The calendar flipping to 2025 offers plenty of promise throughout the NHL.

Not for the New York Rangers.

The Rangers watched their season do a complete 180-degree turn six weeks ago, and there are no signs of hope for better things ahead as the season nears its midway point.

The Rangers are already watching their season circle down the drain and appear to be in even more trouble with star goaltender Igor Shesterkin reportedly heading to the injury reserved list with an upper-body injury. Rangers defenseman Ryan Lindgren checked Florida Panthers forward Sam Bennett into Shesterkin in Monday’s 5-3 loss, a collision that left Shesterkin on the ice for a period of time but did not knock him out of the game.

It is just the latest blow for a team that has only four wins in its last 19 games (with all 15 defeats coming in regulation time) and is seemingly facing more and more chaos off the ice on a daily basis.

To recap, the Rangers have already traded captain Jacob Trouba to Anaheim amidst threats he would be placed on waivers if he did not accept a trade; veteran forward Chris Kreider has been swirling in the rumor mill since the summer, 2019 second overall draft pick Kaapo Kakko was traded to Seattle and now rumors abound that veteran forward Mika Zibanejad is on the block. Zibanejad, 31, is in the third season of an eight-year, $68-million contract, which would cost the club dearly to move considering his age and falling production.

With the team’s struggles, it is becoming harder and harder to believe coach Peter Laviolette will keep his job much longer. Heck, with how Trouba’s situation was handled and the kerfuffle it must have created among the rest of the team, one cannot help but wonder whether general manager Chris Drury is long for his position. Sure, Drury actually pulled a rabbit out of the hat by dealing Trouba without retaining salary and technically did everything within the rules, but the damage done to the trust between players and management may be impossible to repair.

The free fall has left the Rangers at the bottom of the Metropolitan Division and ahead of only the perpetually floundering Buffalo Sabres in the Eastern Conference.

The shocker is how their fortune changed in an instant.

Things were going swimmingly for the Broadway Blueshirts when they started the campaign with a 12-4-1 record and appeared to be a Stanley Cup contender again. After all, they won the Presidents’ Trophy as the NHL’s regular-season champions in 2023-24 while setting franchise records with 55 wins and 114 points and reached the conference finals.

Does a new year mean new hope for the Rangers? Anything is possible. Maybe Shesterkin’s injury galvanizes everybody, and all of those struggling skaters can flip the switch.

Plus, the organization does have salary-cap space, all of its first-round draft picks going forward and a handful of desirable prospects if they want to try swinging a team-altering trade to salvage the season.

More likely, the situation in the Big Apple will continue to be rotten in what is shaping up to be a disastrous season.