Christmas countdown wish #1: No Olympics

With Christmas just five days away, we are going to do a countdown of gifts we’d like the New York Rangers to get this holiday season.  We’d be happy to get these gifts from Santa Claus, but it’s better to ask the hockey gods.  Every day for the next five days, we will unveil a gift we like to see the New York Rangers receive as this season continues. First on our list? No Olympics.

This wish may be granted by the time you read this.  With COVID ravaging the planet and the Omicron variant causing numerous postponements, it is going to be impossible for the NHL to make up all of the games that they haven’t played.  They haven’t hit a breaking point yet, but if the postponements continues after the holidays, they will have no option but to opt out.

Why it matters more to the Rangers

There were a  number of Rangers players who could be making the trip to Beijing including Mika Zibanejad, Adam Fox, Chris Kreider, Jacob Trouba, Igor Shesterkin and Artemi Panarin.  That kind of travel along with the stress of the pandemic could be a burden on the team’s best players.  There is always a risk of injury during tournaments like these and the last thing the Rangers need is an injury to any of them, but there is a bigger reason to hope for an Olympics opt out.

If the NHL goes ahead with the Olympics, the schedule will be incredibly tight over the last two months.  Right now, the Rangers are scheduled to play 32 games in the last 66 calendar days of the season.  That doesn’t include the make-up dates for postponed games against the Canadiens and Senators.  Add those two and that means 34 games in 66 days, better than one game every other day for over two months.

Sure, every NHL team will be in the same boat with some teams in even worse shape, but when it comes to the Rangers, their lack of depth is an issue.  Defensive depth is fine with Libor Hajek demonstrating that he can step into the lineup and play well and a surplus of prospects ready to step up from Hartford.   At forward, Greg McKegg is the only spare forward on the roster and after McKegg, we’re looking at prospects like Morgan Barron and career minor leaguers like Jonny Brodzinski and Anthony Greco.  Those are not the names you would expect on a Stanley Cup contender.

Furthermore, the wear and tear of playing every other day on smaller players like Adam Fox and older players like Ryan Reaves, Artemi Panarin and Chris Kreider could be an issue. There is no way that Fox can continue to play 27 minutes a game in that kind of schedule.

The Rangers are still one of the younger teams in the NHL and that is a benefit in a busy schedule, but at the same time, these young players have never played a compressed schedule like this one.

Olympics opt out benefit

The NHL built a three-week window in the schedule to account for the All-Star break and the Olympics.  While the All-Star break would remain on February 4-5, if there are no Olympics the NHL could get back to work early the following week.  There had been talk about a mid-season break for the players, but for most of the NHL, they are already in the middle of a break, courtesy of COVID-19.

That would mean 15 more days available for games to be played.  For the Rangers, that would mean 34 games to be played in 81 days, a much more reasonable time frame.

Our Christmas wish

This our first Christmas wish and it is one we believe will be granted as early as this week.  This is not a wish that we need to get from the hockey gods, but from the NHL players themselves.  We know the NHL owners do not want the Olympics, but they are deferring to the NHLPA.

Tomorrow, our second wish and it is one that is directly related to this one.