This postseason was not as long as the New York Rangers wanted it to be. There were promises of a run to the Stanley Cup Playoffs with all the big-time additions that were made to the roster. All the hoops the Blueshirts’ front office jumped through to bring in Patrick Kane, Vladimir Tarasenko, Niko Mikkola, and Tyler Motte with the idea of having solid depth to run deep into the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
It just never came to fruition. As the series went on, the stars started to disappear, the depth dried up, and the defensive breakdowns became worse. Igor Shesterkin was the only reason that the Rangers had hope in a lot of these games. While Shesterkin remains one of the best players on this roster, if he is the only one to show up like in most games, the Blueshirts are unlikely to progress past their opposition in that round.
New Jersey has been eliminated in round two, and as the saying goes “misery loves company” so let’s talk about that Devils series for the Blueshirts and try to put some silver lining on the disappointing conclusion to a season that held so much promise. As the Blueshirts still lick the wounds they suffered in their defeat to their Hudson River rivals, we get to try and put a positive spin on the series as a whole.
If nothing else, we can safely assume that the New York Rangers would not have fared much better against that relentless Carolina Hurricanes machine so perhaps this season wasn’t entirely as disappointing as we all thought. You can never be definitive, but the way the Hurricanes are playing with contributions from all over the lineup, solid goaltending, and great coaching, the outcome likely doesn’t change in terms of their Eastern Conference Finals appearance.