Rangers’ core has run its course as tough Jacob Trouba, Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad decisions loom

It hurts because the Rangers came so far and came so close, but we all know that they really did not come that close at all.

That’s the crux of the matter following a series in which the Blueshirts were dominated in five of six games and were able to keep it respectable only because of Igor Shesterkin’s remarkable work in net.

That’s the truth that the hierarchy will be obligated to confront as soon as this week as president-GM Chris Drury and the staff plot their off-season course following one of the great regular seasons in franchise history.

I do not believe the Rangers can run it back again. I believe that the evidence gathered from this conference final defeat to the Panthers on top of the evidence gleaned from the six-game conference final defeat to the Lightning two years ago frames the case that the core has gone as far as it can and there must be essential changes to the group.

I wish I didn’t feel that way, I wish I thought that bulking up in support of the core would constitute the bridge from here to a title, but that’s kind of backwards, isn’t it? Nobody wins the Stanley Cup by leading from behind. Tell me the last time a fourth-liner or a third-pair defenseman won the Conn Smythe.

There are going to be some hard conversations this summer as the Rangers seek to transform themselves into more of a playoff-centric team, even if it comes at the expense of some fancy regular-season numbers. When a group keeps telling you who they are, believe them.

The most difficult conversations will concern the futures of three of the Rangers’ foundational letter-wearers who go by the names Jacob Trouba, Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad, all of whom had inferior series against Florida.

Trouba, beaten wide by speed on what turned out to be the Game 6-winning goal to cap a series in which he was caught out of position and gave up the puck repeatedly. Yes, on a team that was punched in the mouth by the brazen Cats, Trouba’s physicality is essential but his lack of discipline was at times striking.

The captain wants it. He cares. He’s been universally lauded for his leadership. But No. 8’s no-move clause converts to a 15-team no-trade list this summer on a contract that has two years to run at an annual $8 million cap hit. There is some irony, don’t you think, that a team that lacks physicality might trade the most physical player on the team?

But Trouba is 30 now and would likely report to camp as the third-pair right defenseman behind both Adam Fox and Braden Schneider, the latter of whom ascended during the tournament and is likely to open 2024-25 as the right side of a shutdown pair. Alexis Lafreniere had a loud breakout series, but Schneider’s was equally impressive, albeit achieved in a quieter manner.

Kreider, 33, is in the same position as Trouba, his no-move converting to a 15-team no-trade list on July 1 while operating on a contract that has three years to go at an equitable $6.5M annual cap hit. Moving Kreider, a Ranger since 2012, would represent a massive move. He has evolved into one of the league’s great goal-scorers and an elite net-front presence on the power play and an explosive penalty killer. But if the Rangers believe they are in need of a dramatic makeover, it’s Kreider who would be able to command the most in return.