Br4d

Also, Panarin. I mean seriously this is probably the #1 guy in the NHL that you want to put a young offensive star in waiting with.

Going back to BC for another shot at a championship. That whole line is going to be together for season. Looking forward to watching Perreault work with Smith and Leonard again.

Kreider is really unusual. He stepped up and had a career year at 30 and then followed it up with better years at 31 and 32 than he had in his prime.

You could argue that Kreider made the jump because of GG.

"The players just need to do what they're supposed to do. They know what it is." Left unsaid, "but they're not doing it." This didn't make a lot of sense to me at the time, since it sounded like he wanted more physicality, fore and back checking. However if what he wanted was Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad and Adam Fox to take more shots and cycle less, well that makes all the sense in the world.

Do you think the Caps are scared of facing the Rangers right now? Just curious, because I'm betting the Rangers were who they wanted.

Maybe Panarin should have been more north/south straight ahead the last couple of seasons. If he was east/west like he was the prior two seasons there is zero chance we're the President's Trophy winner.

This series is very unlikely to be a walk in the park. We split 2-2 with the Caps in the regular season and goals were 9-9 in 4 games. If the Rangers show up and play hard we have a good chance in the series. If we look past the Caps we're going to get beat.

The only issue that I see in the series is the Caps were very good defensively, they have a hot goalie and the Rangers seemingly can't score until they're down. I'm worried.

Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and WWE. One and the same.

If he finds another half step this off-season he could go to 40+/80+ pretty quickly.

Early lead!

They should move Carolina back to Hartford so they can suck again.

I think the '21-22 team was the best of the three but Strome was hurt all through the playoffs and it's very possible this team is better right now than the '21-'22 team was entering the playoffs.

I really want to see him hit 50 as a reward for all the work he put in this season. Also, so Laf will start looking to shoot again because he has been nonstop feeding Panarin for games now.

We've got 4 players playing better than they or the person they replaced did the last couple of seasons: Panarin, Trocheck, Lafreniere, and Fox. We've got Zibanejad, fill-in #1 RW here, Trouba, Miller, Kakko and Goodrow playing worse. The team is not better than the team was in '21-'22 or '22-'23. Panarin is better than he was in those seasons and that is the primary reason we're a few points up on those teams. If Panarin plays very well in the playoffs, scoring goals and leading by example (which he has done for much of this season) then the 'team' will be better. If he does not then the 'team' will get blown out.

Bad owners are a pox on their community.

If the Rangers play well at 5v5 *and* score goals we've got a good shot at a cup. I can't remember the last Rangers team that was superior at 5v5. Maybe 2014. Maybe 2006. It's been a while.

The Rangers won the season series against both Carolina and Boston, which is likely why we're in 1st with 1 game to go. Losing to Ottawa with the President's Trophy on the line would be a major letdown.

2 bad losses plus a bad start will do that to a crowd. The fans were cheering for Rempe earlier in a more successful context. If Rempe hits the ice with the Rangers up in the playoffs people will still be cheering.

100%. If we know for sure the Devils are going to make a push for Tkachuk we need to beat them to the punch and figure out our winning package.

Not a chance. He may just be a 4th liner but I think he's going to be here for a few years at least unless the Rangers can swindle something good for him from somebody.

I know how that works. You're gonna be cheering and whooping and hollering while nothing is happening on the field. Your daughter is going to be like "Dad! You're embarrassing me!!!"

The Ranger's chances this year will come down to the Bread Line, MZ-CK-whoever, Adam Fox and Igor. The first two lines will need to score at 5v5 and Fox will need to chip in there. Igor will need to be great. I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt until they prove they can't do this. If I see Kreider shying away from contact on defense like he did last year in the Devil's series it will be an ominous portent.

Panarin is obviously the key to this window. If we get lucky and Laf fully develops he will likely be the key to the next.