Remember a few years ago when the NHL had that weird marketing campaign promising “no soap operas, just hockey”? I don’t think they got the memo in New York.
The Rangers have been tumbling down the standings lately, but they’ve shot to the top of the rankings of the league’s most interesting teams. Just two months into the season, we’d already had a hot start, a losing streak, a mysterious trade memo and all sorts of rumors. Then Friday rolled around, and it all blew up.
Let’s work our way through some thoughts on some of the news.
Bonus five: Thoughts on a weekend of Rangers drama
5. The Jacob Trouba trade — Viewed purely as a hockey trade, it’s not especially interesting. A team moves out a decent player on a big contract, sending him to a rebuilding team that needs some veteran stability and has the cap room to make it work. If anything, it’s mildly surprising that the Rangers got assets back, although the price wasn’t high. Ultimately, it makes sense for both teams.
But of course, “purely as a hockey trade” doesn’t work here because of the far more interesting piece of the puzzle …
4. The Jacob Trouba threat — Trouba was the one who used the word “threat,” and he’s right. The Rangers played this one a bit dirty, using the potential of a waiver claim to strongarm their own captain out of his no-trade protection. If you’re a Rangers fan, you probably don’t mind seeing Chris Drury prioritize the ultimate goal over playing nice, especially in a league where teams like the Golden Knights and Lightning have had plenty of success with that approach. But as Arthur Staple explains, there’s a potential cost to this way of doing things, and Drury better hope that the move is worth it.
3. The Igor Shesterkin extension — We waited all year for the news, and then it dropped on a day when it might not have been the most interesting story of the day. It will definitely be the most important one, though, as the Rangers lock down their superstar on a contract with all sorts of potential to go bad down the line. Did they have a choice? Probably not, and Drury probably knows that any worst-case scenario will be some other GM’s problem.
2. The Brady Tkachuk subplot — Apparently the New York market didn’t want to have all the fun, so they decided to rope in an Ottawa Senators fan base that was just trying to mind its own business. It’s fair to say Senators management was not impressed, and I can’t come up with any reasonable scenario where the Sens would move their captain, but we can at least appreciate the added drama.
1. Where this is all goes from here — OK, now what? Shesterkin’s extension is a relief and maybe takes an emotional load off of his shoulders, but it doesn’t change anything for this year. And while the Trouba drama needed to find a finish line, his trade is still a case of a team subtracting a player off the roster, not adding. All the weekend’s news does is put the Rangers in a better position to execute part two of the plan. We’re not sure what that is, but “sit back and just hope for better results” doesn’t seem like it fits Drury’s current approach.
Honorable mention: They actually played some hockey too — It couldn’t crack the top five, but we should probably mention that the Rangers capped off that wild Friday with a win over the Penguins, then fell apart against the Kraken on Sunday. In other words, they’re not fixed quite yet. And if they lose to the Blackhawks and/or Sabres this week, maybe we do this all over again next weekend.
Spoiler alert: The Rangers will not be in this week’s top five. But a new team will be, so let’s have a look …
Road to the Cup
The five teams with the best chances of winning the Stanley Cup.
The Stars drop out of our top five for the first time this year after a pair of regulation losses, but the bigger news in Dallas is Tyler Seguin going on the LTIR with the potential for a Vegas-style playoff return. Jim Nill covered that and more with Pierre.
5. Winnipeg Jets (20-9-0, +28 true goals differential*) — They’re hanging by a thread after five losses in seven, including last night’s regulation loss to the Blue Jackets. Worse, their only wins have come against Buffalo and Chicago, so they barely count. This is their seventh straight week in the top five, and it kind of feels like it could be the last.
4. Washington Capitals (19-6-2, +35) — It’s time. Sometimes a hot start is just a flukey streak, but we’re a third of the way into the season and the Caps are still sitting in first place. They’ve got points in seven straight, and Alexander Ovechkin on the way back.
We’re giving the Caps the Metro spot this week, nudging out a Hurricanes team that’s gone cold but has the Sharks, Senators, Blue Jackets and Islanders coming up on a get-right homestand. Up next after that: The Capitals, in the second meeting of the season between the two teams.
3. Minnesota Wild (18-5-4, +23) — Well this is vaguely terrifying:
Kirill Kaprizov games this season
0 points: 4
1 point: 7
2 points: 7
3 points: 7
— Dimitri Filipovic (@DimFilipovic) December 7, 2024
By the way, Minnesota fans who think I should have them even higher, the Friday folks have the Wild as their unanimous choice in the top spot.
2. Vegas Golden Knights (18-7-3, +17) — After an impressive 3-0-0 week that included wins over the Oilers and Stars, they’re the only division leader to hold a lead of more than two points. They’ll have their work cut out for them this week with road games in Winnipeg, Edmonton and Minnesota.
1. Florida Panthers (17-9-2, +14) — The teams with the best records still don’t necessarily feel like Stanley Cup favorites, and the teams that are supposed to be Cup favorites don’t have the best records, so I’m just going to keep the defending champs in top spot like a coward.
*Goals differential without counting shootout decisions like the NHL does for some reason.
Not ranked: Los Angeles Kings — It didn’t feel like there was much buzz around the Kings heading into the season, and whatever there was seemed mostly negative. Their biggest offseason move involved dumping Pierre-Luc Dubois, which was a nice bit of work to correct a mistake but still reminded everyone just how bad the mistake had been. Their fan base had pretty much lost all faith in the front office. And after three straight years of first-round exits at the hands of the Oilers, it felt like we knew that the Kings were: A playoff team, sure, but not any kind of actual threat to the teams that mattered.
Two months later, it might be time to reevaluate. The Kings keep banking points, with a five-game win streak moving them up to second in the Pacific. They’re solidly in the top 10, right there with teams like Florida and Carolina in points percentage, and doing it without Drew Doughty. And this week included home wins over the Stars and Jets, so it’s not all empty calories.
Saturday night brought another opportunity against a Central contender with the Wild in town, and the Kings turned it into another impressive win.
And sure, maybe they’re just headed to another first-round matchup with the Oilers that everyone will pick them to lose. Nothing about the roster necessarily screams elite, with the possible exception of Anze Kopitar not realizing he’s 37. And it’s worth thinking back to last December — a year ago today, the Kings were tied for the best points percentage in the league, and they’d end up firing their coach just a few weeks later. Things can change.
But for now, don’t sleep on the Kings, even if you wrote them off at the start of the season. They’ve got something going in L.A. right now.
The bottom five
The five teams headed toward dead last, and the best lottery odds for James Hagen, or maybe someone else.
A reminder that if your team is always in this section, you could always just find a new league to watch for the next few months.
5. Anaheim Ducks (10-12-3, -15) — It sounds like Trouba will make his debut Monday in Montreal. They could use the help, with just one regulation win in their last seven. Eric Stephens has more on how Trouba will fit in Anaheim.
Meanwhile, the news isn’t great on Trevor Zegras. We don’t have details on the exact injury, but it didn’t look good and he’s headed to the IR.
4. Nashville Predators (7-15-6, -27) — The losing streak is up to seven games, and it feels like it’s going to take more than a canceled U2 concert to turn this around. We keep seeing reports that Barry Trotz doesn’t want to overreact or panic, but at some point, you’re just conceding a season, no?
3. San Jose Sharks (10-15-5, -22) — They’ve lost two straight in regulation since Mirtle tweeted this. Season turning point? Probably too early to tell, but if they lose to the Hurricanes tomorrow then yes, definitely.
2. Montreal Canadiens (10-14-3, -22) — It was very cool to see Patrik Laine return to the lineup, especially with goals in each of his first two games. If you’re wondering, he’ll get a chance to make a return to Columbus in the team’s last game before the Christmas break.
1. Chicago Blackhawks (8-17-2, -21) — This week featured a fired coach, an injured goalie and Laz on the team’s “slow slide into irrelevance.” That column features the question “Does anything matter at this point when it comes to the Blackhawks?” in case you were wondering how bleak things are in Chicago right now.
Not ranked: Buffalo Sabres — It’s been a rough week in what some are calling the NHL’s most hopeless market. They’ve lost six straight, and their GM is trying to calm nerves. That part is not going well.
Here is the full bite where Adams mentions “we dont have palm trees, we have taxes in New York.”
“Look at the bills, they are a perfect example. I’d assume this wasn’t a destination or a place people were signing up to when they were in a 17 year playoff drought….you get Josh… pic.twitter.com/CJru2gn4fz
— Sara Holland (@SaraaHolland) December 6, 2024
I’ll be honest, that doesn’t sound unreasonable to me. But I’m not a frustrated Sabres fan who hasn’t seen a postseason in going on 14 years, so I might be feeling just a bit more charitable than others. And the money line about palm trees and taxes came in the context of a defensive availability that may have tip-toed a little too close to making excuses.
It all led to fans showing up to Saturday’s loss with inflatable palm trees, which is pretty fantastic. They also chanted “Fire Kevyn,” which isn’t as funny as well-executed prop comedy but probably matters quite a bit more. It definitely feels like we’re nearing some sort of tipping point in Buffalo, yet again.
This week starts with tonight’s matchup with the Red Wings, a fellow self-proclaimed Atlantic playoff contender that’s crashing and burning to the tune of five straight losses. And if that wasn’t enough of a Hopelessness Bowl for you, the Sabres’ next opponent is the Rangers.
That could be two wins that take some of the heat off. It could also be two losses that crank the temperature in Buffalo even higher. Not quite palm-tree high, mind you, but still pretty high. If you see a Sabres fan, hug them. They could use it these days.
(Photo of Igor Shesterkin: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)