A realistic look at where the New York Rangers will finish
By Steve Paulus
With nine games left in the season for the New York Rangers, it’s possible to see where the Blueshirts will end up when the last game is over.
The New York Rangers are sitting 6th from the bottom of the standings, tied in points with Anaheim who has played one more game. They are six points behind the New Jersey Devils and have little hope of catching them.
As for teams better than them in the standings, any series of wins or losses can affect the standings and Buffalo, Edmonton, Vancouver and Chicago are within five points of New York.
The Rangers have one advantage and that is the fact that they have the fewest regulation or overtime wins, the first tiebreaker when teams are tied in points.
Who they play
We will just be looking at the teams contending with the Rangers for lottery positioning.
New York Rangers – The Rangers have nine games to play, four at home and five on the road. They play seven of those games against teams with playoff hopes or positioning at stake. In fact, the last two games of the season are against Columbus and Pittsburgh and those teams are in a life and death struggle for a playoff spot.
The only games against lottery contenders are a trip to Newark to play the Devils and a home game against Ottawa. It’s not inconceivable that the Rangers could end up with only six points out of a possible 18. They would end up with 75 points.
Anaheim Ducks – The Ducks have staged a mini-revival after an unbelievable roller coaster of a season. Anaheim only has eight games left, four at home and four on the road. Of the eight games, four are against top teams with playoff hopes facing Winnipeg, San Jose and Calgary twice. They also play bottom feeders including the Los Angeles Kings twice as well as Edmonton and Vancouver, though three of those four games are on the road. Considering the opposition, the likelihood is four points out of 16 to finish with 73 points.
Vancouver Canucks – Believe it or not, with only nine games left in their season the Vancouver Canucks are about to begin a seven game home stand. After that, the finish with two games on the road. Those final two road games are among six the Canucks have against teams with something to play for. Three games, all at home, are against lottery teams. The Canucks have been feisty lately, beating Toronto, Chicago and Dallas, all in overtime or shootout. They’ve lost only two out of their last seven and they could get a big boost if Quinn Hughes is able to make his debut. They should come away with nine points in their last nine games for 81 points.
Buffalo Sabres – The Sabres have ten games left, evenly split between home and away. Five games are against lottery teams and five against teams fighting for the playoffs. The Sabres have been awful lately gaining only one point out of the last 14 before beating St. Louis on Sunday. Of course, they needed the shootout to get the win. The way they are playing they will be lucky to escape with three wins in their last ten for six points, finishing with 77 points.
Edmonton Oilers – The Oilers have nine games left with an overloaded six of them at home. Five are against contending teams and four versus lottery teams. The team is showing a disturbing trend downward, losing their last to home games to Vegas and the Blues by a combined score of 13-5. Considering their schedule and if they can reverse the latest downturn, the Oilers should come out of their last nine games with eight points for a season total of 79.
That means that the Rangers have a slim shot of moving up in the lottery standings as high as fifth. Sixth place is almost for sure (nothing is guaranteed in the NHL these days). Let the scoreboard watching begin (or continue).