Rangers vs. Canadiens: A Statue of Leadership
A loss that was actually fine, a draft positioning update, and some real questions about J.T. Miller's leadership—on the same night he was given the Mr. Ranger Award.
- Let's start from the end and then work our way back.
- As both Joe and Chip have pointed out in previous editions of Game Notes, there's palpable tension between wanting to see the Rangers, and the kids in particular, doing good things, which has sometimes resulted in the New York Rangers winning hockey games, while knowing that the best near-term outcome for the Rangers is to lose hockey games. The worst possible situation is for the Rangers to win games while generally playing poorly, but ekeing it out because Igor Shesterkin was playing out of his mind.
- In that sense, this game was ideal. The Deserve to Win O'Meter over at MoneyPuck gave the Rangers around a 66 percent chance of winning the game. They didn't play poorly—even if the game was a tad on the dull side—and they still ended up losing. All is well from that perspective.
- As of now, they have the fourth best draft lottery odds. Again, as many have noted, no one is catching the Vancouver Canucks for the worst record in the league. But now the Rangers sit three points ahead of the Chicago Blackhawks, having played the same number of games, and one point ahead of the Calgary Flames, who have a game in hand on them.
