New York Rangers: Rangers Should Fair Better in Metropolitan

While the New York Rangers have been busy this offseason revamping their lineup, their powerful Metropolitan opponents have taken some hits, which should only help improve their chances this season.

The New York Rangers have gone through a plethora of changes this offseason and so have its Metropolitan division rivals.

Last season the Metropolitan division was hands down the most competitive division in the NHL possessing four of the top ten teams in the league and three in the top four after the regular season was complete. The division featured the Stanley Cup winning Pittsburgh Penguins and the President Trophy winning Washington Capitals.

This elite company has been a thorn in the Rangers’ side for the past couple of seasons as they have been competitive during both campaigns, but have fallen short of their goals and expectations due to league formatting.

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Last season the Rangers found a loop-hole by settling for fourth and being set to compete in the tenuous Atlantic Division for the first two rounds, but in typical Rangers fashion they shot themselves in the foot against the Ottawa Senators and were bounced in six in the second round.

It has seemed to be a game of trial and error for the Blueshirts since the rise of the supreme Metropolitan Division. For maybe if they had been competing elsewhere, their fortunes would have been different these past few years, although they would have had to face-off against these teams somewhere along the line anyway.

While the Rangers have once again had quite a productive offseason, their perennial neighbors have been grounded back down to reality. Most specifically, the league’s number one and two teams, the Capitals and Penguins, took some lineup hits.

It is obvious that when a team assembles a super team over a number of years, eventually they will lose big pieces because it becomes to expensive to sustain and that is what we have been beginning to see with the Capitals this summer.

They were forced to shave a lot of the depth from their lineup this offseason as they lost Karl Alzner, Marcus Johansson, Justin Williams, Nate Schmidt and then Kevin Shattenkirk and Paul Carey to the Rangers.

The only notable moves they seemed to be able to make this summer was resigning T.J. Oshie to an eight year, $46 million deal and adding Devante Smith-Pelly for one year worth $650,000, which doesn’t compensate much for their casualties.

The Capitals best chances for a Stanley Cup came in 2016 and 2017. They are still an opponent to watch for but they will not be the same threat they have been, as they seem to have started the decline process.

As for the Penguins, they are still in the talk of not only winning the division, but making another run towards the cup for a three-peat. They may not have weakened themselves as much as the Capitals have, but they will be more vulnerable to the Rangers than they were over the past couple of years.

The hits that the Penguins endured this offseason are certainly notable ones, as it was no secret that the Vegas Golden Knights would select Marc-Andre Fluery, who has won three cups with the Penguins, as their starting goaltender in the expansion draft.

The Penguins of course exposed their future hall-of-famer goaltender due to having their young breakthrough talent in Matt Murray to replace him for years to come.

Murray may have clinched two Stanley Cups as only a rookie, but I am still not sold on him as being an elite goaltender in the NHL. I think he has the potential to be, but he has had a lot go his way.

I think it is fair to say he has been reliable but has not by any means put the Penguins in either of their cup runs these past couple seasons. This past postseason, he didn’t step in until the Conference Finals as he would subsequently achieve seven playoff wins while Fluery had secured the first nine.

I think Matt Murray is good but I would not count him as one of the main reasons Pittsburgh is still a cup contender. Marc-Andre Fluery was a monumental loss and he is no longer a dependable safety net for Murray.

To replace Fluery, the Penguins set out to sign the 33-year-old declining Antti Niemi, who was most recently bought out by the Dallas Stars after an atrocious season. He may make a decent backup as he has lost his status as an NHL starter, but the Penguins certainly don’t have the same goaltending duo they used to, as Niemi sported a 3.30 GAA and an .892 save percentage last season.

As far as the remaining departed Penguins players, the franchise lost several key players in Nick Bonino, Trevor Daley, Ron Hainsey and long-time Penguin Chris Kunitz, who currently holds the most Stanley Cups as an active NHL player with four.

The Penguins obviously still have their blockbuster weapons in Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, Phil Kessel and the rising star Jake Guentzel, but they lost some big pieces of those last two Stanley Cups while failing to do anything to replace them.

My logic is while these two star-studded teams have pretty much remained the same while losing depth this offseason, the Rangers have only improved with their new revamped defensive core which should give fans another reason to be excited about this coming season.

The rest of the Metropolitan division should remain competitive like it has been as bottom feeders like the New Jersey Devils, Carolina Hurricanes and New York Islanders made some minor improvements, while the Philadelphia Flyers didn’t make too much noise.

The Columbus Blue Jackets should also remain in the playoff conversation as they maintained their lineup from their franchise’s all-time best season last year, while swapping star for star Brendan Saad for Artemi Panarin from the Chicago Blackhawks.

This all being said, I do not think that anyone else besides the Penguins or Capitals are legitimate threats to the Rangers chances for the division this coming season.

Next: Is the Rangers offseason picture complete?

Expect both the Capitals and Penguins to still be contenders this season, but know that they won’t be as invincible to their opponents as they have been the last few years, which leaves the Rangers of all other Metropolitan teams with a prime opportunity to capitalize.