Trade Winds?

Here's a post from Shawn Simpson of TSN.

Glen Sather and three senior staffers (but NOT Jeff Gorton) are scouting the Montreal-Ottawa game tonight.  Speculation that this is a precursor to a NYR-Montreal deal.   It makes sense for two struggling teams to deal and the names being bandied about include  Galchenyuk and Pacioretty.  Leaving New York names include Kreider, Skjei , Nash and Zuccarello.  Don't rule out Ottawa, though no trade targets are really obvious.

Alex Galchenyuk is a 23 year old center who is two seasons away from a 30 goal season.  He's fallen out of favor and has been a favorite of the trade rumor mill for a while now.  Pacioretty is the Canadiens captain, 28 years old and has had a run of four 30 goal+ seasons.  He is a Connecticut native and grew up a Ranger fan.  He's also a left wing and that doesn't help the Rangers issue at center ice.

Both guys make under $5 million per year.

It would obviously take some value from the Rangers to get either player, hence the Kreider chatter.

Stay tuned.

More of the Same

If anyone took anything positive out of the loss to Montreal Saturday night, think again.  Sure, the team came back from a three goal deficit and actually tied the score in the third period, but it just ended up as another loss as this season is slowly slipping from discouraging to disastrous.

The Rangers looked awful in the first period.  What's most depressing is that there was no effort. If the team even tried they can be forgiven, but if avoiding humiliation is the only incentive for the team to skate hard, there is something very, very wrong.   There are some very obvious conclusions we can draw about the 2017-18 New York Rangers.

1. They are not prepared at game time.  Yet again, the team fell behind in the first period.  In their twelve games, the Rangers have given up the first goal nine times (that includes the disallowed goal vs. Montreal in game #3).  They are constantly playing from behind and even when they catch up, they eventually lose (Toronto, Pittsburgh, Islanders, Montreal).  The blame for that has to be on the coaching staff, not just the players.  You have to ask if Vigneault has lost the team.
2. The back up goalie is not very good.  Ondrej Pavelec has not been that impressive.  Last night, despite facing 43 shots he was mediocre and gave up some juicy rebounds including one on the winning goal.  He is also slow to move...I cannot put my finger on it, but he just doesn't move quickly after making a save.  Steve Valiquette was very tactful in his criticism of Pavlec, but brought up the same thing.  As shaky as Lundqvist has been this year, I believe that they would have won the game last night if he had been in net.  
3. The Rangers can score.  The team potted four goals against Carey Price.  They were dominant on offense at times (and won the second and third periods).  They still over-pass, but the team has scored 21 goals  in their last six games, a 3.50 goals per game average. They averaged 3.12 goals per game last season.  They've only gone 2-2-2 in those six games. 
4. Four lines work best.  Not only four lines, but using Michael Grabner on the fourth line brings a new dimension to the team. The Nieves/Grabner/Buchnevich fourth line was magnificent against Arizona, not so great against Montreal.  Watching them against Arizona brought memories back of their start last season. I agree that Buchnevich needs to play more, but fourth line minutes combined with first team power play could work.  The coaches need to figure out the line combinations and stick with them. 
5. Kevin Shattenkirk has defensive issues.  As wonderful as Shattenkirk has been on the power play, he is prone to totally bonehead moves on defense.  A lot of NHL insiders have been critical of him for his defense and they obviously knew something.  It is a case of Kevin giveth and Kevin taketh....and we need to aware of that.  Shattenkirk's defense makes Keith Yandle look like Larry Robinson.  At any rate, Shattenkirk has to be deployed properly and that is on the coaching staff.
6. The Rangers have defensive issues.  Wow, has this season been a series of giveaways and unforced errors?  Even Ryan McDonagh  has had issues, a sure sign that he is trying too hard.  Thank goodness that Marc Staal has been playing decently.  Note to the haters, Dan Girardi is playing on the first pair for Tampa, tied for the most points in the NHL.  They are scoring goals by the bushel so their GAA is in the middle of the league, but he is being deployed properly averaging 16 minutes per game instead of the 20+ he averaged with New York. At any rate, Nick Holden has been inconsistent and the Brady Skjei/Brendan Smith combination has not shown the form that they did in the playoffs yet.

There is more, but it why dwell on it?   The team has another one of those "must win" games on Tuesday night vs. Vegas.  It will be scary... The Golden Knights are 8-1-0 though three of those wins have come in OT or a shootout.  To take a little luster off their record, consider that they've played seven straight home games (6-1) after beating Dallas and Arizona (in OT) on the road.  Their 7-0 win over Colorado on Friday has to be impressive, but they are about to hit the road on a six game trip.  They start on Monday vs. the Islanders so the Rangers will be getting them on the second night of a back to back.  One reason that Vegas is doing so well is that they are scoring on an unsustainable 13.1% of their shots. When that number drops closer to the league average of 9.4% they will come back to earth. By comparison, the Rangers shoot percentage is 9%. 

If the Rangers can beat Vegas (did anyone ever think that we would be saying "if they can beat Vegas") they go on a two-game trip to Florida, an opportunity for the proverbial team-bonding.  We shall see.  

The only good news so far this season is that the NHL effort at parity is succeeding.   Of the 16 teams that made the playoffs last season, only eight would qualify today.  In the East, the Rangers, Capital, Canadiens and Bruins are all off to mediocre starts.  In the West, Minnesota, San Jose, Edmonton and Calgary are all to slow starts.  

The Rangers are four points out of a wild card playoff spot as of today.  That's four points the team gave away by slow starts, shoddy defense and loose goaltending.  It's still not too late, but they need to get their act together. 

Some Player Notes:

Filip Chytil is tied for second in the AHL in rookie scoring.  In only six games he has eight points (three goals and five assists).   Vinni Lettieri has five points in eight games.  The leading scorer for the Wolf Pack is Cole Schneider with nine points, but it is doubtful we will see him on Broadway.  Hartford is playing better than they did last year (4-4-1).   The bad news is the goaltending hasn't been superlative, so there is no better option than Pavlec in the minors.

Adam Cracknell cleared waivers and is playing for Hartford.  In two games he has no points, just like his tenure with the big club.

On defense in Hartford, Neal Pionk and Alexei Bereglazov are playing well, while Tony DeAngelo is already -4 and pointless in two games. If DeAngelo is a bust, the Stepan/Raanta for Lias Andersson deal could be one that Jeff Gorton will regret for years.

Vegas placed  defenseman Griffin Reinhart on waivers Sunday.  The former 2012  #4 overall pick (Islanders) cannot crack the Golden Knights lineup.

There has been no word about Russian winger Danis Zarapov, who was cleared to play in the NHL this summer.  He has disappeared from sight. The only mention of him was on a Penguins website (apparently Malkin is still pushing for him to be signed).  He is believed to be in no rush to sign with anyone and wants a lot of money.

There has been some rumors about Vadim Shipachyov, a 30-year old Russian center with Vegas.  Just today, he was suspended by the team for not reporting to the AHL.  He's only played in three game this season with one goal. He signed a two-year, $9 million deal with Vegas after three outstanding seasons in the KHL (26-50-76 in 50 games last season), but he didn't gel in Sin City.   A skilled Russian center on the third line is intriguing, but the Blueshirts have absolutely  no cap space to sign him unless Vegas would pick up some of his salary.   His agent was given permission to find a deal a couple weeks ago, but with today's suspension his contract could be voided and he could return to Russia.  Stay tuned. 

Finally,when it comes to the Rangers,  according to TSN Hockey insider, Bob MacKenzie,  "a trade would happen before the coach would be in the hot seat."  No indication of what that would be.  My question is what would it take to get Matt Duchene from Colorado.  Kevin Hayes and Brady Skjei? Filip Chytil and Neal Pionk?   Chris Kreider and Tony DeAngelo?  Personally, it would be nice if the Rangers had someone like Brendan Gallagher, a player everyone hates to play against.  The team lacks sandpaper.  Maybe the answer is a gritty forward who is currently in the top 20 in goals scored in the league.  But would a team sitting in fourth place overall in the Western Conference be willing to give up a player like that?  That player is Derek Dorsett. 

Late Sunday Night Factoids

More craziness as Pittsburgh lost to Winnipeg 7-1 and Washington continued their poor play, losing to Calgary.  For you optimists, the Rangers have three regulation or overtime wins.  That's as many as the Capitals and Hurricanes and more than Edmonton or Montreal.  Either all is not lost or this is the season for the "have-nots" to finally 'have."

Desperate Days

It's hard to believe that a late October game against the Arizona Coyotes is a "must win" but it is.  The Yotes lost 5-3 to the Islanders Tuesday night so they will be coming to MSG without a win.   Beware the winless team...

The Rangers made some roster moves to prepare for the game.  They placed Adam Cracknell on waivers.  If he clears he will be sent to Hartford.  He played four games for the Rangers with no points and a -1 rating.  I guess the Adam Cracknell experiment has gone the way of the Paul Carey experiment (though he remains with the team).  Tony DeAngelo was also sent to Hartford and Boo Nieves was brought up, presumably to center the fourth line.  I assume that the Blueshirts will go with a traditional 12 forward, six defense alignment.  That means that Nick Holden will be getting regular ice time. Oh joy.

The team also made a minor trade two days ago, swapping Matt Puempel to Detroit for defenseman Ryan Sproul who was immediately sent to Hartford.  Detroit also sent center Riley Sheahan and a fifth round pick to the Penguins in exchange for forward Scott Wilson and a third round pick.

The Wings were desperate to clear cap space once they signed Andreas Athanasiou.  What is frustrating is that the Rangers gave up on Puempel for yet another depth defenseman.  Sproul had a decent upside, but couldn't crack the lineup on a mediocre Detroit team.  He now gets in line behind DeAngelo, Pionk and Graves on the pipeline to NYC.

Meanwhile, the Penguins get a third line center in Sheahan, 25 years old and with seasons of 13 and 14 goals.  He peaked in 2015 with 36 points in 79 games.  Puempel and Wilson have similar stats (and salaries)...so what kept the Blueshirts from acquiring Sheahan?  Not wanting to swap draft picks?  Sheahan makes a shade over $2 million a year, but the Rangers have more than that in cap space.  His offensive numbers are very similar to Desharnais.   I'm sure that there were additional cap considerations (clearing waivers etc) that affected the deal, but it is still maddening to see a Metropolitan Division rival like Pittsburgh plug a hole while the Rangers tread water.  That's on Jeff Gorton.

Oh yes, with DeAngelo now playing in Hartford, Derek Stepan will be the only player from the big trade who will be playing.  The Rangers have nothing to show for that deal except a defensively-challenged minor leaguer and a stud prospect in Sweden.  As for Arizona, Antti Raanta has been injured, but has resumed skating.  There is a slim chance he will make his return to play vs. the Rangers. Stepan is centering the top line and has two goals and five assists. Another former Ranger, Anthony Duclair is off to a decent start (2-2-4) after a really disappointing season.  And for all of the analytics freaks, Bobby Orr....er, Adam Clendening is also with Arizona...where he has appeared in three out of nine games for the worst team in the league. He probably won't play tonight either.

The First Ten Games (ugh)

Get the lifeboats ready.  It's time to abandon ship!  While all is not lost, the team has not displayed any sign that they will be a playoff contender.  It has been an incredibly depressing start to a season that began with the usual expectations of Stanley Cup contention.  Let's look at the first ten games to see what went wrong.

The First Ten Games

The season began with an unexpected 4-2 loss to Colorado.  While it was really a one-goal game (the last Avalanche goal was an empty netter), there were ominous signals that there would be future troubles.  The Blueshirts fell behind early, allowing a goal five minutes in.  They threw 37 shots at Varlamov, but except for two powerplay goals, they were stymied.  One game, two trends began...falling behind early and an inability to score.

Game two was that abomination in Toronto.  The team's spirited comeback from a 5-1 deficit masked the chaos that was the Ranger defense.  In a flashback to last season, Lundqvist was pulled early.  And after the comeback, the Maple Leafs outshot the Rangers in the third period 13-8 and scored all three goals.  Again, accentuating the comeback hid the problems that were readily evident in an 8-5 loss.

The third game was the first win, a 2-0 shutout of Montreal. Again, the Rangers were scored on early, but Montreal had TWO first period goals disallowed.  Hank came back from his awful outing the night before and got the shutout.  All was well in Rangerland...though the win came against one of the few teams having a worse season than the Rangers.  

The next three losses (St. Louis, Columbus & New Jersey) all accentuated the problems this team is having.  No chemistry. Nick Holden and Steven Kampfer getting big minutes.  No scoring.  Horrifying turnovers.  

There was a mini-comeback in the next three games with overtime losses to the Penguins and Islanders and the win against Nashville.  That was four points out of a possible six. Again the rationalization..."we could have won the games against Pittsburgh and the Islanders."

The final game of the ten game set was a dispirited loss to San Jose. While the Sharks are playing better, they were also coming off a loss to the Islanders (with the backup goalie in net).  

So....after ten games the Rangers have six points out of a possible 20.  They have won only two games out of eight at Madison Square Garden and are winless on the road.  In my ten game preview, I took the safe route and predicted ten points.  I also said that it could just as easily be six or fourteen.  

What's Happening?

It's been a long time since the Rangers have been so disjointed.  They lack identity and spirit.  Their play is inconsistent and aimless.  The lack of chemistry is alarming.  

One problem is that the coaching staff didn't use the pre-season as an opportunity to build chemistry.  The short exhibition season was a series of auditions as they used the games to decide who would be in the NHL and who would be sent down.  None of the defensive pairings played together.  None of the forward lines played together.  So, when the season started, it was a Vigneault juggling game as he tried combination after combination with no success.  

I think the coaching staff underestimated what the departures of Stepan and Girardi would do to the team.  On Defense, the only players who have been with the team for more than a year are McDonagh and Staal.  Rather than integrate Kevin Shattenkirk into the rotation, the pre-season was a round robin audition for Neal Pionk, Tony DeAngelo, Steven Kampfer, Nick Holden and Ryan Graves. 

It was even worse for the forwards.  By going into training camp without a clear plan on who would be centering the top three lines,  the team gave ice time to Vinni Lettieri, Lias Andersson, Filip Chytil and Boo Nieves.  When the regular season started, the forward lines were in disarray with only the Zibanejad, Kreider and Nash line intact.  Chytil got a cup of coffee and then was dispatched to the AHL. How on earth does that happen?  The result has been that there are 11 forwards and seven defensemen playing every game.  David Desharnais has been moved up to the second line.  Tony DeAngelo only plays the power play (as does Pavel Buchnevich).  It is truly a mess. 

The Rangers played their last pre-season game on September 26 while the rest of the league played for five more days.   And where were the Rangers those days?  In Lake Placid, NY.  Teambuilding. Bobsledding.  Doing anything but preparing for the upcoming schedule.  Folly.

So, with ten games under their belts, the team shows no sign that they will stop giving up early goals and figuring out how to score.  The power play is deteriorating (0-6 vs. San Jose) and Lundqvist is not holding up well. Opposition odd man rushes and boneheaded defensive plays are proliferating.  Beware the arrival of the winless Arizona Coyotes on Thursday.  The one team you DON'T want to play when you are going bad is a team looking for their first win.  And don't look at Saturday's game in Montreal with any expectations for exactly the same reason.  And  ditto for the first visit to New York by the Vegas Golden Knights, an expansion team with twice the points the Ranger have, in three fewer games.

I have to believe that if the Rangers lose two out of those three games, there will be a coaching change.   The simple reason is that if you need 95 points to make the playoffs, with this start, the Rangers will need 89 points in 72 games...a 101 point pace.  

The Next Ten Games

From the debacle vs. San Jose the team has an "easy" game against the winless Coyotes. Then, a road game in Montreal against a Canadiens team that has yet to win a game in regulation.   Then comes the game against Vegas.  They have tough games against Tampa, Columbus (twice), Chicago and Edmonton.  They play Boston and Florida, both off to mediocre starts.   The games are split, five home and five away.  

If the team was playing well, I could easily see them coming out of the next ten games with 13 or 14 points.  The way it is going, they will be lucky to finish with eight points.   Any fewer than that and you can write off this season.  There has been no indication that this team is ready to pick up and play well.  No indication that they can go on a long winning streak.  As mentioned before, the only coach in the league who has had his job longer than Vigneault is Joel Quenneville and he has three Stanley Cup rings.  Two teams have lost only one game this season.  In the East it is the Tampa Bay Lightning with Ryan Callahan, Anton Stralman and Dan Girardi (Stamkos too).  In the West it is the Los Angeles Kings who fired a coach with two Stanley Cup rings in the off season.

Stay tuned.

A Sinking Ship

This season has certainly got off to a depressing start.  After last night's loss to the Devils at Madison Square Garden, the Rangers are 1-5 and have the distinction of being better than only the perennial cellar dwelling Arizona Coyotes.  With the Penguins coming to New York on Tuesday night and an energized Islander team on Thursday it is very possible that the team could be 1-7 by the weekend when they get to play the Stanley Cup runner-ups, the Nashville Predators.

I've been to two games this season, the 3-1 loss to St. Louis and the game last night. The fatalism in the Garden was noticeable.  With all of this good cheer, it's time to take a look at this team and two old friends are returning to lend their perspective.

Naysayer Ned's Negativity

All of the pre-season predictions of disaster have come true.   Here's what has gone wrong:

• No Center Ice Depth:  Trading Derek Stepan was a mistake.  While Zibanejad has been a scoring machine, he is NOT a true first line center.  Kevin Hayes has been thrust into the role of second line center and shut down defensive center and he is failing.  David Desharnais should be the fourth line center and has already been moved to the third line, since the J.T. Miller center experiment failed.   Paul Carey is not the answer. 
• Defensive Pairings are a Mess:  The coach cannot decide how the defense should be aligned.  Ryan McDonagh has been paired with Kevin Shattenkirk, Nick Holden, Marc Staal and last night, Tony DeAngelo.  Career minor leaguer Steven Kampfer has actually started a couple games.  
• The Defense was Overrated:  The vaunted defense is porous.  Brendan Smith has been a mess and has been benched twice. Tony DeAngelo has shown flashed of offensive brilliance, but his defense is lacking and his judgment is suspect.  Witness his cross checking penalty last night.  It resulted in the go-ahead goal for the Devils and might have cost the Rangers the game (among other things).  Nick Holden has been getting big minutes when he clearly is over his head.  Hopefully he remains trade bait. 
• The Scorers are Not Scoring:  The players with no goals so far:  Kreider, Buchnevich, Grabner, Desharnais & Vesey.  One goal?:  Zuccarello, Miller, Nash & Hayes. Mika Zibanejad has scored almost 40% of the Ranger goals.  The reason for this ineptitude?  See below:
• Shoot the Damned Puck:   The Rangers are still afflicted with overpass-itis.   They have made Keith Kinkaid and Carter Hutton (who?) look like Ken Dryden.  When facing really good goalies like Bobrovsky and Varlamov, it's even worse.  The Rangers always make one extra pass, trying for the perfect shot.  It never works.  Throw the puck at the goalie, crash the net...good things happen. 
• Take Better Shots:  Not only do the Rangers overpass, they take too long to shoot. The modern NHL goalie is a behemoth, over 6 feet tall and filling the net.  Yet, repeatedly the Rangers shots are right at the breadbasket resulting in no rebounds and easy saves.  In any game, Chris Kreider is the only Ranger who camps in front of the net.  The result, five goals for Zibanejad and two for Shattenkirk. 
• The Team Cannot Win at Home:  For the second year in a row, the Rangers are not using home ice advantage.   Last season, they had the worst home record of any team that made the playoffs.  This season, they lead the league with three home losses (in four games).  It wasn't that important last year due to the outstanding road record (27 wins), but if they revert to league average form this could mean big trouble.  
• Falling Behind Early:  Until last night, the Rangers gave up early goals in every game.  5:29, 2:30, 6:23, 0:15 and 0:27.  Twice the goals were disallowed, but it is a disturbing trend that has spilled over from last season.  Clearly, the team is not prepared to play and playing from behind is ultimately a disastrous course for a team that cannot score. Teams know that they can jump on the Rangers early and they are taking advantage of it.  The Devils game was the only game this season that they had a good start.  If they hadn't with a 1-4 record, shame on them. 
• The Filip Chytil Experiment was a Mess:  The kid made the team barely at 18 years old after a dynamic training camp,  made a few mistakes and ending up riding the bench.  Now he is getting valuable minutes in Hartford where he has three points in two games.  Why did he start the season with the team if he was going to be given no chance to succeed?  
• The Penalty Kill is Awful:  The penalty kill has allowed one goal every four times shorthanded.  That 75% puts the Rangers in 26th place overall.  Not good. 
• The Team Lacks Heart:  In last night's game, the Rangers were gangbusters in the first period, outshooting the Devils 14-3.  Umable to convert they folded like a tent when the Devils went ahead.  They were outshot in the second period 12-3.  It was only when they were down 3-1 did the team make a push only to fall short.  Is a sixty minute effort to much to ask for?
• Time for a Coaching Change:  As the losses mount, we will see increasing calls for a coaching change.  Alain Vigneault is now the coach with the third longest tenure in the NHL behind Joel Quenneville  and Jon Cooper (Cooper & Vigneault are virtually tied). Is there a statue of limitations on how long a man can effectively coach a team?  If there is, Vigneault is over the limit. Of course, the heir apparent would be Assistant Coach Lindy Ruff, probably not the best solution considering his record in Buffalo and Dallas. 

Positive Peter's Perspective

Oh, stop it. The Rangers are a good team and are just off to a rough start.  They have 76 games left for goodness sake.  There are a lot of reasons to be optimistic.  

• It's Too Early to Panic: The last Ranger team to get off to a bad start like this was the team that lost six of their first eight games.  It should have been seven out of eight not for a fortuitous bouncing puck that Jonathan Quick lost and resulted in a gift goal.  What year was that ?  2013-14 and we all know what happened THAT season. 
• This Season has Been Just Plain Weird:  The Blackhawks beat the Penguins 10-1.   The Flyers beat Washington 8-2.  Ottawa beat Edmonton 6-1.  New Jersey and Colorado are tied for second overall in the NHL.  Vegas is 4-1 and tied for 2nd place overall.  Edmonton, Montreal and San Jose, like the Rangers, have only won one game so far.  Montreal has yet to win a game in regulation.  Again, it is TOO early to panic. 
• Bad Luck:  Even though the team has lost five games, they were in every game so far.  A bounce here, a deflection there and the team could be 5-1.  
• The Scorers are Not Scoring:  They will and when they do, look out.  Nash, Zuccarello, Hayes, Miller, Kreider, Buchnevich, and Grabner will eventually start putting the puck in the net. 
• The Power Play is Really Good:  Kevin Shattenkirk has lived up to his reputation as a PP wizard.  At over 20% efficiency, the PP is clicking and can only get better.  The team is still figuring out the make up of the second power play unit. 
• Jesper Fast has Returned:  Fast is very important to this team.  His return puts Paul Carey or Adam Cracknell on the bench and that is a good thing. 
• Team Chemistry is Not There Yet:  The coaches are still figuring out their line and defensive combinations.  The team is a work in progress and when the lines get set, the team will improve. 
• Derek Stepan is Not the Answer:  If anyone thinks Stepan is a miracle worker, the Coyotes are even worse than the Rangers and Stepan has three assists  and is -5 in five games. His faceoff winning percentage is 46.8%.   Antti Raanta has been injured and has appeared in only three games with an 0-1 record. 
• Keep Winning Face-offs:  The team sits at 10th place in the league in face-off percentage.  For the first time in years, they are north of 50%.  
• Lundqvist is Back:  One question has been answered.  Henrik Lundqvist, except for the disastrous game in Toronto,  has been stellar so far this season.  He cannot take responsibility for any  of the losses and  has kept the team in all of their games. Ondrej Pavlec hasn't looked bad either. 
• Help is on the Way:  Hartford was a horror show last season, but with Chris Drury in charge the team has been playing much better.  Filip Chytil, Neal Pionk, Alexei Bereglazov and Vinni Lettieri are getting valuable pro experience and you can be sure that we will see them on Broadway before long.
• The Team Can Come Back:  The game in Toronto went from an absolute disaster to a thrilling recovery. It proves that the team can do it. 

So, who is right?  There is no simple answer, but the answer will be found in the next two weeks.  By Halloween, the Rangers will have plugged the leaks and found themselves or they will be seriously jeopardizing their playoff prospects.  It's a cliche, but it is true.  You don't win a playoff spot in October and November, but you can certainly lose one.  And the magic date is Thanksgiving.  80% of the teams in a playoff spot on Thanksgiving go on to actually make the playoffs. 

Wow....the season snuck up on me.   I am going to do my ten game preview although they team has played once already.  I am in a hotel room in New Orleans waiting for Hurricane Nate to hit...so unless the power goes, I will have plenty of time to write.

The first ten games present an interesting mix of games and with all of the new faces and line combinations I assume that the team will be a little out of sorts.   They have a variety of opponents and will be sorely tested a few times.

They open the season with an easy one....versus the Colorado Avalanche, worst team in the league last year.  Oops...I take it back.  While the Rangers dominated the game it turned on the outstanding play in goal by Semyon Varlamov.  It's of some concern than Henrik Lundqvist was outplayed by Varlamov with the deciding goal one that Hank should have had. He looked a little shakey.  Still, there is a lot to be optimistic about from the team's performance.  Mika Zibanejad could have had five goals.  Kevin Shattenkirk demonstrated why he is so good on the power play.  Tony DeAngelo, David Desharnais and Paul Carey all had excellent debuts and Pavel Buchnevich was a standout.  Filip Chytil clearly suffered from the jitters...it will be interesting to see how he plays moving forward.  I am confused about his last name.  The TV announcers call him "Hy-til" while he was introduced as "Ki-til" by the PA announcer.  I'll go with the former until we hear different.   The power play went 2-6 and at times looked better than it did at any point last season.  Just wait till they get used to each other.

At any rate, it was a game the Rangers should have won.  From here it gets interesting.  The team plays eight of their first ten games at Madison Square Garden.  One key thing to watch is to see if last year's run of awful home ice play will continue.  If it does, that means a bad start and that could be fatal in the new NHL.   The only two road games are going to be very tough against Toronto and Columbus.  They will be real tests. Toronto looked dominating in their opener and Columbus is raring to go having signed Josh Anderson.  With Brandon Saad already with a hat trick for Chicago, Artemi Panarin will have something to prove.

As for the home games, they play Montreal, St. Louis, the Devils, Pittsburgh, the Islanders, Nashville and San Jose.     That's seven out of the first ten against teams that were in the playoffs last season.  The non-playoff teams are the Devil and Isles and we know that they get "up" when they play the Blueshirts.   So, aside from the Colorado game, not an easy one in the bunch.

As I said earlier, it is very tough to predict how the Rangers will fare.  It's important to note that Ryan McDonagh and Kevin Shattenkirk didn't play a single pre-season game as a defensive pair.   The team is also carrying two extra defensemen in Nick Holden and Steve Kampfer and you can expect at least Holden to see some action.  The good news is the forward lines seemed to mesh well in the opener and had numerous odd man rushes.  Michael Grabner had his usual two breakaways...a key question will be if he can actually score as often as he did last year.

So, here is the prediction.  I'm looking at .500 start with a 5-5 record for ten points.  They will beat the teams that they have to beat (except Colorado) and will beat at least three contenders (hopefully on home ice).  Yes, the prediction would have been 6-4 and 12 points if I had written this before the season opener. Then again, I could also see them going 3-7 or 7-3. 

The only guarantee is that we will know a lot more about this team after the first ten games.  It's nice to have hockey back.  Stay tuned for more.