It’s hard to believe that preseason games in the National Hockey League began on Sunday, and that it’s been nearly 100 days since the Chicago Blackhawks won their third Stanley Cup in six years.
It’s that time of year again for hockey fans, but I wonder if that will ring true for the fans in the New York metropolitan area.
The New York Rangers have performed well in recent memory, but don’t have a championship to show for it. The New York Islanders’ young talent has shown promise, but the team now has a new home in Brooklyn, at least for the near future. The New Jersey Devils have started over from scratch as they look to find their dominance once again.
What does this all add up to for the 2015-16 season? In short, the Rangers and Islanders should make the playoffs, but I don’t see either team advancing past the conference semi-finals. The Devils will likely not have a chance at the playoffs.
Relevant to their roster and their expectations, the Rangers have over-performed the last two years. I don’t think anyone expected the Blueshirts to nearly make the Stanley Cup Final in consecutive years.
Yes, the Rangers clearly had one of the best goaltenders and one of the best defenses in the league the past two seasons, but the team didn’t seem to have any sort of “wow” factor or anything that would necessarily catch the eye during any given game. The Pittsburgh Penguins, the Boston Bruins, the Washington Capitals and the Montreal Canadiens, on the other hand, were all teams that seemed to have that sort of buzz around them at various points in the last two years.
Entering this season, the Rangers look a little different. They don’t have backup goalie Cam Talbot or forward Carl Hagelin, but they still have their foundation in goalie Henrik Lundqvist and star forward Rick Nash. These two and others, including Derek Stepan, Chris Kreider, Dan Girardi and Ryan McDonagh, should pace the team to a moderately successful season, barring any substantial injuries.
As I mentioned before, I think the Rangers will get into the playoffs this year and host a first round series before being ousted in the second round. With the way the last two seasons have gone for New York, this would certainly characterize as finishing below expectations. There are only so many more years that Lundqvist will give the team a legitimate shot to make their season last into mid-June.
As for the newcomers to New York City, the Islanders will likely do the same in terms of qualifying for the playoffs. The team has an overwhelming amount of young talent that I can’t imagine will be largely subdued by opposing teams.
With 22-year-old Ryan Strome, 23-year-old Brock Nelson and 25-year-olds John Tavares and Anders Lee on offense alone, the sky continues to be the limit for the newest Barclays Center tenants. The four players amassed 80 goals in the regular season last year as the team lost in the first round of the playoffs in seven games to the Capitals, and I’d venture to say that the four will up that total into the triple digits this season.
The big concern for the Islanders, as it was last year, is their defense and their goaltending. While the defense now has some recognizable names, like Nick Leddy and Johnny Boychuk, the group is too inexperienced. Young scorers are great, but the learning curve for young defensemen always seems to be much greater in the NHL. Aside from Boychuk and veteran Marek Zidlicky, the remaining Isles defensemen are all 27-years-old or younger.
As for between the pipes, I’m very skeptical of starter Jaroslav Halak. Halak turned in what seems like an exceptional season last year, winning the fifth most games of any goalie in the league. But I would categorize it as decent at best. He ranked 23rd in the league in goals against average, allowing 2.43 scores per game, and was aided by 3.07 goals per game, the third-best offensive production per contest in the league.
The last local team that I normally would give equal consideration given their franchise history is the Devils. Jersey’s team this year, though, will likely not make the Garden State proud. Cory Schneider and a young defense are intriguing pieces to the organization, but the team simply won’t be able to score. Travis Zajac, Adam Henrique and Mike Cammalleri do not constitute a first line in the NHL. They could make up a pretty good third line and a middle of the road second line.
Get ready for a lot of 1-0 and 2-1 losses Devils fans and more than a couple of sighs for the situation that Schneider has found himself in. But, perhaps the new regime can make something out of very little. I tend to doubt it, at least at first.
