What If The Rangers Miss The Playoffs?

The Rangers pretty much control their own destiny. This much is true. They sit in 7th place in the Eastern Conference, with a three point lead over 9th place Carolina. As long as the Rangers win, they should make the playoffs. However, should the Rangers continue to play .500 hockey, there is a distinct chance that both Buffalo and Carolina can pass them in the standings by staying a single game over .500 for the remainder of the year. That is the more realistic scenario.

Even if the Rangers miss the playoffs, despite the magnificent start to the season, fans should applaud the effort put in by your heroes. This is the first year since the 2006-2007 season that this team has been fun to watch, and that we are beginning to see the rebuild on the ice. This season has brought about the evolution of Brandon Dubinsky and Ryan Callahan into leadership roles; the emergence of rookies Derek Stepan and Ryan McDonagh; and the continued brilliance of Dan Girardi, Marc Staal, and Henrik Lundqvist.

If you were told at the beginning of the year that the Rangers would be without Marian Gaborik, Vinny Prospal, Brandon Dubinsky, Ryan Callahan, Chris Drury, Erik Christensen, and Ruslan Fedotenko for significant time, you would have thrown in the towel on the season. Throw in injuries to Marc Staal, Martin Biron, Michal Rozsival, and Brandon Prust, you would have settled for a lottery pick. But this team persevered, and showed us that the identity of this Rangers club is one that will never give up.

So what if the Rangers miss the playoffs? Sure, I’ll be mad that they blew the lead they had. But when you take a step back, this is one of the most successful seasons the Rangers have had since Drury broke our hearts in 2007. It’s easy to criticize, I mean we can all go blame Michael Del Zotto for the team’s failures this year (sarcasm). In the end, most of us were pleased with the way this team played this year. The grit and determination are there, now the skill just needs to catch up.