Brit Ranger

Thanks for the warm welcome all! Looking forward to my first season and many late nights staying up to watch the Rangers.

To any other Brit fans, do you tend to watch alone or have a group of friends you watch with?

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Thats great to know! I'll certainly keep an eye out next time I am over.

I'm also curious, what is the first game you guys look for when the schedule is released? Which clubs do you dislike or have a largest rivalry with? Is it more based on location or long standing rivalry with the other early teams?

We're probably reasonably analogous to Arsenal at this point. We have this one year that we keep talking about, we're a big name club with big expectations that never quite get there, but we finally figured out how to build out the right way, brought in a young, talented coach to lead the group, and will be competitive for a while.

 

As for tickets while in town - yeah, totally doable. Games, especially in the fall and winter on weeknights, are not ridiculously expensive on the resale market. More than once, I've just bought on my phone, headed to the StubHub window a few blocks away, and walked right in.

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Amazing response, so much information! I'll be certain to check all this out! I'll set about on the wiki page now

Looking forward to the journey! Also amazed at how friendly and informative the responses are on here.

Glad to see so much excitement and positivity around the club. A real culture shock to what I'm used to reading the doom and gloom of british football forums!

Welcome to the Rangers fandom - and our forum!

 

1. What are the current thoughts on the team for next season?

 

Many of my fellow posters have covered that we're nearing what we think is the end of our rebuild period and transitioning to competitive play. It's going to be a "cardiac kids" kind of team next year. There will be moments where we're unbearably frustrating because we're just so young. There will be moments where we're absolutely terrifying to play against. It'll be a rollercoaster.

 

In the coming few days we're going into the free agency period; that will add some players and answer some questions around just how competitive we'll be next season, but most of us feel like the season after next is when we're going to start to see something special here.

 

2. Who are the players to watch out for next season, star players and young guns?

 

The Rangers will have more young guns than star players next year, barring a seismic shift. We've been in the middle of a now 30 month rebuild, and we're just scratching the surface of our depth of youth.

 

As your star players go, the Rangers are led by Artemi Panarin - who was third in MVP voting - and Mika Zibanejad, who led the league in goals per game last year. Both are in the midst of their primes (Zibanejad is 27, and Panarin will be 29 shortly), and they're both exceptionally skilled players. Chris Kreider and Jacob Trouba round out the stars, with Kreider the frontrunner to wear the captain's C.

 

As the young guns go - all eyes will be on our first #1 overall pick in over 50 years, Alexis Lafreniere. He's an extremely skilled wing who has been hyped as a truly special player for over three years, and he's expected to step right into a key role on the team. He, and goaltender Igor Shesterkin, are likely the league frontrunners for the Calder Trophy, awarded to the top rookie player.

 

Adam Fox was fourth in rookie of the year voting last year, and will also be worth keeping eyes on. He's emblematic of a shift taking place in defensive philosophy as the game becomes more aware of the importance of puck possession and the defense position evolves.

 

Last years 2nd overall pick, Kaapo Kakko, is expected to take the next step as well, and will likely line up opposite Lafreniere, potentially centered by the somehow still barely 21 Filip Chytil. We're also expecting defensive prospects K'Andre Miller, Libor Hajek, and possibly Nils Lundkvist to play roles on this team, and there are possibly even more spots lower in the lineup for more defensively minded young players like Morgan Barron.

 

3. I'd love to find out more about the history of the club, any resources etc you could recommend to improve my learning?

 

The documentary others have linked is fantastic. I'd start there.

 

There are also some important bits of Rangers lore worth knowing - Wikipedia's actually got a solid overview. The big ones to know are:

 

The Curse of 1940 - in which the Rangers' consistently awful luck is traced by legend to their burning of the MSG lease in the Stanley Cup upon winning in 1940 and/or to Red Dutton, owner of the Brooklyn Americans, swearing on that teams' failure that so long as he would live the Rangers would not win another cup. He died in 1987.

 

Eddie Giacomin, the GAG line and the early 1970s Rangers - one of the most competitive stretches of Rangers hockey largely led by Eddie Giacomin, Brad Park, Jean Ratelle, Rod Gilbert, and Vic Hadfield. They ran into Bobby Orr and his Bruins in their 1972 finals appearance. Giacomin was particularly special - when he was traded to the Red Wings and subsequently played the very next night against the Rangers, the entire arena was actively cheering for him and the Red Wings.

 

The early 80s Rangers and the Islanders rivalry - Giacomin passed the metaphorical torch to John Davidson, and the Rangers retooled in the mid-70s around Phil Esposito, Carol Vadnais, and some rather strong youth (Dave and Don Maloney, Ron Greschner, Ron Duguay, and Nick Fotiu). They also brought over talent from Sweden in the form of Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson. While that group found their way to the Cup Finals against the Montreal "had future Hall of Famers on their third line" Canadiens, their rivals quickly became the New York Islanders. In fact, many fans think that had Denis Potvin not injured the aforementioned Nilsson with a dirty hit in 1979, that may have been the end of the Curse. This is the origin of the "Potvin Sucks" chant that will almost assuredly one day ring through the Garden again shortly.

 

Sam and JD - Sam Rosen and the aforementioned John Davidson took on NY Rangers broadcast duties in the late 80s. They remained a pair through the 2006 season, after which John Davidson took on NHL executive duties. Sam Rosen calls our games to this day - and JD is now our team President.

 

The Guarantee - Down 3-2 to the New Jersey Devils - the new rivals as the Islanders faded into relative obscurity and hilarious mismanagement - Captain Mark Messier guarantees the win in game 6, and delivers with a third period hat trick. In the pivotal Game 7, Devils wing Valeri Zelepukin ties the game with 7.7 seconds remaining in the third period to send the game to overtime. Stephane Matteau ended the game in the second overtime on a wraparound,

and probably one of the top calls in the history of sports broadcasting.

 

And This One Will Last a Lifetime -

, and probably the moment that truly cemented all of us here as Rangers fans.

 

The Dark Ages - From 1998-2004, the Rangers kept bringing in well-beyond-their-prime talent, trading for top players with injury problems, or just generally making poor management decisions. This hit a fever pitch in 2004, when Glen Sather unceremoniously blew the team up, including sending beloved defenseman Brian Leetch to Toronto.

 

There's quite a bit more of the post-lockout stuff - Henrik Lundqvist, John Tortorella, the rise back to relevance and the early 2010s teams that routinely competed for the Cup, and hopefully someday, the Letter, the ping-pong ball and the Cups that followed.

 

4. What is life like as a Rangers fan?

 

It's frustrating and amazing at the same time. The Rangers have a large, devoted, occasionally impulsive fanbase and an aura of history around them, but not too much codified success to show for it.

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Thank you all for your kind and insightful responses above! I'll be sure to watch the above.

I love the idea of the rebuild and joining the journey nearer the beginning. I do not like to chase glory in sport and have always been a season ticket at Bristol City a second tier english football team. I'm aware of the joys and heartbreak of supporting a team and celebrating a team victory because its an achievement not an expectation (as it is watching the man City, Chelsea, Liverpool of the English football league).

Sounds like an exciting future for the team and i'll enjoy the journey! While I can't join the frustration of 26 years without a trophy, I'm excited to follow the rangers moving forward and shall have my fingers crossed for future success!

I am fortunate enough to work in NYC on occasions and will endeavour from now to try and get tickets where possible. Is this at all achievable or do I have little hope?

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Hi Michael,

Thanks for the heads up! Once the season begins I'll be sure to check this out!

What made you pick the rangers to follow?

Hiya - Fellow Brit Hockey Nut here too..

 

I don?t post on here much as I don?t have the depth of knowledge of these guys but it?s a great place to learn some of the detail and deeper background to what goes on.

 

The Game Day Threads are fantastic!

 

 

 

 

 

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First Time Poster

firstly hope all are doing well in this period of uncertainty!

Living in Britain hockey is not a major sport for us, however a few years ago went down to local team and got hooked on the sport, albeit much lower quality than NHL!

I love to watch NHL games when I can and have found myself siding with the Rangers whenever they are playing. Would love to start following a team and having no real connection to any area of the US, would love your opinion on whether the Rangers would be a good team to follow.

The questions I'd have for you hardcore fans are:

1. What are the current thoughts on the team for next season?

2. Who are the players to watch out for next season, star players and young guns?

3. I'd love to find out more about the history of the club, any resources etc you could recommend to improve my learning?

4. What is life like as a Rangers fan?