NEKRanger

The predictive value of various statistics are based on the law of large numbers. Over 1312 games in a season, the teams with better %GF 5v5 (or whatever) will have a better than 0.5 probability of winning. This doesn't necessarily distill down to picking who will win 4 games in a 7 game series unless the difference is really large. It seems that matchups - find if a team's biggest strength matches an opponent's glairing weakness - or team character will matter more at this stage.

I've gotten more impressed with the Rangers by watching them and then watching other teams in these playoffs. The Rangers do things like keep control of the puck in the offensive zone, move the puck around and make the defense and goalie move, and take good shots much better than other teams I've seen. On defense, they do a nice job of letting Igor see the puck and then clearing the rebounds (at least most of the time). So teams get shots, even ones that might be counted as "high danger" but that just end up hitting Igor in the chest or pads. Since most of the advanced analytics seem to focus on shots and shot attempts and don't measure shot quality (except by location), they don't favor the Rangers. A "time of possession" type stat might look better from a NYR perspective. Finally, the Rangers' stats probably don't look great against the Caps because they were running out the clock for a few of those games. Just some thoughts, probably wrong but thought I'd try.

It seems like Carolina is likely to catch the Rangers before Boston does, so NYR won't end up playing Tampa Bay. Seems the Rangers will play either the Isles, Pens, or Caps in Round 1.

Several of these games are against teams the Rangers will have no trouble getting fired up for: Pens, Devils, Flyers, Isles twice. I'm more worried about chirpy-ness and cheap-shots from opponents than about lackadaisical play from the Rangers here.

I actually think he was spreading his arms to brace himself as he was about to hit the glass, it looked incidental that he clipped the player's facemask. Ended up looking bad, though. I'm guessing a one game suspension.

Considering how little was available and how much it costs, I'm glad the Rangers got through the deadline this year without doing anything too stupid or short-sighted. Really, since the start of the season, the big bet has been on the coaching staff to have them ready to play a better type of hockey.

The trade deadline acquisitions almost never are. Interesting though experiment on what the Rangers would have now if they did not make deadline "buys" the past two seasons. I think we lost at least one 1st round pick that I can remember off hand, and kept zero of our rentals.

People here don't understand Murphy's law as it applies to the Rangers. If any other team had drafted Kakko, he would have become a superstar and the person NYR would have drafted instead would have been a bust. By the Rangers drafting Kakko, they essentially protected themselves from him from being a star for some other team.

He has an identical twin who was born without a brain. The twin's body is grown in the basement and used to swap out parts as needed.

Booo on the overturned goal

Did anyone else see Laf#13 rush down to forecheck behind the opponent net, then he got back and backchecked to break up an Edm. play.

crap - hit a hot goalie tonight

I think the point is that Kakko and Laf were the players that anyone would have picked in the Rangers' position. Hard to question the Rangers drafting them (did the Rangers optimize their development is another question). The Kraktsov and Anderson picks are much more aggravating because they were 'reaches' at the time of the draft and they turned out to be busts (at least in NY).

Standings Updated I have to stay up to see the win added to the standings. Kinda like seeing the ball drop on New Years Eve.

This is an interesting point. The team lost players/production from last season, yet everyone expected them to pick up where they left off.

Carpenter played 10:27, FWIW. Lovin these first two games.

Someday we won't be allowed to say "lame", then what?

I followed the Francis teams from a distanced (in Chicagoland), then moved to central Pennsylvania where I got WOR and the Rangers games in 1976. Got to see the Rangers rebuild toward the 1979 Finals appearance and then those runs in 80-81, through 83-84 where only Billy Smith stopped them from taking down the Islanders dynasty. The teams from that era were really good - allot of skill and grit - but had three things going against them: they had the Islanders as a road block (and were really the only team that gave the Isles any trouble till the Oilers came along); they were prone to occasional slumps during the regular season, and they didn't have that one goalie that they could count on.

Maybe they did with Strome and/or Copp. Strome might be testing the market as a free agent, but if he doesn't get what he thinks he can in the open market I wonder if there is an offer at a lower value with the Rangers.

I wonder if we can give Gauther to a team if they take Nemeth and his cap hit off our hands?

You think Malkin would be bad, those of us older fans had to root for Esposito while we were still broken hearted about losing Park and Ratelle. Now that really sucked.

Interesting question as to whether Malkin is a good fit with Panarin. I'm wondering in general how much the organization cares about Panarin's preferences regarding personnel. In general, hockey teams don't accommodate star players the way that NBA teams do, but it makes some sense in this case with the Rangers deciding on a 2C that since they have a $11M/yr investment in in Panarin that they would pick a player that would work well with him.

Why do Rangers fans do this to ourselves? - Trading Panarin is not a good idea and shouldn't even be considered. Isn't it possible that (a) teams keyed on stopping him in particular during the playoffs and (b) his center playing hurt had a negative impact?

I think they pretty much have to do this given their cap situation, and I'm not against trading an asset to get cap space. Also, I think Schneider is ready and Jones is almost ready, so the need for a veteran sixth is less acute (also, Miller has progresses, so D1 - D4 is solid).

Proud of the team this postseason. If the salary cap were allowed to grow at its normal rate, we'd be talking about a NYR future dynasty. Key was Tampa Bay's goalie got out of his funk in game 3, this got the Lightning back to playing their defensive game and changed the whole series.