As I scan newspapers across North America this morning, I am surprised how many are saying the one team they don’t want to run up against in the playoffs is the Rangers
Around the NHL: Part XXI
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Before the suspension Rangers were coming together, starting to make that transition from rebuild team to a competitive team. Throw in Igor there, and they can do some damage.
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A stud goalie and a young dynamic team.
We are dangerous. Even more so when teams may take some time to get 'back to normal'.
Amazing Kreiderman
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- Apr 11, 2011
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UnSandvich
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If anything, I think we're worse off than if the playoffs/play-ins had started right after the last games of the regular season. The Rangers had a huge amount of momentum, and i'd not be surprised if that's all gone. On the bright side pick-wise, at least one of the Rangers or Canes is guaranteed out after the play-ins, so that pick shouldn't suffer too much
Machinehead
HFNYR MVP
it means that after we beat them they can say 'see we knew we didn't want to play them'
Contingent on the Leafs hopefully getting bounced early on preferably against the Jackets.
Amazing Kreiderman
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- Apr 11, 2011
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It's just BS. They voted "no" when asked about the play off format. The reason could very well be concerns over their players. But hey, let's spin it in a way that it sounds like they are afraid of the Rangers who lack depth in literally every department.
Hire Sather
He Is Our Star
haohmaru
boomshakalaka
Amazing Kreiderman
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The one position where you don't need depth in the play offs. We made it to the final with David LeNeveu as the backup
Machinehead
HFNYR MVP
Yep, sounds about as self-important as Rangers fans usually are.
Hire Sather
He Is Our Star
I mean I'm pretty sure most people are just busting balls
Our record against them is insane. It's funny to think they would be one of the only teams to vote no
Getting all serious about it is more "self important" than anything
Our record against them is insane. It's funny to think they would be one of the only teams to vote no
Getting all serious about it is more "self important" than anything
eco's bones
Registered User
How I've heard Carolina parsed their 'no' vote was that they thought they'd done enough to earn their way in. The other team to vote no was Tampa who thought it penalized the higher seeded teams. Carolina does have a legit argument here but we do as well. It's very arguable that the Rangers who had been playing pretty well would have passed enough teams (some of whom were struggling) to claim the last playoff spot. Could it also be that Carolina's record against us the last several years has been atrocious? Yeah that could be a part of it too but I don't think you're going to find anyone in the Carolina organization who is going to admit to that. There are several ways that if the NHL was going to do this they could have. They could have just gone with the 8 teams in each conference with the best winning %. For me I'd rather the Rangers in the playoffs but if they had decided to do the 16 teams then I could accept us as a lottery team too even if we didn't have much of a shot at going higher than 13. Part of this is that they're trying to please as many teams as possible and in doing so the NHL has obviously displeased both Tampa and Carolina. Sucks for them but basically it sucked for the Rangers and Toronto when the salary cap was pushed through and both strikes. Rangers and Toronto franchises pretty much lost there though it helped get the Rangers house in order in the long run.
Amazing Kreiderman
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What's funny is that, in general, the ones who bring up our regular season record against the Hurricanes are the same who bring up the "Play offs are different" excuse every other debate.
TheBloodyNine
Pure Bred Soviet Savage
Given that we're all dying for some hockey, and we own Carolina, the chances of us getting swept are 100%.
Amazing Kreiderman
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We're playing a team that beat the Capitals, swept the Islanders. The only players on this team who have played post-season hockey in the last 3 years are Panarin, Trouba, McKegg and Haley. We always hear how play off hockey is different. I think it's more likely that we get swept, than the other way around.
Tawnos
A guy with a bass
Not to mention that, at least on paper, their roster is better than last year’s.
They’ve added Trochek, Vatanen... and yeah, Skjei. I think they’ll likely be without Pesce though.
Amazing Kreiderman
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Aho, TT, Slavin, Necas all a year older. The Rangers are a talented team but our bottom 6 is AHL-caliber and we have 2 pylons on the left side of our defense
SA16
Sixstring
Playoff hockey is the same as regular season hockey except for the media who like to make meaningless narratives out of every little story.
Tawnos
A guy with a bass
Our top-6, goaltending, and PP are perfectly capable of taking over a short series. I’m not sure your statement about the bottom-6 will remain true at this point (there’s enough youth there to see a leap in quality after a 4 month break), but I think Carolina is clearly the better team and is only even in this position because of a combination of injuries and Aho taking a lot of time to get going this year.
It’s going to be an interesting series. And if either team struggles to go from zero to elimination series in emotional level on a dime, that team is probably dead on arrival.
eco's bones
Registered User
Oh I like Carolina's team and I think Brind'amour is one of the better NHL coaches--probably top 5. His team seems to love him too. So I expect they would be ready. We've never as far as I can recall ever played Carolina in a playoff situation. I don't even remember us playing Hartford in the playoffs. Anycase usually all bets are off when series like these start--there will also be no home ice for any team. The one thing I don't like about Carolina is their goaltending. I think they are weak there. Panarin and Zibanejad could give them fits. If there is an edge we have it's right there.
Irishguy42
Mr. Preachy
Nah dude. Players grip their sticks tighter, goalies drink a lot of "clutch" juice during pre-game, and every other guy eats a hearty meal of "wants it more" before getting to the arena.
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