What Place Do the Rangers Finish in the Metro?

[bobholly39]

And everyone had PIT and WAS missing. What does that prove?

People are stupid and think a 20 game sample in the playoffs extrapolates over an 82 game season.

I didn't - I had Pit & Wash as top 2, and I think they do so again.

I'm not saying Habs should be favored to finish top 2 in the president's trophy race. I said they should be favored over Rangers to make the playoffs. I think that 22 game playoff sample size where they were the 2nd best team in the league is more than enough to offset the whopping 1 extra regular season point Rangers had in the standings last year...

 

[Gardner McKay]

I think 4th or 5th. If 5th, I think they are in the wildcard spot. A lot of that has to do with how well Sheshterkin plays and if Kakko/Laf take the next step forward. If that happens, I think we could even finish 3rd.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

1st

 

[Lays]

A lot of people are underestimating this lineup. The Rangers arguably have the best forward, defenseman, and goalie in the metro and have now added solid veteran depth which we were sorely lacking. Now add in improvements in the young players’ games

Lafreniere-Zibanejad-Kakko
Panarin-Strome-Kravtsov
Kreider-Chytil-Goodrow
Blais-Rooney/Richards-Gauthier

EX: Reaves, Rooney/Richards

Lindgren-Fox
Miller-Trouba
Nemeth-Lundkvist

EX: Tinordi/Jones

Shesterkin
Georgiev

The bottom 6 has been our biggest issue and now it looks much improved. Going from Hajek-Smith on the third pair to Nemeth-Lundkvist is a huge improvement. Lafreniere and Kakko will likely get consistent top 6 minutes and PP time instead of being juggled around. Kakko looks absolutely massive going into this year, he turned from boy to man if you see how he looks now. Lafreniere was on fire to finish last year when he finally started playing on Zibanejad’s line over Kreider. Now add in a competent coach in Gallant, that’s a playoff team, 100%. I don’t think they win a round next season in the playoffs but as long as they stay relatively healthy, they’re making the playoffs. NYR were on track to make the playoffs last season as well, however they couldn’t stay healthy towards the end of the year and had off ice distractions with the DeAngelo/Georgiev incident and Panarin taking a LOA because of the whole Putin thing

 

[Favin]

Why are the Islanders and Carolina suddenly moving to 1 / 2 when they haven't been close to there in years in this division?

Carolina had the best record among Eastern Conference teams last year. Islanders few nice playoff runs. Good teams

 

[wetcoast]

Probably 6th if I had to guess. You have the Islanders, Penguins, Canes and Capitals who should safely be above the Rangers, and Philly alternates between good and bad years so they'll probably be good this year too.

I think the Rangers will be way closer to 5th in the Metro than 7th in the Metro, though.

Gut feeling is probably 6th but they could surprise.

They really need to fill out their center behind the #1 though.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

Wild card in terms of why they finish, they could catered to 6th or 7th or be a top 3 team. I’d probably say 4th or 5th, Gallant should be worlds better than Quinn, Norris winner, Panarin, Shesterkin. The talent is there it just depends if that talent wants to play a Gallant type system with how open they played under Quinn.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

Rangers have a top 2 talented roster in the division, they were held back by inexperience, lack of depth, and terrible coaching. The young guys are a year older, better bottom sixers were added, and they god a real good veteran coach. Team also got torn apart by all kinds of nonsense last season (Mika getting Monstar'd by Covid for half the season, Panarin getting KGB'd, DeAngelo getting banished, other key injuries) and still were in the hunt until the last 2 weeks when the team fell apart.

Its a tough division but i think they take a big step forward. Also, if they don't extend Zibanejad before the season, expect him to have a huge contract year.

 

[Gurglesons]

Rangers have a top 2 talented roster in the division, they were held back by inexperience, lack of depth, and terrible coaching. The young guys are a year older, better bottom sixers were added, and they god a real good veteran coach. Team also got torn apart by all kinds of nonsense last season (Mika getting Monstar'd by Covid for half the season, Panarin getting KGB'd, DeAngelo getting banished, other key injuries) and still were in the hunt until the last 2 weeks when the team fell apart.

Its a tough division but i think they take a big step forward. Also, if they don't extend Zibanejad before the season, expect him to have a huge contract year.

Top 2?

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

Top 2?

Top 3 at worst.

 

[Gurglesons]

Top 3 at worst.

Living up to the avatar eh?

I have no idea how you can look at the Rangers and say they have a roster that is unquestionably better than anyone but the Devils and Jackets.

On the same note, I think there is an argument to be made that you could make that argument for every one of the teams above those two in the division. But the Rangers is mostly based on hope that multiples of their young players breaks out.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

Living up to the avatar eh?

I have no idea how you can look at the Rangers and say they have a roster that is unquestionably better than anyone but the Devils and Jackets.

On the same note, I think there is an argument to be made that you could make that argument for every one of the teams above those two in the division. But the Rangers is mostly based on hope that multiples of their young players breaks out.

not really. The team has last season's Norris winner and 1st Team All Star at D, the season before's 1st Team All Star LW, a 40 goal 1C , very good young Goalie, recent 1st and 2nd overall pick, young dman who was on the all rookie team this year, one of the best d-men in the SHL coming over, etc. Lots of talent.

 

[Gurglesons]

not really. The team has last season's Norris winner and 1st Team All Star at D, the season before's 1st Team All Star LW, a 40 goal 1C , very good young Goalie, recent 1st and 2nd overall pick, young dman who was on the all rookie team this year, one of the best d-men in the SHL coming over, etc. Lots of talent.

So it has Panarin, Z, and Fox and a bunch of question marks as I alluded to.

PIT - Crosby, Guentzel, Malkin, Letang, Rust, Zucker, Carter
WSH - Oshie, Carlson, Ovechkin, Backstrom, Mantha, Kuzy
CAR - Aho, Svech, Staal, Slavin, Pesce, Tuevo, Trochek
PHI - Couts, Provorov, Giroux, Farabee, Konecny, Hayes, Ellis

Not sure how the Rangers line-up strikes fear into any of those. Panarin has been one of the best players in the league the last two years, but outside of that you're probably taking Crosby Malkin. Ovie Backstrom. Aho Svech. Couts Giroux up front over Panarin and Z.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

So it has Panarin, Z, and Fox and a bunch of question marks as I alluded to.

PIT - Crosby, Guentzel, Malkin, Letang, Rust, Zucker, Carter
WSH - Oshie, Carlson, Ovechkin, Backstrom, Mantha, Kuzy
CAR - Aho, Svech, Staal, Slavin, Pesce, Tuevo, Trochek
PHI - Couts, Provorov, Giroux, Farabee, Konecny, Hayes, Ellis

Panarin, Fox, Z, and Shesty alone make them a top 3 talented roster.

 

[VanillaCoke]

4th or 5th at worst

 

[moropanov]

Second after Carolina Order: 1. Car 2. Nyr 3. Nyisl 4. Phil 5. Pits 6. Njd 7. Wsh 8. Cbj

 

[Gurglesons]

Panarin, Fox, Z, and Shesty alone make them a top 3 talented roster.

Maybe if you are wearing a Rangers jersey or on 104.5.

In the real world, it's a fringe top ten C. A goalie who was good, but has played a handful of games. And then two damn good players, albeit one that took advantage of a short sample and the fact Makar was hurt to win his trophy.

 

[Hisch13r]

I’ll go 4th. I could honestly see anything from 1st if everything goes right to 6th and maybe 7th if everything went wrong

 

[Sky04]

They won't make the playoffs.

 

[DialUp]

People's prediction for the standings in the Metro, and every other division, will always, on average, be who made the playoffs the year prior but in slightly different EOY order. So the Rangers will be predicated to be exactly where they were last year UNTIL they aren't. These things are pointless; how many folks actually watch all the other teams to make this judgement? That said, as a Ranger fan, they may never make the playoffs again as every team in front of them are never ending juggernauts, and the teams below them are up and coming prospect filled dynamos.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Maybe if you are wearing a Rangers jersey or on 104.5.

In the real world, it's a fringe top ten C. A goalie who was good, but has played a handful of games. And then two damn good players, albeit one that took advantage of a short sample and the fact Makar was hurt to win his trophy.

Shestyorkin has played two seasons, not a handful of games.

 

[LaMasquerade]

Difficult poll as Rangers have so many young talents that might or might not break out this season. Just guessing: 3rd

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

Disclosure long post explaining rationale

Long story short is I think the 4th best Atlantic team (leafs) is better than the 4th best metro team (penguins). And thus would be far more likely for us to see a 5th Atlantic (Habs) over a 5th metro as I think it would be harder to pass the leafs than the penguins.

I didn't say very likely...

I said more likely but the most likely outcome was both Rangers and Habs miss.

Also point percentages last year are statistically irrelevant as teams played were different.

I proposed it is more likely the Habs out play the 4th place team in the metro over Rangers outplayed the 4th best team in the Atlantic.

Let's say the Rangers are better than the Habs in 50% of simulations run next year (I think they will be very close in standings) . In how many of those 50% are they better than the leafs (my current puck for 4th in the atlantic)

I'd say very few.

Now in the remaining 1/3 how likely is it the Habs are now better than the Penguins (my 4th place team in the metro).

Considering I think the leafs will be a better regular season and possibly playoff team over the penguins and that the Habs and Rangers will be comparable I think it's more likely we see 5 Atlantic teams over 5 metro but the most likely outcome is 4 from each division.

Essentially the Top 7 are most predictable being in no order:

Tampa
Boston
Florida
Leafs
Isles
Caps
Canes

Leaving one wild card left for 1 of the following:

Habs
Penguins
Rangers
Flyers

You do realize the pens finished 1st in their division and 5th in the league right.

 

[AlexModvechkin8]

The Penguins just finished 5th in the league in point percentage and lost Jared McCann and Brandon Tanev. Their two most least used forwards.

Tampa. Just lost their entire 3rd line.
Boston. Just lost their 2C and their # 1 goalie.
Isles. Lost Eberle and Leddy and have yet to use their cap.
Canes. Lost their #1 D and # 1 goalie. Also lost two members of their top nine.
Caps. Lost two of their top four defensemen from last year.

There is absolutely nothing that explains why PIT is a fringe team and the teams you listed above are above them.

I don't disagree with your general point but which two of their top four defensemen did the Caps lose? They lost Dillon and Chara who were their 2LD and 3LD.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

I don't disagree with your general point but which two of their top four defensemen did the Caps lose? They lost Dillon and Chara who were their 2LD and 3LD.

Who is replacing them?