Joe's Reaction of the Week (Roberto's Version): The Rangers Are Fun and We Need to Embrace It

Joe is on sabbatical from Joe's Reaction of the Week until November. Until then, other Blueshirt Banter's writers will be filling in for him. Today, it's Roberto Solis-Byxbee

Today was a beautiful fall day. The wind carried a slight chill, and the leaves were beginning to turn their striking hues of deep orange, red, and yellow. The sun, sitting low in the sky, was just strong enough to keep the brisk breeze from chilling my bones. As I basked in Mother Nature's finest season, I had a revelation: the New York Rangers are actually fun.

As the summer ended and hockey season loomed, so many hockey experts looked at the Rangers' roster and predicted another year at the bottom of the rankings or, at best, outside the playoffs. This wasn't just the usual haters who criticize anything in Rangers blue. I'm talking about folks ranging from the eye-test crowd to deeply analytical pundits. Even people I respect posted depressing predictions with their wizard-and-mad-genius models saying the Rangers would be bad (yes, I'm looking at you, Dom Luszczyszyn).

There was a time when autumn, and with it the NHL season, had an intimidating aura as it approached. Just last year, as the calendar flipped to October, most of us looked like Ben Affleck with a cigarette at best. Frustrated, exhausted, but perhaps saddest of all, used to what felt like this new normal. Yet this year is different. Why is that?

What Is Even Different Around Here

Rangers president and general manager Chris Drury did make several moves in the offseason. First and foremost, his retooling of the Rangers' defense—which has been written about extensively, so I won't bore you with the details—deserves a lot of credit for the team's successful and fun start to the year. Swapping Will Borgen and Carson Soucy for Sean Durzi and Marcus Pettersson is a net positive across the board.

The drafting and rostering of Alberts Smits is another point. I admit it—Drury and co. were cooking with gas when they stepped up to the podium and took the Latvian defenseman. Here I was crying into my beer about missing out on Viggo Bjorck, but I was wrong. We have to give it up for Drury. With so many options, he took what many of us thought was the safest pick at the time, and some circles felt a twinge of disappointment. Smits was labeled as having the shortest path to the NHL among the top defensemen in the draft, so the move carried less risk. Drury needed a win, and Smits was more developed. Fast-forward three months and change, and Drury's vision has paid off with what seems like the best possible outcome so far. Smits is on the team and has looked phenomenal.