That's still a million people (825K or something like that but who is counting) who would know who he is. Not to mention he rest of the tri-state area that has plenty of Ranger fans and gets covered by New York based media. The franchise wouldnt be worth 3.5 billion if no one cared.
People care. 100% they care. Its all over the newspapers and tv. Maybe at games, in msg, people are there to have fun and its not a hostile crowd. But read a little ny post or podcasts or the Athletic or even on channel 7 national broadcast commentary theres a lot of criticism. People love to hate on NY. A lot of the criticism is warranted but its relentless. Hell, Im critical all the time. But in NY, youre in the spotlight. Mika is in the spotlight. Kreider, Laf theyre all in the spotlight that theyre having a shit year. In another market the criticism is softer. The elbows arent as sharp. Its obv hard for the players to not let it get in their heads.
The Rangers, any way you slice it, are icing one of the most disappointing 1st overall picks in modern NHL history. Where's all this media you guys are telling me about? I haven't heard Lafreniere's name mentioned by anybody but Sam Rosen.
Within the bubble of hockey media, yes. New York is a big deal. The New York scene is a big deal within everything.
But like, just reading the Post or turning on the news? Where is it?
If that happened to Knicks, it would be bigger news than the presidential election.
Because of the sheer magnitude of the other teams playing here (the Yankees, Mets, Knicks, and Giants are four of the biggest teams in professional sports), I would argue that New York is up there with easiest markets to play hockey in.
The Rangers get virtually no coverage outside of their own tv station and their own beat. Every team has that.
Yeah, Larry talks about the team. Show me one clip of Francesca's show, or Kay's show, or Tierney's show grilling the Rangers. Maybe Boomer now and then because he's a fan. That's about it.