The New York Rangers have gotten off to a good start in November with a shootout win over Anaheim. With a soft schedule, this month could dictate what direction the Rangers will take the rest of the season.
Rebuild or retool? What do the New York Rangers need to return to playoff contention? Is it a tweak or is a second straight sell-off the right move? If the team is mired in the bottom third of the league and flirting with a lottery position, the answer is an easy one.
However, if the team is competitive and within a short winning streak of a playoff position, the choice won’t be so obvious. It’s easy to write off the season and just continue stripping down the team. However, if they’re in the mix, would it still make sense to trade away Kevin Hayes and Mats Zuccarello?
November could be a make or break month for the Rangers. If the team can take advantage of a schedule loaded with home games against weak competition they could go into December in the mix. If they continue to blow last minute leads and overpass the puck the month could reinforce their position as a lottery team.
It will be a busy month for the Rangers as they play 14 games in 29 days. Eight of the 14 games are at Madison Square Garden. The team will play two sets of back-to-back games. It could be a good month for the team as the schedule is very favorable.
New York has only four games against teams that made the playoffs last season and it has already beaten Anaheim, one of the four. They will be facing some teams that are off to excellent starts. Six of the teams they play are currently in a playoff spot.
The month will also see action turn to the Metropolitan Division. They’ve only played two Met Division games all season, but five of their next 11 are against Division opponents.
Who they play
Riding a two-game winning streak, the Rangers will host Buffalo, who is fresh off of a 9-2 spanking of the Senators. The Sabres will be playing a Ranger team that is very different from the team they beat 3-1 the first weekend of the season. Next into the Garden is the Montreal Canadiens who are riding Carey Price’s goaltending and a stingy defense and are three points out of first place in the mighty Atlantic Division.
A brief road trip is next with back-to-back games in Detroit and Columbus. The Wings have picked up play lately and the Blue Jackets are mired in the .500 zone.
Vancouver comes to New York and we will see a head-to-head matchup between Elias Pettersson and Brett Howden, two of the top rookies so far this season. The Sedin-less Canucks are off to a surprisingly good start and are challenging in a weak Pacific Division.
The rest of the month is a mixed bag. The Rangers play home and away against the Islanders. The Islanders have been the Rangers’ nemesis, having won 11 out of the last 12 games against the team from Manhattan.
The last time the Rangers beat the Islanders was in the home opener in 2016. Sitting in first place in the Metropolitan Division, the Isles don’t seem to be missing John Tavares at all.
Three games are against inferior teams. They play a home and away versus Ottawa and host the worst team in the East, the Florida Panthers, who the Rangers dominated in a 5-2 win less than two weeks ago. They finish the month with games against three struggling teams in Washington, Philadelphia and Dallas.
Predictions
Predicting anything this season is impossible. As a work in progress, the team is changing nightly. A prediction that the same team that was embarrassed in Chicago would come home with four points on the road trip would have been laughed at. The easy way out is to project a .500 record and 14 out of a possible 28 points.
An optimist basing projections on the last two games could easily see the Rangers taking 18-20 points in November and that is a problem.
Why November is important
There has already been speculation that Kevin Hayes has drawn interest from Winnipeg. Toronto has already lost two out of three without Auston Matthews. The pressure on these teams to keep pace may force some early trade possibilities.
Combine that with the fact that by Thanksgiving, David Quinn should have a solid idea about the team and should be ready to make roster moves. A strong month could affect that philosophy and a decision to tweak instead of re-tool.
Last season the Rangers committed to a rebuild when they were only three points out a playoff spot. Are they prepared to continue on that path a second straight season or will a rookie coach succumb to the temptation of post-season play? We will know a lot more on November 30.
Making the decision should be easy regardless of where the team is come Thanksgiving, but these are professionals with jobs. The temptation to try and ride success as long as possible may be too tempting to just stick to the plan which could prove to be a fatal mistake.