Now It Gets Interesting

So, the All-Star break is over and it is time to prepare for the stretch run.  There is one more game left in the current block of ten games and I will have my ten-game review after the Columbus game.  In the meantime, it's worth looking at the NHL and what to look forward to over the next ten weeks before the playoffs begin.

Here are the standings in the Eastern Conference:

Atlantic Division	GP	Record	Points		Metropolitan Division	GP	Record	Points
Montreal	50	29-14-7	65		Washington	49	33-10-6	72
Ottawa	47	26-15-6	58		Columbus	48	32-12-4	68
Boston	52	25-21-6	56		Pittsburgh	48	30-13-5	65
Toronto	47	23-15-9	55		Rangers	49	31-17-1	63
Florida	50	21-19-10	52		Philadelphia	50	25-19-6	56
Tampa	50	22-22-6	50		Islanders	47	21-17-9	51
Detroit	49	20-20-9	49		Carolina	48	21-20-7	49
Buffalo	48	20-19-9	49		New Jersey	50	20-21-9	49

As you can see...EVERY team in the East has a shot at making the playoffs.  The good news for fans of Washington, Columbus, Pittsburgh, Montreal and the Rangers is, barring an absolute collapse, those five teams are a lock for the post-season.   That means that eleven teams will be fighting to make it...with second and third place in the Atlantic as well as the two wild cards slots, totally up for grabs.  

  

How can we assume that those five teams will make it?  Well, let's look at New York.  If they play .500 hockey the rest of the season, they will finish with 48 wins.   For the Islanders to catch the Rangers, they would have to win 27 out of 35 games. Florida would have to win 27 out of 32 games, not impossible, but highly unlikely.  The other thing is the loser point.  With the loser point in play, it is even harder to play catch up in this NHL.  

The Islanders are a fascinating case.  They were shellacked 7-4 by Carolina on January 14, leaving them with the worst record in the Metropolitan Division.  Since then they have fired their coach and gone on a tear with points in six straight games, five of them wins. As you see above, they are only five points behind the Flyers for the last wild card spot with three games in hand.   In fact, there are eight teams within seven points of the Flyers. 

Ironically, there is a chance that there will be three Canadian teams from the Atlantic Division in the playoffs after a season when there were no Canadian teams in the post-season.   The smart money in the Atlantic is on Tampa figuring it out and making the playoffs, but they are still six points out and are not playing like a playoff team.  In this crazy unbalanced season, games played is a very important number.  Boston has played more games than every team in the East with as many as FIVE more games than some teams (Toronto & the Islanders).  The Bruins could be in big trouble and could find themselves on the outside looking in very quickly.

As we have discussed in past posts, if the standings remain the same, the Rangers will play Montreal in round one. Columbus would get Pittsburgh.Washington would play the second wild card team.  At any rate, all of the Eastern Conference playoff wannabe's will be beating each other up and will be ripe for early elimination.  There's no way to predict who gets to play the winner of Rangers/Canadiens.  As of today, it could be Ottawa, Boston, Tampa, Florida, Detroit, Toronto or Buffalo.  Yikes.  Ranger fans are already anticipating an easier road to the Conference Finals....but be careful about what you wish for.  The Canadians are out to avenge their loss to the Blueshirts in 2014 and they will have a healthy Carey Price in net (unless Chris Kreider can run him again).

Here are the standings for the Western Conference;

Central Division	GP	Record	Points		Pacific Division	GP	Record	Points
Minnesota	48	32-11-5	69		San Jose	50	31-17-2	64
Chicago	51	30-16-5	65		Edmonton	51	28-15-8	64
Nashville	49	24-17-8	56		Anaheim	51	27-15-9	63
St. Louis	49	24-20-5	53		Calgary	52	25-24-3	53
Winnipeg	52	23-25-4	50		Los Angeles	49	24-21-4	52
Dallas	50	20-20-10	50		Vancouver	50	23-21-6	52
Colorado	46	13-31-2	28		Arizona	48	16-26-6	38

In the Western Conference reside the only two teams definitely out of the playoff picture, Arizona and Colorado.  If appears that Minnesota has pulled away from the rest of the teams, but everyone else is in play with the worst team (Los Angeles) only five points out of a wild card slot.

So, what does this mean?  The trade deadline is March 1, only one month away. It would be difficult to imagine that by then the playoff picture will be much clearer.  With only two teams pure "sellers" it could mean that trades will be few.  What trades will be made will bring a higher value for players than in years past.  The other consideration is the expansion draft as every general manager has to manage their rosters with that in mind.   Right now, it appears that the Rangers will have to expose Michael Grabner.  I heard Las Vegas GM George McPhee interviewed and he pledged that  the Black Knights will be "entertaining."  That's it, Grabner is a goner.  Although he is older and it would make more sense for future planning to grab a Jesper Fast or Oscar Lindberg, the opportunity to acquire a speedy skater who has one breakaway per game is probably going to be too tempting for them. I don't know what the rules are regarding trades and "deals."  Could the Rangers cut a deal with Las Vegas so they don't take him and give them a draft pick instead?    If not, then the Rangers could include Grabner in a trade deadline deal for a defenseman.  

At any rate, it looks to be an interesting month ahead.

NOTES:

*  You might have missed it, but the Rangers gave Alain Vigneault a raise and a two year contract extension.  I know the Vigneault haters will be gnashing their teeth, but there is something to said for coaching stability.  

*  Marc Staal, Aatti Raanta and Jesper Fast will all be in uniform tonight vs. Columbus.  Kevin Hayes remains the lone player still on the injured list.  For the second straight game against the Blue Jackets, the Rangers will not be facing Sergei Bobrovsky, who is under the weather and resting after the All-Star weekend. In the nets for Columbus will be Joonas Korpisalo.  The last back up goalie the Rangers faced for Columbus was waived two days later. 

*   There are a number of reports that the Barclays Center is going to opt out of their lease with the Islanders following the 2018-19 season.  That doesn't give the Isles much time to find a new home locally and they could relocate.  Why should we care?  Well, with John Tavares a free agent after this season, he may not want to re-sign with the Isles if he won't even know where he will be playing in two seasons.

* For those of you who have been reading these posts, you know I am an advocate for three points for a regulation win, two points for an OT or Shootout Win and one point for an OT or Shootout Loss. The reason is that the opportunity for the "loser point" has made the third period of tie games pretty much meaningless.   186 games went to overtime this season out of a total of 739.  That is slightly more than 25%.  Yes, one fourth of all NHL games this season have gone to overtime.  That's an awful lot of dull third periods.  The three points for a regulation win would make for more competitive (and entertaining) hockey and ultimately, fewer OT games.

Here are the standings if that rule was in place;

Atlantic Division	GP	Record	Points		Metropolitan Division	GP	Record	Points
Montreal	50	24-5-14-7	89		Washington	49	26-7-10-6	98
Ottawa	47	19-7-15-6	77		Columbus	48	24-8-12-4	92
Boston	52	20-5-21-6	76		Rangers	49	27-4-17-1	90
Toronto	47	18-5-15-9	73		Pittsburgh	48	24-6-13-5	89
Tampa	50	19-3-22-6	69		Islanders	47	18-3-17-9	69
Florida	50	12-9-19-10	64		Carolina	48	16-5-20-7	65
Buffalo	48	14-6-19-9	63		Philadelphia	50	15-10-19-6	61
Detroit	49	11-9-20-9	60		New Jersey	50	12-7-21-10	60

Central Division	GP	Record	Points		Pacific Division	GP	Record	Points
Minnesota	48	27-5-11-5	96		San Jose	50	24-7-17-2	89
Chicago	51	21-9-16-5	86		Anaheim	51	23-4-15-9	86
Nashville	49	21-3-17-8	77		Edmonton	51	20-8-15-8	84
St. Louis	49	17-6-20-5	68		Calgary	52	19-6-24-3	72
Dallas	50	18-2-20-10	68		Los Angeles	49	14-10-21-4	66
Winnipeg	52	18-5-25-4	68		Vancouver	50	14-9-21-6	66
Colorado	46	8-5-31-2	36		Arizona	48	9-7-26-6	47

Obviously, if this rule was in place, these would not be the situation.  But as you can see, not much changes regarding the standings.   The same teams will be contending for the same playoff spots, however, the gap between the elite and the wannabes will be larger.  The Rangers move from fourth to third and the Islanders leap frog into 5th place, but are still twenty points behind Montreal.  The Flyers take the biggest hit, dropping from 5th to 7th and out of the playoffs.   The gap widens for teams like Buffalo, Florida and Detroit.  But I ask you, do the Detroit Red Wings deserve to make the playoffs when they have won 11 games in regulation out of 49 total games played?

The West is even tighter with five teams within two points of each other for the final wild card spot. Besides the subtle changes in the standings, the third period of dozens of games would have had some significance and better play, something we should all be asking for.

Stay tuned for the next post, a review of games 41-50.  

Quick Note

It was a crazy night in the NHL Tuesday (and a good one for the Rangers).  Metropolitan Division rivals did NOT have a good night.   Here goes:

Ottawa beat the red hot Capitals 3-0
The Islanders beat Columbus 4-2.
St.Louis shut out the Penguins 3-0.

Even last place Tampa got into the act, upsetting Chicago on the road.  Hey, take note of that phrase:   "last place Tampa."

Some favorites won as Montreal, San Jose and Minnesota all won.

So, with Wednesday night's big showdown at MSG against the Flyers here are the tight Met Division standings:

Metropolitan Division	GP	Record	Points
1. Washington	48	32-10-6	70
2. Columbus	47	32-11-4	68
3. Pittsburgh	47	30-12-5	65
4. Rangers	48	31-16-1	63
5. Philadelphia	48	23-19-6	52
6. Carolina	47	21-19-7	49
7. New Jersey	49	20-20-9	49
8. Islanders	46	19-17-9	47

What's interesting is it appears that the top four teams in the Division will fight it out until the end of the season, but all are a reasonable lock to make the post season.  In the meantime, the Flyers have come back to earth and are not only competing with Carolina, the Devils and the Islanders, but also FIVE teams in the Atlantic Division for the final wild card spot.   Here are the Atlantic standings:

Atlantic Division	GP	Record	Points
1. Montreal	49	29-13-7	65
2. Ottawa	46	26-15-5	57
3. Toronto	45	22-14-9	53
4. Boston	51	24-21-6	53
5. Florida	49	20-19-10	50
6. Detroit	48	20-19-9	49
7. Buffalo	47	20-18-9	49
8. Tampa	49	22-22-5	49

In other words, Washington, Columbus, Pittsburgh, the Rangers and Montreal are almost assured of locking down the top five playoff spots.  The other three slots are up in the air as every other team (11 in all)  in the East has a shot at the playoffs.   Boston could be in trouble having played the most games in the conference.  Toronto is tied with them in points and has FIVE GAMES in hand. 

It should be a good contest Wednesday as the Flyers are on the outside of the playoff picture going into the game. The Rangers will be without Jesper Fast and Antti Raanta (out for another week) and the latest on Kevin Hayes is he has a leg injury and will be out at least 2-3 weeks.  No word on Marc Staal and his concussion symptoms.   The Rangers were lucky to skate off with a win against Los Angeles.  It appears that Henrik is back to his old self (knock on wood) as was the Ranger defense, leaving him high and dry on numerous occasions.  

My last issue is to once again raise the issue of the loser point.  While it is great that so many teams are in playoff contention...look at the number of regulation wins for these alleged playoff teams, all of whom have played about 50 games. 

Toronto     17

Islanders   17

Carolina    16

Buffalo     14

Philadelphia  13

Florida      12

New Jersey 12

Detroit      11

It's a little embarrassing that so much mediocrity is being rewarded, but welcome to the NHL. 

Don't forget, the Ranger game is on NBC Sportsnet and it is an 8pm start. 

Revisiting

So, it hasn't been an easy stretch for Ranger fans.  Although some of the walking wounded have returned all is still not rosy on the health front with Marc Staal and Matt Puempel still suffering the after-effects of concussions and Antti Raanta and Jesper Fast out with the proverbial "lower body injuries." Although the positive has been the return of Zibanejad, Buchnevich and Nash along with the Rangers' offense,  the negative is that the Rangers' best player has been merely mortal (or even less so). A return to form in Toronto on Thursday night bodes well, but it needs to become a streak.  We shall know more after the afternoon tilt agains Detroit on national TV Sunday. We'll know even more Thursday, when the All-Star break begins for the team after three games in four days.

The Rangers have tumbled back to earth.  While still a virtual lock for a playoff spot, they are now the first wild card seed in the East.  If the standings stay the same, they will become an Atlantic Division team until the Stanley Cup Finals and would be facing Carey Price and the Canadiens in the first round.   While their 59 points put them in 8th place overall, their .641 winning percentage moves them up one slot to 7th place.  The challenge that they face is that five of the NHL's top seven teams are in the East with four of them in the Metropolitan Division.   Here's where they would place in other divisions:  2nd in the Atlantic, 3rd in the Central and 1st in the Pacific.

Although they have played for weeks without their top offensive line they are still among the league leaders in offense....second only to the Penguins in Goals per Game (3.50) and Goals scored (161). They've scored 15 goals in the last three games and all four lines are clicking.   The offense looks like it will be fine.  So okay...so what is it with the goaltending?

Here's my take.  Yes, Henrik Lundqvist is getting older.  With age comes slower reflexes, worse vision and a definite tendency towards self-doubt.  Here is the reality.  Lundqvist is signed through 2021 (four more years) at a cap hit of $8.5 million.  He has a full No Movement Clause in his contract.   The fantasies on the blogosphere of a Lundqvist trade are just that, fantasies. He is not going anywhere. He will be 35 in six weeks and he won't be leaving New York until he is 39.  Sure, in three years if the Rangers are willing to eat some of his contract and a contending team is looking for a solid backup he could be traded, but it would take total astral alignment and his permission. Ruling out a trade, the most important question facing the Rangers is whether this just a temporary setback or is Henrik Lundqvist done.

I was at the Garden on Tuesday for the Dallas game.  Yes, it was incredibly entertaining and ultimately very depressing. What was the worst was seeing Henrik allow seven goals in two periods. Of the seven he should have stopped two.  As Steve Valiquette so eloquently explained, five of the goals would have required spectacular saves.  We are so used to spectacular saves, when they don't happen it is the end of the world.   No it isn't, it's just the world that a lot of NHL teams have lived through for years.  It's the world of Jake Allen and Ray Emery and Mike Smith.   The good news is those goaltenders have no shot of being as good as the King and there is nothing to say that Lundqvist cannot rebound.

I believe that we are seeing the result of years of cumulative bombardment against the Rangers and Lundqvist.  A key statistic to look at is 5v5 Shot Attempts. This season the Rangers have faced the fifth most shots of any team in the NHL.  Last season it was the third most.  The year before, it was 9th most. In the last year of the Tortorella era and the first year of Alain Vigneault, the Rangers were in the top third when it came to fewest shot attempts.    While I am not an advanced stats freak, this plays directly into bad stats for the Blueshirts.   Here is the SAT (NHL's version of Corsi) score the the last five years:

2013    +174 (8th best)
2014    +353 (8th best)
2015       -77 (11th worst)
2016      -381 (5th worst)
2017      -169 (7th worst)

The bottom line is that for the last three years the Ranger defense (under the Vigneault system) has allowed Ranger goalies to be constantly under siege.  When at his best, Lundqvist negated those numbers, but  it is catching up to him.  Think about it. How many times in the last two seasons have we seen Hank stop a point blank shot from the crease?   How many two on ones have we seen him stop?  The egregious and lazy giveaway by Adam Clendening for the shorthanded goal Thursday night was a perfect example of horrible defense.  Thankfully, that was one of the few giveaways that resulted in that kind of wide open shot (but there were several including one 40 seconds into the game).

So, what do we have to look forward to?  I would assume more of the same.   The Rangers will continue to be one of the highest scoring teams in the league.  Their high powered pressure offense will inevitably result in some odd man rushes and breakaways.  Lundqvist will continue to stop those shots, but not at the same rate as in the past.  Hopefully the offense will make up for it.

The key point will be the trade deadline.   While the common thought is that the Rangers need a power play quarterback, that is furthest from the truth.  They need a solid, stay at home defenseman who can move the puck, but most importantly will keep opposing teams honest (can anyone find Michael Sauer?).  The bad news is that there are 29 other NHL teams looking for the same player.

One thing for sure.  The Playoffs are a completely different story.  Scoring a lot of goals on Carey Price will be difficult.   There is one recipe for the current team to win in the Playoffs. Conscientious defense, tenacious forechecking and outstanding goaltending.  Does anyone feel that they are capable of that?

Duclair Demoted

On the subject of trade deadline deals,  I'm sure most of you saw that Anthony Duclair was demoted to the AHL this week after scoring only three goals and nine points in 41 games.   While I am sure he will be back (remember Chris Kreider's trip to Hartford in 2013?), it certainly makes the Yandle deal more palatable.

Kreider Fined

In one of the more comical images of this season, Chris Kreider hit Cody Eakin with his helmet during his scrum in the Dallas game.  He was fined $5k for that...well worth it.

Winning Streaks

So, what's with the winning streaks in the Metropolitan Division?  Teams in the division own the six of the seven longest streaks in the NHL this season.  Here they are:

1.   Columbus      16 games
2.  Minnesota      12 games
3.  Philadelphia  10 games
4.  Washington     9 games
5.   Montreal         8 games
6.   Pittsburgh       7 games
      Chicago            7 games

The longest winning streak for the Rangers this season is five.  Maybe the Blueshirts are due for a nice eight or nine game winning streak that would vault them into a top playoff position.  On the flip side, the longest losing streak for New York was the three game streak this week.  The Rangers have successfully avoided any long losing streaks...with only Columbus and Chicago with shorter losing streaks (2).    It's been a hallmark of all of the playoff contenders that they have avoided long streaks with only the Flyers and Oilers having losing streaks of five games.

Looking Ahead

The schedule is  sort of favorable to the Rangers the rest of the way.  They have 20 games remaining against teams currently out of the playoffs with 16 against playoff teams. However, ten of the 20 are against the "bottom feeders" of the league. Home and road games are split 50-50.  The challenge will be the ten games they have against Columbus, Montreal, Pittsburgh and Washington though eight of those games will be at Madison Square Garden, which may NOT be a good thing.

Speaking of futility at home, it is worth noting that the Rangers are en route to their worst home record in years.  At this rate, they will end up with .586 winning percentage and only 23 victories. The last time they had such a bad home record was 2014 when they had only 20 wins and a .536 winning percentage. And we all remember what happened in 2014?????  Their road winning percentage of .696 is the highest since they won the Presidents Trophy two years ago and is much better than the .634 they registered in 2014.

Wrapping Up

The Rangers play on national television on Sunday in Detroit.  They come home against the Kings on Monday and at MSG Wednesday against the Flyers.  Then they are off for five days during the All-Star Break.   All three teams they play have not been playing well (11-14-5) in the last ten games so the possiblity that the Blueshirts will head into the break on a nice roll are certainly there.  At any rate, here's a suggestion. The chant at MSG should not be a Bronx cheer if Lundqvist allows a goal...it should be Dee-Fense.


   

The Fourth Ten Games

About Last Night

Okay, let's start by agreeing to not even think about the Sabres game.  It was a pathetic lack of effort and a demoralizing loss.  It would be hard to imagine a worse way to end this stretch of ten games. As Ryan McDonagh put it so succinctly in the post game, if the team shows this lack of effort and care in the games coming up, they will be embarrassed again.  They get the first chance to turn it around Wednesday night in Philadelphia and don't forget that they are playing a Columbus team on Saturday that could be trying to set an NHL record for consecutive wins.

The Ten Games

Okay, we projected 14 out of 20 points and they were cruising towards precisely that total until the disaster at MSG.  They finished with 12 points on a 6-4 record, exactly the same record as the third ten game stretch.  As usual, the Blueshirts were totally unpredictable.  They lost to the third worse team in the league, the Sabres.  They were trounced by two of the hottest teams in the league (Pittsburgh and Minnesota) and they lost a thriller to the Blackhawks.     But, they won four out of five on the road including tough games in Dallas and Nashville.  In fact, they won all of the games that they should have won except the last one, beating the Devils, Avalanche, Winnipeg and Arizona.

It is hard to not harp on the injuries, but they played most of these games without Rick Nash and still have Mika Zibanejad and Pavel Buchnevich on the sidelines.  Matt Puempel brought life to the powerplay, but is suffering from concussion symptoms.   The Stepan-Kreider-Zuccarello line did most of the damage, with Oscar Lindberg reviving his season with added playing time.  Still, keeping pace with the Blue Jackets, Penguins and Capitals in the Metropolitan Divison has been a challenge, especially with the inconsistent goaltending they are getting from the King.

Let's look at the good stuff...the facts that prove that the Rangers are a very good team (worthy of their 4th place in the ESPN Power Rankings).    They have played more games than any team in the Eastern Conference except Boston in an unbelievably compacted schedule.   Look at where they are in the top 10 in the entire league:

1st Overall:
Goals Scored (134)
Wins by Three Goals or More (12)
Goals at Even Strength (86)
Shooting Percentage (11.5%)

2nd Overall:
Ganes Won (26)
Regulation & Overtime Wins (24)
Road Power Play (27.8%)
Fewest Shorthanded Goals Allowed (1)
Road Record (13-6-0)
Shorthanded Goals Scored (5)
Fewest Major Penalties (5)
Block Shots (640)

3rd Overall:
Points (53)
Goals per Game  (3.35)
Goal Differential (+35)

4th Overall:
Power Play (22.9%)
Wins when Opposition Scores First (10 wins, .556)

6th Overall:
Winning Percentage (.663)

8th Overall:
Shots Against Per Game (28.9)
Home Record (13-7-1)
One Goal Game Winning Percentage (.571)

9th Overall
Goals Against Per Game (2.50)
Penalty Kill (83.9%)

While all of these statistics are great, there are some numbers that are troubling.  The team defense appears to be slipping as they are now 14th in Goals Against (100) and while still in the top ten in GAA, they were in the top five before.    The Rangers still don't shoot enough.  The are 20th overall in Shots Per Game (29.1).  

Their power play has been clicking, but one explanation for their inablity to dominate at home could be power play related. On the road, their PP is 2nd overall, but their home PP is in 13th place at 19.1% efficency,   To further illustrate, they are 15 for 54 on the road, scoring more than once every four times. At home, they are 13 for 68.  They have won three out of six one goals games at home...a better PP might have helped that record.  Finally, they show a remarkable inability to score on 5x3's. They have had seven this year and are scoreless.  Ouch.

Their performance on face-offs has become abysmal.  They are currently 27th overall in winning percentage at 47.9%. Losing Zibanejad has not helped at all since he was winning them at a 53.7% clip. They fare best on Defensive Zone Face-offs (49.8%) but that still puts them in 12th place in the league. The team is 20th overall in Offensive Zone Face-offs at 49%.  On Neutral Zone Face-offs, the team is dead last in the NHL with a 45% winning percentage.  It's obvious that winning face-offs is crucial to the power play or penalty kill...they really need to improve here (and will when Mika comes back).

The advanced stat freaks are apoplectic about the Rangers' numbers. Their Corsi is sitting at 47.4% which puts them at 26th overall in a 30 team league.  You may not believe is advanced stats, but the teams with a worse Corsi happen to be Colorado, New Jersey, the Islanders and Arizona.  On the other hand, before you start embracing Corsi, there are also teams in the top ten that are having pretty average seasons (Boston, Los Angeles, Carolina & Florida).

Their PDO continues to hover above the magic 100 number (higher means the team is not as good as its record).   If it's any comfort, Columbus has the highest PDO in the league with Washington right behind them.   The PDO is the team's shooting percentage combined with their save percentage.

There's not much to talk about when discussing individual players.  There are NO Rangers in the top ten in any offensive categories except shorthanded goals (Miller tied for the lead with two).  All of those players who were in the top ten in +/- were unceremoniously dropped from that list after the two games against Pittsburgh and Minnesota.   Ryan McDonagh is fourth is assists among defensemen and in fifth place with 25 points.  Nick Holden is fourth among defensemen in goals scored with eight.  Among rookies, Jimmy Vesey and Brady Skjei continue to be among the league leaders in scoring.

Summing Up

The Rangers continue to be a perplexing team.  They win road games that they should lose and they lose home games they should win.   They go seven games allowing only six goals, then allow 14 goals over two games.  They have been hammered by injuries.  The team is in 20th place with 90 man games lost to injury, but it is the quality of the injured players that matters. According to the website "mangameslost.com,"  Mika Zibanejad is in second place and Pavel Buchnevich is in third place among all injured players in Corsi impact to their teams, behind only Steve Stamkos.  That is significant.   Their goaltending is still an issue.  Their best player needs to realize that December is over and it is time for him to raise his level of play.

There are eight weeks until the February 28th trade deadline.  That's eight weeks for the team to get healthy and for Jeff Gorton to determine if he needs to roll the dice and deal for the final piece of the Stanley Cup puzzle, or to stand pat and see if this team has the right stuff to go all the way. It's obvious that there is a need for an upgrade on defense (or at least some depth), but does the team deal draft picks or youth for a Kevin Shattenkirk?  We shall see.

Looking Ahead

The next ten games all are in the month of January as the team finally catches a breather from the heavy schedule that they have played.  They actually have two five day breaks with no games. Though light, the schedule is not easy.  Their standing in the Metro Division will be much clearer come March as they start the stretch by playing in  Philadelphia and Columbus and then conclude the ten games with games against the same teams at MSG.   Toronto is playing their best hockey of the season and face the Blueshirts twice as well.  They also play at Montreal and at home vs. Los Angeles and Dallas, all teams in playoff contention.  The only game they play against a team out of playoff contention besides Toronto is in Detroit.  The ten games are evenly split, home and away.   The light schedule could even the odds against  the quality of the competition, but it's not difficult to imagine that the team will play .500 hockey in January.  I'd predict 12 points out of 20 with ten points very possible. Ranger fans have to hope that this unpredictable team will rise to the occasion and finish the next stretch much stronger than that.