Oh, them Rangers

Watching the Rangers game was pure fun. However, I really think Glen Sather should be aware of the limitations his team has. As presently constructed, the Rangers are not ready for a Cup run. The Rangers, on the surface, appear to have similar problems to the Penguins in terms of the fact that it is only a few players who can be counted on to produce the majority of New York’s goals.

While Jagr, Straka, Shanahan have the experience of wily NHL veterans (and thus inexperience isn’t an issue for them as it is for the Pens’ kids), the Rangers’ overall lack of scoring depth is going to pose a problem, as is their lack of consistently solid NHL defensemen. When it comes to watching Rangers and Pens games, I know I’m going to enjoy watching the games because the teams are going to play offensive games, and the superstars are going to have the chance to do their thing. Yet I also know I’m going to enjoy watching the games because right now, the Pens and Rangers are fairly evenly matched, and that makes for a good test.

However, knowing that his Rangers match up well with Shero’s young Penguins should scare Glen Sather if his ultimate goal is a Cup run this year or in the near future. Straka and Jagr are in their mid-thirties, and while Jagr, at least at the moment, doesn’t appear any worse for wear, the fact is the Rangers have a more finite amount of time in which they can legitimately contend for a Cup. In four or five years’ time, Shanahan, Jagr, and Straka are probably out of their prime playing days. In four or five years’ time, hassles of the NHL’s new CBA momentarily disregarded for the moment, Malkin, Crosby, Fleury, Whitney, Staal—are young men in the prime of their careers.

Which is to say that right now, it’s okay for the Pens not to have defensive depth or scoring depth. (Which is not to say that the lack of depth is any easy thing for the current team to overcome.) The Pens, at the current moment, aren’t yet on the verge of making a run at the Cup. Their core players haven’t yet reached the point where they’re ready to be the cogs that take the team on a run to the Cup. And for Pittsburgh, now isn’t the time to be trading a young player who could potentially net far more in two to three years time, when the team isn’t poised to make a Cup run.

For the Rangers, however—if they’re really trying to go for it with Jagr, Straka, and Shanahan—well, they need defenseman, at least one elite defenseman, and they need more scoring depth. An overall system to employ against certain teams probably wouldn’t hurt, either (though I haven’t seen enough of the Rangers to know if they lack the system or just the willinginess/ability to apply the system consistently). And the Rangers need that now, and need it soon.

The Pens, honestly, have time to wait. That’s what happens when your core players are all under 20 and your supporting core players are under 25. There’s time, not as much as we think, but there’s time.

And as someone who loved Straka and Jagr as a kid, as someone who’s always liked Shanahan, well—while I’m waiting for my kids to be ready to contend—it would be very nice if King Sather would position his Rangers, and those kids I watched who are now seasoned vets—to make a run at the Cup. Seriously.