Mike Sullivan sees two areas of need where Rangers can improve as retool hits offseason

As the Rangers held exit meetings Friday before dispersing for the offseason, the locker room had a much different tone than it did just a few months ago. And compared to the mood in there this time last year, it was unrecognizable.  Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Mollie Walker about the inside buzz on the Rangers.Mika Zibanejad and pending restricted free agent Braden Scheider explicitly proclaimed they want to be here.

Adam Fox, who caused a stir with noncommittal postgame comments in February, sure spoke like he wanted to stay, too.The rookies couldn’t be hungrier for more. Team morale may have improved for now, but only a clear direction forward can sustain it. The Letter 2.0 outlined an obvious approach to any retooling process, citing an intention to target young and well-rounded players while obtaining draft picks and cap space and, in turn, flexibility. Asked what the biggest needs are for the Rangers roster, head coach Mike Sullivan pointed to two aspects. “I think we’ll have some opportunities potentially to add some puck-moving ability on our blue line,” he said.

“I think there might be some opportunities to improve our bottom six at the forward position, where players might be able to play certain roles that could allow us to take some of our core players out of situations.For example, the penalty kill, if we could take Mika and J.T.

[Miller], [Vincent Trocheck] and these guys out of some of those situations.I mean, obviously, they’re very good at it, so we’re not trying to remove that element of their game completely. “But it gives us the ability to manage their minutes, which I think gives them the ability to sustain performance game in, game out.” Partially due to how much they were hampered by injuries, the Rangers had more lines that could be classified as bottom-six units than necessary.

Rookies such as Jaroslav Chmelar and Adam Sykora are expected to jo...