Latest / Jablam Sports Hockey / New York Rangers 2026-2027 Season Preview: The Bulid Is On, On Broadway Street

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New York Rangers 2026-2027 Season Preview: The Bulid Is On, On Broadway Street · Jablam Sports Hockey

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I just woke up from a nap.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to JBLEM Sports Hockey, your home for everything happening around the NHL.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Peter Bojurnoff, and every episode we break down the biggest topics all hockey fans are talking about.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: With writers, TV, and radio experts from all 32 teams today.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: We're still doing our 32 season previews with the New York Rangers.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: I've got on the show Colin Stevenson.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the show, Colin.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: Well, well, thanks for having me.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: This is this is uh I'm looking forward to it.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: It's gonna be a lot of fun.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: And he covers the New York Rangers for Newsday Sports.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: And in trending now, we're gonna talk about the big trade and the other injury in Minnesota.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: Let's drop the puck.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: Do you like the sound effects, Colin?
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, you know, uh, it's old school, right?
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: So let's let's uh let's appreciate it.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: So last season the New York Ranger Rangers finished last in the Metropolitan Division.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: But two years ago, they were winning the president's trophy.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: What one thing, if you could pinpoint one thing to really need for this team to happen for them to make the playoffs.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, to make the playoffs.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: Woo.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: Uh one thing that I've that I've pointed to has been uh JT Miller needs to have a bounce back year.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, a lot of things have to happen, of course.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but that's the one I that's the one I think that that you know you're kind of crossing your fingers if you're a Ranger fan and hoping for the most.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you know, Igor Schesterkin is gonna be the man.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, they've actually played a, you know, they played their regular season opener, and he was great, lost, but but was great.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and he's gonna be great all season long.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and that he's their best player and gives them their best chance.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, they they imported uh Pavel Dorothyev to score some goals, and you know, we'll we'll take it that he'll do that.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, he's got 37 goals last year, I think 35 the year before.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: So, I mean, you know, he's money in the bank.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: We assume he'll score his goals.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, Adam Fox was uh having a really good year last year.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: It was marred by injury, which cost him, I think, a total of 27 games.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_01: But he, I think, had 53 points in the 55 games that he played, uh, nine goals.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_01: So he was having a good year, and he seems motivated.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: You know, he got snubbed by the U.S.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: Olympic team last year.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: Uh he had come off a tough year the year before.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, he was playing great last year.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: I think he's motivated to to to uh to be good again.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um uh and he's also desperate for this team to be good again, right?
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, he's 28 years old, he's starting to sense his mortality in the game.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_01: And and if this team is not going to be good um for a couple of years, that's that's not gonna be good for him.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: So uh I think he'll be motivated, he'll be productive.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um and and on and on and on, uh, all these other things.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you do need, you know, Gabe Perot to kind of take you know the next step.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: You know, he showed some some uh flash, you know, at the end of last year, or you do need Alexis Lafreniere to, you know, kind of be the guy we've been waiting for him to be for the last six years.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, he showed some flashes again as well at the last year.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: But these are things that you always need.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_01: But the one thing that they really, really need above all, that that they can't count on until we see it with our own two eyes is for JJT Miller to bounce back and be the player he was before he got to New York.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_01: You know, he was a hundred-point player not too long ago.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_01: He was a 90-point player, he was well over a point a game in his time in in Vancouver.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, last year he he struggled with some injuries and and you know, he got hurt um, not hurt to keep him out of the lineup, but hurt to make him less effective uh at the start of the season, right at the end of training camp.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_01: He got you know, picked up a little ding, and he just was never able to uh kind of find his footing, I think.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I think his down year probably had the most uh effect on the team.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_01: And I think for them to get back into the playoffs.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: Now, a lot of other things have to happen, but I think that's the that's the one thing that absolutely has to happen is he has to be better than he was last year.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that's it for this episode.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: You've answered all the questions.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um let's pinpoint on some of them, though.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: Like you said, uh they added Pavel Durafe in the summer, and you mentioned again, like he does have back-to-back 30 goal seasons leading the Golden Knights in goals.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: Drew, the GM, he gave him seven years, 11 million per.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: Where does he specifically fit in the lineup?
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: And how does that power play look now?
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_01: Well, so he is playing right wing uh on JT Miller's line with uh all of a fellow newcomer in Oliver Bjorkstrand on the other wing.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I don't know that that's gonna be set and stolen for 84 games, but that's how they're starting out.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and the reason being is that Mika Zabanajad, uh Alexe La Frenniere, and Gabe La uh Perot uh finished the season together last year and looked good, had good chemistry.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: Perot played great, uh Lafreniere played great, and the line looked great.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_01: And so to start the season anyway, Coach Mike Sullivan decided the best thing to do was to keep those three together.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: And so that makes care either.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I think those those two lines are probably interchangeable in terms of of you know where they rank and and you know on top line and second line, whatever.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_01: As far as the the power play is concerned, what Dorothyev does is he effectively replaces Arteni Panarin.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and what that does for their power play is where Panarin was a right hand shot, Dorfiev is a left-hand shot.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_01: So uh because Zabanajad is a right hand shot playing on the left circle, uh Panarin was a right-hand shot playing in the right circle, which meant you didn't have the one-timer option with Panarin on the right side.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_01: But now you swap out Panarin for Dorothyv, who is a left-hand shot, and you have the one-timer option from either circle.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_01: You can go to left circle for Zabanajad, you can go to the right circle and get Dorothyv.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: And so, you know, that's that's what it does for the power play.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I think the power play is pretty good with with Panarin, and I think it could be just as good with Dorothyv, just a different look.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: The Rangers, and you mentioned a couple of them, they have a roster full of UFAs and RFAs after this season.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: But like I mentioned, uh journal manager Chris Drew was able to extend them since July 1st, and a lot of them have been signing some of those big contracts on the roster right now.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: If we look at just RFAs, there's nine.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: What's the plan with Chris Drew with at least the former first-round picks in Braden Schneider and you mentioned Gabe Perot?
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I would think that uh Perot, unless he, you know, unless he has a really bad year, which we're not anticipating, I think he'll get a long-term deal done.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: Schneider, I'm less sure about that.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, there was a there was a thought that Schneider might have been uh available for trade at the deadline last year.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: There is a thought that he might have been available for trade over the summer.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_01: As it turns out, they uh Drew re-signed him, but only to a one-year deal.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I guess he's available for trade again uh at the deadline this year.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_01: Uh there's no trade protection in the deal.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_01: So uh he's not approved one year.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so we're not we're not quite sure um what the status is gonna be of Braden Schneider.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_01: The thing about Schneider is he's been very good.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um he's he's been on team for a number of years now.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_01: He's been he's been very good in the in the in the role of the third pair right defenseman.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um and you know, they've always talked him up like, well, you know, he's been stuck behind Fox and Truban, and then you know, Fox and Will Borgan.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, they tried last year to play him in the top four uh on the left side of Will Borgan uh is a right-hand shot.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_01: Uh that didn't go very far.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but then Fox kept getting injured, and and Schneider, you know, was the guy that stepped up into Fox's spot next to Vladislav Gavarkov.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_01: And lo and behold, he he didn't play great, you know.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I think the you know the the uh in terms of you know, he is a a young right shot defenseman, uh 24 years old, uh former first round pick, um, and would have you know uh appeal to many other teams in the league, but on this team, you know, is he just a third pair right D?
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um is is there a potential for him to be more than that?
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_01: Right now he's got Fox uh in front of him on the top pair and and Sean Dersey, who was one of the the guys that was acquired over the summer in front of him on the second pair.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_01: So um we don't know you know whether there's room for him to move up.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_01: And if he's gonna be a third pair right defenseman making, you know, he's signing him to a long-term deal and paying him a lot of money.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_01: I don't I don't know how much sense that makes.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, his future, I think, is up in the air.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: There are other people, um, you know, in terms of RFAs, by the way, that that are important players uh to them, you know, Will Cooley being one, yeah, um, Noah Laba, uh, you know, so so there are there are other players.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_01: But Burrow, I'm I'm sure, is is is uh is figures in the plans.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_01: Schneider, I'm not sure.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and you know, it remains to be seen a lot of a lot of the other guys.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I think, you know, a lot of it has to do with quite frankly, how well the team plays this year and how close they are to playoffs.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: Do they get into the playoffs?
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, um, I I think there are still questions to be answered.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I only wanted to talk about the first round picks, Colin.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: I don't care about those second and and fourth round picks in Laba and uh Cooley, all right?
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_01: But I'll do Cooley's a two-time 20 goal scorer in this game.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_01: What are you talking about?
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: So let's mention some of these younger players.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, out of all of them that you guys do have, which one do you think could have a breakout season this year?
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I mean, I I think that well, there's there's two.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the first, the first being um Gabe Perot, who uh, you know, based on what we saw at the end of last season, you know, he's not going to be the next Artene Panarin, but he can give you a lot of what Panarin gave you in terms of the vision that he has and the and the passes that he sees that and can make that you know maybe other guys can't make.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, we're waiting to see, you know, if if he can develop into that, right?
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, and that's I think one of the reasons why he did not sign the long-term uh deal that so many of his uh you know contemporaries did.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so he's the first one.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_01: The other one to keep an eye on is you know, Albert Smitz, you know, uh the 18-year-old uh defenseman.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_01: Uh he was a first-round pick, uh, number five overall.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um they made it pretty clear from day one of training camp that they were giving him every opportunity to make the team, and he made the team, you know, surprise, surprise.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um and in their first game uh of the season against uh Boston, you know, he he played fine.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, played uh what was it?
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_01: Uh played like uh I don't know, 16, 17 minutes.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um and looked, didn't look out of place at all.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, he's 18 years old, but you know, he's he's kind of he's 6'3 and he's 208, and he's he's been a world traveler.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_01: You know, he left he's from Latvia, uh highest drafted player ever from Latvia, by the way.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um left Latvia at age 13 to go to Finland because he thought it would be better for his hockey career.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um played in the Finnish men's league at 17, um, you know, and and so he played in two men's leagues last year in the Finnish league, and then he got loaned to a German team for the playoffs because his Finnish league team uh wasn't making the playoffs.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_01: And of course he played in the Olympics as well and played in the world championship.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, he he's 18, but he's he's been around the world and he's he's he's done a lot playing hockey.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_01: So um he was not um you know he's not awed by coming in here and saying, wow, this is the NHL and then the Madison Square Garden and all.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_01: He came in and was like, yeah, I'm gonna make the team, so what?
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I think so.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_01: I keep keep an eye on him to see, you know, just how he progresses over the over the year and and whether whether his age sorts you know starts to show at some point, um, or if he just is just one of the guys.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think his uncle Rick Smith was a good basketball player, too.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: Uh just joking.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: Uh uh you did mention him.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: Igor Shishurkin uh last year was still top 10 in the league and saves made above expected.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: He's only in year two now of his eight-year deal that was signed when they were President's trophy winners.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: How has he handled the last two seasons that the Rangers haven't been very good?
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: And do you think he's gonna stay there long term if there is, like, say a full rebuild over three, four more years?
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I don't I don't know about that.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, he's he is 30.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: His birthday is in December, so uh he's gonna be 31 in December.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_01: Uh this is his prime, right?
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I don't I don't think he wants to waste too much of his prime on a team that doesn't have a chance to to do big things.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_01: So uh I'll but you know I'll keep all right now calm down, settle down over there.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um he's uh no, I you know he's happy.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_01: Of course, New York is New York, right?
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_01: Like so a lot of these, especially the European guys who come over here, um, they really love New York, whether they're living in Manhattan, um you know, in the in the big city, or whether they're living in one of the suburbs, they do love New York and want to be here.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_01: Of course, he's not from some small town in Russia either.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_01: He's from Moscow.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, I mean, you come from a big town in Russia.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you know, you want to be in a big town here.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_01: So I think he's okay with that.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think he'll certainly want to see where the team's going and what the prospects are, and he'll certainly want the team to be good.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and at a certain point, if he realizes that, you know, it's not gonna happen here, then yeah, I think he'd be open to leaving.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_01: But as of right now, I think, you know, we're this early in the season, I think everybody's still feeling pretty good about you know what Chris Jr., the general manager, was able to do over the summer in terms of retooling the roster.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I think everybody's uh, you know, Adam Fox is in that same boat, by the way.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, another guy is 28.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, he is, you know, his his thing is is different because he's from here, he's from Long Island.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_01: So this is a team he grew up rooting for.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: But he he's made it clear, like, you know, you know, with this root to retool stuff, you know, when they you know, he was injured and and and they they went on tailspin and then he came back and they had traded Arteni Panarin, you know, he he didn't look like a happy guy at the time, and you know, and uh and so I I think he's another one who's not gonna waste too much of his prime on a really bad team.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_01: So like I think, you know, and those two guys in particular, um, you know, I wouldn't say absolutely they're never gonna leave, uh, but I think they want to stay.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_01: You know, the team just has to give them a reason to stay.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: All right, time for some trending now.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: The day before the season started, just uh yesterday, or whatever, 48 hours ago, I guess now, the Maple Leafs trade for Karill Marchenko.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, Marchenko obviously not wanting to stay in Columbus.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: The Blue Jacks trade him with one year left on his deal at 3.25 to Toronto, and Toronto extends him for seven years at 12.5.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: Toronto also gets Elvis Merz Leakins and Miles Wood in the trade.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: And from Toronto to Columbus goes power forward, young Matthew Nye, Steven Lorenz, Emile Andre, and a second round pick.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: Colin, who won this trade here?
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_01: You know, is it possible they both won?
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_01: Uh you know, I I I think I like I like the trade for both teams, right?
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you know, if you have a guy on your roster who is unhappy and doesn't want to be there anymore, and you can turn him into you know a young power forward uh who's gonna be good for you, I I think that's that's a good deal.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_01: Now, you know, the you know, giving up uh you know merge leakens uh in it, I you know, I'm not quite sure why why they needed to do that, but but okay, so if you're Toronto, you get probably the the best player in the deal uh in Marchenko, um who you then lock up immediately, right?
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um and you also get a goalie.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_01: So I I think Toronto certainly fared well in the deal, but I think Columbus fared well in it as well.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_01: So I mean I you know I don't, you know, you don't want you know, I guess ties are ties are like kissing your sister, they say, or something like that.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: So I don't want to say it's a it's the tie.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_01: I'd say the Toronto maybe maybe gets the better end of the deal because they get the best player and they get the goalie, but but I like I like what Columbus got out of it as well.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, especially when he didn't want to stay.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: Uh in Minnesota, uh defender Brock Faber took a slap shot to the side of the head in the last preseason game.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: The uh Wild Haven, he sustained a skull fracture.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: And according to Brian Stutterer, MD, watched his video on YouTube.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, depending on what specific injury is, he will miss anywhere from a month and a half, depending on specifically the injury, up to maybe four months or more.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_00: Hopefully, Brock, you will be fine and heal up well.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: But for the wild, Colin, what does this do for their season if Faber misses like almost half of it?
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean it's it's it's not optimal, but you know, it's as long as they don't have any other injuries, I think they, you know, they've got a a lot of talent, you know, on that roster, right?
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's it's not like they're they're bereft of talent.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um you know, they got a Quinn Hughes, Quinn Hughes is on that team, right?
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_01: So uh they're you know you never know.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, okay.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you never know.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but but uh no, I I I don't I mean, look, if if he's gonna be back this season, I don't I don't think it's uh you know, he's not gonna miss the whole season, right?
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, according to those projections, I mean he's gonna be back at some point.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_01: So he should be back for the playoffs.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_01: So all they really have to do is make playoffs, and then they'll be fine, then they'll be whole.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, you know, he'll be he'll end up being like uh like a player that you would trade for at the deadline.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_00: So uh they'll be fine if they make the playoffs because they probably they probably have to play Dallas or Colorado in the first round, but yeah.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I mean, it's always tough, you know, like the this the the playoff system is is what it is.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody's complained about it.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_01: But uh, you know, well, you know, the good thing is you always do have a must-see first round series in the West, right?
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, like there's always gonna be one of them.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: It's always gonna be it's always gonna be Dallas and Colorado or or you know, Minnesota, somebody, you know.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's always so you know it it it makes you, you know, you can't kind of ease your way into the playoffs.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you gotta be ready to go on day one.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: What do you think about this whole rules?
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: I know growing up as a Mapley fan, it was annoying me during the core Matthews, Marner, Neilander era, always having to face the tough Bruins and then the tough Lightning and then the tough Panthers uh every first round.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: And even like Ovechkin, everybody was like, Ohvechkin sucks, he can't win anything.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he had to play Crosby and Malkin in the first round every year, and now this is what's happening into the central now.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, I mean it's you know, it it's it's that way, you know, in in both conferences, right?
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I remember Carolina for the cup because you know they had the best coach and they had the best system, and you know, they you know they would plug and play guys and they made really smart pickups.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_01: They had a great general manager who would like you know take chances on guys and get guys um who were undervalued or or whatever.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and they would always have a great regular season, and then they just for whatever reason, they they had a problem beating the Rangers, right?
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, first it was Henrik Lundquist that would just like kill them.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: You know, they couldn't get the puck past him.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_01: And then even when Lundquist retired, then then they couldn't get it past Shisterkin.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: And for whatever reason, they just did not match up well against the Rangers.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_01: And it seemed like every year Carolina would play the the Islanders in the first round, beat the Islanders, and then run into the Rangers in the second round and then get upset by the Rangers.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, so it it works uh, you know, it works in the in the East and it works in the in the Metro division as well.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I just I think it's a it's a wacky system to have you know the the two and three team and teams in the in that division play each other every year.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_01: It just seems a little ridiculous.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_01: I I would I would like and I think we would all prefer a one through eight seeding system.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_01: So the one team plays the team plays the five team, and then you have then maybe one pick-em series, and then you know, the other the other three, you know, the the first, second, and third seeds, uh, you know, have a series that they can feel like they should be in control of.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but that's not the way it works, and the NHL likes it, and you know, no matter how much you complain about it or I complain about it, I don't think they're gonna change it anytime soon.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_00: Batman loves his first round rivalries.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_00: He does.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, that's it for this episode.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_00: Colin, thanks for joining me.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_01: Listen, I I I've had a lot of fun.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_01: You know, thanks for thanks for reaching out.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, ever need uh ever need me again, just reach out.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I'm here for you.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_00: And fans, remember to subscribe to the show in your listening app.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_00: And if you have any questions, follow us on X at Jablam Sports.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: See you next time.