Well, as we're advancing toward the conference semi-finals of the playoffs, I will be reviewing the seasons of teams as they're eliminated from the playoffs. Obviously, the last team reviewed will be the one that wins the Cup.
Now the next team to be eliminated from the playoffs: The New York Rangers.
My prediction: Fourth in the Atlantic Division and out of the playoffs.
The truth: Third in the division and made the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference thanks to a Carolina Hurricanes loss. The success was short-lived, however, as they were dispatched in 5 games by the Washington Capitals.
So what happened?: The backup goalie (Martin Biron) who was supposed to take playing time away from the oft-overworked Hendrik Lundqvist ended up injured, the defense looked awfully young after sending Wade Redden to the minors and Michal Rosival to the Phoenix Coyotes, and few forwards came to play on a consistent basis (I'm pretty certain that Marian Gaborik isn't making first-forward money to put up 2 points in 5 playoff games.) The team's got a flair for the dramatic but the most dramatic thing that's happened in the past two seasons was barely missing and barely making the playoffs, respectively. In summary: The team spent a lot on their roster but didn't necessarily spend well.
So what's next?: They've got nearly $15M available in cap-space going into next season but need to qualify Brandon Dubinsky, Ryan Callahan, Matt Gilroy, and Mike Sauer, not to mention have to wonder what they're going to do with veterans Valcav Prospal, Bryan McCabe, and Ruslan Fedotenko. In other words, it looks like they're going to have another season of exactly what they've been up to until some heavy duty contracts come off the books (like Chris Drury's disappointing $7M+ cap hit) but even then, these guys haven't shown that they can build a winning team within the confines of a salary cap; and that's very problematic for Rangers fans.
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