Not really. They should have a strong top two lines. Their depth is going to be hard. Shesterskin is good enough to contend every year. They DESPERATELY need Kakko and Lafreniere to develop more though. If those two are at their peak now, they probably are screwed.

True

They won’t. Othmann will most likely be a bust as well

If that occurs, this should be case study #1 on why front offices should NOT expedite a rebuild. They had some unique circumstances of perceived high value players deliberately making their way to their org. too (Panarin, Fox, Trouba). While I think they are contenders for a few more years, they could also be pretenders without Lafreniere and Kakko further developing. Should have used at least another year or two of adding quality young players.

Problem was the crappy development of guys in the system. Kravtsov, Andersson, Lundkvist, Jones, Laf, Kakko, Gropp, Mcilrath and the list goes on and on. Development of players need to be a priority for the Rangers cause it’s been **** for like 15-20 years since I’ve been watching.

That's why volume matters though. Every team has draft busts. The high quantity overcomes that. Rangers didn't get a high enough quantity to overcome the busts as they didn't rebuild for long enough. Now they have limited depth as their prospects are aging out of the system and there isn't enough coming up to replace them. Though ultimately, if Kratsov, Kakko, and Lafreniere developed better it would look much more promising. There's still potential for Kakko and Lafreniere.