New York Rangers: Who you should root for these in the playoffs

Tampa Bay Lightning

A conditional first round draft pick in this year’s draft. That is the biggest reason that every Rangers fan should be rooting for the Tampa Bay Lightning to win the Stanley Cup. If they win this year or next, the 2019 second round pick acquired in the Ryan McDonagh deal becomes a first rounder.

In a perfect world, the Lightning win the Cup this season and next season which puts the team in a cap crunch. Both Nikkita Kucherov and the team’s rising prospects, Brayden Point and Mikihal Sergachev, will require extensions following the 2020 season. With the right recipe, Tampa Bay could fall apart and give the Rangers a high first round pick following a cup victory.

The main reason is the sentimental aspect. Ryan McDonagh, J.T. Miller, Ryan Callahan, Anton Stralman and Dan Girardi are all former Rangers on the team. No true Rangers fan would begrudge those players the right to hoist the Cup, as painful as that would be. As close as they all came in New York, it would be satisfying to see them have that level of success.

And one more connection the Lightning have to the Rangers: Assistant general manager Pat Verbeek scored 51 goals in 89 games over two seasons for the Rangers in the mid 90’s.