Hit Vancouver today after a week on an Alaska Cruise, which by the way was awesome, but happy to have my feet on something that's not constantly moving. To show how much of a True Blue I am, I have been wearing Leetch hat, which has the Conn Smythe Trophy with the year on the back, yet no one has stopped me or made a nasty comment.
As we sit here waiting for the Rangers to re-sign Marc Staal, and me as a Mets fan, waiting for the season to end; as a Jets fan. wishing Revis was in camp and Mangold/Harris signed to extension, and as a Knicks fan, wondering if Amare really is Jewish, there is little doing with the Blueshirts. Even though I and most of us know that pre-season ranking can be tossed in the garbage once the puck is dropped to start the season, while in Vancouver, I picked up a few more hockey previews to peruse and figured I would see where others rank the Blueshirts.
In my last blog, I noted that the Hockey News has the Rangers pegged as 13th in the Eastern Conference. The Sports Forecaster in their Fantasy Hockey Preview puts the Rangers as 10th. However, what is interesting is while the Sports Forecaster preview was written prior to the Blueshirts signing Alexander Frolov; THN in their overall preview, which was written by Adam Proteau, and specifically the Rangers piece, which was handled by Steve Zipay, includes the Frolov signing.
In addition, I also picked up a preview called Hockey The Magazine, which includes both a team and season as well as Fantasy preview. The preview polled 12 "experts," which were comprised of two from La Presse, two from Hockey The Magazine, three from CKAC Sports, two from RDS, one from Rogers Sportsnet, one from NHL.com and one from La Nouvelliste, and overall ranked the Rangers 12th. Out of the 12, only James Murphy from NHL.com had the Rangers making the playoffs, filling the seventh slot.
At this time, I think most of us believe that the Rangers will likely be similar to last year, where they will battle for the final playoff spot. There are so many factors that could go each way, which could push the team up to to fifth or sixth or down to 12 or 13, that stating a position as a strong opinion is mainly a worthless endeavor. I just thought it would be interesting to note what a cross-section of experts thought as to where the Rangers will finish.
To all those who gave me advice as to where to go in Vancouver in my prior blog, thanks. We checked out the Art Museum today and mainly just relaxing as we had to leave the boat early this AM and getting acclimated to our surroundings and checking out the sites around the hotel. Hopefully hitting Butchart Gardens in Victoria Monday and other sites in Vancouver Tuesday. Thanks again for all the advice and hopefully when I get back to NY, we will have some traction on Staal, but the longer we wait, I believe the less likelihood he gets signed to an offer sheet elsewhere.
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