| Jeff Cargerman. 23rd December, 2008 - 7:24 pm
 The people of New York are finally getting all of their sports' teams back on track. The Yankees just dropped almost a half of a billion dollars on pitching aces and a franchise first basemen; the Giants are well on their way to another Super Bowl appearance; and it appears that coach Mike D'Antoni has the Knicks poised for their first playoff berth in four years.
Seemingly, the New York Rangers are also on the path to postseason success. While in all likelihood they will make the playoffs, they are going to be hard-pressed to make it out of the first round.
Looking at New York's statistics this season, one has to ask themselves how they are in second place in the Eastern Conference. Their record thus far defies logic. The Rangers only have a +2 goal differential this season, an odd statistic for a team with 43 points. Additionally, the Rangers are tied for the worst power play percentage in the Eastern Conference, another sign.
On the bright side, the Rangers' best player so far this season has been Russian right winger Nikolai Zherdev. The 24-year-old leads the team in goals, assists, and points. He also leads their forwards in plus/minus with a rating of only +4. Almost every other forward on the Rangers, however, has a negative plus/minus. Last year's free agent splashes Scott Gomez and Chris Drury are -10 and -5 through 31 and 36 games, respectively.
The Rangers' forwards, while excellent on paper, are just not performing this season on the defensive side of the puck. To make matters worse, their platoon of defensemen has not impressed either, especially off-season pickup Wade Redden. Expectations were high for Redden this season, who is a former All-Star and widely regarded as one of NHL's top defenseman. He has a plus/minus of -4 through 35 games, nowhere near where an elite blue liner should be.
Rumors were swirling for weeks that the Rangers would be the team that future Hall of Famer Mats Sundin would sign with mid-season. Instead, Sundin opted for the Vancouver Canucks. Now it is extremely apparent why the Rangers were so hot on the trail of Sundin. He is both great on the power play and on the backcheck, two facets of the game in which the Rangers are currently lacking. When the Rangers were not able to clear enough cap room to sign Sundin, it sealed their fate for another disappointing postseason.
The sky is certainly not falling yet in New York for the Rangers, but it is inevitable that their seed in the Eastern Conference standings will not be #2 by the end of the season. Montreal, Pittsburgh, and New Jersey, all behind the Rangers in the standings, have had their top goaltenders go down with injuries this season, and all are expected to return to full health their team's playoff push.
To further compound the Rangers' problems, their early season-opening series with the Tampa Bay Lightning in Prague has resulted in as many as five additional games compared with other Eastern Conference playoff contenders. This does not bode well for the Rangers down the stretch as other teams in the East will be able to make up significant ground on New York, knowing exactly how many points they need to catch the Rangers by the playoffs.
The key to the Rangers duplicating the success of their New York counterparts is that they have to turn their play around on either the defensive side of the puck or Coach Tom Renney has to get his players going on the power play. Remedying either problem could catapult the Rangers to legitimate Eastern Conference contenders. Until then, however, New York fans have to realize that their team is only giving them false hope and their current record is not indicative of the team's performance on the ice.
- Jeff Cargerman can be reached at cargs21@ksu.edu |
