A playoff rooting guide for Ranger fans
By Steve Paulus
For the fourth straight years, fans of the New York Rangers are on the sidelines at the most exciting time of the hockey season. First blood was drawn on Saturday as the Capitals beat the Bruins in overtime, a game that was painful to watch. The fact that Tom Wilson led off the Washington scoring and then assisted on the overtime game winner when he should be sitting out a suspension, made it even worse.
Despite agonizing moments like hat and the absence of the Blueshirts, there are teams to root for (or against). The reasons could be sentimental or just based on longtime rivalries. Here’s a guide.
Top choice
There’s no doubt about which team to root for if you are a diehard Ranger fan. It’s the Minnesota Wild and just for one player on that team, Mats Zuccarello. The former Ranger had a very Zuccarello-like season, finishing with 11 goals and 24 assists, numbers prorated over an 82 game season that would have rivaled his best seasons in New York.
The 33-year-old is still a favorite of Ranger fans and there is no doubt that of all the former Blueshirts out there, he is the one player most of us would like to see hoist the Cup. It’s hard to believe that it has over two years since he was banished to Dallas at the trade deadline and some of us would love to see him back on Broadway to help mentor the kids.
Another reason to root for Minnesota is that they are the ultimate underdogs, with practically no one picking them to even make the playoffs. Kirill Kaprisov is the consensus favorite to win the Calder Trophy and Ranger fans can only hope for his career arc to be emulated by Vitali Kravtsov. When Kaprisov was 21 years old in the KHL he had 17 goals and 50 points in 65 games. This season, at the same age, Kravtsov had 18 goals and 28 point in 54 games. If he can become the point-a-game player that Kaprisov is, the Rangers will be very pleased.
Other teams to root for
This looks like it will be the year for the Florida Panthers and after so many years of futility, you have to be happy for them. The Panthers have made the playoffs for only the third time in 20 years and they have never made it past the first round in those two prior appearances.
Not only that, but he Panthers have Keith Yandle and Anthony Duclair on the team, both former Rangers who left under good terms. You have to like Yandle for his iron man feat of playing 922 consecutive games, with him about the break Doug Jarvis’ record next season. The Panthers are Anthony Duclair’s sixth team in seven NHL seasons and you have to hope that the former Rangers’ draft pick has found a home and will find success.
Neal Pionk is the former Ranger on the Winnipeg Jets and playoff success would be bittersweet. As long as he plays for the Jets, the “Pionk or Trouba” debate will live and if he can help the Jets to playoff success, it will only make it more divisive. Still, signed by the Blueshirts as an undrafted free agent, it’s hard not to root for Pionk to succeed.
While Ranger fans still have nightmares about the Stanley Cup Qualifier disaster last summer, there are reasons to root for the Carolina Hurricanes. Jesper Fast is a Hurricane and in his six seasons in New York, he was the epitome of what it meant to be a Ranger. For his hard work and effort, he deserves to win a Cup. Brady Skjei is with him in Carolina and it would be nice to see the two former Blueshirts find success.
An ulterior motive for a championship in Carolina could be that if coach Rod Brind’amour has not re-signed to coach the Hurricanes, if he wins a Cup he may be willing to find success elsewhere and he could end up in New York. He’s regarded as one of the best young coaches in the league and the Rangers could do worse, though the possibility is of him leaving Raleigh are slim.
The Colorado Avalanche are one of the favorites and if you want to root for a team with an excellent chance of winning, you can support the Avalanche because of Ryan Graves. The defenseman was a Ranger draft pick and never got a chance to play for the Blueshirts. He’s become a blue line stalwart for Colorado and has to be really considered the one that got away.
If Cale Makar can go all the way, it will also only make his rivalry with Adam Fox more juicy. They are two of the best young defensemen in hockey and with Quinn Hughes, their rivalry promises to last for years. A Cup for Makar will only make Fox want to win one even more.