State of the Rangers: Deadline Editon

To be quite honest, I have no idea how I'm not sitting here typing about how if Rick Nash and Brad Richards click on the Rangers 1B line, it could very well lead the Rangers to their 1st Stanley Cup in 18 years. Instead, miraculously Brandon Dubinsky remains on the Rangers. Following Larry Brooks' report of the Rangers last ditch effort in the 2 pm hour Monday afternoon with the Rangers offering Dubinsky, Chris Thomas, JT Miller, Tim Erixon and a first round pick that was turned down by the Blue Jackets, I pretty much came to the conclusion that the Blue Jackets were simply not going to accept any offer that didn't include Chris Kreider in it. That goes to show how much the Rangers organization values that kid. Overall the trade deadline came and went with little fanfare and a few eyebrow raising trades across the NHL. With the Rangers, it appears like they were all in on acquiring Nash and Nash alone all the way up til 3 pm cutoff.

The best thing that came out of the Rangers not acquiring Nash is their absurd amount of cap space they inherited upon moving Wolski to Florida that all but insures Gaborik stays in New York likely for the remainder of his career if he so chooses, re-up Prust, Del Zotto and Biron going into next season, pay Kreider who will have a quite pricey entry level contract if he forgoes his senior season at BC, and have the cap space to re-sign Stepan, McDonagh, Anisimov and Hagelin to new deals following next season. It truly is quite amazing what a team can accomplish financially without two contracts with cap hits over 7 million dollars hanging over the Rangers. If Kreider declares for the NHL next month, you can forget about Nash coming to Broadway.

Moving on from the Rick Nash sweepstakes that ultimately went no-where thanks to a particularly greedy GM out in Columbus who will likely be out of a job in 6 weeks.... The Rangers have to feel like they can go to battle in the playoffs with the team they've had so much success with for the vast majority of the season. The Rangers have been getting stellar goaltending, stifling defensive play, and timely, clutch scoring from their top 6 forwards. IF and a big if, Dubinsky is able to get untracked come playoff time, which he has been a key guy for the Rangers over his career in the postseason, (15 points in 22 games) the Rangers will be an extremely tough out if anyone is able to do it. A lot is being made of the Rangers inept power play this season, which I may add needs a heavy shot from the point more than another scoring winger. As teams advance, refs will be more and more reluctant to call ticky tack penalties and it's usually the team that is best 5 on 5 that will win the majority of playoff games. You have to look no further than last year's Boston Bruins who finished the season in the bottom half of the NHL in terms of power play success and won a Stanley Cup.

This will be the last State of the Rangers column for the regular season, as the next column won't be until the completion of game 82 and the columns like this thereafter will be giant playoff previews for the Rangers likely 1 vs. 8 matchup. I've been telling you guys since October that the best is yet to come for the Rangers and it's nearly here...