MachoDiablo
Registered User
So many talking heads around the league were really pumping their tires going into this season, and I still remember saying in the offseason that I just didn't quite see it, at least not yet. They absolutely got hot before the shutdown last season and put on some very strong offensive showings, but it's not like they just started having blue line issues this season out of nowhere or that they didn't already lack a lot of depth down the middle; that was all the case last season when, remember, they wouldn't have been a playoff team if not for the play-in.It's kind of funny reading the Rags board and seeing that some of them legitimately thought they were a playoff team going into this year.
But because they got to draft Laffy and because they're an O6 team that plays at Da Gahden you had the prognosticators going crazy with dreams of the Rangers becoming a contender overnight or something, even when they hadn't done anything to really address those depth issues. In a weird way, it kind of highlighted to me how some analysts approach hockey versus how they approach baseball; I think a lot of MLB reporters would've seen the Rangers last year and said "they were a non-playoff team carried a good deal by a career year from Panarin, asking him to replicate that is hard, and they still lack main roster depth"...I know, it's easier to do statistical analysis for baseball given its more 1-on-1 nature, but still, this doesn't feel like it should be terribly surprising.
It's not to say they won't improve: Laffy and Kakko will grow, they've got talent in the pipeline, etc., but I agree with what was said before, they're already paying people like they're a team that's done rebuilding, and they're simply not there yet. They get away from some of their cap issues this coming offseason, so we'll see how that goes for them, but until then I hope the Devils keep hitting them hard.
There's only one Rainbow Road to go to for a take like that from Valquette.Valquette said the Rags had an 86% chance of winning during the 2nd intermission.
Lol. Tell me more about the rainbow road again.