When your team expectations include exactly one objective: winning the Stanley Cup, it is never a good time for a slump. When your team is the New York Rangers, located in the heart of the U.S. media capital, the adage rings especially true. Yet the Rangers, who are, make no mistake, slumping, are managing to ride just under the radar thanks to the debacle that is NFL football in the New York Region.
Have a first line center with trouble getting it going? That’s nothing. I’ll see your slumping first liner and raise you by cutting my starting quarterback and promoting a third stringer with very little upside and a kitschy celebration that was a thing for about five minutes last season.
Not playing much defense? Ha, that’s nothing. I’ll raise you spotting our opponent 30 points in a completely lackluster performance, devoid of even the courtesy of an attempted comeback. Both New York NFL teams would probably kill for a four game West Coast road trip about now. And they would certainly kill for one in which they came home at .500.
Looking ahead, maybe you’re worried about what the Rangers might do at the trade deadline, as needs are starting to emerge for this group. Oh yeah? Well did your owner want to bench your franchise player when the team was 2-2? Oh, right, the team was never 2-2, thanks to a hot start. “Call me when you’ve got some real issues,” say Jets and Giants fans.
Perhaps for Ranger fans this notion of cruising just under the collective fan radar is of little comfort. After all, we are counting on the Rangers to carry our championship dreams for the foreseeable future (although the Knicks may have something to say about that soon). But in an 82-game season that is effectively a prelude to the real action, there are bound to be highs and lows. Measuring the team’s worth after every game is certainly fodder for folks like me, but is likely of little consequence in the overall outcome of the season.
The truth is that the Rangers are a highly talented team that seems to be searching a bit for this year’s identity. That they are doing so while in a playoff position doesn’t feel like it calls for the “sky is falling” narrative that many of the most vocal fans have taken up. There have been some real stinkers in there, to be sure, but for Rangers fans desperately in need of a little perspective, look no further than the two NFL teams across the river for a peak into what it could look like.
The beauty of an 82-game regular season is that the opportunities come fast and furious. Tonight, the now Jim Montgomery-led Blues are in town. And there’s nothing that would chase the Rangers’ blues away quite like chasing the Blues away. It sure beats waiting for Thursday if you’re a Giants fan and through a bye week if you root for the Jets.
