A Tale of Two Drafts for Joe Schoen

Round one of the 2022 NFL Draft couldn't have gone any better for Joe Schoen if he had choreographed it himself. Thanks to the four teams picking ahead of him, he had the good fortune of snatching two of the best players in the draft at numbers 5 and 7: OLB Kayvon Thibodeaux and OT Evan Neal. Thibodeaux was considered the second best defensive prospect behind Aiden Hutchinson and Neal was the top-ranked tackle in the draft.

It's rare indeed when the Twitterverse is in agreement - sorta like a solar eclipse and the planets lining up in a row all on the same day - but suffice to say that by the end of the evening, if Schoen had decided to run for mayor of New York, he would've won in a landslide.

Unfortunately for Schoen there were six more rounds left in the draft: two on Friday and four on Saturday. Let's just say for the sake of argument that by the Friday night, most of the good will Schoen had amassed on day one dissipated, like air escaping from a balloon. It's not that WR Wan'Dale Robinson, G Joshua Ezeudu and CB Cor'Dale Flott aren't good players or won't contribute in some way to the Giants; it's that they could easily have been selected in the fourth and fifth rounds. The general consensus was that Schoen reached on all three.

He didn't stop there, though. TE Daniel Bellinger, S Dane Belton, LB Micah McFadden, DL DJ Davidson, G Marcus McKethan and LB Darrian Beavers were all taken in rounds four thru seven on Saturday. If Friday's picks were any indication, it's clear what Schoen's mission is: to replenish this organization's pipeline of talent that his predecessor Dave Gettleman neglected. Seven of the eleven players Schoen selected in the draft were either offensive linemen or defensive front seven. That, I can assure you, is no accident. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what's wrong with this team. Apart from figuring out whether or not Daniel Jones is a franchise quarterback - the smart money's on the latter - the line of scrimmage has been an unmitigated disaster for years. Fixing that has to be priority number one.

So Schoen, after hitting it out of the park in round one, opted to go for depth the rest of the draft. In fact, he even traded down twice in the second round so he could get even more picks. And based on where this team is right now, I can't say I blame him. When you take over an organization as ineptly run as this one was for years, your first order of business has to be to find as many able bodies as possible who can play. For head coach Brian Daboll to succeed, he has to have the horses.

None of us can predict with any degree of certainty whether the players chosen by Schoen in the second and third days of the draft will make any difference, this season or next. It took years for this franchise to become the train wreck it is. It will take several more years before the salvage project is complete. Think about it: in 2018, the Buffalo Bills were 6-10. Look where they are now. Miracles do occasionally happen.

I know patience is a four letter word for Giants fans, but for now, at least, Joe Schoen deserves the benefit of the doubt.

Mission Number One for Gallant: Get Rangers Ready for the Playoffs

With first place in the Metropolitan Division no longer a possibility, thanks to the Carolina Hurricanes - the best team in the East - taking care of business last night at the Garden, there's only one thing left for the New York Rangers to do over the remaining two games of the regular season: get ready for the playoffs beginning next week.

Because the real season doesn't start until game 83. Games 81 and 82 are superfluous.

I'll cut Gerard Gallant some slack for deciding to dress Andrew Copp and Filip Chytil, even though the prudent thing to do would've been to give both players another night off. So long as first place was within reach, as head coach he had a responsibility to go for it. I get that.

But now that that ship has sailed, his duty is clear. With Artemi Panarin (upper body), Copp (aggravated lower body) and Kaapo Kakko (also lower body) not quite at 100 percent, it is vital that Gallant get them that way in time for the playoffs. Because if this team, which has been one of the most resilient of the 2021-22 season, is not fully healthy by the start of the first round, there will be no second round.

And given the current state of the Eastern Conference, that would be a crying shame. Because while the Blueshirts were taking it on the chin from the Canes last night, the Penguins were humbled by the Edmonton Oilers 5-1 in Pittsburgh and the Capitals were humiliated by the Islanders 4-1 in Washington. At this point, it doesn't much matter which one of these teams winds up in third place in the Metro or which one gets the wild card. Neither has what it takes to survive a grueling best of seven series.

Unless of course that grueling best of seven series happens to be against a Rangers team that isn't at full strength. That's why if Gallant has to dress Johnny Brodzinski, Greg McKegg, Julien Gauthier and Libor Hajek tonight against Montreal, then so be it. Seriously, if you can't beat a Canadiens team that gave up on the season weeks ago, shame on you.

For this team to go anywhere in the postseason, it must have all four of its forward lines and all three of its defense pairings in tact. As much as I admire Dryden Hunt's tenacity, he's a fourth liner at best. He has no business playing in the top six. Chris Drury acquired Copp so he could play on the second line with Panarin and Ryan Strome. Making sure that happens is mission number one.

Think about it: the Rangers are 14-8 against Eastern Conference playoff teams; that includes a 3-1 mark against the Pens, one of their likely opponents next week. That's a pretty impressive record, don't you think? As outstanding as Gallant has been behind the bench - and I'll say it again: he deserves serious consideration for the Jack Adams award - it would be the blunder of his professional coaching career if he were to jeopardize the best season this organization has had since 2015 all for a couple of meaningless points in the standings.

I don't think Gallant is that stupid; I think he knows what's at stake. He's pushed all the right buttons so far this season. Just a few more left to push.

Lamoriello's Obstinance is Costing the Islanders

Before I get to the main topic, I'd like to say a few words about the late, great Mike Bossy who passed away this month at the age of 65.

While number 22 was not the fastest skater in the NHL, the puck always seemed to find his stick. And though he did not have the hardest shot in the league, it was, by far, the most accurate; around the net no one was more lethal. 

Unlike a lot of scorers of his day, Bossy never hung out in center ice looking for a breakaway. He took care of his own end first. And only when his team got possession of the puck did he head up ice. Much of that is attributable to his coach, Al Arbour, who instilled a team-first attitude in all his players. But the rest is owed to Bossy who bought in.

He never wilted under the spotlight; the bigger the game, the better he played. After a disappointing performance in the infamous 1979 semifinals against the Rangers, Bossy would go on to lead the league in postseason goals from 1981 thru 1983, including an overtime goal with two seconds left against the Vancouver Canucks in game one of the '82 finals. He was the epitome of a winner.

Until Alex Ovechkin surpassed him this year with his tenth 50 goal season, he held the mark, along with Wayne Gretzky, for most 50 goal seasons at nine. And had it had it not been for a series of back injuries which forced into retirement at the ripe young age of 30, there's no telling how many 50 goal seasons he might've had. Eleven? Twelve? The sky was the limit. 

As a Rangers fan, it pains me to have to admit this, but he was in a class all by himself. And I weep at what might've been had then Rangers GM John Ferguson selected him in the 1977 entry draft instead of Lucien DeBlois. Sadly, we'll never know.

Now onto the main course. 

Forgive me for being insensitive and perhaps a bit too blunt, but I've had it with all the apologists who insist that had it not been for the rough start the Islanders had this season - 13 consecutive road games to open the season, Covid outbreaks, injuries - they would've been a playoff team. Based on just a rough analysis of the available data, that assumption simply isn't true.

The fact is this team, which was largely intact before the arrival of Lou Lamoriello and Barry Trotz, isn't nearly as good as many - including yours truly who, truth be told, picked them to win the Stanley Cup this year - thought they were.

Our blind spot? We confused spit with polish. Yes, the Isles have been the hardest working team in the NHL the last three years under Trotz. They had to be. After their top scorer John Tavares bolted to the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2018, they were forced to play a defensive system. And it worked brilliantly. In Trotz' first season as head coach, the Isles allowed a paltry 196 goals, the fewest in the league. However, they also were 21st in goals scored; a problem that has plagued the team ever since.

Lost in all the hoopla over their consecutive trips to the conference finals the past two seasons is the fact that had it not been for the suspension of all sports in the spring of 2020 due to the pandemic, the Isles would never have gotten into the playoffs. At the time the regular season was suspended, they were in 6th place in the Metropolitan Division. Only a qualifying round, in which they beat the Floridas Panthers to advance, prevented them from missing the postseason altogether.

This season, apart from Brock Nelson, who's having a career year with 36 goals, and Anders Lee, who's second on the team with 26, there isn't one player on this team who puts the fear of God into opponents. For all their blood, sweat and tears, there is a staggering dearth of elite-level talent on the roster. Mathew Barzal continues to be an enigma. After a promising rookie campaign in which he posted 22 goals and 85 points, he has struggled to become the offensive leader this team so desperately needs.

Part of the problem lies in the system Trotz employs; a system that while effective at limiting the number of scoring chances by the opposition, has had the unintended consequence of stifling many of their own. Then there's the toll that playing such a physical style of hockey exacts on the human body. Yes, it helped them beat the Boston Bruins in last year's conference semis, but it eventually caught up with them against the Tampa Bay Lightning. By game seven, they looked gassed.

But the real problem is Lamoriello himself, who since his hire four years ago has failed to address the lack of scoring. Why is that? Put succinctly, Lamoriello has long eschewed stars. Maybe it's because he doesn't like dealing with egos. This goes back to his days when he ran the New Jersey Devils. To be fair, the Devils did win three Cups and reached the finals five times. But they also had the best goaltender in the business in Martin Brodeur and one of the best defenseman to ever play the game in Scott Stevens. As good as Ilya Sorokin and Noah Dobson have been this season, they can't hold a candle to those two.

Since the beginning of March, the Islanders are 6-11 against playoff teams, and they continue to have one of the most anemic offenses in the league. But rather than cut his losses at the trade deadline by moving unproductive players like Josh Bailey and Anthony Baeuvillier (12 goals a piece) for badly needed draft capital, Lamoriello doubled down and extended perennial grinder Cal Clutterbuck another two years.

Much has been made of the Rangers offseason acquisitions of Barclay Goodrow, Sammy Blais and Ryan Reaves. But while they may have stiffened up their spine a bit, this is still a team that relies on stars like Chris Kreider, Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad and Adam Fox to carry them. The sad truth is there isn't a single Islander capable of doing that for this team. Not one. There is such a thing as having too much grit.

Ironic, isn't it, that the Islanders are wearing numbers 22 and 9 on their jerseys in memory of Bossy and Clarke Gillies, who also passed away this year. Those two hall of famers were members of one of the greatest dynasties in NHL history. They won four consecutive Cups from 1980-83; the last time a team won more than two in a row. Yes, they outworked their opponents; but they also dominated them, as well. I oughta know, one of those opponents was the Rangers, who had the misfortune of losing to them in '81, '82, '83 and '84.

At the end of the day, talent counts, even in a league as backwards as the NHL. It's time Lou Lamoriello woke up and smelled the caffeine.

Carolina Hurricanes Are the Team To Beat in the East

The good news? The New York Rangers are still one of the best teams in the NHL, capable of beating almost any team in the Eastern Conference.

The bad news? One of those teams isn't the Carolina Hurricanes.

For a period and a half, the Rangers out skated, out hustled, out checked and outscored Carolina in what was billed as a potential second-round playoff matchup. They played their best and most spirited hockey against the Hurricanes in more than two years, outshooting them 14-7 in the first period, and taking an early 1-0 lead 1:02 into the second; and they damn near made it 2-0 when Frank Vatrano hit the cross bar a few minutes later. But the relentlessness of the Canes eventually wore down the Blueshirts and the visitors came away with an impressive 4-2 win in front of 18,006 disappointed fans at the Garden.

Forget about the Florida Panthers - a team that I believe is deeply flawed and will be exposed in the playoffs - the Hurricanes are the team to beat in the East. They have the best blend of skill, grit, defense and, yes, goaltending to win the Stanley Cup. The only teams that could possibly stand in their way are the Colorado Avalanche and the Calgary Flames, both of which are in the Western Conference.

Consider the following: The Hurricanes don't have a single forward who will win either the Art Ross or Hart trophies, yet head coach Rod Brind'Armour has the depth to roll four lines. They don't have a single defenseman in the discussion for the Norris trophy, yet no team in the league involves its D more on the rush. They don't have a single scorer in the top 20, yet they're 9th overall in league scoring. They can skate, they can hit, they can defend, and they can put the puck in the net. They are a better, younger version of last year's Islanders, and if they can somehow find a way to extend Vincent Trocheck and Nino Niederreiter in the off season, they will be a nightmare for every team with championship aspirations for the foreseeable future.

The Tampa Bay Lightning? They are the champs until somebody beats them. But it's worth noting that since the Islander dynasty of the 1980s, there have been five teams that have won back to back Cups: the Edmonton Oiler twice, the Pittsburgh Penguins twice and the Detroit Red Wings once. In each instance, they were denied a three-peat. The odds are not in favor of the Lightning bucking history, especially with the way they've been struggling of late. Put succinctly, it's tough repeating in this league.

As I wrote in my last piece, I think Chris Drury has done a magnificent job since he assumed the duties of President and GM of this organization. The moves he made this season have transformed the Rangers into a legitimate contender. And head coach Gerard Gallant deserves serious consideration for the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year. It would be a mistake for anyone to take this team lightly. If their first round opponent winds up being either the Pittsburgh Penguins or the Washington Capitals, I fully expect the Rangers to prevail. But if they should meet up with the Hurricanes in the second round, as good as this season has been, it will come to an abrupt end. I can't see the Blueshirts winning more than one or two games against Carolina in best of seven series; that's how good they are.

That's not an indictment of the Rangers; it's just a fact. The gap between the two teams is simply too vast to bridge. For 30 minutes they gave the Garden faithful something to dream about: a trip to the finals, perhaps even a Cup. Then reality set it and the better team took over. The air went out of the balloon; the dream was deferred, for now at least.

I find myself the bearer of bad news today: the New York Rangers are not as good as the Carolina Hurricanes. There, I said it, and the sky didn't fall, did it? 

Rangers Have the Look of a Stanley Cup Champion

Tonight when the New York Rangers take the ice at Madison Square Garden against the Ottawa Senators, they will have the opportunity to clinch a playoff spot for the first time since 2017. After five long years in the wilderness, the most loyal fanbase in the NHL will finally be rewarded for its patience. And thanks to a last-minute loss last night by the Carolina Hurricanes at home to the Islanders, the Rangers will also be playing for first place in the Metropolitan Division for the first time since January 26.

There's simply no denying it: the acquisitions Chris Drury made at and before the trade deadline have turned this group of resilient, but overachieving, players that relied way too much on the acrobatics of their Vezina trophy-caliber goalie Igor Shesterkin to save their bacon into one of the league's elite teams.

Consider the following: they are 27-17-4 against teams with winning records; 18-14-1 against teams currently in the playoffs; and, more importantly, 14-5 against Eastern conference playoff teams, including an astounding 3-0 and 3-1 record against the defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning and Pittsburgh Penguins respectively, the latter their nemesis and likely playoff opponent. They lead the league with 25 come from behind wins.

It's time to admit that the "experts" who insisted this team wasn't for real and kept waiting for it to implode were wrong. Far from being a pretender, the Rangers are a bonafide contender. With Andrew Copp and Frank Vatrano filling out the top six, and Kaapo Kakko and Kevin Rooney returning from injury tonight, head coach Gerard Gallant will have arguably one of the deepest lineups of any coach heading into the postseason.

Can they win the Cup? Why the hell not? If the last couple of weeks are any indication, they are as good as any team in the East. And while Shesterkin hasn't had to play Houdini of late, I'd put him up against any goaltender out there with the possible exception of Andrei Vasilevskiy. Be honest, can you envision a team taking four out of seven games against the Rangers with Shesterkin between the pipes? Neither can I.

Look, I know what I'm saying sounds crazy. I mean, a year ago this team was finishing up yet another disappointing campaign. They were on year four of a rebuild that seemed like it would go on forever. Frustrated, owner James Dolan fired team president John Davidson and GM Jeff Gorton and gave the reigns to assistant GM Chris Drury. The prognosis did not look promising.

But Drury has done a magnificent job from day one. The hiring of Gallant was pure genius. He deserves serious consideration for the Jack Adams Award, that's how crucial Gallant has been behind the bench. The acquisitions of Sammy Blais, Ryan Reaves, Barclay Goodrow, Dryden Hunt and Patrik Nemeth and the calling up of Braden Schneider addressed the need for physicality that, fair or not, was ignored by the previous administration.

No longer are they the perennial doormats of the NHL, as evidenced by the way they responded after Tyler Motte was decked by Anthony Angelo in the Penguins game. You don't run this team anymore, not if you value your health. They stick up for each other like no Rangers team I've seen since, dare I say it, that '94 team.

Look, I'm not into making predictions, especially since they rarely pan out when I do. I will say this, though: I wouldn't dismiss this team's chances come May and June. I know, I know, it's pure fantasy for a team coming out of a rebuild to win the Stanley Cup in year one. It's never happened, right?

But with all we've gone through, a little fantasy might just be what the doctor ordered.