fletch

I mean, in addition to the first round playoff loss. They're working on their third coach in 5 years. An aging core has no move clauses. GM continues to try and find quick fixes through deadline veterans at the cost of young player TOI. Players like Shesterkin and Laf give you reason for hope, but there's some vets that are just giving diminishing returns, which is tough. Yet we're one deep run from reviving the fan base.

Let's look at the St Louis Blues in their Stanley Cup Year of 2018-2019. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_St._Louis_Blues_seasons https://www.hockey-reference.com/teams/STL/2019.html People spin their season different ways. You can say firing Yeo and bringing in Craig Berube was the right coach at the right time for the team. You can say that bringing in Ryan O'Reilly was the catalyst that put them over the top. You can say that Binnington was unbelievably good when they brought him up in the regular season and throughout the post-season run. I'll say that they had two scorers that had more than 60 points in the regular season (O'Reilly and Tarasenko) and that they certainly weren't the most talented team in the Western Conference. What I remember from their playoff run is that they rolled four lines that brought it every shift - there was no coasting - and they were a hard team to play, with solid fundamental hockey plays, that no one could manage to knock out. Did they get puck luck and fortunate bounces? Yup. Was it a long-shot that they would get a .920 caliber goalie when they brought up an unknown goalie? Yup. Did O'Reilly make an impact in the regular season and the playoffs? Yup. But they earned a Stanley Cup when they probably had the talent of a team that usually gets knocked out in the first or second round. I look forward to when I hear people call the Rangers hard instead of soft - because it will mean the franchise is on the right track.

Many players manage to work hard every shift. Is it too much to ask for 15 solid shifts a game? What should the threshold be? 12 good shifts a night? 8 good shifts a night? Or is it OK to just show up for the third period with the game in the balance and make one play to generate the GWG? The tragedy is when a player is capable of more, but fails to achieve. The great ones (the legends) have the extra gear and drive to be the best. The best coaches are able to get the best out of talented players, who may not have the internal drive or belief that they can be better. And then there are the very good players with solid careers, who retire and are welcomed back with full-throated cheers. And the regret that that player didn't earn a Cup. Then come the excuses. The surrounding cast wasn't good enough. Faced a hot goaltender. Got unlucky. Ran into a team of destiny. Lots of excuses over the years for this franchise.

We're all killing time until we see what happens in the playoffs. Think about the Bruins last season and the narrative because Florida bounced them in the first round - the Bruins had a great regular season and a terrible taste in their mouth because of how it ended. If we focus on Kreider for a moment as an example of an important key vet. Kreider has well-deserved accolades because of his skill, performance and production over the years. But when I watch him and then I watch Tkachuk, I just wonder what could have been with Kreider. Yes, Kreider does deliver clutch goals. And yes, Kreider can be invisible for long stretches of games. Both can be true and part of the same narrative. Kreider just wastes so many shifts when he could be an impactful player. One interpretation of the Devils playoff series is that the core veterans didn't match the intensity of the Devils in pivotal games, and talent-wise an inferior team knocked us out of the playoffs. If the core veterans played with Florida Panther type intensity, could the Rangers have had a similar deep run? It's an unanswerable question, other than we need more from the core veterans this year. I don't think Vezina Shesterkin, one scoring line, and relying on power play goals is a recipe for success in the playoffs - we'll need more. The Rangers have shown that they can play with structure and with defensive zone responsibility when they focus in stretches. If they do away with the sloppy breakouts, giving up the odd man rushes, having defensive breakdowns by leaving opponents wide open in dangerous spots, win puck battles along the boards, and bring a physical presence in front of the net at both ends, then their ceiling is much higher. When they play lazy, perimeter hockey and don't skate hard, they are an eminently beatable team. The Rangers still play hard only when they want to - and Laviolette hasn't been able to change that. Laviolette has continued the organization's focus on taking ice time away from the young players and the bottom two lines because of problems with performance, which started well before his tenure. If you have a leadership letter of C or A, then you largely are exempt from losing time on ice or power play time. I would rather see more demanded of the young players, the checking lines, AND the core veterans. But we'll see. Playoffs are a small sample size and matchup dependent. Maybe last year's Bruins beat any Eastern Conference team other than the Panthers in the first round - it was a close series and Florida ended up going on a run. Everyone is going to start 0-0 and need 16 wins starting Saturday - all the regular season does is eliminate half the league, and give 16 teams a chance to start their campaign.

I can only speak for myself, but Zib and Kreider can't do anything to redeem themselves during the regular season for what happened in the Devils series in the playoffs. I haven't seen anything in the regular season that definitively shows that this team has fixed it's deficiencies from last year's playoffs and is ready for a deep playoff run. GDT is not the place for a debate of pros and cons of this team, but figured you deserved a response.

1. Artemi Panarin 2. Adam Fox 3. Igor Shesterkin +2 4. Vincent Trocheck 5. Alexis Lafrenière 6. Jonathan Quick 7. Mika Zibanejad 8. Chris Kreider 9. Ryan Lindgren 10. Jacob Trouba 11. K'Andre Miller 12. Braden Schneider 13. Kaapo Kakko 14. Jimmy Vesey 15. Zac Jones 16. Will Cuylle 17. Matt Rempe 18. Jack Roslovic 19. Erik Gustafsson 20. Barclay Goodrow 21. Alexander Wennberg 22. Jonny Brodzinski 23. Chad Shesterkin with some huge saves against the Isles kept us in the game.

Need this win. I’m sick of playing isles.

Simple, soft players.

This game would be out of reach without Shesterkin’s heroics. Losing so many puck battles, sloppy turnovers, blown covers, so fucking bad.

The Rangers seem to believe that playing a solid five or six minutes every now and then and converting on special teams is enough and what happens during the rest of the game doesn’t matter very much.

Okay I could use a break from watching us kill penalties for the rest of the period. Geez.

Liked the Rangers push to start the game, the power play, and first kill. Solid goaltending at both ends. Big kill to start the second.

1. Artemi Panarin 2. Adam Fox 3. Vincent Trocheck 4. Alexis Lafrenière 5. Igor Shesterkin 6. Jonathan Quick +2 7. Mika Zibanejad 8. Chris Kreider 9. Ryan Lindgren 10. Jacob Trouba 11. K'Andre Miller 12. Braden Schneider 13. Kaapo Kakko 14. Jimmy Vesey 15. Zac Jones 16. Will Cuylle 17. Matt Rempe 18. Jack Roslovic 19. Erik Gustafsson 20. Barclay Goodrow 21. Alexander Wennberg 22. Jonny Brodzinski 23. Chad Quick was solid and one of the few Rangers who showed up against the Flyers. Not a lot of skaters that are gunning for a promotion based on what they've done against Isles and Flyers.

Enough of this rotating players to keep everyone fresh message, let’s put our best lines together and say the playoffs start Saturday and we need to start playing to win. We can’t just flip the switch on for game 83. These games down the stretch matter.

Fox pinches and the Rangers get burned on the two on one. Shame we didn’t start playing until the third.

Just not enough so far. A 5 on 3 goal and long stretches without chances. Flyers came in struggling but have building momentum late in the second.

People use regular season stats because it's the most recent data they have available. I'm not sure how informative it would be to look at playoff stats because of the small sample size - you'd have to cobble together the last 2 or 3 seasons of playoff statistics and add the caveat that team composition changed over that period - and those disclaimers are large enough that people would be pretty skeptical of that kind of analysis. It's probably more about matchup/luck/who's hot than analysts would like... but analysts don't want to write that no one really knows. Rangers playoff fate may simply be if their first two rounds consist more like: Scenario A Round 1- WC2 or Metro 3 (against one of the morass of mediocre teams) Round 2 (another one of the morass of mediocre teams that upsets Carolina) Scenario B Round 1-WC1 (Tampa or Toronto) Round 2-Carolina In either scenario, Rangers could advance to at least ECF, or get bounced in round 1. But I'd like our chances to get to at least ECF in Scenario A rather than Scenario B.

Most of your points are valid, just Boston isn't in the Metro. Carolina is the only good team in the Metro other than the Rangers... so good on the Rangers for taking advantage of the weak division. Agreed that the Canucks are fortunate in the Pacific. The Atlantic is solid with Boston, Florida, Toronto, and Tampa, and the Central isn't far behind with Dallas, Colorado and Winnipeg. When reading articles on the Rangers - authors tend to cover their ass. The Rangers could win the Cup... or lose in the first round. True, and the same for every team. Regular season prepares teams for the playoffs, but largely all 16 playoff teams are starting a new season when staring at their first round playoff opponent. There's a big difference between a 7 game series and the regular season when you're (mostly) seeing a different opponent every couple days and just trying to play solid hockey to rack up points.

https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/39902929/nhl-new-york-rangers-playoffs-2024-stanley-cup-analytics-data What Rangers' stats say about their potential in playoffs '...The Rangers are a confounding team, and not just because they exited the postseason after one round in 2023. On the surface, they've been dominant in the standings and solid on both sides of the puck: Through 78 games, they were sixth in goals and seventh in goals against per game. But look under the hood and one finds a team whose 5-on-5 analytics are utterly pedestrian and in some cases below average.' "The New York Rangers are a bit of an anomaly," said Meghan Chayka, co-founder of Stathletes. '...As extraordinary as their special teams are, the Rangers' 5-on-5 play is a bit more concerning, analytically. "The Rangers have a very ordinary record this season of 5v5 chance generation," McCurdy said.' '...Through 78 games, no team has had won more one-goal games than the Rangers (22), and no team has had a better winning percentage in those games than their 22-4-4 record. Chayka noted that the Rangers have some shared DNA in that regard with last season's Presidents' Trophy winners, the Boston Bruins, who led the NHL in winning percentage in one-goal games and when trailing first."Their playoff fate might indicate something for the Rangers," she said, ominously, referencing the Bruins' shocking first-round loss last year.' '...The Rangers also have feasted on the Metro Division this season.' '...There's another key group that has Fraser a little more concerned: The defensive pairing of Adam Fox and Ryan Lindgren, long one of the NHL's most effective duos. "What happened to them? The on-ice goal numbers are terrific, as usual, but that team is uncharacteristically getting out-chanced by a huge margin," he said. "Can Lindgren get back on track?"' '...Kelly was a little concerned about the Rangers being a top-heavy team. Their top six scorers are all over 50 points on the season; no one else has had more than 30 points through 78 games.' '...Stathletes gives the Blueshirts a 4.8% chance of winning the Cup, which is 11th-best among current playoff teams. Kelly said the Rangers would be in his second tier as a Stanley Cup contender. "I don't think they have fatal flaws, but it is a slippery slope when you rely so heavily on special teams and goaltending," he said. "But that doesn't mean you can't get to a Cup Final or even win the Cup."'

Let’s win in regulation. That way we can help monster truck season start at USB arena sooner.

Rangers pp really good, isles pk really bad

Isles fans must be using all their energy getting in fights with Rangers fans because the atmosphere has got the intensity of a high school field hockey scrimmage.

Still a lot of time but brutal to see NYI still getting most of the chances. Intermission to decide if it’s going to be a better second or just more no shows.

Gunning for Rempe TOI.