How do the New York Rangers stack up in the Metropolitan Division when it come to a road to the playoffs?
We are least a month away from training camps opening (at best), but it’s never too early to look at what the New York Rangers’ prime competitors have done so far. We looked at the improved Atlantic Division and it is apparent that if the Blueshirts have playoff hopes in 2020-21, they will have to finish in the top four in their own Division.
Carolina Hurricanes: A budding rivalry
All of the pundits are rating the Hurricanes as an up and coming team, like the Rangers. Based on their three game sweep of New York in the Stanley Cup Qualifier, they look to be a little bit ahead.
The Canes will going for three straight playoff appearances, something that the team has not done since moving south from Hartford in 1997. A lot of the goodwill from their sweep of the Rangers was lost when they were dispatched in five games by the Bruins in the first round of the playoffs.
The Hurricanes have been moderately busy in the off-season, mostly taking care of their own business. They only made one trade, sending the rights to defenseman Joel Edmundson to Montreal for a fifth round pick (the Canadiens signed him).
The strength of the Hurricanes is their defense. A clear indication of that is the fact that they were able to lose three NHL defensemen this off-season in Edmundson, Sami Vatanen and Trevor van Riemsdyk and still have a quality blue line corps.
Carolina may have a solid defense, but their goaltending isn’t the strongest in the league (don’t tell the Rangers that). A duo of James Reimer and Petr Mrazek are a serviceable duo, but an expectation that the Canes would be active with so many goaltenders available this off-season didn’t lead to anything.
Other than Edmundson and van Riemsdyk leaving, the big name departing was Justin Williams who finally decided to retire after 19 years in the NHL. That’s not to say that he won’t decide to un-retire when it comes time for the playoffs. He scored only one goal in seven postseason games so his production has slipped, the question is what is the value he brings to the locker room.
In their battle for a playoff spot, they dealt the Rangers a blow by signing Jesper Fast to a three year deal. He certainly won’t hurt the Hurricanes defensive play. There were a couple other additions worth nothing including center Drew Shore who had been playing in the KHL. They also signed former Maple Leafs second round pick Jeremy Bracco, a right wing who was once one of Toronto’s top prospects. They also got 2020 draft pick Vasili Ponomarev to sign an entry level deal.
The key for the Hurricanes this season is for their young core to get better. Jordan Staal is the only skater on the team over the age of 30 with the next oldest forwards checking in at 27 (Nino Niederreiter and Ryan Dzingel). Sebastian Aho is turning into a superstar with 38 goals and Andrei Svechnikov had a breakout season at 19 years old.
Sami Vatanen remains unsigned, but with only a shade over $900k in cap space left, the Hurricanes appear to be done for the off-season.
The Rangers are still smarting from that embarrassing three game sweep and now they will be facing former teammates Jesper Fast and Brady Skjei. Every game against Carolina this season should be loaded with storylines in this budding rivalry.
New faces: Jesper Fast, Drew Shore, Joakim Ryan, Jeremy Bracco, Antoine Bibeau, Sheldon Rempal, Vasili Ponomarev (2020 2nd round)
Re-signed: Warren Foegele, Max McCormick, Haydn Fleury, Gustav Forsling, David Gust,Spencer Smallman, Steven Lorentz, , Clark Bishop, Eetu Luostarinen
Unsigned RFA’s: Oliwer Kaski, Roland McKeown
Departed: Anton Forsberg, Trevor van Riemsdyk, Justin Williams, Joel Edmundson
Unsigned UFA’s: Sami Vatanen, Brian Gibbons