This division will come down to who wins the best battle of goaltending and health. Odds are Shesty stays healthy and is the best goalie in the division. Not sure the Ranger will have much cap room to make a pop at the deadline, but I would guess they are 50/50 to win the division with CAR at this point. Pittsburgh in my mind has to stay healthy, but with a lot of older pieces that seems harder. WSH is in that same boat. NYI has great goaltending, should be better, but I don't love the age on that team. NJD needs everything to go right and to be healthy and even have slightly above avg goaltending. CBJ has some nice pieces, but still don't love them as I do think JG comes back to Earth without a Tkachuk on his wing and no top center. And then there is Philly...who....well....will be sitting at lunch alone eating their pudding.

A bit dramatic, no?
This years team is set up better than last years.

Man that's a rough review bud, you forgot a few players in your synopsis.... we have the vezina winner, a former norris winner, a 50 goal scorer, bread, and mika. Id also like to make a point to mention k'andre miller who also has the potential to turn into a superstar. The team is lead by a top tier coach also. Not only will they make the playoffs but they will be a force come playoff time, they were 2 wins from making the finals last year. Who exactly do you have them below in the metro?

I think last year was a one off, they played bad and still won too many times. I doubt they will repeat that. Unless Laffy and Kakko reaches superstar level season.
They are on the right path, but NYR isn't quite there. Kravtsov will head off to Russia the same second he doesn't make the team

And you are correct, no cap for deadline trades which is good. Maybe we can keep the picks and fix the issues in the prospect pool.
Like centers for example

what you just described makes it seem like they will be a PO team. ya the losses of copp/braun/vatrano will hurt but they were acquired at the TD anyways and at that point Rangers were in a safe PO spot anyways.

sure kreider is unlikely to have a season like he just did but he is secured to get atleast 25g 25a if he can stay healthy but with the loss of krediers production you have kakko and laffy both going up 20+ points from their previous best meaning they obviously improved making that team a deeper threat.

you also upgraded from strome to trocheck.

i do not like the rangers but with so many guys like Laffy/Kakko/Kravstov/Othmann/ Schneider/Lundkvist/ Miller/ Chytil capable of having a breakout season i would be shocked if they missed PO's

trouba also just had a solid bounceback season and with him being the Cap now id expect him to continue to try and be one of the core stars for the team

CAR, CBJ/or WSH and PIT at least. Kreider will not hit 50 again. I be glad (for him) if he hits 40.
A lot of wins last year they shouldn't have won. Stolen by Shesterkin and lady luck. To bet it will happen again is very hopeful wishful thinking.
I like Trocheck. But I feel like luck will be bad luck this year.
Unless Laffy and Kakko can reach superstar level which is unlikely. They will do each much better but will not be enough.

I like some of those you mentioned. Chytil we said he will break out for 4 - 5 years now. I don't believe it anymore. Lundkvist where is he going to play for 3 years, AHL? and become what...
I don't believe Bredman has the same spark, seems like the magic is gone a bit. He is a fading flame.
5 on 5 this teams have real issues.

Kravtsov I don't like at all. I feel like as soon as he doesn't make the lineup he will throw a fit and run away to Russia

I think u underestimate this team by a lot, shesterkin is a top 2 goalie in the world and with him healthy they are a playoff lock. I've watched Hank put the whole organization on his shoulders for darn near a decade in the past. Shesterkin has that type of skill, and shesty has a much much more talented team around him

Debbie downer much! We are just starting lol. Igor will pull a Hasek again & again. Kreider now dominates the blue paint after a decade of mastering it and is prime for aging well! Bread is what he is, the best pond hockey player, which is regular season. Kravtsov is just gravy now. Blais will be a big important piece a la Goodrow, despite your hate for both lol. Chytil is big and learning how to be responsible, he will be good to really good. Gallant is great for our room.

There are 8 playoff spots in the east.
The rangers were the youngest team in the playoffs.
They got slightly older, but are still one of the youngest teams in the league.

Of the teams that made the playoffs last year, Boston, washington and pittsburg didnt get significantly better nor younger.
Ottawa may end up coming up in the Atlantic, but assuming that the atlantic takes both wildcard spots is a heavy assumption.
In the atlantic you have as "locks" tampa/toronto and boston might be fighting that last spot.

Detroit didnt make quite enough improvement to be a playoff team yet.
Montreal is still tanking for bedard.

The rangers keep basically the same team only their kids get a little older.
Assuming laf and kakko make even a half decent improvement the rangers have a deeper top 9 than almost any team in the league.

They have one of the best top 4's in the league. Miller had an insane playoff, and schneider is considered one of the best young defensemen in the league.

They also have the best goalie in the league.

Its absolutely a reasonable take to say "they might be a first round exit next year", but to say misses the playoffs?
This team didnt get gutted.
None of the core of the team moved.

The East is as wide-open as it's been since 2005 as the powerhouses fade and the bottom all made huge improvements. I fail to see how this team isn't a playoff team, though. I think they overachieved last season and won a lot of games on the back of a power play and a goalie, but they are still clearly one of the top three teams in the division on paper. NJ and Columbus haven't surpassed them, and Pittsburgh and Washington aren't quite done yet.

The only thing, the ONLY thing I think would make the Rangers even worry about not being a playoff team is Shesty getting hurt in Oct/Nov and out for six months. He is THAT important to them in my mind, but he is what seperates a good team from a great team. Just being good might not be good enough.

You are dreaming man. I do not believe in Blais at all. That was a terrible deal. Buch is a point per game player and we got a 2nd round pick and a maybe top 9 player.
Shesterkin will play good, but I don't believe he can repeat this last season.. Kreider will get 30 + goals, not 50.

But I guess we wil see right...

You forget he played for NYR 2020-21 season and we where not even close to be playoff team then.
I believe Shesterkin will have similar season as 20-21. And it will not be enough to steal those important games, that will land a playoff spot.
Also no cap space.

First worrying sing is that all the "expert" says NYR will be a top 2 team in their division. Last year all the expert said that they weren't playoff team just yet. The experts are always wrong.
Nobody knows how Trocheck will merge with Panarin, If that doesn't go well then we are not playing playoffs.
And to hope Shesterkin will be able to play like last year every year it is just not possible. To play like that tares on the body. He is getting scouted more than other goalies now when he won the vezina.

Well first of all no one knows how the whole Trocheck and Panarin chemistry will work. And yes even thou players like Kakko and Laffy should/would take a significant increase in point production.
The whole team is one year older. Kreider will be 32 and won't repeat the 50 goal season, I be happy if he gets 35. Blais was a terrible trade piece back from Buch.
Goodrow is a good 4th liner but overpriced and I am unsure he can be health.
We don't have any cap space and the only players we can trade (to fix things) currently don't have enough trade leverage for it to make sense or fix anything.
This whole argument is based on the fact that they will repeat last years lucky season and I don't believe they can.
5 on 5 this team has major issues.

If they win like 2 of the first 10 games, they will not bounce back which is very possible

that is true about chytil but during PO's he actually looked pretty solid i like the chemistry between the 3 young guys in laffy/chytil/kakko.
he has the right tool set to breakout he is a very solid skater, he's 6'3 210 and for that size and how well he can skate is very nice. he is reliable 2 way and he has quite a good shot if he can just refine his offensive game he could become a solid 2nd line center.

i do agree in some parts that panarin is fading, he just isn't as dominant as he was before he has lost a step but on PP he is still one of the best.

lundkvist maybe they try on the left side to get him more minutes since their Right side is set for the next while

and ya kravstov i think ruined himself by being so egotistical, such high potential aswell. but who knows maybe he can turn it around


overall though especially because of shesterkin i think they still beat out
-Caps ( team is injury prone/ no backstrom for the whole season which though he hasn't been healthy the last few years 40+ games is better then none/ ovi is bound to start regressing also he is becoming more and more one dimensional as the years go by.)
-NYI ( defence is solid and offence could be pretty darn good if they get kadri but it will cost them and they probably have to sell on 2 of beau/bailey/pageau to acquire him and make cap work for future years/ also unsure of how strong lambert is of a coach)
- CBJ (should be competitive but they have a lot of young guys they need to play and i feel throughout the season lack of experience will start to show and they will start to fade. not confident with merzlinkins and korpi as the goalies aswell)
- NJ( Another team that is very young and will still need a bit more developing and refining before they can make PO's also vanecek and blackwood is an even worse combo then what CBJ has)
-Philly ( i don't even need to explain they are far far far from PO's and deangelo as their only relatively big addition won't make much of a difference)

the only teams i think can beat out NYR is carolina( my cup favourites) and Pitsburgh they made some solid additions and had a lot of guys who had a down year which i don't expect to last

I forgot, players never get better nor have the Rangers gotten better. My bad.

(I get you are doing a "Wrong or happy" shtick....)

Oh, I agree. I still don't think they deserved to be a playoff team last year because they rode a hot goalie and Kreider's 28 PP goals, but who's obviously better in the Metro? Carolina. That's it. NYR have a good defense, which is something Columbus doesn't have. They have an incredible goalie, which is something Washington and NJ don't have. They have youth, which is something Pittsburgh and NYI don't have (the Islanders are weird, I expect them to regress to the mean as well, which means being a better team than last year, but they still are built from the back out and even with Dobson/Barzal/Wahlstrom and without Chara/Greene they are quite old). Four of five of those teams probably have higher-scoring top sixes than NYR, but if you don't let any goals in you can get away with scoring less.

Carolina is obviously the top and Philly is obviously the bottom, but one could make an argument for any order for the middle six teams. CBJ/NJ are much less likely to make the playoffs than the other four, but you could argue for either of them to get the same luck NYR got last year and surprise the "experts." Just like you could make the argument that time finally has come for Pittsburgh and Washington, especially if one of their linchpins goes down early (not that that ever hurts Pittsburgh). And then there's wildcards. There's three obvious playoff teams in the Atlantic, but after that it's four possibiles (and then Montreal). Boston without their top players to start the season is at a major disadvantage. Detroit, Buffalo, and Ottawa all had good-to-great offseasons and will look to be competitive.

The East is wide open, and NYR have as good a case to make the playoffs as ten other teams, and a better one than the Atlantic teams since they're in the Metro which has only one obvious playoff lock going into the season.

Well CBJ, can be amazing or awful. We don't know. That team changed so much during the off season so it is impossible to predict.
Same with NJD actually - Who knows how PHI will do with new coach.
It is impossible to predict. But to say they are guarantee playoff team and a sure nr 2 in the division I just don't see it.

Fair enough. I'm a Jackets fan and I look at the NYR roster and see one better than my own team's. I don't necessarily look at the other Metro teams and think that, which is why I think it's more likely NYR is in the playoffs than not.

So you've admitted that the kids will improve, and then in the same vein are wondering how the team will stick to the same spot?
Laf and kakko improving immediately make up any loss in goals from kreider regressing to the mean.
The rangers got older, and the thing is, they have talented kids.
Kratsov is 100% a wild card, he could be anything from a top 6 level talent, to absolute garbage.
Blais and a 2nd was a poor return on buch, blais and a 1st would've been the right return. Blais on his own was a good piece to fill our depth out.
Also if we had buch we would either have had to deal him at the deadline, or we'd lose him for nothing.
We couldn't keep him.
We also were able to acquire the pieces we did at the deadline because we had moved him when we did.

Panarin and strome had great chemisty which really helped stromes production. Trocheck is the better player BY FAR. and better defensively BY FAR. Assuming panarin sits closer to the 85-90 point range as opposed to the 95-110 point range he's been averaging since coming over, again the increased production from trocheck and the kids taking a step still makes up for all of this.

The rangers are still one of the youngest teams in the NHL.
Getting older for them is a good thing.

The metro with the exception of NJD and CBJ is old AF.
Those teams its bad to keep getting old.

Yes, but instead of arguing it until the season starts, lets just see how it goes. You all made some points.
I brought up some concerns too. Blais was horrible return for Buch. I am not changing my mind on that. 1st wouldn't have helped.
We got into the post season without Blais last year so.
Problem is that the team is good enough to win when Shesterkin is on fire. Otherwise they are not. And even if Laffy, Kakko will have much better season doesn't mean we are a playoff team (unless they play like superstars, but I am not holding my breath)
I am saying Trocheck is a better player but that doesn't mean Panarin will play better or he will playing with him.
I am saying that probably this will be a bit of a down year for Shesterkin, meaning he won't steel as many games, meaning the team will lose more etc.
And what if Shesterkin will be injured 20 - 25 games? Is it still a playoff team then...

youre also missing that geo's poor play cost the team probably 8 losses they shouldn't have lost. because he wasnt suited to be a backup.
If panarin doesn't click with trochek the rangers can move him to a line with mika. They have chemistry.
I dont disagree theres risk about trochek but the positives significantly outweighed the negatives. The rangers likely make a positive improvement in 5v5 play by the kids getting better and the strome for trochek swap.

Okay, I won't argue my points anymore. You make good points. I think I do to. Where it is playoff team or not it goes to show.

Have a nice day, nice discussing with u