What Do You Think The Rangers Can Accomplish This Season?
by RichieToGabbySCORE on Dec 24, 2011 4:53 PM EST
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PrintThe Rangers have been playing great hockey and I must say i've been impressed with their play the entire season. If they want to continue this play into the playoffs though their going to need their best defenseman back on the blue line though and that means Marc Staal and Michael Sauer need to return and be 100% recovered from their injuries. My dream for the Rangers blue line at the start of playoffs is this:
Staal-Girardi
Sauer-Mcdonagh
MDZ-Stralman
Eminger/Bickel as the 7th man. I've been really impressed with Stralman so far and think he is a much better than woywitka or eminger. Bickel, while I think he's been great so far with us this season I still think his defense is worse than Stralman and his shot from the point is no where near stralman so i'd have to go with stralman again.
Our offense has been great also, with our top 2 lines putting up points night in and night out. But for us to go on a cup run we're really going to need everyone to have career playoff years, not to mention get scoring from all 4 lines.
Here's my hope: Rangers make it to the conference finals this year or at least the second round. Then when Kreider and the boys are ready the Rangers take the next step and make it to SCF at very least if not win it all.
I think the organization really needs to stress to the players that they should play as if they contenders. I thought last year was good for the club to get some sense of what playoff hockey feels like and this year they should feel like they can win it all.
Maybe you guys think i'm jumping the gun with this post but I sincerely believe it's time this team starts believing it can win the cup because not too far from now they will have all the weapons they need.
Also I realize Staal and Sauer's statuses are completely up in the air but you have to hypothetically think for this post they will come back 100%.
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Why not a Cup?
This team is deep and tough to play against. Nobody will want to match up with them regardless of their playoff spot. Getting Staal and Sauer back will be like making two big deadline deals. No doubt they will hit some bumps along the way, but they seem to have figured out how to break out of a slump already. The big question is, can they stay healthy. The minutes that Girardi, McD, and MDZ are putting up are a cause for concern, but they seem to be handling it well thus far. Long way to go though…
Anything is possible
This team is good enough to compete with the best in the league. Boston is scary good, but anything can happen between now and the end of the season.
I love this team and I think that any team with the King in nets has a chance to win it all. But if they do not produce a semblance of a PP then they are not going to advance. You don’t have to have a great PP but they probably have one of the worst in the league. If they make a significant trade at the deadline then it should be to help the PP.
IIRC, Boston couldn’t score a PP goal in the playoffs last year for shit.
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by George E. Ays on Dec 25, 2011 7:47 AM EST up reply actions
that’s true George, and God knows I could be wrong, but I have a bad feeling that part of our team’s game will be the ultimate downfall this year. They could have buried the Isles with that late PP and that would have been that. It’s just brutal.
It’s a valid concern, their PP is not very good, but PP time alone is good for slowing down teams that might be better than us 5v5. If they’re going to go far, they need to play like they are now (somewhat dominant 5v5) and less like the first 10 games (where they were atrocious)
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by George E. Ays on Dec 25, 2011 9:22 AM EST up reply actions
100% agree. the first 10 games my fear was whether they were capable of playing like they did last year: skate, forecheck, play physically, strong on the puck, puck support, etc. I also thought that horrendous trip had something to do with their play and I think that was the reason. Thank goodness, lol. They don’t have to have a great PP. But 15-20% consitently would be nice. But to your point, yes, if they are not giving up shortys then it’s not as much of an issue if they play well 5 on 5.
Yeah a good PP would help. But if the PK can shut the other teams PP down and we win 5v5 then…uhm…we should win.
Normally less is called in the playoffs so it really should come down to 5v5.
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by Blueshirt in Paris on Dec 26, 2011 3:43 PM EST up reply actions
Just looked at the current standings and here are some thoughts.
Philly – I have never been sold on Bryz and I still maintain that they have goalie issues and players like Matt Read will not continue their hot scoring. Pens – Fleury may be good enough for them to contend and when Letang and Cindy get healthy (if ever for Cindy) then I feel they are the team for the Rangers to beat in their division. Devs and Isles? Not making the playoffs (let the Parise rumors begin).
Bees – team to beat in the conference probably the league. top to bottom the most complete team in the league. They even have a 2nd goalie that would start in 95% of the league. Caps – goalie issues (Vokoun is too old it appears), chemistry issues (Ovi, semin, etc), very suspect D, etc. Buffalo – Miller hates it there now as his play indicates especially at home where his #s are shockingly bad. Trade rumors will start and it is clear that Ruff is there for far too long. Florida – coming back to earth as I knew they would. May not even make the playoffs after all is said and done. MTL – mess. TB – goalies exposed and will be their downfall. Toronto – Interesting team but they have goalie issues as well. Winnipeg – nice story but just making playoffs would be like winning the Cup. Carolina – back up the truck and start the rebuild.
So the bottom line is, IMO, in the east it’s the Rangers, Bees, and Pens and then all the rest. This assumes good health for all the rest of the way. In the west I do not see any daunting teams that the Rangers can’t handle so who knows? There will be plenty of trade line activity as the ducks have lost 4 in a row, Nashville can’t score and are currently on the playoff bubble though the Wild is fading quickly, partly due to injuries. By the end of January things will take shape as they should and teams will know whether to buy or sell by then. There will be a lot of sellers IMO especially with a new CBA looming and non-playoff teams looking to dump $$.
though the Wild is fading quickly, partly due to injuries
Partly due to injuries, mostly due to Backstrom/Harding coming back to earth and exposing them as a not very good team. They’re the more exaggerated version of us from the first 15-20 games, except we flipped our shot metrics, the injuries have made theirs that much worse.
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by George E. Ays on Dec 25, 2011 9:24 AM EST up reply actions
I think Backstrom is a good, not elite, goalie. BTW, what’s with our boy Hiller in Anaheim? Something is really wrong with that team out there. They could be big-time sellers this trade deadline. The “pretenders” as I call them (FL, Win, Minny, Buff, MTL, etc) are all now doing what I thought they would do though Buff is the most shocking of all, and maybe the Caps also. Not shocked by TB. relying on a 42 year old goalie is generally misguided.
Still can't count out Philly
If we played them in a series I would like our chances but that’s not to say in the regular season they can’t finish near us.
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by RichieToGabbySCORE on Dec 25, 2011 10:06 AM EST up reply actions
probably but I am going out on a limb saying they can’t keep up. their D is young (so is ours’, lol) and very suspect after the top 3, Bryz is not a big-city goalie, and I would not want to rely on Read, Simmonds, Hartnell, Voracek, etc. to replace the 65-70 goals M. Richards and Carter took with them. Giroux, however, is all-world and a top 5 player in the league. Though Girardi and McD did a great job shutting down his line on Friday night.
by Richter1994 on Dec 25, 2011 10:26 AM EST up reply actions
Conference finals. Based on our matchups already and not having tested ourselves against Boston yet, I feel like we can beat Philly, Pitt, Florida, etc in a series but may not be able to topple Boston.
Dont know if you guys remember, we typically play awesome against Boston, and they’re fans were scared to match up with us last year in the playoffs. They may be the dominate force, but so are we.
While it is true that we generally play exciting 1-0 games with the Bruins that could go either way, they look like a stronger team than last year. They are beating other top teams 6-0 and 8-0. Of course, we are a stronger team than last year and we tend to play up (or down) to our competition’s skill level.
I think we will give them the toughest match up as we play a similar style.
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by Blueshirt in Paris on Dec 26, 2011 3:45 PM EST up reply actions
Deep playoff run
Maybe more if and when we get healthy.
Everyone around the league seems to think that we shot our wad early. I think we haven’t done anything like that. We have found a way to win with a depleted lineup. Maybe we will have a difficult stretch where the injuries catch up to us but as of the moment we are a team that is getting healthier instead of more dinged up.
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I’m thinking we lose a heartbreaker of a series to Boston in 7 in the conference finals. This isn’t really based on anything though seeing as we haven’t played them yet. They are the only team I’m really worried about. I feel that at our best we can beat any team but the way the Bruins are destroying some teams and playing overall fantastic hockey they will give us a run for our money at least.
by OhCallyMyCaptain on Dec 26, 2011 1:32 PM EST reply actions
My fear is a very physical series against Philly before seeing Boston.
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by Blueshirt in Paris on Dec 26, 2011 3:46 PM EST up reply actions
my fear is we are maybe a bit too inexperienced
But we definitely have more experience than Tort’s 04 tampa bay team
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by RichieToGabbySCORE on Dec 27, 2011 12:36 AM EST up reply actions
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