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The 2007–08 New York Rangers season was the National Hockey League franchise's 81st season of play and their 82nd season overall. In 2006–07, an impressive late season run brought the team from 12th to 6th place in the Eastern Conference, but the team ran out of steam in the Conference semi-finals before losing in six games to the Buffalo Sabres. The off-season began in late June with the 2007 NHL Entry Draft in Columbus, Ohio. The Rangers had the 17th overall pick in the first round, yet came away with a steal as Russian superstar Alexei Cherepanov fell for the taking, despite being considered by many rankings to be a top five prospect, and the top European available in the draft. A variety of reasons have been postulated for Cherepanov's drop, most notably, the lack of a new transfer agreement between the National Hockey League and the International Ice Hockey Federation concerning players from Russia.〔Rangers Official Site. "(Rangers Get Cherepanov with First-Round Pick )," June 22, 2007 – accessed July 2, 2007.〕 In the second round, the Rangers selected goaltender Antoine Lafleur from the P.E.I. Rocket of the QMJHL.〔Rangers Official Site. "(Rangers 2007 Draft Picks )," June 23, 2007 – accessed July 4, 2007.〕 Lafleur was ranked #3 among North American goaltenders by NHL Central Scouting. The Rangers made a tremendous splash on July 1, the first day of free agency. Within a 30-minute span on that Sunday evening, the Rangers announced the signings of the two most coveted centers available: Scott Gomez from the rival New Jersey Devils and Chris Drury from the Buffalo Sabres.〔Roarke, Shawn P. "(Rangers Double Up with Gomez, Drury )," NHL.com, July 1, 2007 – accessed July 2, 2007.〕 As both players had worn number 23 with their previous teams, General Manager Glen Sather flipped a puck at their introductory press conference to determine who would wear number 23 on the Rangers; the winner was Drury.〔Rangers Official Site. "(New Rangers Drury, Gomez Get Heroes' Welcome )," July 2, 2007 – accessed July 2, 2007.〕 After these signings, left out of the picture was center Michael Nylander, who had reportedly signed with the Edmonton Oilers,〔"(Report: Oilers Sign Michael Nylander )," TSN.ca, July 2, 2007 – accessed July 2, 2007.〕 but then actually signed with the Washington Capitals.〔"(Capitals Sign Michael Nylander )," TSN.ca, July 2, 2007 – accessed July 2, 2007.〕 In addition, the Rangers also lost Jed Ortmeyer,〔"(Ortmeyer Signs Two-Year Deal with Preds )," TSN.ca, July 2, 2007 – accessed July 2, 2007.〕 Brad Isbister,〔"(Canucks Ink Isbister, Ritchie, Schneider )," TSN.ca, July 3, 2007 – accessed July 3, 2007.〕 Karel Rachunek〔"(Devils Sign Zubrus, Rachunek )," TSN.ca, July 3, 2007 – accessed July 4, 2007.〕 and Kevin Weekes〔"(Devils Sign Weekes to Back Up Brodeur )," TSN.ca, July 5, 2007 – accessed July 5, 2007.〕 to the free agency market, the latter two signing with the rival New Jersey Devils. The Rangers re-signed a number of their own free agents, including Jason Strudwick,〔Rangers Official Site. "(Strudwick Returning to Rangers for 2007–08 )," July 2, 2007 – accessed July 9, 2007.〕 Petr Prucha〔"(Rangers Re-Sign Forward Prucha )," TSN.ca, July 5, 2007 – accessed July 5, 2007.〕 and Brendan Shanahan.〔"(Rangers Agree to Terms with Shanahan )," TSN.ca, July 10, 2007 – accessed July 10, 2007.〕 Goaltender Henrik Lundqvist and forward Marcel Hossa had been designated for salary arbitration, but both signed contracts before reaching their respective hearings.〔"(Rangers, Lundqvist Agree to Terms )," TSN.ca, July 11, 2007 – accessed July 11, 2007.〕〔(Rangers Avoid Arbitration with Hossa )," TSN.ca, July 31, 2007 – accessed July 31, 2007.〕 Sean Avery did go through arbitration and was awarded a one-year deal worth $1.9 million.〔"(Arbitrator Awards Avery $1.9–Million )," TSN.ca, August 1, 2007 – accessed August 1, 2007.〕 The multitude of high profile free agent signings in July left the Rangers dangerously close to the league's $50.3 million salary cap. This effectively forced the Rangers to deal Matt Cullen and his $2.875 million per year cap number back to the Carolina Hurricanes.〔"(Hurricanes Acquire Cullen from Rangers )," TSN.ca, July 17, 2007 – accessed July 17, 2007.〕 At the start of the season, the Rangers total cap number was over the league maximum, but player bonuses can be deferred to the next season if it causes a team to exceed the upper limit of the salary cap, so the Rangers were in compliance.〔"(NHL Team Salaries: New York Rangers )," nhlnumbers.com – accessed November 13, 2007.〕 On April 3, 2008, the New York Rangers clinched a playoff berth for the third consecutive season in a 3–0 win against the rival Islanders. ==Regular season== The Rangers had the most shutouts of all 30 teams in the League, with 12.〔http://www.hockey-reference.com/teams/NYR/2008.html〕〔http://www.hockey-reference.com/leagues/NHL_2008_games.html〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「2007–08 New York Rangers season」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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