The Rangers Finished Last in the East With a Top-Five Power Play. Then They Paid Two Firsts and $77 Million for a Power-Play Specialist.

Pavel Dorofeyev scored 37 goals for Vegas. Nineteen came on the power play, tied for the highest share of any 33-goal scorer, and at 5-on-5 he scored at the same rate as Mika Zibanejad, who the Rangers already pay $8.5 million. New York's problem was even strength. It spent two firsts and $11 million a year on the one thing it was good at.