from Andrew Gross of Ranger Rants,

Vigneault met with the media for about 17 minutes this afternoon to discuss the coming season, the offseason and last season.

Vigneault, serving up a softball to the media, made it very easy for the headline writers when he spoke about re-watching the Tom Hanks’ movie Apollo 13 this summer and that two phrases really struck him.

One was: “Failure is not an option,” which is how Vigneault said he views this season, though he also thought the same thing headed into last season.

“I believe this team has the elements to win the Stanley Cup,” Vigneault said. “I firmly believe that.”

The other phrase that stood out was when the Apollo 13 mission, which did not land on the moon as planned because of a nearly-fatal accident, was deemed a “successful failure” because the three astronauts managed to return to Earth safely.

That’s how Vigneault categorizes last season, when the Rangers did not make a return trip to the Stanley Cup final, losing Game 7 of the Eastern Conference final to the Lightning.

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