Well, that sucked, didn’t it? Don’t be discouraged.

The New York Rangers lost a series they shouldn’t have been playing anyway.

This one hurt, but not as bad as past disappointments.  The New York Rangers have fallen short in the postseason before, too often in fact, but this Stanley Cup Qualifier was a gift from the NHL.  Before we rip this team apart for lack of effort, poor play, awful coaching, stupid mistakes, failure of the top players, being unprepared, no leadership etc. it’s important to take a trip back to Thursday, March 12.

The New York Rangers were in seventh place in the eight team Metropolitan Division.  They had 79 points in 70 games with 12 games left in the season.  After a stirring stretch that saw the team win nine out of ten games and a team record eight game road winning streak, the Rangers had fallen back to earth. The Blueshirts had a 2-4-1 record over their last seven games, taking five points out of possible 14.

They had one of the toughest schedules facing any playoff contender.   They had to play nine  playoff teams in their last 12 games.  Seven of those 12 games were on the road.  They had tough matches ahead including three with Pittsburgh and single matches with Washington, Tampa, Calgary and Philadelphia.

Oh yes, they were two points out of the last wild card spot, just behind Carolina, Columbus and the Islanders and two of those teams had two games in hand.  Barring a miracle, the Rangers were not going to make the playoffs

But then came the pause and the NHL, in an effort to be fair and to get television revenue from New York and Chicago, decided to include the playoff wannabes the Canadiens, Blackhawks, Coyotes and the Rangers.

Folks, these playoffs were a gift and the Rangers didn’t  take advantage.  But it was a gift and we should be glad that they were playing at all.

Why it stings

It stings just a little more because we had months of anticipation.  We knew the Rangers were going to play in a qualifying round against the Carolina Hurricanes at the end of May.   We licked our chops, focusing on the fact that the Rangers swept the Canes in four games this season without remembering that the Blueshirts probably should have lost three of those games.  The rest of the hockey world got sucked in as well and by the end of July, the Hurricanes were the underdogs.

As Public Enemy said so many years ago, “Don’t believe the hype.”   Unfortunately, we did.  As a result, we overlooked the reasons the team was going to miss the playoffs. The lack of forward depth.  The overtaxed defense.  The youth and inexperience of the roster.

So, we all went into this round with high expectations and now, we are sitting here, stunned by the swift and thorough dismantling of the Rangers by a better, playoff hardened team.   In 180 minutes of hockey, the Rangers led for three minutes and six seconds. That is domination.

A bright future

So, losing hurts.  Being swept stings.  But the youngest team in the East and a novice coaching staff learned some valuable lessons.  So did the President and General Manager.  What was reaffirmed were the weaknesses that need to be addressed.  The good news is the rebuild is over (sort of).    The New York Rangers are one step away from true contention, but as we learned in this series, they are not there yet.

So, revel in a season that gave us hope.  In Igor Shesterkin, Adam Fox, Artemi Panarin, Mika ZIbanejad, Kaapo Kakko, Ryan Lindgren, Jacob Trouba, Filip Chytil, and Chris Kreider (when he shows up) the Rangers have a foundation to build on.

With the expansion draft just a year away, there are tough decisions ahead when it comes to players like Brett Howden, Julien Gauthier, Libor Hajek, Lias Andersson and Pavel Buchnevich.  There is a salary cap minefield to be negotiated when it comes to Ryan Strome, Tony DeAngelo, Brendan Lemieux and Alexandar Georgiev.

The new names are Vitali Kravtsov,, K’Andre Miller, Morgan Barron, Justin Richards, Patrick Khodorenko and Austin Rueschhoff.  Maybe these young players will help address those weaknesses.

And in the toughest decision of all, the Blueshirts have to decide on the future of their Hall of Fame goalie.

So, we can add 2020 to the long list of playoff disappointments that date back to 1995. Someday that streak will end and this youthful core may be the ones to do it.  In the meantime, the Rangers will be better next season. You can take that to the bank.