Sunday Standings: Panic for the Rangers

12/01/2024 06:00 AM

Insert Jack Sparrow "first time?" meme watching Rangerland have meltdown over recent downturn

The most interesting recent development in the Metropolitan Division might be focused ont the New York Rangers these days. NYR has floundered as of late, breaking a five-game losing streak yesterday against Montreal. Overall from Nov 4th - 29th, they had a 4-7-0 record. That doesn't sound like the end of the world on paper — any and everyone can hit a rut now and then.

But the problems have gone well beyond the simple record. The team has looked disjointed, uninterested, incapable and a singular injury to a player you wouldn't think would be that crucial in Filip Chytil put NYR completely on the ropes and set off a domino effect of negative events.

The situation got more tempestuous and really hit the fan when Elliotte Friedman reported that the Rangers sent a league-wide memo advertising the trade availability of veteran leaders Jacob Trouba and Chris Kreider. GM Chris Drury had to do some damage control to fly to meet the team on the road to talk to the veterans, but at what cost to overall team cohesion? It's no secret or new development that the Rangers would want to move Trouba and his excessive cap hit if they could, but his full no movement clause stands in the way. To bring those feelings and have news leak when the team hits a rough patch doesn't help settle matters.

Friedman indicated last night that the Rangers may try to cool things and slow the process, but pressure in the always-interesting major media market will remain sky high. NYR won the Presidents Trophy last year as the NHL's best regular season team. To swing towards being barely functional this November has been a shocking and immediate fall from grace.

That makes the Rangers one of the most intriguing situations around. They have problems a mile-wide right now, Mika Zibanejad has struggled, Kreider had struggled, Vincent Trocheck isn't putting up the points he did in his first two seasons with the team (scoring at a 42-point full season pace this year after previously averaging 71).Igor Shesterkin's contract negotiation has hung over everyone's heads to some degree, it's been a lot of bluster. A minor note in the big picture, but of interest Penguin fans is that Reilly Smith was a healthy scratch last night (Smith has 1G+5A in the last 16 games, and three goals all season for NYR). Fan frenzy on social media is at an all-time high.

Seeing that, especially with NYR retaining a playoff position, had to make an observer in Penguin-land laugh after how the last couple years in Pittsburgh have unfolded. It's the classic Jack Sparrow on the gallows laughing at the poor sap next to him and retorting 'first time?'. Like the Pens, the Rangers core is highly paid, getting old and looking like the best days are in the past. (Unlike in Pittsburgh, the Presidents Trophy banner is the best thing hanging from the rafters to remember this era...) The NHL's salary cap makes it difficult to change on a dime to shed the old and burdensome and move onto the future. NYR could conceivably right their ship and make one more run at glory with the talent on hand, but they don't have to look too far in the division to see a fading power who aren't in a completely foreign situation.

Now a quick look around the division:

Washington: Alex Ovechkin is out and it seemed to take the wind out of the Caps' sails for only a little bit of time (scoring three total goals in two losses in the first two games Ovechkin missed). After that adjustment period, it's been right back to business for the Capitals, who enjoyed a 4-0-0 week and taking victories against Florida, Tampa, NY Islanders and New Jersey. Many question just how legit the Caps are but the eyes and the standings don't lie a tremendous amount.

New Jersey: The Devils went 2-2-0 on the week, alternating wins and losses. Dropping a 6-5 home game to Washington last night stings, a victory would have had NJ in first place this morning (though they've played more games than everyone). NJ was 9-4-0 in the month of November to be the opposite of the Rangers but lost the chance to really send their season into overdrive this week.

Carolina: No need for panic in Raleigh but it's an eyebrow raiser to see that a Friday-Saturday home-and-home with Florida resulted in the Panthers outscoring the Hurricanes by a combined 12-3 margin. Carolina had to start organizational third string Spencer Martin in both of those games games (Frederik Andersen, as always, is hurt...And Pyotr Kochetkov now is injured too, albeit on a quicker expected return) and that has been an issue.

NY Rangers: Dedicated a lot of pixels to them above, so we'll keep it brief here. It's an easy week for workload ahead, NYR hosts the Devils on Monday and then are off until the Pens come to Madison Square Garden on Friday. That should be a much more interesting game than it might have appeared a couple of weeks ago.

Philadelphia: The...Flyers? Don't look now but Philadelphia is hot, posting a 3-0-1 record this week and three straight wins. Rookie Matvei Michkov looks like the real deal, posting his third OT GWG already this season last night against St. Louis. Classic Torts hockey to coax out some decent results the hard way. We'll see how much staying power they have (note the tied for NHL low 5 regulation wins) but for now they're hangin' around and being frisky enough with a 7-2-1 record over their last 10 games.

NY Islanders: If you're a Penguin fan irritated by Pittsburgh giving up late goals and blowing chances to win repeatedly, consider the plight of the Islanders (or..maybe relish in it). This week NYI was up 2-1 after two against Detroit, only to get outscored 3-0 in the third period and lose 4-2. The following game, NYI found themselves tied 3-3 with Boston after two periods, then promptly got outscored 3-0 in the third period and lose 6-3. Game after that, NYI was up 4-2 on Washington after two, it ends up 5-4 in OT for the Caps. Granted, the Islanders broke the trend and earned a 3-0 victory over Buffalo yesterday but it might be comforting to see another team also completely fumble wins away.

Pittsburgh: We'll see what happens next for the Pens, but a three-game winning streak at least pulls them off the total embarrassment list for this week. They're still on pace for a 75-point season and probably need to string about five more wins together to dig out of their hole but at least they're functioning as a normal NHL caliber club again.

Columbus: The Blue Jackets had a 1-0-1 record this week, losing to Montreal in OT before taking down the Flames on Friday night. But the aspect that jumps out is Columbus is 5-1-1 counting and including the 6-2 beatdown they put on the Pens back on November 15th. It might not last as a pivotal full-season turning point, but for this month at least it certainly was (and led to wins over teams like Boston, Tampa and Carolina). One other thing crazy about the Jackets is their home/road splits. They're 8-3-1 and on a 116-point full-season pace while playing at home...On the road that falls away to a 2-6-2 record, or a 49-point pace. That could be bad news for the Jackets, since they're starting a five-game road trip that takes them out to Western Canada in the next week.