Dear THN: Rangers are better than 13th (Update)

Reuters Pictures

Talking to fellow fans, hitting up other blogs, and reading The Hockey News' article myself, the fans' disgust with the Rangers being predicted to finish thirteenth in the Eastern Conference next season is as clear as a bell. While the Rangers may be a team that has struggled year in and year out, trust me when I say they are much better than thirteenth in the Conference. Maybe ten, maybe even eleven, but thirteen is too much of an exaggeration for my liking.

I know it may seem like a biased opinion coming from me since I am a fan myself, but for those of you that have followed the blog for a while know darn well that if something is wrong with this team, I will not hold back from saying it. But in this case, I am going to defend the Blueshirts in a situation where I think they are being taken advantage of.

But first, here is The Hockey News' rankings of the teams that will not make the playoffs:

9. Carolina Hurricanes
10. Ottawa Senators
11. Atlanta Thrashers
12. Toronto Maple Leafs
13. New York Rangers
14. New York Islanders
15. Florida Panthers

And here is their reason why the Rangers "should" be ranked so low:

"Why: Missing the playoffs on the last day of the regular season must still be stinging the Rangers and it won't help we've slotted them in at unlucky No. 13 for 2010-11. Goalie Henrik Lundqvist is about the only reason the Rangers are still afloat and you'll be hard-pressed to find anyone who believes Marian Gaborik will make it through another season untouched by injury."

I will be hard-pressed to find anyone who believes Marian Gaborik will be untouched by injury? I have two things to say to that. First of all, I do not think he will pass by without any minor injuries. He had a few minor ones in 09-10 but that did not put an end to his season like The Hockey News is trying to make it sound. Secondly, I bet I could gather at least 500 people that visit this site today that believe Gaborik will play for majority of the season, which is a much more likely scenario. So keep telling me I will be "hard-pressed" to find others that believe he will be healthy this season, because I have an entire pool of fans right here that believe otherwise.

Then they go on to talk about Henrik Lundqvist, saying he is the only reason the Rangers went anywhere last year. Well, then how do you turn around and tell us that the team is going to finish lower in the standings with the same goalie that you claim is the reason they finished tenth last year? It is not like Henrik will lose all of his skills over the summer, so explain to me why, if Henrik - who has more support offensively and defensively this year - will not be able to carry the team higher than ten this time around? Why lower? There is no logic to that, absolutely none.

And I will also add in that, on paper, the Rangers will be putting a better product out on the ice this season compared to last season. With the additions of Alexander Frolov and Martin Biron, accompanied by the subtraction of Wade Redden (assuming he is waived), Olli Jokinen and Aaron Voros, the team is much stronger than last year and I believe will have a legitimate shot at making the playoffs. They will be in the race for the final few playoff spots, not thirteenth.

And if I am wrong, I have a feeling I will be getting a nice Email from The Hockey News in April with a link to this article. However, that is a risk I am willing to take because I highly doubt they will finish thirteenth.

You are probably wishing you could fast forward to April right now just to find out what happens, aren't you? Unfortunately that is not possible so I will end this riveting piece like any other attention grabbing film or book would end:

To be continued........

UPDATE: I had to add this comment from Vin, a dedicated reader of the site, to the article because I felt that it was so well said and goes even further in proving my point:

"You're absolutely right, it is unfair and completely baseless. To assume that Gaborik will get injured so the team won't do better than 13 is ridiculous. Especially when he just came through a whole season relatively unscathed on a much less tough team. It's just plain lazy reporting. Not a mention of offensive signings in Frolov and MZA, nothing about the great prospects in McDonagh, Stepan, Grachev, etc.

But I love being the underdog and sticking it to them. Look forward to April and sending them an email asking when they plan to eat their words and if they would like some mustard with that."