TARRYTOWN - For a fan base that's starving for a championship, it's easy to look at the Rangers relatively quiet offseason and conclude that they didn't do enough.

That concern may prove valid, but any pessimism as the 2024-25 Blueshirts prepare to open training camp Thursday at the MSG Training Center should be met with an important caveat: This remains a damn good team with stars at every position.

They wouldn't have won the Presidents' Trophy and reached the Eastern Conference Final had that not been the case. And while the lack of roster turnover has drawn understandable criticism, it's viewed as a positive by those on the inside.

That's especially true for head coach Peter Laviolette, who's entering his second season on the Madison Square Garden bench with the luxury of a battle-tested group that knows his system and coaching style.

"There's been some really good continuity here for a few years, even before I got here," Laviolette pointed out at Wednesday's opening press conference. "There are a lot of pieces that have been in place and have played together for, not just last year and this year, but maybe three or four years. And, so, I do think that there's a core group that's been here and has established themselves."

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"It's a great group to work with," he added. "I’m excited to get going again."

The coach believes the final step toward winning a title won't require a total makeover or change in philosophy, but rather taking the identity they formed last season and doubling down on it.

That starts with outworking opponents on a nightly basis, an attitude that was ingrained by practices that emphasize intensity and competition and will continue to be harped on.

"There's room to grow and room to improve on what we did last year," Laviolette said. "Room to improve every day. Room to get better. Room to take more steps this season. That was the messaging and the plan last year, and it remains the same. I'm not necessarily trying to reinvent the wheel. We’re just trying to get better at what we're doing – trying to build off of last year and become better. And, so, some of the messaging was the same."

It also means continuing to stress the cliché-but-effective, one-day-at-a-time mantra.

The 2023-24 Rangers accumulated the NHL's best record, not by setting lofty goals, but with a laser focus on the task at hand. Don't expect them to deviate from that approach, either.

"It wasn't something that was written up on a board," Laviolette said. "The goal was always to have good days, to focus on the wins, and try to become better as the year moved along. Try to win hockey games – as many as we could, but doing it on a very short-term basis of attacking each day and making the most of each day. Nothing will change from that."

Whether keeping almost everything the same and expecting better results (at least in the playoffs) will be good enough to end New York's 30-plus year Stanley Cup drought remains to be seen, but the Rangers are prepared to take their chances.

"Every team starts training camp with the excitement and the ambitions to do great things," Laviolette said. "To have a great regular season, get yourself into the playoffs, give yourself an opportunity to win the Cup, and then ultimately one team will win the Cup. And, so, I think we have a real good group here. I believe in the players that we have in the room. I think that we can work hard and establish ourselves this year, like we did last year, while also realizing that there's 32 teams, as well. But I do like what we have."

Room for roster competition?

If we were projecting the likely 22-man roster for opening night today (don't worry, we'll get there soon enough), the odds are in favor of 20 returning players making the cut. Offseason additions Sam Carrick and Reilly Smith may end up being the only new blood, but Laviolette pushed back on the notion that this camp will lack competition for spots.

"There's always room inside of training camp," he said. "There is always an opportunity for you to jump out of your shoes, knock us in the head, and say, ‘I am here. I have arrived.’ And then from there, it makes us look at everything, the entire situation. I think those are good things to have inside of an organization – people that are ready to knock down the door and make some noise. And, so, that was my message this morning in the meeting. ‘Come in here and make as much noise as you want. Take whatever you want. We're here watching.'"

That statement could apply to the seventh defenseman battle, where veteran Chad Ruhwedel will be challenged by a host of depth players, but it will be more consequential for the forwards.

Prospects Brett Berard, Adam Edström and Brennan Othmann, as well as PTO invite Adam Erne, are among those expected to push for consideration. But standing in their way is Matt Rempe, a 6-foot-8 monster who appeared in 17 games last season (plus another 11 in the playoffs) and captured the imagination of the Rangers' faithful with his crunching hits and jovial attitude.

He spent a chunk of the summer training with veteran teammates in the New York area, with signs pointing to the 22-year-old as a front-runner for one of the very few roster openings.

"He put in a lot of work," Laviolette said. "This is a young player that works tirelessly at his craft to become a more physical presence, skating and stick-handling, game and involvement. He worked at it hard, and that's what you love to see. You look to see those improvements come in camp now."

Reilly Smith at 1RW?

As for how the lineup will be constructed, one of the prevailing questions surrounds who will fill the troublesome right-wing position next to the longest-tenured Rangers, Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad.

Smith is expected to get the first crack at it, but Laviolette stopped short of locking in that plan.

"He’s a guy that's proven to be successful and a winner," he said in a nod to Smith winning a Cup with Vegas in 2023. "Anytime you can add a piece like that to the lineup, that's a real positive thing. Training camp is about to unfold, and to answer your question, yes, he will get a look there. But it's training camp also, and I don't want to box people out or box things out on day one. We'll practice, we'll play exhibition games, we'll scrimmage, we'll start the season, and I think through that, we'll get to a point where we can get some continuity."

Alexis Lafrenière on PP1?

The same strategy will apply on special teams.

The Rangers' power play ranked third in the league with a 26.4% conversion rate last season and started off the playoffs red hot, all while almost exclusively sticking with a fivesome of Kreider, Zibanejad, Adam Fox, Artemi Panarin and Vincent Trocheck. But they cooled off considerably the deeper they went in the postseason, fueling debate about whether it was time to give emerging star Alexis Lafrenière a look.

The 22-year-old is coming off a career-high 57 points (28 goals and 29 assists), plus another 14 (eight goals and six assists) in the playoffs. He racked up those numbers while playing a top-six role on the NHL's highest-scoring line with Panarin and Trocheck, but was it enough to convince Laviolette to displace an establish veteran on PP1?

"This is what training camp is for," the coach said. "It's an opportunity or a chance to look at different people or different units. But you do try to find the balance sometimes between something that was really successful, and then mixing it up and moving around. There will be opportunity where things will get looked at differently through training camp – and not just for him, but other players that have been mentioned here already in this conversation – to see where they fit in and where they where they can contribute. But the growth in his role, certainly, that's what we strive for."

Vincent Z. Mercogliano is the New York Rangers beat reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Read more of his work at lohud.com/sports/rangers/ and follow him on Twitter @vzmercogliano.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Takeaways from Peter Laviolette on the eve of NY Rangers training camp