Kevin Hayes, Marc Staal and Mika Zibanejad hampered their ability to gain some consistency.Then, the retooling became a certainty in early February when general manager Jeff Gorton announced the team’s moves at the trade deadline would be with an eye to the future and not to save the season.Weeks later, Michael Grabner was dealt to New Jersey, Rick Nash to Boston, and J.T. Miller and captain Ryan McDonagh to Tampa Bay – with all going to teams that are in the playoffs.The Rangers closed the season losing eight of their final 10 and finished last in the Metropolitan Division – 20 points behind the Devils and Columbus Blue Jackets, for the two wild-card spots in the Eastern Conference.”It’s been a tough season for everyone – fans, players, the whole team organization,” said Mats Zuccarello, whose first year in the NHL was right after the Rangers last missed the playoffs in 2010.”I’ve never been in this situation before. It’s been a tough season mentally, lost a lot of good friends, but at the end of the day right now it’s over.”The lost season and resulting pivot to a youth movement cost coach Alain Vigneault his job when he was fired hours after a season-ending 5-0 loss at Philadelphia last Saturday night. The Rangers went 226-147-37 in five years under Vigneault, with a run to the Stanley Cup Final in his first season in 2013-14.”We understand we didn’t get the job done Custom Philadelphia Flyers Jerseys ,” Lundqvist said. ”When that happens, changes are going to happen. We had players leave, now coaches leave. We hoped and we expected more at the start of the season. Things happened along the way. … We were just not able to recover and changes were made and it was a tough stretch after that.”Gorton said he expects to interview five to 10 candidates for the head coach vacancy, and will consider anyone with coaching experience at any level.”We’re looking for somebody with a progressive mind, that’s thinking the game, that’s watching the game and seeing what’s going to happen next,” he said. ”Just a good person, a good leader, somebody we can work with and develop young players.”Some other things to know as the Rangers head into the offseason:YOUTH MOVEMENTThe moves at the trade deadline gave the team a chance to look at some younger players.Ryan Spooner, acquired from Boston in the deal for Nash, made the biggest impact with four goals and 12 assists in 20 games – nearly matching his production with the Bruins (nine goals, 16 assists).Teenage first-round picks Lias Andersson (one goal, one assist in seven games) and Filip Chytil (one goal, two assists in nine) were also given chances to play down the stretch and could make the team out of training camp in the fall.FREE-AGENT FRENZY?The Rangers could choose to hasten their rebuild with some moves in free agency, but that option may be hampered due to tough decisions to make with some of their own players.Spooner is among the team’s eight restricted free agents, along with Jimmy Vesey, Kevin Hayes, Brady Skjei, Vladislav Namestnikov, Rob O’Gara, John Gilmour and Ryan Sproul. Also, Paul Carey www.officialpenguinsproshop.com , Cody McLeod, David Desharnais and backup goalie Ondrej Pavelec are unrestricted free agents and will not likely be re-signed.WATCH THE DRAFT BOARDThe Rangers have stockpiled draft picks this year with seven selections in the first three rounds, including three first-rounders. This will make it two straight years with multiple picks in the first round after four straight years without any.Unless they win the draft lottery, The Rangers aren’t going to get Rasmus Dahlin. However, other strong defensemen that could be available include Adam Boqvist, Evan Bouchard and Noah Dobson.NEED TO HEAL UPIn addition to the injuries that cost players time during the season, Zuccarello and Lundqvist both said they have been dealing with knee injuries throughout the season.Zuccarello said he just had some work done on his knee and will rest up for three to four weeks. Lundqvist plans to address his issue with doctors in the coming days so he can ”do all the right things to be 100 percent when I start training and preparation for next season.”—Follow Vin Cherwoo at www.twitter.com/VinCherwooAP— WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) The Vegas Golden Knights are going to the Stanley Cup Final – with a chip on their shoulder.”Everybody on this team has something to prove,” Ryan Reaves said. ”We call ourselves `The Golden Misfits’ for a reason. We’re doing a good job of proving everybody wrong.”Reaves scored the winning goal, Marc-Andre Fleury made 31 saves and the Golden Knights beat the Winnipeg Jets 2-1 on Sunday to wrap up the Western Conference final in five games.”It’s insane,” said defenseman Deryk Engelland, who grabbed the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl after the final buzzer to celebrate with his teammates. ”Your goal is always to make the playoffs. But if I were to guess I would be sitting here doing this right now, you would be a little skeptical at the time.”Alex Tuch also scored for the Knights. They lost Game 1 in Winnipeg before winning four straight to become the first expansion team since the 1968 St. Louis Blues – when the six initial expansion teams were put alone in the West – to get to the final.”It was their time,” Winnipeg captain Blake Wheeler said. ”They’re just playing really well.”Vegas will meet Tampa Bay or Washington in the final. Tampa Bay leads the Eastern final 3-2, with Game 6 set for Monday night in Washington.The Knights, whose jaw-dropping inaugural 109-point campaign included a Pacific Division crown, swept Los Angeles in the first round, and knocked out San Jose in six games in the second.”All those records and everything, it doesn’t mean anything if you’re not the last team standing,” Vegas center Jonathan Marchessault said. ”I think we have a lot of gas left.”Josh Morrissey scored for the Jets, and Connor Hellebuyck made 30 saves.”It’s very difficult to find that positive feeling at this moment,” Jets coach Paul Maurice said.Reaves Pittsburgh Penguins T-Shirts Authentic , the bruising Winnipeg native acquired from Pittsburgh before to the trade deadline in February, snapped a 1-1 tie with 6:39 left in the second period when he tipped Luca Sbisa’s point shot past Hellebuyck. Reeves last goal before Sunday came 3 1/2 months ago while with Pittsburgh.”The guys that weren’t playing, myself included, we stayed ready,” Reaves said. ”We had fun while we were doing it, but we worked hard so when we were called upon we were ready to go.”Fleury stopped 151 of 161 shots in the series, and allowed just six goals the rest of the way after giving up four in the opener.”Everybody’s stepping up at different times,” Fleury said.Winnipeg got a power play early in the third, but couldn’t muster much of anything. The Knights smothered much of the Jets’ attack for the next 10 minutes, with Hellebuyck having to come up with big stops on William Karlsson and Eric Haula to keep his team within one.The Jets pressed with under 4 minutes to go, with Fleury stopping captain Blake Wheeler on the doorstep, but it wasn’t nearly enough as the Knights closed out their third straight series on the road.The Jets had the NHL’s second-best record with 114 points in the regular season. They advanced to the first conference final in city’s history with a five-game victory over the Minnesota Wild in the opening round before topping the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Nashville Predators in Game 7 on the road.The usual raucous, white-clad crowd at Bell MTS Place were silenced just 5:11 into Game 5 when Tuch jumped on Morrissey’s turnover and fired his sixth past Hellebuyck.The Jets were tentative to start and it got worse after the opener as Vegas dominated the next couple of shifts, forcing some good saves from Hellebuyck before Winnipeg got its feet moving.After being outshot 7-1 in the first 7 minutes, the Jets finally pushed back and turned the tide with the next nine attempts on goal, culminating with Morrissey making amends for his early gaffe with 2:46 left in the period.Bryan Little won a faceoff in the offensive zone straight back to second-year defenseman, who blasted his first career playoff goal past Fleury’s glove.One of Winnipeg’s downfalls in the series through four games was an inability to maintain momentum. The Knights scored within 1:28 of a Jets’ goal in each of the first four games – a crushing 12 seconds after Winnipeg tied Game 3, and an equally gut-wrenching 43 seconds after the Jets knotted Game 4 – but they managed to take the game to the locker rooms tied 1-1.Both teams had chances in the second period before Reaves made it 2-1, with Jets center Mathieu Perrault just missing on a pass from Little that had too much speed.Right after Reaves scored the second playoff goal of his career – and first since 2015 with St. Louis – Winnipeg’s Nikolaj Ehlers rang a shot off the post on Fleury.NOTES: The Jets were an NHL-best 32-7-2 at home in the regular season, but were a pedestrian 5-4 in the playoffs, including losses in four of their last five post-season outings. …. Winnipeg had won a combined 13 straight at home before dropping a 2-1 decision in Game 4 against Nashville.—