Tag Archives: MSG

Let’s Go Hockey!

NY Rangers, , , , ,

I haven’t written a word about the NHL since the season was stopped in march for COVID-19 because it was impossible to say anything concrete about what was going to happen with the conclusion of the 2019-2020 season. There’s been a lot of behind the scenes action in the last two weeks or so that’s become official. The run for the Stanley Cup is scheduled to start on August 1st. That’s only 2 weeks away.

The pandemic has borked every sport on Earth. Everyone is trying to get the ball running and the NHL is on the cusp of starting play. Training Camps opened on Monday. As for the Rangers, the entire team has been coming back to New York over the last two weeks or so. Because of their standings at the cutoff, they have enough points to enter the Cup Qualifiers with the other 5 bubble teams. August 1st will be the pop off date for the best of 5 series against Carolina. The non-bubble teams that had enough points to make it into the playoffs at the halt of the regular season will play a few round-robin games to establish seeding.

The two hub cities for all games are up North in Toronto and Edmonton. One for the East and West conferences. The Cup Finals will be played in Edmonton.

So now the goal is to keep everyone healthy into the travel date to the Hub City for everyone. Once there, the bubble is made. Players and staff won’t be able to go out much besides the rink and hotel. Family won’t be allowed in until well into the playoffs to keep outside contact to a minimum.

This also means the pressure is on. No one has played a hockey game in more than 4 months. In two months, it’s hit the ice hard or GTFO. This is for the Cup! The teams that can come together the fastest will have a huge advantage. With a best of 5 series to start, the bubble teams have no room for error. Lundqvist has to hit his apex in camp to earn his spot to play over Georgiev (Shesterkin is a shoo-in (skate-in?) to be back up goalie at the very least). The Rangers beat Carolina every game this season but with that momentum gone, it’s anyone’s game. Take a team for granted and you’re going to get beat.

This whole ordeal has spun the finances of the NHL into a black hole. A ton of money has been lost and that makes the payroll cap for every team a huge question mark for the next few years. Right now, the 2020-2021 season is scheduled to start in December. That’s if everything goes well. The NHL is going to be reorganizing things for the next few years so any kind of “normal season” is way down the line. The foreseeable future is going to be an effort in keeping the lights on (many teams make very little profit or operate in the red). Right now we can only hold tight and see what happens. I am so excited for hockey to come back.

2019-2020 NHL Season: The Halfway Mark

NY Rangers, , , , , , , ,

With a record of 19-18-4, the New York Rangers have remained steadfast at being the best bad team in the league. They have tremendous talent but it’s too infrequently coming together to make winning games. This week they traveled through Canada and lost all three games, putting a serious dent in their standing.

Sloppy defense continues to be the problem with all over the place goaltending. In a test of their fortitude this week, they were down 6-0 against Edmonton in the first period and managed to rally to 6-5 only to lose 7-5. Not a total disaster and shows that the team does have goal scoring capabilities (they have not been shut out this season). Against Calgary, the horrific defense put them down 2 early on and they rallied to tie it back up quickly on the power play. They never took the lead in that game, losing 4-3 despite a solid third period effort. The lesson here is that it isn’t reasonable for any team to have to score 5 goals a game every night to win.

They were revitalized in last night’s game against Vancouver. The defense looking like a completely different squad making smart passes and never letting up on the pressure, both on offense and defense. Phenomenal goaltending for Vancouver and a screened shot with 1:29 left in the game ended the Canada trip in another loss, 2-1.

That Vancouver game was exceptional, the team played extremely well and shows how good they really are. Losing like that happens all the time in hockey, it’s part of the game. You just want to be up by 2 goals to keep those points on your side at the end of the hour of gameplay.

Clearly they aren’t Cup contenders. Washington, Pittsburgh, NY Islanders, Toronto, and Tampa are all killers. I’m leaving out Boston right now because they have an alarming amount of overtime losses that are padding their point total. Clearly they have a problem that needs to be addressed. Those top teams don’t even contain the West (look at Vegas strut their stuff again!) The Rangers still do have a mathematical chance at the playoffs but it’s to the point of needing a ridiculous final half run (something like 28 wins out of 41 games).

They just can’t get any momentum and it’s killing team morale. Face-off wins are well under 50% and that’s a huge problem (for years now). Penalties are out of control. Power play goals are too far and few between (20% I think). They haven’t had a win streak longer than 3 in a row and rarely go 2 in a row. With the trade deadline coming up in about a month it’s hard to believe some sales won’t be made…there are serious cap issues for next year looming and with their record as it stands, there’s no reason not to do more trimming to prepare for a better 2020-2021 season.

That’s the realist in me but I long for the team to come together as they are now and show everyone they have what it takes.