Fairytale of New York
Ever since 1994 when the New York Rangers beat the Vancouver Canucks over seven games to claim their first Stanley cup since 1940- glory has now been absent from the Big Apple ever since! The big question now is which team in this fine city has better shot at victory in the coming seasons as the Rangers are continually expected to push for it but their counterparts the New York Islanders have been dismissed as underdogs in previous seasons despite having more cup wins than their rivals. This question will require some big considerations as as always... Lets go to war!
New York Rangers
This team is still held in high regard by many people and the Rangers are among the highest spending teams in the league. But money doesnt always guarantee success and for the Rangers this has been painfully true in recent seasons. Take for example last year when Rick Nash finally joined the team and alongside big scoring Marion Gaborik and Brad Richards, many expected this line to be the one to beat! But although Nash finished on 21 goals and 42 points during regular season- the Rangers barely scraped into the playoffs where they were eliminated by the Boston Bruins.
Their patchy form led to the demotion of Richards to the fourth line during playoff play and saw former star Gaborik traded to Columbus Blue Jackets. But even more importantly saw the sacking of coach John Tortorella!
How this team did not pull things together will remain a mystery since they have great young setup with players such as Michael Del Zotto, Derek Stepan and Carl Hagelin coming through and a consistent goaltender in Henril Lundqivst. Now in the hands of former Canuck coach Alain Vigneault- I think next year will be a team building exercise and rather than chopping and changing like they have some many times before- the Rangers would do well to build a team around the players they have because when this team fires they can be great!
New York Islanders
In recent years this team has been the subject of ridicule for other New York fans- after a dominant early 80s period which included 4 Stanley Cups, the 90s and 00s were not so kind to Islander fans as they often failed to make the playoffs- due to this inconsistency the attendence at the Nassau Colisium fell dramatically- plus their selection of goalie Rick DiPietro as their first overall pick in 2000 turned out to be tragic as his injuries prevented him from reaching the former he showed during junior play.
Last season though was a surprising success as the team turned many heads during the regular season and thanks to the former of main men Matt Moulson and John Tavares propelled the Islanders to their first playoff appearence since 2007 where they gave the hotly favoured Pittsburgh Penguins a run for their money as they were defeated in six games in the first round.
This team finally has the potential it needs to go forwards and head coach Jack Capuano has found a way make the team realize what they can do and this was demonstrated by numerous high scoring performances last year. Many hockey fans still dismiss this side as being the Moulson and Tavares show, but when you have two young men who can play these two then that is all you need some games and now with the addition of fine 3rd/4th liner Cal Clutterbuck, they are beginning to add to this roster! Also as this will be their last year at the Colisseum before they move to new arena the Barclays Center in Brooklyn- the Islanders will be keen to give the old girl a proud send off!
Let the Battle of New York commence!
New York Rangers
This team is still held in high regard by many people and the Rangers are among the highest spending teams in the league. But money doesnt always guarantee success and for the Rangers this has been painfully true in recent seasons. Take for example last year when Rick Nash finally joined the team and alongside big scoring Marion Gaborik and Brad Richards, many expected this line to be the one to beat! But although Nash finished on 21 goals and 42 points during regular season- the Rangers barely scraped into the playoffs where they were eliminated by the Boston Bruins.
Their patchy form led to the demotion of Richards to the fourth line during playoff play and saw former star Gaborik traded to Columbus Blue Jackets. But even more importantly saw the sacking of coach John Tortorella!
How this team did not pull things together will remain a mystery since they have great young setup with players such as Michael Del Zotto, Derek Stepan and Carl Hagelin coming through and a consistent goaltender in Henril Lundqivst. Now in the hands of former Canuck coach Alain Vigneault- I think next year will be a team building exercise and rather than chopping and changing like they have some many times before- the Rangers would do well to build a team around the players they have because when this team fires they can be great!
New York Islanders
In recent years this team has been the subject of ridicule for other New York fans- after a dominant early 80s period which included 4 Stanley Cups, the 90s and 00s were not so kind to Islander fans as they often failed to make the playoffs- due to this inconsistency the attendence at the Nassau Colisium fell dramatically- plus their selection of goalie Rick DiPietro as their first overall pick in 2000 turned out to be tragic as his injuries prevented him from reaching the former he showed during junior play.
Last season though was a surprising success as the team turned many heads during the regular season and thanks to the former of main men Matt Moulson and John Tavares propelled the Islanders to their first playoff appearence since 2007 where they gave the hotly favoured Pittsburgh Penguins a run for their money as they were defeated in six games in the first round.
This team finally has the potential it needs to go forwards and head coach Jack Capuano has found a way make the team realize what they can do and this was demonstrated by numerous high scoring performances last year. Many hockey fans still dismiss this side as being the Moulson and Tavares show, but when you have two young men who can play these two then that is all you need some games and now with the addition of fine 3rd/4th liner Cal Clutterbuck, they are beginning to add to this roster! Also as this will be their last year at the Colisseum before they move to new arena the Barclays Center in Brooklyn- the Islanders will be keen to give the old girl a proud send off!
Let the Battle of New York commence!
Comments
Post a Comment
Comments are moderated and may take a while to appear. This is because the authors are busy/lazy/away.