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Are the New York Rangers in trouble?
The NHL is such a fickle league. With such parity and so many middling teams, at least 27 out of 30 of them, this late in the season, have a chance to make the playoffs. Conversely, some teams currently entrenched in a playoff spot are one long losing streak away from losing that spot, and the Rangers are one of them.
With 13 games remaining, the Rangers have 85 points which is good for second place in the Metropolitan Division. The problem is, the last wild card team in the Eastern Conference, the Detroit Red Wings, are only six points behind with the same number of games remaining. What’s worse, the struggles that threatened to derail the Rangers’ season in December are resurfacing, and at this point, they cannot afford another month of struggles to fix their ongoing issues, nor assume they’ll find their A-game come playoff time.
And it gets worse. The Rangers’ March schedule has already been difficult, such that they have earned only five out of a possible 12 points. Now, it gets even tougher. This week, they embark on a trip to California to face three elite Western Conference teams, the Anaheim Ducks, the Los Angeles Kings and the San Jose Sharks. All three are legitimate Stanley Cup contenders, and they will not allow the Rangers to get away with the glaring deficiencies that have defined their game through large spurts of the season.
The penalty kill is atrocious, and even with Rick Nash back, it has not changed. Marc Staal and Dan Boyle continue to be major defensive liabilities, yet coach Alain Vigneault continues to trust them with critical minutes. The fourth line is terrible, and guys like Kevin Hayes continue to make boneheaded mistakes and not give full effort. Their losses to the Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins this past week were beyond disturbing. They once again could not hold a late lead in Detroit, and they were outhustled, out-disciplined, and completely outplayed by Pittsburgh. These issues should have been cleaned up after their December struggles. They haven’t been cleaned up, and the top teams in the league are exposing them.
Anaheim, Los Angeles and San Jose will pour more salt into the Rangers’ wounds if they do not bring their A-game on this trip. Let’s assume, for the sake of argument, the Rangers go pointless on this trip. If that happens, the Rangers more likely than not will lose second place, but there is a remote possibility they could lose a playoff spot altogether. If that happens, will they be able to fix all their problems within the last ten games and regain at least a wild card spot? Once again, we can’t assume they will.
On this California trip, the Rangers need to show the league they are not as bad as their struggles indicate. They need at least two wins, no matter how ugly or beautiful they may come. Forget proving themselves as Cup contenders, they need to prove they can make noise in the playoffs, and not be vulnerable to a first-round exit or worse.
Even with their struggles, the Rangers should still make the playoffs. Then, we can re-assess how capable they are of making a deep run.
Right now, though, one can no longer ignore this team’s litany of red flags. If their California trip ends very poorly, it may be time to hit the panic button.
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