Pinch Me

Six games into the month of February and six wins in a row.  After last night's road win against a tough Columbus team, the Rangers have now moved into a three way tie for second place in the Metropolitan Division with 75 points (though Columbus has a game in hand and Pittsburgh has two). Perhaps most encouraging is that the team did this by winning all four games of a homestand, dramatically reversing an inability to win at Madison Square Garden.

The six game streak is the longest since they won nine in a row in November 2015.  What is unusual about this streak is when it is happening.  Although the Blueshirts have won six or more games a number of times recently, they always seem to do it in the first half of the season.  The last time they won six games in a row in the second half of the season was February 2006.

The schedule is still tough for the next few games.  The team plays the Islanders in Brooklyn on Thursday, at MSG vs. Washington on Sunday and finish this ten game stretch with a home game against the Canadiens and a road game in Toronto.  Looking at the ten game segments, this one could be the most successful of the season as they have 12 points in six games.  Their best ten game stretch they totaled 15 points (games 11-20).

All of this came with the return to health of ALL of the forwards.  Alain Vigneault is rolling four lines and juggling those lines when needed.  Last night he moved Buchnevich  up and Vesey down, but swapped the players late in the game and was rewarded when Vesey potted the game winning goal.

The only negative of late has been the power play. During this streak the Rangers have gone 2-14 on the PP, a 14% efficiency rate.  Not good.

Playoff Picture

In the be careful of what you wish for category, the Rangers are now on the brink of leaving Wild Card Land.  If they finish in a top three Division spot, they will most likely play Columbus or Pittsburgh in the first round, as opposed to playing Montreal if they are the first wild card team.  Sure, Montreal is flawed and could be an easier opponent, but no one should be "wishing" to face Carey Price in the first round.   The only advantage of playing in the Atlantic Division would be in round two when the opponent will be decidedly inferior to the Metropolitan Division first round winners.

This is very different from last season when the Islanders tanked and played Florida in the first round. The team they faced in round 2 (Tampa) was one of the best teams in the East.

You may not realize that it doesn't matter which division the wild card teams are from.  The thought had been that the Metropolitan Division would send five cards to the playoffs, forcing one of the teams to play in the other Division.   As of today, the two wild card teams from the East would be the Rangers and Toronto.  Regardless of which Division they are in, if the playoffs started today they would flip divisions.  The Rangers would play Montreal and stay in the Atlantic through the Conference Finals.  The Maple Leafs would play Washington in round one and would stay in the Metropolitan Division through the Conference Finals.  That could set up the possibility that the Rangers could be in the Conference Finals representing the Atlantic Division and the Maple Leafs could (not very likely) be the Metropolitan Division champion facing the Rangers.  Weird.

At any rate, it is certainly pick your poison.  Carey Price/Shea Weber or Sydney Crosby/Matt Murray or Sergei Bobrovsky/Cam Atkinson...does it really matter?

Trade Deadline Looms

The March 1 trade deadline is literally two weeks away.  It appears that a few more teams will be "sellers" at the deadline. Add Detroit and Buffalo to Vancouver and Colorado as teams who will look to acquire assets for playoff contributors. Tampa is also very close to joining the "sellers" club.   I did get an answer to a question from a previous post.   The Rangers can actually make a deal with Vegas and get them to NOT pick Michael Grabner.  They could send a draft pick to Vegas and get them to promise to select another player.   There is also some clarity about Dan Girardi's situation.  He has a No Movement Clause that will allow him to select 15 teams he CANNOT be traded to.  The  Rangers could ask him to waived his NMC and then expose him in the expansion draft, with the limited likelihood that he will be selected.  

That would not help in the Grabner situation, but they could then protect Nick Holden while exposing Klein and Girardi.   They would have to protect McDonagh and Staal and Skjei is not eligible to be drafted.  

Another option is that they could trade a forward to Anaheim in exchange for a young and talented righthand shooting defensemen like Brandon Montour or Josh Manson.  Montour is smaller and has an offensive upside and would be more costly.  Manson is bigger and would be a physical stay at home d-man. Currently, Anaheim needs scoring and they would have to expose both young players in the expansion draft.   The rumor has been a deal involving Derek Stepan going to Anaheim for Montour and other considerations. 

Confused?  Don't worry, it will get even more convoluted at the trade deadline and just before the expansion draft when teams will be making deals like crazy as they solidify their rosters.  Teams have to submit their rosters by June 17.  The players picked by Las Vegas will be revealed on June 21.