Leon Rose Isn't Done

"You are what your record says you are." - Bill Parcells 

Through 31 games, the New York Knicks were 17-14. By no means were they a bad team; but in a top-heavy league like the NBA, they were hardly contenders. After an exhilarating win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Christmas Day, they had dropped their last two and had fallen out of the top six in the Eastern Conference.

Give Leon Rose credit. He knew it wasn't going to get any better, and with Mitchell Robinson lost for the season, it had every chance of getting worse; a lot worse. Since the starting center went down, the Knicks have gone from the 4th best defense in the league to 15th. C plus may cut it in high school algebra, but for an organization that hasn't been to the finals since 1999 - and is now staring at 51 years without a title - it might as well have been an F.

So he did what he any competent man in his position would've done: he pulled the plug. In what some are calling a blockbuster trade, he shipped RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley and a second-round draft pick to the Toronto Raptors for OG Anuoby, Precious Achiuwa and Malachi Flynn.

The key piece in this transaction is Anuoby. The 6-7 small forward is the prototypical Tom Thibodeau player. Named to 2023 NBA All Defensive second team, he rebounds, blocks shots, gets the occasional steal, and is far-more consistent from both inside and outside the three point arc than Barrett, who in his five seasons in New York never quite realized his potential. He now gets a second chance in his native Toronto. 

Losing Quickley will deplete one of the few strengths of this team: its bench. But with IQ a pending free agent after the season, it was unlikely Rose was going to sign him anyway. Better to get what you can for a disappearing asset. The fact that the Knicks still have all their number one picks means they have plenty of draft capital with which to make other trades.

And you gotta believe Rose isn't done remaking this roster. With Jalen Brunson the only star, the Knicks desperately need an elite player to compete with the big boys. Julius Randle has the heart of a lion, but he's not that guy. And even when Robinson was healthy, he couldn't hold a candle to Joel Embiid, Kristaps Portzingis or Giannis Antetokounmpo. Face it: pick any contending team in the NBA the Knicks could go up against and they never had the best player on the court. 

Never.

The question isn't whether Rose will make another move, but with whom? The Utah Jazz could be a potential trade partner. They're clearly rebuilding. Last season, they dealt Donavan Mitchell to the Cleveland Cavaliers after rejecting a combination of players and draft picks from the Knicks. This time around, Rose could offer Danny Ainge four number one and three number two picks over the next two years that are fully conveyed for Lauri Markkanen. No matter how you slice it, that's a ton of draft picks. Even Ainge would have a hard time saying no to that.

Markkanen would give New York something they haven't had since Patrick Ewing: a center who can score and rebound. Just imagine this Knicks roster:

Starters:

C:  Markkanen

PF: Randle

SF: Anuoby

PG: Brunson

SG: Hart

Bench:

C:  Hartenstein

PF: Achiuwa

SF: Gibson

PG: Grimes

SG: DiVencenzo

If Rose can't pry Markkanen away from Utah, he can turn his sights south to Atlanta, where the Hawks might be willing to deal shooting guard Dejounte Murray for the right package. Can you imagine a back court of Brunson and Murray? It would harken back to the days of Walt Frazier and Earl Monroe. Rumor has it that the Los Angeles Lakers have the inside track on landing Murray, but you never know.

Bottom line, Knicks fans shouldn't get too attached to this lineup. I seriously doubt Rose acquired all these draft picks just to sit on them. And you can bet the ranch James Dolan is expecting something big. With the Rangers currently leading the NHL in points, he's not going to sit still while the other franchise that plays in his building is a second-tier team.

The next few weeks should be interesting.

Happy New Year.

NHL Power Rankings: Separating the Contenders From the Pretenders

Before I get to the power rankings, I wanted to take a minute to personally thank Gary Bettman for shutting down the NHL over the Christmas holiday. It isn't everyday that a commissioner of a major professional sports league decides to remove his sport from all public exposure at a time when millions of fans are home with their families. Way to go, Gary.

And to think this league had the nerve to only raise the salary cap $1 million because the players still owed $70 million in back escrow. To quote Forrest Gump, "Stupid is as stupid does."

Now onto the pièce de résistance.

Unlike traditional power rankings, which are typically league based, I've decided to break mine down by conference. Until the NHL goes to a 16 team playoff format, it doesn't make sense to do it any other way. I've also decided to break it down further by contender and pretender, and to omit the very worst teams in each conference. Why waste time on the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Chicago Blackhawks?

As always, don't take it too seriously. It's all done in fun.

Eastern Conference:

Contenders:

New York Rangers: They're off to their fastest start since the '94 Cup team. And they've managed to do it with only two scoring lines. Just imagine how much better they'll be once Filip Chytil and Kaapo Kakko return. With Igor Shesterkin regaining his Vezina-trophy form and Jonathan Quick in reserve, they will be very tough to beat in the postseason.

Boston Bruins: The retirements of Patrice Bergeron and David Krejčí haven't stopped this team from once more ascending to the top of the standings in the Atlantic division. What they lack in offensive explosiveness, they more than make up for in grit. They have the defense and goaltending to go all the way.

Florida Panthers: Last year's Cup finalists are no fluke. With Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Reinhart, they are loaded up front; and with Sergei Bobrosky in net, they have a clear path back to the finals.

Toronto Maple Leafs: The fab four - Matthews, Marner, Nylander and Tavares - might be the most talented quartet in the NHL. They are fast and lethal. The only question mark - and it's a big one - is their goaltending.

New York Islanders: Their minus 4 goal differential is a concern, but their offense - long a sore spot - is starting to percolate. They're tough as nails to play against, and with their goaltending, they will give any opponent they meet in the first round fits.

Philadelphia Flyers: If you had the former Broadstreet Bullies as contenders prior to the season, you're a better man than me. I didn't even have them as a "close but no cigar." But John Tortorella has somehow managed to get this team to believe in itself. The return of Sean Couturier and Cam Atkinson hasn't hurt either.

Pretenders:

Washington Capitals: Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain. The Caps are a painful reminder that no matter how good your defense is, you can't win in this league when you have the second worst offense.

Tampa Bay Lightning: One game they look like the team that won back-to-back Cups; the next they look like the San Jose Sharks. They are finally paying the price for manipulating the salary cap. Karma truly is a bitch.

Carolina Hurricanes: They've never had great goaltending or elite-level forwards, but now their defense is leaking like a sieve. Hard to believe this is a Rod Brind'Amour-coached team.

New Jersey Devils: Serves me right for picking them to win the Metro. Tom Fitzgerald was trying to create an east-coast version of the Edmonton Oilers. He seems to have succeeded, though not the way he intended.

Detroit Red Wings: Since Patrick Kane's arrival in Motown, the Wings are 2-6-1. Maybe Steve Yzerman should've gotten himself a legit goalie instead of a future hall of fame winger.

Pittsburgh Penguins: The oldest team in the NHL underachieving for the second straight season. Gee, who coulda seen that coming?

Buffalo Sabres: Don't beat yourself up. I, too, was taken in by their potential. They can score; it's stopping the other team from scoring that's the problem.

Montreal Canadiens: They're still a year or two away, but credit Marty St. Louis for turning around a locker room that had gotten used to losing.

Western Conference:

Contenders:

Vegas Golden Knights: They can role four lines and their defense is big and battle tested. Vegas's strength is their depth throughout the lineup. They won the Cup last season and are the odds-on favorites to repeat.

Vancouver Canucks: In just over a year Rick Tocchet has transformed this perennial underachiever into a bonafide contender. They have the best goal differential in the NHL, the number one offense and the sixth best defense.

Los Angeles Kings: Very quietly, Cam Talbot is making his bid to win the Vezina trophy this season, which would be quite a feat given he was supposedly washed up last season. They're deep down the middle and have the best defense in the league.

Dallas Stars: This is a team that can compete with the best in the league. The only concern is in goal where Jake Oettinger hasn't quite gotten back to the level of excellence he showed last season.

Colorado Avalanche: Their core is as elite as it gets; it's the rest of the roster that gives you pause. Still, they are quite capable of making a deep run in the playoffs.

Winnipeg Jets: They traded arguably their second best center and got better. Connor Hellebuyck might be the most under-appreciated goaltender in the league, and Mark Scheifele is finally emerging as a leader on this team.

Pretenders:

Nashville Predators: Like the Washington Capitals, they're using smoke and mirrors to conceal their deficiencies. It'll catch up to them eventually.

Edmonton Oilers: Don't be seduced by the wins in New York and New Jersey. This is not a team that is built to go four rounds. Would loved to have seen what they could've done in the '80s when defense was optional.

Minnesota Wild: As long as they have that dead cap weight on their books, GM Bill Guerin will struggle to fill out a roster that will be good enough to compete in the regular season, much less in the postseason.

St. Louis Blues: The only reason they might sneak into the postseason is because the Western Conference is so weak in the middle. Don't let that fool you. They're in rebuild mode.

Calgary Flames: Boy was I wrong about this team. I figured the problem last year was Darryl Sutter. Turns out it was the roster all along. Makes you wonder how the hell Brad Trelving got the gig in Toronto.

Seattle Kraken: After coming within a win of advancing to the conference finals last season, they are in contention for biggest disappointment of the 2023-24 season. Which is saying a lot given how many teams could qualify for that distinction.

Arizona Coyotes: How 'bout this for the storyline of the year? The Yotes are sellers at the trade deadline yet still manage to make the playoffs. Don't laugh, it could happen.

Yamamota Goes with the Dodgers

I'll be honest. I was really looking forward to seeing Yoshinobu Yamamoto in a New York Mets uniform for the next ten years. Just based on the scouting reports, the 25 year old has a chance to become one of baseball's most dominant pitchers. And I'm pissed that Steve Cohen, with all his billions, couldn't close the deal. 

But the more we learn about what was going on behind the scenes, the more it becomes apparent that Yamamoto simply didn't want to play for an east-coast team. The Yankees offered him $300 million over ten years; Cohen went a step further and upped the anti to $325 million. That still wasn't enough.

The Los Angeles Dodgers, who only a few days earlier had signed Shohei Ohtani to an unprecedented ten year $700 million contract, matched Cohen's offer and inked Yamamoto. Think about it: $1 billion tied up in just two contracts. Somewhere, Charlie Finley is having a stroke.

To those who think Cohen should've just shot the moon, as it were, and gone up to $400 million, there are two inherent problems with that: 1. Regardless of what Cohen offered, the Dodgers would've matched it; 2. Once Ohtani signed with the Dodgers, they pretty much had the inside track on Yamamoto. All Cohen would've succeeded in doing was driving up the asking price for a free agent he was never going to sign. If you think Cohen is despised by the owners now, that stunt would've been the icing on the cake. Take it from a former salesman, trying to out dick the other guy is never a successful strategy.

But let's play devil's advocate for a moment. Let's say Cohen inked him at $400 million. That would've been great, right? A starting rotation consisting of Yamamoto and Kodai Senga would be formidable. With the return of Edwin Diaz, and the addition of a couple middle relievers, the Mets would be a much better team going into 2024 than they were at the close of 2023.

But then there's the matter of what to do with Pete Alonso. The all-star first baseman is set to become a free agent after next year. The price tag for him will not be cheap. His agent is Scott Boras. If you think Boras is going to let one of the game's most prolific home run hitters sign for anything less than what he thinks he's entitled to, this must be your first day on the planet. Trust me, there will be no home-town discount for Cohen. If Yamamoto was worth (fill in the blank), then Pete will be worth at least that much.

You can bet the ranch that if Cohen had signed Yamamota, Boras would've started the bidding for Alonso at that precise number. In other words, by trying to screw the Dodgers, Cohen would've ostensibly screwed himself. I think Cohen realized this, which is why he didn't shoot the moon. And the money he saved by not landing Yamamoto he can now use to address other areas of this roster that need fortifying.

It's important to remember that even without Ohtani and Yamamoto, the Dodgers still had one of the highest payrolls in major league baseball the last two seasons. Yet despite impressive campaigns which saw them win 100 and 111 games respectively, they were upset in the first round by teams that finished considerably behind them in the standings.

The Arizona Diamondbacks, with a record of 84-78, won the National League pennant last season. If I'm Cohen, I'm probably thinking why should I spend all that money on just one player, when I can spend half that amount and get several players? Even in a sport that long ago forgot the meaning of the word frugal, two plus two still equals four. The fact is had Diaz not gotten injured last season, the Mets most assuredly would've finished better than 75-87.

Translation: they're not that far away from a possible wild card berth. Cohen and his new president David Stearns know this. That's why they didn't panic; and Mets fans shouldn't either. Let the Dodgers play the role of pariah. When they crash and burn again in October, something tells me a lot of people in Queens will be grinning from ear to ear.

About That Slump

Turns out those storm clouds on the horizon were nothing but a sun shower. After dropping three out of four games in rather ugly fashion, the New York Rangers have rebounded, winning three in a row, two against playoff-caliber teams. 

But even more impressive, their Vezina trophy-winning goalie seems to have regained his form. Against the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs, Igor Shesterkin stopped 52 of 55 shots. Three goals against in two games. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, doubters.

The puck management that had had alluded the Rangers over the last few games returned as if it had never been gone. The 2-1 OT win over the Bruins might be the best game this team has played in years; and after getting shellacked by the Maple Leafs 7-3 at the Garden last week, Tuesday's 5-2 win in Toronto was sweet revenge.

In retrospect, that 7-4 win over the Bruins last month might've been the worst thing that could've happened to this team; it gave them a false sense of accomplishment. By all accounts, it was one of the sloppiest games of the season, with both sides committing multiple turnovers. I have long held that a team that wins these types of games is like a kid who gets away with eating a chocolate chip cookie before dinner. He never pays the price, hence he never learns anything.

Well, let's just say that, unlike that kid with the cookie, the Rangers did learn something. They learned that pretending to be the 1985 Edmonton Oilers can lead to one helluva tummy ache. It's not that they don't have elite-level talent; they do. It's just that relying on that talent isn't enough; not in today's NHL. If it were, if talent alone was all a team needed, Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews would each have at least two Stanley Cup rings by now. Think about it: the Vegas Golden Knights didn't have a single scorer in the top 70 last season; yet they still won the Cup. At the end of the day, hockey is a team sport. Fantasy teams may be fun and lucrative, but they seldom win championships.

So now that the Rangers have had their rude awakening, all appears to be well. Peter Laviolette no doubt had some choice words for his players after the Toronto loss, and since then the results have been self evident. No more track meets, no more run and gun, no more half-assed passes that lead to turnovers. Just structure, structure, structure, the way he and his staff drew it up on the black board during the preseason.

For their part, the Blueshirts have been attentive students. Over their first 30 games, they are 22-7-1 for 45 points. How good is that? Consider that the 1993-94 team that won the Cup went 21-6-3 for 45 points in their first 30 games. I realize some might think it sacrilegious to compare this team to such an illustrious group of athletes. Don't count me as one of them. The more I see this team play, the more convinced I become that we could be looking at something special come June.

Fundamentally, this is as sound a hockey team as you are likely to find. They are well coached and they are disciplined. They do whatever it takes to win. They go into the trenches, they take the body, they finish their checks, they block shots, they win face-offs, they convert on the power play. And on those rare occasions when they fail to do any of those things, their goaltending is good enough to bail them out. Games they lost last season they are finding a way to win this season. It isn't always pretty, but since when has hockey always been pretty?

They are in first place in the Eastern conference, only two points behind the league-leading Golden Knights. Can you say Presidents' Trophy? I knew you could.

They are no fluke; they have earned everything they have gotten so far.

Will the Real New York Rangers Please Stand Up

It is an axiom that no team, regardless of how good they are, ever goes through an entire regular season without experiencing a slump. After their best start in 30 years - a start that saw them jump out to the top of the NHL standings - it was only a matter of time before the New York Rangers experienced one.

To be clear, the issue is not that the Blueshirts have lost three of their last four games - and four of their last eight - the issue is how they've lost those games. Every single one has been by a margin of four goals: 5-1 to the Buffalo Sabres; 6-2 to the Ottawa Senators; 4-0 to the Washington Capitals; and 7-3 to the Toronto Maple Leafs. The common denominator in all four was how poorly they played in every facet of the game. The Washington loss was a virtual no show, and in the Toronto loss, both Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner were untouched as they skated into the Rangers zone. Not even Patrick Roy could've stopped those goals. Not since last year's playoff loss against the New Jersey Devils have the Rangers been this uninspiring.

The drop-off in play is disconcerting, to say the least. After they beat the Boston Bruins at the Garden on November 25, the Rangers were first in the league in goals against, second in save percentage and third in goal differential. Over their last eight games, they have dropped to 11th in goals against, 11th in save percentage and 9th in goal differential. 

Ironically, while the Rangers have been in the midst of this slump, they've also played two of their better games of the season: a 3-2 win over the up and coming Detroit Red Wings and a 4-1 thumping of the L.A. Kings; the latter considered by many to be a legitimate Stanley Cup contender.

So how is this possible? How can a team play so well one game, then fall apart the next? Until the Leafs game, a pattern was emerging. Against teams with winning records, the Rangers were 11-2-0, with a goals against average of 2.38 and a save percentage of .922. Against teams with non-winning records, the Rangers were 8-4-1, with a goals against average of 3.08 and a save percentage of .896. The obvious conclusion was that the Rangers were playing down to the level of their opponent.

The loss against Toronto seems to have thrown that conclusion out the window. The Leafs may not be the Bruins or the Kings, but they are hardly the San Jose Sharks. In fact, as of this writing, they are only four points out of first place in the Atlantic division. If you can't get up for a team like that, especially after a convincing win against the Kings, then you have a problem.

Some have laid the blame at Igor Shesterkin's skates. While it's true that the former Vezina trophy winner has let in several questionable goals this season, the fact is that prior to his last start against the Leafs, his save percentage against winning teams was .917. By comparison, Jonathan Quick's save percentage against those same teams was .932. But here's the rub: if you subtract his shutout against the Pittsburgh Penguins, that save percentage drops down to .906. So, clearly, the problem isn't Igor.

Then just what is the problem? I think it boils down to attrition. Since the injury to Filip Chytil and the subsequent one to Kaapo Kakko, the Rangers have been primarily a two-line team. Nick Bonino, who was brought in for his checking abilities, is simply not a third-line center; not at this stage of his career. When Chytil went down with what is believed to have been the fourth or fifth concussion of his young career, he had six points - all assists - in 10 games. So far, Bonino has one goal and three assists for four points in 27 games. You don't need to be a statistician to know that four points in 27 games isn't going to cut it, not when other teams are getting production from their third lines. And while Kakko wasn't exactly lighting it up on the score sheet, his defense away from the puck made him an asset to his team.

The fact is not having these two forwards in the lineup has put a strain on the ability of the Rangers to generate a sustained forecheck. Peter Laviolette has been forced to rotate Blake Wheeler and Johnny Brodzinski on the first line with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider. Neither are top six forwards. Sooner or later, this was going to catch up with them. That it took this long is a credit to the resiliency of the players and the coaching bonafides of Laviolette's staff. Make no mistake about it: this team wins not because of its talent, but because of its adherence to a system that brings structure and discipline; two words typically not associated with the Blueshirts. Were it not for Artemi Panarin and a power play that is currently ranked second in the league, the Rangers would likely be up a creek without a paddle. Clearly, something needs to be done. But what?

It's important to remember that even with the issues they've had of late, the Rangers are still in first place in the Metropolitan division and second overall in the Eastern conference. They are number one in face off percentage and are one of the top teams in the league in blocked shots. The fast start they got off to has given GM Chris Drury the leeway he needs to not make a panic move.

But everything hinges on how long Chytil remains out? If he is able to return by January, Drury may elect to ride out the storm. But if the long-term prognosis for Chytil is bleak, he will have to trade for a center. Because the Rangers were forced to place Chytil and Kakko on LTIR, they are not accruing cap space during this time. That means that any salary Drury adds will have to be offset once Chytil and Kakko are activated, unless they shut down one or both for the duration of the regular season.

If Drury wants to hedge his bet, a good option would be Sean Monahan of the Montreal Canadiens. The pending UFA has 9 goals, 17 points and a 56.9 win percentage on face offs. And he only makes $1.985 million, meaning even if Chytil and Kakko both return, the Rangers can accommodate his cap hit. Best of all, it would allow Laviolette to move Chytil to right wing where he might prosper more; Kakko would then return to the first line and Bonino to the forth line where both belong. 

So, the Rangers have their first slump of the season. The sky isn't falling; not yet, anyway. But there are storm clouds on the horizon.

A Sub Above

So much for tanking. Whoever said the New York Giants season was over at 2-8 - that would be me, by the way - apparently never checked in with Tommy DeVito. Over the last three games, the one-time practice squad and backup quarterback has been anything but. Indeed, he's made one helluva case to be a starter in the NFL next season, if not with the Giants then somewhere.

Just look at these numbers:

Against the Washington Commanders, DeVito was 18/26 for 246 yards with 3 TDs, no INTs and had a quarterback rating of 137.7.

Against the New England Patriots, he was 17/25 for 191 yards, 1 TD, no INTs and a quarterback rating of 103.9.

And against the Green Bay Packers, he was 17/21 for 158 yards, 1 TD, no INTs and a quarterback rating of 113.9.

He has completed 52 out of 72 pass attempts over those three games for a completion percentage of 72.2. To put that in perspective, Brock Purdy and Tua Tagovailoa have a completion percentage of 70.2 and 70 respectively. Whatever DeVito's mom is putting in those chicken cutlets she makes for her son, she should package it and sell it to the entire Giants organization.

Now before we get ahead of ourselves here, a couple of things need to be said. First, I'm not suggesting that DeVito is in the same class as Purdy or Tua. The only reason I mentioned him in the same sentence with those two was to point out just how well he's played these last three games and to give him full props; that's it. What DeVito reminds me of is Jeremy Lin: the basketball guard who burst onto the scene for the Knicks in 2011 and lit the Garden on fire for a season before being dealt to the Houston Rockets. Moments like this are special but fleeting, and Giants fans should enjoy this one while it lasts.

Second, let's knock it off with all the "in the playoff hunt" nonsense. This team is 5-8 and two of their remaining four games are against the Philadelphia Eagles who, as much as I hate to admit it, are in another league. If this season has taught us anything, it's that 2022 was an anomaly. The Giants clearly overachieved and, as a result, gave a lot of fans - myself included - a false sense of expectation going into 2023. Joe Schoen still has a lot more work to do before Big Blue becomes a legitimate contender. As I wrote prior to the start of last season, it took George Young seven years before he was able to field a team that eventually won the Super Bowl. This is only year two of the current regime. 

Bottom line: given where they were three weeks ago, if the Giants finish 7-10, they'll be very fortunate. Just as important, though, they will owe their strong finish - a finish that might well save Brian Daboll's job, by the way - to a man who lives at home with his parents and whose mom still makes his bed and cooks his meals for him.

Not a bad gig. Capiche?

The Helmet Throw: One Year Later

There are few moments in sports that can genuinely be looked upon as watershed. One such moment occurred a year ago today at Madison Square Garden.

The New York Rangers were in the midst of a stretch of games which saw them drop four of their last five, and were trailing the Chicago Blackhawks 3-0 late in the second period. The only reason the margin wasn't larger was because the Blackhawks were too inept to take advantage of the Blueshirts lackluster effort.

Jacob Trouba had seen enough. The first-year captain decided to take matters into his own hands, or should I say shoulder. He delivered a crunching open-ice hit on Andreas Athanasiou that led to several fighting majors, including one on Trouba.

But it was what he did on his way to the locker room that raised so many eyebrows. He threw his helmet towards the Rangers bench and screamed at his teammates to "wake the fuck up!" 

Sadly, his words fell on deaf ears. The Rangers would go on to lose 5-1, dropping their record to a woeful 11-10-5. The season was hanging in the balance.

It was not until their next game against the St. Louis Blues that the full impact of Trouba's gesture began to take hold. Trailing 4-3 heading into the third period, the Blueshirts scored three straight goals to pull out the first of what would be seven consecutive wins. The Rangers wound up going 36-12-8 post helmet, and even though they lost to the New Jersey Devils in the first round of the playoffs, Trouba has been rightly credited with saving the season.

There are those who say that the 6-3, 210 pound defenseman is overpaid for what he does; that the Rangers would've been better off putting the $8 million they pay him towards other needs. I respectfully disagree. True, Trouba does occasionally turn the puck over, sometimes at the most inopportune time; and his offense, since his first season in New York, is highly overrated.

But the intangibles he brings to the table are undeniable. In a league where the only physical contact between players typically involves a high stick to the face or a cross check to the back, Trouba is a throw back to an era where players routinely took the body and weren't intimidated so easily. 

His hits, despite the chirping from the cheap seats, are always clean and on target. He is a leader both inside and outside the locker room. There is not a single player on the Rangers who doesn't look up to him, and not a single player on virtually every team in the NHL that doesn't keep his head up a bit more when he's on the ice.

If that isn't respect, I don't know what is. 

To the nerds who run the analytics departments across the league, Trouba may seem like a luxury; to the millions of fans who watched him throw his helmet in that game against the Blackhawks a year ago, we know better.

And so do his teammates.

Rangers Serve Notice on the NHL

Something special is happening with the New York Rangers; something we haven't seen in a very long time. Since losing to the Nashville Predators at the Garden on October 19, the Blueshirts have gone 13-1-1. At 15-3-1, they sit atop the Metropolitan Division, and by virtue of their 7-4 win over the Boston Bruins on Saturday. and the subsequent loss by the Vegas Golden Knights to, of all teams, the Arizona Coyotes, they are in first place in the NHL.

A little over two weeks ago, I wrote a piece in which I asked "How good are these Rangers?" Well, the answer is in. These Rangers are damn good! Just check out the stats below:

Goals allowed: 45 (Fewest)

Goal differential: 21 (3rd)

Power play percentage: 30% (tied for 3rd)

Penalty kill percentage: 85.7% (tied for 7th)

Save percentage: .920 (2nd)

Face off win percentage: 55% (1st)

Record against winning teams: 9-1-0

And not to beat a dead horse, but they've played virtually the entire month without their best defenseman Adam Fox and their number two center Filip Chytil. They were also without the services of their Vezina trophy-winning goaltender Igor Shesterkin for over a week. Far from being a problem, the absence of these players appears to have made this team more resilient and tougher to play against. Can you imagine how much better they'll be once Fox and Chytil return?

Grit typically isn't a word you associate with the Rangers, but this season, it's become their mantra. Bad calls by the officials don't seem to rattle them; injuries to key players are opportunities for others like Tyler Pitlick, who scored his first goal of the season Saturday, to step up. If this team were a professional boxer, they'd say, "Is that all you got?" This might be the tightest locker room in the league.

If there's any cold water you can throw on them, it's that their Corsi for shot percentage at 5v5 has dropped considerably from 8th a month ago to 18th. But given that the Bruins and Golden Knights - currently the 2nd and 3rd best teams in the league - are 22nd and 17th respectively in that category, I wouldn't be too concerned. Head coach Peter Laviolette doesn't appear to be. And if there's one thing Laviolette is not known for, it's hiding his feelings. Trust me, if there was a problem, he and his coaching staff would be all over it.

That's not to say that everything is hunky dory. For all their grit and resiliency, the Rangers still haven't quite mastered Laviolette's system. And at various times this season, they've fallen back into an old and familiar habit of not putting forth a full sixty-minute effort. On their most recent road trip, they were badly outplayed by the Dallas Stars, Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers in the 3rd period. That they found a way to win two out of three is a testament to the brilliance of both Jonathan Quick, who pitched a shutout in Pittsburgh, and Shesterkin, who appeared to find his game in Philly after a couple of rusty starts in Dallas and New Jersey.

This "bend but don't break" issue came to define the team during Gerard Gallant's tenure in New York, and I'm sure it's one that Laviolette would like to exorcize as soon as possible. Relying on your goaltender to consistently bail you out is not a long-term strategy for success, as last year's early exit against the Devils proved.

But all that aside, this team looks nothing like that Gallant team. For one thing, unlike last season, they aren't waiting for the playoffs to begin to flip a switch. From day one of training camp, Laviolette has sold these players one simple concept: postseason success doesn't start in April; it starts in September. The hard work and sacrifice that you put into the Fall and Winter months prepares you for the marathon that awaits you in the Spring. It's the reason why the Stanley Cup remains the hardest trophy in all of sports to win. Many a talented team has had their hopes of hoisting that precious chalice dashed because they weren't ready, either physically or mentally, for the challenge.

Laviolette has been down this road before. He was successful once. He knows how hard it is, and he has communicated as much to his players. So far, based on the standings, they seem to have gotten the memo.

Look, two weeks ago, I cautioned everybody not to jump to any conclusions. It wasn't even Thanksgiving yet, I wrote. Well, Thanksgiving has come and gone and, lo and behold, this team is for real. Furthermore, they have served notice on the NHL. Sleep on us at your own peril.

The goal could not be more clear. Like that legendary Cup team of 30 years ago, the Rangers are focused on the ultimate prize and are prepared to pay any price to achieve it. 

Rangers Have the Last Laf

The Rangers were trailing the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-2 late in the third period last night when they pulled goalie Jonathan Quick for an extra skater. The extra skater Head Coach Peter Laviolette sent out was none other than Alexis Lafreniere. And Lafreniere rewarded his coach's faith in him by scoring the game-tying goal with 11 seconds left in regulation. He then followed that up by scoring the eventual game-winner in the shoot out.

Last season, the words "extra skater" and "Lafreniere" appearing in the same sentence would've elicited a chorus of WTFs and double takes. Apart from the 2022 playoffs when he was part of that prolific "Kid Line" which turned so many heads, the overall number one pick in the 2020 NHL Draft has been an enigma. At times, showing flashes of brilliance; at other times confirming the worst of what his critics were saying about him.

But this is a different season and a different Lafreniere. Buoyed by the confidence his coach has shown in him, the 22 year old is finally delivering on his promise and silencing his critics. Not only has he successfully made the transition to right wing, he has become one of the team's best forwards. His 7 goals is third most on the team; only line-mate Artemi Panarin (8) and Chris Kreider (10) have scored more goals. Last night's game was his second multi-point game in a row; he converted a Vincent Trocheck pass in the second period to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead.

Lafreniere's development is a reminder that you can't judge all players equally. For the last three seasons all we kept hearing was how much better Tim Stützle was, despite the fact that the third overall pick in the 2020 draft was getting top six minutes and power play time, while Lafreniere mostly played on the third line and hardly ever saw power play time.

Below is a breakdown of both players stats over their careers.

You'll notice both players had the same number of goals in their first season. However, beginning in year two, Stützle's average ice time started going up, as did his goal production. Conversely, Lafreniere's ice time - and goal production - remained static. Through three seasons, Stützle had 73 goals, 10 of which were on the power play; Lafreniere had only 47 goals, 3 on the power play.

Now I'm not suggesting that if both players had switched places, their numbers would correspondingly flip. It's quite possible Stützle is better than Lafreniere. But what is apparent from this breakdown is that how a team utilizes a player can impact his development. The Rangers, unlike the Senators, did not do a complete teardown of their team. Jeff Gorton left intact the core we see now. Thus, Lafreniere was never thrown into the deep end of the pool the way Stützle was.

But the "patience" the Rangers showed ended up stunting Lafreniere's growth. It also didn't help matters any that Gerard Gallant preferred players like Dryden Hunt and Julien Gauthier over both him and Kaapo Kakko, another high draft pick that was under utilized by Gallant. With Laviolette behind the bench, Lafreniere's training wheels have been removed, so to speak. And not surprisingly, he's starting to realize his potential. He's actually on pace to score 41 goals. 

Not bad for a bust, wouldn't you say?

Just How Good Are These Rangers?

A little over a week ago, I wrote that November would test the Rangers mettle. Nine days and four games in, they appear to be passing that test with flying colors. The Blueshirts are 3-0-1 this month. 

Going 3-0-1 in and of itself is not particularly newsworthy. After all, the Rangers have gone 3-0-1 before. What's newsworthy is that they've done it without Adam Fox or Filip Chytil, and in the last three games, without Igor Shesterkin; and last night they were without Jonathan Quick.

If the mark of a good team is how well it performs when one or more of its stars are out of the lineup, the Rangers are the living embodiment of that age old axiom "next man up." Lose your Norris trophy winning defenseman? No problem. Lose your second-line center? No problem. Lose your Vezina trophy winning goalie? No problem. Lose your backup goalie? Still no problem.

The Rangers are like that Energizer bunny commercial. They keep on going and going.

Just consider the following statistics:

At 10-2-1, the Rangers sit in first place in the Metro division, tied for third in the NHL with 21 points. They have allowed the third fewest goals with 28; they are second in the league in power play percentage at 35.7; tied for seventh in penalty kill percentage at 86.4; tied for second in face off percentage at 55.1; and tied for fourth in save percentage at .924.

And they've done all this without quite mastering head coach Peter Laviolette's system and with Mika Zibanejad, Blake Wheeler and Kaapo Kakko combining for a measly four goals. Just imagine how much better this team is going to be once they have that system down and everyone is healthy and up to speed.

So the question begs just how good are these Rangers? 

The Buffalo win was a good omen; the Seattle win dominant; the OT wins in Vancouver and Winnipeg showed resilience; but the wins over Carolina and Detroit convinced me. This is a legitimate Stanley Cup contender, and the man principally responsible for that is Laviolette. 

There is a toughness to this team that has been sorely lacking for years. While they haven't been perfect, they have shown that they are willing to do whatever it takes to win, even if it means playing a style of hockey that they have heretofore resisted. Dumping the puck in, driving to the net, clogging the neutral zone, using their sticks to block passes, using their bodies to bock shots. These are attributes typically not associated with past Rangers teams. And yet, Laviolette has somehow gotten this bunch to buy in like no coach since, dare I say it, Mike Keenan.

On this team, it doesn't matter who scores. The only thing that matters is whether the team wins. Nick Bonino doesn't have a point this season and nobody gives a shit. He's winning 58 percent of his face offs, he's killing penalties and he's shutting down the opposition's top line. Compare and contrast him to the fourth-line center Chris Drury brought in last year. Ryan Carpenter couldn't tie Bonino's skates.

Last season, Artemi Panarin was a bitter disappointment in the playoffs against the Devils. This season, he's been a man possessed. He leads the team in scoring and is third in the NHL with 22 points. Alexis Lafreniere, the number one pick in the 2020 draft who many had written off as a bust at the ripe old age of 22, has 5 goals and 9 points playing on the same line with Panarin.

And it doesn't stop there. Under Laviolette, Vincent Trocheck is reminding everyone what it was that Drury saw in him when he signed him as a UFA last year. He's playing like he did when he was with the Hurricanes: with speed and tenacity. A solid two-way center who wins face offs and is good in his own end, he has 3 goals and 6 points in his last 3 games since taking over for Chytil as the 2C.

Then there's Will Cuylle, the 21 year old who fancies himself the next Tom Wilson. After an impressive training camp in which he willed himself onto the roster, the winger has 3 goals and 5 points playing on the third line. Not bad for a rookie. Another young player who garnered a lot of criticism last season - and deservedly so - was K'Andre Miller. This season, he's the team leader in plus / minus with a +7.

But the most pleasant surprise, by far, has been the play of Erik Gustafsson. The 31 year old defenseman, who played for Laviolette in Washington, has filled in admirably while Fox is out. He has 3 goals and 6 assists, two of them coming on the power play. Drury signed him for the staggering price of $825,000. As of this writing, Gustafsson ranks as the steal of the year. If this team goes on to win the Cup, Drury deserves as much credit as Laviolette.

Look, I want to caution everyone, it's early. It's not even Thanksgiving yet. We still don't know when Fox will return. Hopefully by December. And the Rangers haven't faced enough top tier competition to make any definitive determination. As fans of this team know all too well, dreams have a way of turning into nightmares pretty quickly.

But for now, let's enjoy the show. After all, it was eleven months ago that Jacob Trouba threw his helmet in frustration at how poorly his team was playing.

That seems like a galaxy away, doesn't it?

Is Carlos Mendoza the Next Willie Randolph or Davey Johnson?

In the end, and for reasons we will likely never fully know, Craig Counsell, the man everyone assumed would be the next manager of the New York Mets, opted not to take the job and instead signed with the Chicago Cubs. Was it the money? Perhaps. Or maybe it was something else. What we do know is that Counsell never gave the Mets a chance to match the Cubs offer. So with Counsell gone, Steve Cohen and David Stearns chose Yankees bench coach Carlos Mendoza as their next skipper.

Almost immediately, the "Who the fuck is Carlos Mendoza?" contingent chimed in with their nickel's worth of "expertise," with several radio talk-show hosts proclaiming they were done with the Mets. One of those talk-show hosts, by the way, was the shit head who hung up on Carl Banks the other week, so take that with a rather large grain of salt.

As far as Mendoza is concerned, he is pretty much an unknown commodity. According to Wikipedia - yes, I had to go there - he spent 13 seasons in the minor leagues. In 2011, he was hired by the Yankees to manage their Gulf Coast League team, and in 2017, he was promoted to the big club where he's been the bench coach since 2020. Apart from a rave review he got from Aaron Boone, it's anybody's guess how he will perform in the Mets dugout.

In fact, Mendoza's hiring is eerily familiar to the Willie Randolph hiring in October of 2004. Like Mendoza, Randolph was a Yankees bench coach with no big-league managerial experience. In fact, the only difference between both men is that Randolph had a distinguished career as an all-star second baseman with the Bronx Bombers that included two World Series rings: 1977 and 1978.

While the Mets won the National League East in 2006 with Randolph at the helm, they lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLCS; and then in '07, suffered one of the worst late-season collapses in team history, finishing 5-12 down the stretch and blowing a seven game lead over the Philadelphia Phillies. Randolph's lack of experience was cited as the reason for both failures. He would eventually be fired the following season after the Mets got off to a slow start.

The question for the Mets right now is are they repeating the same mistake they made 19 years ago by going with someone with no big-league managerial experience? The hope is that Mendoza won't be the next Willie Randolph, but the fact is nobody can know for sure. Davey Johnson, if you recall, had no big-league managerial experience either when he was chosen by Frank Cashen to manage the Mets in 1984, and we all know how that turned out. Two division titles and a World Series championship later, the hire is generally considered to be among the best in franchise history.

We also have to keep in mind that Stearns was hired by Cohen because of his expertise in building an organization. Even though the Milwaukee Brewers never won the World Series during his tenure there, he was nonetheless responsible for their ascendancy into playoff contenders. We need to give him the benefit of the doubt here regarding Mendoza, inasmuch as we don't know how the interview went. For all we know, Mendoza hit it out of the park. Take it from a former sales manager who was responsible for hiring and firing, you can never underestimate the importance of a face to face meeting. 

Bottom line, the Mets have their manager in place for the 2024 season. Now they have to fill in their roster. That task will fall exclusively to Stearns now that Billy Eppler is no longer the GM.

But that's another story altogether. 

November Will Test Rangers Mettle

To say that the New York Rangers had themselves a good October would be the understatement of the decade. For the first time in franchise history, they went 5-0 on a road trip. Headed into November, they sit atop the Metropolitan Division with a record of 7-2-0, two points ahead of the Carolina Hurricanes; they are tied with the Colorado Avalanche for the third most points in the NHL with 14; and they have allowed the second fewest goals at 18.

Their 5v5 play has improved tremendously under new head coach Peter Laviolette; their special teams are clicking on all cylinders; and they are getting elite-level goaltending from both Igor Shesterkin and Jonathan Quick. Contrary to what some have said on a certain social-media platform, these are not the 2021-22 Rangers. That team won in spite of itself; this team is making its own breaks. I have not seen a Rangers team with this much discipline and focus in a good many years.

To be honest, I'm somewhat surprised they've gotten off to such a fast start. Based on what we saw in the preseason, the consensus was that that the Blueshirts would likely struggle out of the gate. Comparisons to the 2013-14 team that went 16-18-2 in its first 36 games seemed appropriate. That this team has done as well as it has this early in the season confirms two things: 1. Laviolette was the right choice for Chris Drury; and 2. Gerard Gallant wasn't.

I don't wish the man ill, but it's clear that Gallant's unwillingness or inability to make adjustments was the primary reason for the Rangers collapse against the Devils in the playoffs last year. There is no other plausible explanation for how a series in which they dominated so thoroughly through the first two games turned so suddenly. The power play, which had gone 4-10 in the first two games, went 1-21 over the last five. It was obvious what had happened. Lindy Ruff made an adjustment on his penalty kill unit that took away the tip-in goals Chris Kreider was getting. But rather than tweak his power play, Gallant stood pat, believing it was simply a matter of execution. He was wrong and it cost him his job.

There are other differences, too. While the Rangers haven't fully implemented Laviolette's 1-3-1 system yet, there has been a reduction in the number of odd-man rushes and shots on goal the team has given up. Indeed, through nine games this season, New York has allowed an average of 26.22 SoG. Last season, the average was 29.33; in 2021-22, it was 30.83. Translation, Ranger goalies are having to work less hard than they have in the past.

Witness the game in Calgary. Shesterkin had to make several tough saves to preserve a 3-1 win over the Flames. Two years ago in Toronto, he had to practically stand on his head against the Maple Leafs just to get the Rangers to overtime, where Artemi Panarin won it late. The point is while goalies are required to steal the odd game or two for their teams, these types of heists should be the exception, not the rule. During Gallant's tenure in New York, they were the the latter.

But that's all water under the bridge. There's a new sheriff in town now. And while the first nine games of the season were an unqualified success, the next 12 are going to test the mettle of this team, starting with tonight's game against the Canes at the Garden. After getting off to a slow start, Carolina has allowed two goals or fewer in their last three games, all of which have been wins. It is one thing to beat a struggling Flames team or an Edmonton Oilers team without Connor McDavid; it is quite another to beat one of the best defensive teams in the NHL over the last two years. This will be the toughest opponent the Rangers have faced, so far.

And the schedule doesn't get any easier after tonight. In addition to the Hurricanes, the Rangers will face the Detroit Red Wings twice, and the Boston Bruins, Dallas Stars and dreaded Devils once this month. The Red Wings are one of the surprise teams in the league this season, while the Bruins, Stars and Devils are all legitimate Stanley Cup contenders.

The Rangers took care of business in October; and that was good. But all that earned them was the chance to do it again in November.

What a Difference a Year Makes

The most abused word in the English language is the word if. This is especially true when it comes to sports teams. After watching the New York Giants lose to the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium Sunday, the word if was thrown around so much, had it been a small animal, the ASPCA would've been called in.

If either Tyrod Taylor or Tommy Devito didn't have a collective minus 9 yards passing on the day; if Graham Gano had converted on just one of his two missed field goals; if Brian Daboll had gone for it on 4th and 1 from the Jets 17 with 28 seconds left in regulation up 10-7; if Kayvon Thibodeaux had not stopped the clock with 17 seconds left by jumping offsides; if Wink Martindale had elected to drop eight defenders into coverage instead of trying to rush Zach Wilson, then maybe, just maybe, the Giants might've snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, instead of the other way around. 

But, alas, they couldn't. Against a Jets team that went 2 for 15 on third down, the Jints found a way to one up them, going 2 for 19. And one of those first downs came courtesy of a roughing penalty. Indeed, it was only because of penalties like that, the running of Saquon Barkley and the defensive play of Thibodeaux, who had three sacks on the day - 8.5 on the season - that the Giants managed to get the ball across the 50 yard line at all. Barkley rushed for 128 yards, including a 34-yard run on the opening drive of the second half; and Thibodeaux stripped the ball from Wilson on the Jets opening drive of the game, giving the Giants the ball at the Jets 26 yard line.

And yet all they could muster was a lousy 10 points. That they were seconds away from pulling off an improbable win just goes to show you how snake bit this team truly is. They are nothing if consistent. 

For the third week in a row, Martindale's defense put the Giants in a position to win. They held the Buffalo Bills to 14 points; the Washington Commanders to 7; and the Jets to 13. Last season, they would've gone 3-0; this season, they went 1-2.

After the game, Daboll took responsibility for his decision to go for the field goal rather than the first down. Fans may question the call, but it was the correct one. Considering how bad the Giants were on 3rd down, converting a 4th and 1 would hardly have been a slam dunk. Besides, if your field goal kicker can't make a 35 yard field goal then what's he doing on the team? The fact is had Gano simply done his job, the Jets would've needed to go the length of the field to score the winning touchdown with less than 20 seconds left in regulation.

What a difference a year makes. The 2022 Giants were a resilient football team that found ways to win the close games. The 2023 Giants are the polar opposite; they invent new ways to lose the close games. It's hard to fathom just how fundamentally flawed they are, especially on offense. It doesn't matter who's quarterbacking them, with the exception of that second half against the Cardinals, they have been one of the worst red-zone teams in the NFL. Ironically, the only team worse than Big Blue in the red zone is the Jets, the team that beat them on Sunday.

Oh, death, where is thy sting?

So now that what little hope the Giants had of salvaging this train wreck of a season is gone, the only question that remains is how big of a selloff will they have? The first domino to fall is Leonard Williams. The underperforming defensive end was dealt to the Seattle Seahawks for a 2024 second rounder and a 2025 fifth rounder. Joe Schoen was able to get the return he got because the Giants picked up the bulk of Williams remaining contract. I would not be at all surprised if Adoree Jackson is the next one out the door. It was his pass interference penalty in OT that set up the Jets winning field goal. Both players are in the final year of their respective contracts and neither is expected to return next season. As for Barkley, I seriously doubt he gets traded. John Mara loves him, and let's be honest: without him, this team would probably be 0-8.

If there is a silver lining here, it's that the Giants, as of now, have the 4th pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. Not quite how the fanbase envisioned things going when the season started. But then I'm sure the passengers on the Titanic didn't envision a collision with an iceberg ruining their voyage across the Atlantic either.

Shit happens, you know.

Rangers Off To A Good Start - So Far

Over the first six games of Alain Vigneault's tenure as head coach of the New York Rangers, they went 2-4-0. Not quite the start they were looking for. The team would struggle most of the first half of the 2013-14 season; on December 20, their record stood at 16-18-2. To say the natives were restless would be putting it mildly.

Fortunately, the Blushsirts turned it around, going 29-13-7 the rest of the way, finishing second in the Metropolitan division, and advancing all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in 20 years. Despite losing to the L.A. Kings in five, the consensus was that the season was an unqualified success.

There are several parallels between that team and the current one: a mix of seasoned veterans with a sprinkle of young players, a Vezina trophy goalie capable of stealing games, and an established head coach with a new system.

In his first six games behind the Rangers bench, Peter Laviolette has managed to kill two birds with one stone. Not only has his team gotten off to a fairly impressive 4-2-0 start, in three of those wins they appear to have successfully implemented his system. Granted, the Buffalo Sabres, Arizona Coyotes and Seattle Kraken are hardly the Vegas Golden Knights, Colorado Avalanche and New Jersey Devils, but you have to learn to walk before you can run.

During much of the 1990s and early 2000s, the Devils employed the 1-3-1 neutral zone trap so effectively, they won three Cups. Now that Laviolette has brought that neutral zone trap to New York, the hope is that history will repeat itself on the other side of the Hudson. After watching the Rangers cede their blue line for years, it's refreshing to see them finally stand their ground and make opponents work to gain the offensive zone. 

There are two statistics that stand out. The first has been a sore spot for years. In their first five games, the Rangers have won 55.7 percent of their face offs. Last year, they won 49.1 percent of them. You have to go all the way back to that '94 Cup year to find a team that dominated at the face off circle. In a league that values puck possession, winning face offs is a must.

But it's the other statistic that's turning heads. According to Natural Stat Trick, the Rangers are currently ranked 8th in Corsi for shot percentage at 5v5. Last season, they were ranked 17th. In Gerard Gallant's first season as head coach - the year they went to the conference finals - they were ranked 25th. Combined with a power play that is currently ranked 4th in CF%, the Rangers have the potential to be one of the elite teams in the league this year.

Another encouraging sign is the way Laviolette is utilizing the "kids." Both Alexis Lafreniere and Kaapo Kakko are starting to flourish in the top six, and Filip Chytil is becoming a solid two-way center with Artemi Panarin as his left wing. Chytil has five assists in his last two games, while Lafreniere scored a power play goal against the Calgary Flames the other night, the fourth of his career. He's tied with Panarin for second most goals on the team with three. Not bad for a supposed "bust."

Look, it's still early. Anything can happen. But with the Carolina Hurricanes struggling and the Devils defense and goaltending leaking like a sieve, a first place finish in the Metro isn't out of the realm of possibility for the Rangers.

Tell me you saw that coming in September. I sure as hell didn't.

2023-24 Knicks Preview

The 47 wins the New York Knicks amassed last season represented the most the franchise has had in a decade. And like that 2012-13 team which lost to the Indiana Pacers in the second round, last year's Knicks also saw their playoff aspirations come crashing down in the second round, courtesy of the Miami Heat.

Since their last championship 50 years ago, the blue and orange have made two trips to the NBA Finals: 1994 and 1999. Both bids came up short. Loyal fans are understandably hoping and praying that this is the season the drought comes to an end.

The good news: The 2023-24 Knicks should be better than the 2022-23 Knicks. Jalen Brunson - arguably last season's best free agent signing - begins his second season with the club, and Josh Hart - acquired at last year's trade deadline - begins his first full season. When they are on the floor together, they are one of the better backcourt tandems in the NBA.

The Knicks also boast one of the deepest benches in the league, led by perennial sixth man of the year award candidate Immanuel Quickley, newcomer Donte DiVincenzo and Isaiah Hartenstein. They give head coach Tom Thibodeau something few coaches have: an ability to rotate players in and out of the rotation without losing any quality on the court.

Assuming he isn't part of a package to land either Joel Embiid or Karl-Anthony Towns, RJ Barrett should continue to improve. The 6-6 guard / forward is entering his 5th season in the NBA and the Knicks are looking for him to drive to the basket more. Julius Randle is the face of the franchise and unquestionably the hardest-working player on this team, but there are limits to his game that were made abundantly clear in the Miami series last season.

And that leads us to...

The bad news: Despite being one of the toughest teams in the league to play against, the Knicks are NOT in the same class as the Milwaukee Bucks or the Boston Celtics: two teams that dramatically improved themselves during the off-season. If anything, the gap between the Knicks and the top two teams in the Eastern conference has widened. The opinion shared by most basketball writers and executives is that unless Leon Rose is willing to pull the trigger on a major trade that brings that elusive and coveted elite player to New York, the Knicks will never be anything more than just a very good team that occasionally teases its fanbase with a win now and then in the postseason, but never seriously competes for a title.

Immediately after the Bucks acquired Damian Lillard in a three-team trade that sent Jrue Holiday to the Portland Trail Blazers, the speculation was that Rose might at least kick the tires to see what it would take to bring Holiday to the east coast. Apparently, that discussion never took place. Whatever it is that the Knicks plan on doing with their eleven number one draft picks - seven of which are their own - it's clear they aren't going to be parting with any of them soon. Perhaps if the right player becomes available at the trade deadline - another Josh Hart, for example - they might give up one or two. In the meantime, Rose and James Dolan appear content with the makeup of this team.

Prediction: The Knicks will win 48 to 50 games this season and compete with the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Miami Heat for the third best record in the East, but will fall short. It won't be from lack of effort or sweat. The fact is that despite all their depth and grit, it's still front-line talent that determines how far teams go in the NBA. And the Knicks just don't have enough of it to play in the big boys sand box.

Translation? The drought will continue for at least another year.

Below are my predictions for both conferences.

Eastern Conference:

Bucks

Celtics

Cavaliers

Heat

Knicks

Sixers

Hawks

Nets

Raptors

Bulls

Wizards

Pacers

Pistons

Hornets

Magic

Western Conference:

Nuggets

Warriors

Suns

Jazz

Grizzlies

Timberwolves

Lakers

Clippers

Kings

Mavericks

Trail Blazers

Pelicans

Rockets

Spurs

Thunder

Eastern Conference finals:

Bucks over the Celtics 4-3

Western Conference finals:

Nuggets over the Suns 4-2

NBA Finals:

Bucks over the Nuggets 4-3

This One Hurt

The Giants were humiliated by the Cowboys.

They came from behind against the Cardinals.
They were outclassed by the 49ers.
They were out-coached by the Seahawks.
They were overmatched by the Dolphins.

They deserved better against the Bills.

For the first time this season, Big Blue lost a game they should've won.

The much maligned Giants defense held the third best offense in the NFL scoreless through three quarters. Bobby Okereke had his best game as a Giant, forcing a fumble and an interception. It was the second game in a row the Giants won the turnover battle. And had Tyrod Taylor not had the brain fart of the century on the last play of the first half, New York would now most likely be 2-4 instead of 1-5.

It was a play that, like so many this season, has come to define the Giants. With 14 seconds left in the 2nd quarter and no timeouts, Taylor, for some strange reason, called an option audible at the one yard line and handed the ball off to Saquon Barkly, who was stuffed at the goal line. The clock ran out before Taylor could spike the football.

A visibly upset Brian Daboll let Taylor have it on the sidelines. But the damage was done. Instead of being up 9-0, or perhaps 13-0, going in at halftime, the Giants were forced to settle for a 6-0 lead. We all know what happened. The Bills eventually broke through and scored two 4th quarter touchdowns en route to a 14-9 victory. The final play of the game for the G-Men was a pass attempt by Taylor to Darren Waller in the end zone that was incomplete thanks to a no-call on what should've been a holding penalty on Bills cornerback Taron Johnson. It was a fitting end to another bittersweet loss.

Their outstanding defensive effort notwithstanding, the Giants, once again, failed to score an offensive touchdown. That's three games in a row now. Take away the four they had against the lowly Cardinals, and the Jints have scored exactly one offensive touchdown all year.

Pitiful doesn't begin to describe their level of play. Even in Ben McAdoo's second season as head coach - the one where he went 2-10 and was fired - they were more competitive with the football. I'm not suggesting that Daboll should lose his job; just pointing out that what's happening here doesn't bode well for him or his staff.

How can a team that was so disciplined and creative offensively one year be so inept the next? The acquisitions Joe Schoen made during the offseason were supposed to make this team more explosive. If this is explosive, I'd hate to see what comatose looks like.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, there's plenty of blame to go around here. A porous O-line; bad decision making by the QB; bewildering coaching decisions. It's like watching a comedy that isn't funny. And when I look ahead at the remaining schedule, I don't see much hope. Unless something fundamentally changes, this team could well go 3-14, or worse.

You tell me: Washington (twice), the Jets, the Raiders, the Cowboys, the Patriots, the Packers, the Saints, the Rams and the Eagles (twice). Ok, maybe 4-13. MAYBE.

Rebuilding a football team takes time and patience, I realize. But after a playoff appearance last season, there was a reasonable expectation by the fanbase that this team had turned a corner. 

About the only thing the Giants are turning this season are stomachs.

Rangers Make Good First Impression

In the end, a win is a win, right? The Rangers opened up the 2023-24 season with a solid 5-1 victory over the Sabres in Buffalo Thursday night.

Winning the first game of the season isn't exactly newsworthy for the Blueshirts. Last year, they opened the season with an equally impressive 3-1 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning at the Garden, and we all know how that turned out.

But there was something different about this win. That wasn't your typical Rangers performance out there. You know the kind: jump out to an early lead and then hold off the coming onslaught from the opposition. With the exception of a few minutes in the third period when the Rangers were killing off a couple of penalties they unwisely took, New York was in total control of the game. Against a Buffalo team that finished third in the NHL in scoring last season, they gave up a total of 25 shots, only two of which were high danger chances.

For the first time, Ranges fans got to see the deployment of the 1-3-1 defense, which for all intents and purposes is a neutral zone trap; the same neutral zone trap teams like the Devils utilized so effectively in the 1990s. It proved to be the difference Thursday night. The Sabres top line of Tage Thompson, Jeff Skinner and Alex Tuch was held off the scoring sheet, managed just six shots on goal and was a minus two for the evening. When was the last time the Rangers allowed only one gaol and Igor Shesterkin wasn't one of the stars of the game?

But it wasn't just the stifling defense that stuck out. The Rangers were relentless in their forecheck pretty much the entire game. It led directly to two goals, and Alexis Lafreniere figured prominently in both. After an Artemi Panarin shot was kicked out by Devon Levi, Panarin grabbed his own rebound and slid it across the goal mouth to a breaking Lafteniere who stuffed it in the net for a 1-0 lead early in the first period. Then in the second period, Lafreniere forced a turnover in the Buffalo zone that Panarin pounced on and blasted a shot passed Levi for a 3-0 lead. The only blemish on the night came off a rebound shot by JJ Peterka after Jacob Trouba blocked the initial shot. In all, the Rangers blocked 23 shot attempts.

Chris Kreider - two goals and an assist - might've been the number one star of the game, but it was Lafreniere who got the game hat from this teammates. The first overall pick of the 2020 draft is being counted on heavily this season, and after a less than stellar preseason that left many wondering whether the winger was up to the challenge, his performance Thursday night did not go unnoticed, especially his coach. He even went 4-1 on face-offs. If Lafreniere, along with fellow "kids" Kaapo Kakko and Filip Chytil, take the next step, this team will be a force to be reckoned with.

But for now the Rangers will take the two points. Next up on the schedule is the Columbus Blue Jackets, another team that missed the playoffs last season. Then they fly home to play the Arizona Coyotes at the Garden. Time will tell if they've fully grasped Peter Laviolette's system, or whether the Sabres were just a lucky one off.

2023-24 NHL Predictions

It's that time of year again when yours truly puts what's left of his reputation on the line. Two years ago, I had the Vegas Golden Knights and New York Islanders in the Stanley Cup Finals; neither team made the playoffs. Last year, I picked the Rangers and Colorado Avalanche to meet in the Finals; both teams were eliminated in the first round. So, I guess you could say I'm improving. At this rate, in another three years, I'll finally nail it.

All kidding aside, it's all done in fun, so don't take it too seriously. After all, I had the Columbus Blue Jackets as a wild card last season and they were one of the worst teams in the NHL. So with that in mind, let's get on with the predictions.

Eastern Conference:

Atlantic Division:

Toronto Maple Leafs: The Leafs finally won a playoff series last season - beating the Tampa Bay Lightning in seven - and then promptly lost to the Florida Panthers in the next round. As usual, it's never about the level of talent in Toronto, but rather the level of toughness. Hence, the signings of Tyler Bertuzzi and Ryan Reaves. The fab four will carry the offensive load, but after that, they're a little thin to make a deep run in the postseason.

Florida Panthers: Last season, the Panthers - formerly known as the Puddy Tats - shocked the hockey world by not just knocking off the Presidents' Trophy Boston Bruins, but going all the way to the finals before finally losing to the Vegas Golden Knights. Matthew Tkachuk is one of the best all-around forwards in the game and Sergei Bobrovsky redeemed his reputation last spring as a money goaltender.

Boston Bruins: Patrice Bergeron and David Krejčí both retired, Taylor Hall was dealt to the Blackhawks, and Tyler Bertuzzi and Dmitry Orlov both left via free agency. No team in the league was probably more negatively impacted by the constraints of the flat salary cap than the Bruins. And yet, this will still be a solid defensive team with elite-level goaltending that will win its fair share of games.

Metropolitan Division:

New Jersey Devils: If you saw their meteoric rise last season you're a better man than me. Rarely has a core popped all at once. Their speed down the middle is their greatest asset and they will give defenses fits all season long. I'm still not sold that their goaltending is up to the task of going the distance and they're a little thin on the blue line. But their top six is as good as it gets.

Carolina Hurricanes: Michael Bunting should fit right in with this group of forwards which, though lacking explosiveness, is one of the most cohesive groups in the NHL. No team generates more scoring chances than the Canes. But as we saw in last year's ECF, they lack the finishers to capitalizes on them.

New York Rangers: Peter Laviolette is tasked with turning this talent laden team into a Cup contender. It may take a while for his up-tempo system to be fully implemented, hence the third place prediction. With Shesterkin in net, they will always be a threat. Whether they have the testicular fortitude to go all the way remains to be seen.

Wild Cards: 

Buffalo Sabres: If the Sabres had played as well at home as they did on the road, they would've made the playoffs last season. This is an up and coming team that is young, talented and on the verge of being a genuine contender. They will drive whichever team they meet in the postseason up the wall. Defense is their only concern.

Ottawa Senators: Another young team on the rise. Brady Thuchuk - Matthew's younger brother - and Tim Stützle are genuine stars. Like the Sabres, they're also a year or two away from being a contender, but watch out.

Close but no cigar:

Pittsburgh Penguins: One of the oldest teams in the league needed to get younger and better on D. So what did new GM Kyle Dumas do? He traded for 32 year-old winger Reilly Smith and 33 year-old defenseman Erik Karlsson, quite possibly the worst plus / minus recipient of the Norris trophy ever.

New York Islanders: The shame here is that Ilya Sorokin will be a finalist for the Vezina trophy and he's trapped on a team that will struggle to find offense. Poor Lou Lamoriello; he still thinks it's the '90s.

Tampa Bay Lightning: Since they won their second Cup in a row in '21, they've turned over half their roster. And now they'll be without Andrei Vasilevskiy until mid-December. Not even Toe Blake could save them.

Western Conference:

Central Division:

Colorado Avalanche: Even without Gabriel Landeskog, they are a formidable force to be reckoned with. Nathan MacKinnon is one of the best two-way centers in the league and Cale Makar a perennial Norris trophy candidate. Ryan Johansen and Ross Colton were shrewd pickups by Chris MacFarland. They are well coached and a legit threat to go all the way.

Dallas Stars: I underestimated them last season, as did a lot of people. They're deep and they have one of the best defensemen in the the league in Miro Heiskanen, not to mention one of the best goalies in Jake Oettinger.

Minnesota Wild: G.M. Bill Guerin is doing the best he can with the dead cap hits he was forced to take thanks to his predecessor. They'll be in the mix but a lack of depth will come back to bite them in the end.

Pacific Division: 

Vegas Golden Knights: Boy, do I feel really stupid. Not only did I not have them winning the Cup last season, I didn't even have them making the playoffs. I won't make that mistake again. The secret to Vegas's success is their depth at both forward and defense. They can come with you with four lines and all three of their defense pairings are big and mobile. They are the odds-on favorites to repeat.

Edmonton Oilers: The over / under on Connor McDavid's point total this season is 137.5. Take the over. McDavid is without question the best player in the NHL. Mattias Ekholm - a trade deadline pickup - is a solid, stay at home defenseman, a rarity in Edmonton. The flat salary cap has hindered what G.M. Ken Holland can do to address the lack of depth. Jack Campbell is an adequate, but hardly elite, goalie.

Los Angeles Kings: The Kings are betting that Pierre-Luc Dubois will provide the offensive balance they've been looking for to make them a legit contender. It's a bet that may pay off. With Dubois at center and Kevin Fiala at wing, LA has a potent one-two punch.

Wild Cards:

Seattle Kraken: Were it not for the upset of the Bruins at the hands of the Panthers, the Kraken's upset of the Avalanche would've been the story of the year. In just two short seasons G.M. Ron Francis has done a tremendous job meticulously building a team that last season was one win away from advancing to the conference finals.

Calgary Flames: Now that old blood and guts Darryl Sutter has been shown the door, this team can finally exhale. The Flames have the talent and the goaltending to be a playoff team. They're not in the same class as Vegas or Edmonton or Colorado, but they are much better than what they showed last season.

Close but no cigar:

Winnipeg Jets: Losing Dubois and Blake Wheeler - a buyout - will hinder a team that made the playoffs last season by the skin of its teeth. It's going to be a tough year in Winnipeg.

Playoffs:

Eastern Conference Finals: Rangers over the Maple Leafs 4-3

Western Conference Finals: Avalanche over the Golden Knights 4-3

Stanley Cup Finals: Rangers over the Avalanche 4-3

Year End Awards:

Presidents' Trophy: Colorado Avalanche

Art Ross Trophy: Connor McDavid, Oilers

Hart Trophy: Matthew Tkachuk, Flames

Norris Trophy: Miro Heiskanen, Stars

Vezina Trophy: Ilya Sorokin, Islanders

Jack Adams Award: Peter Laviolette, Rangers

Conn Smythe Trophy: Igor Shesterkin, Rangers

Why I'm Bullish on the Rangers

Let's face it. The way last season ended left a bad taste in Rangers fans mouths. After jumping out to a 2-0 series lead against the Devils, the Blueshirts dropped four of the next five games. Three of those losses, including the series clincher, weren't even competitive. Once more, the franchise that has won exactly one Stanley Cup since World War II went home early.

Chris Drury did not take it well. The President and G.M. fired his head coach Gerard Gallant and replaced him with Peter Laviolette, whose resume includes three trips to the finals and one Cup. With the limited cap space he had, Drury then went out and signed three forwards to shore up the bottom six, a defenseman to play on the third pairing and a backup to Igor Shesterkin. No Vladimir Tarasenko, no Patrick Kane, no big splash.

It's easy to understand how some could look at the Rangers offseason and be skeptical about their prospects going into the 2023-24 campaign. As someone who's followed this team since 1971, I've learned the hard way not to get my hopes up. When Jon Matlack asked Jerry Grote what he could expect pitching for the Mets, Grote replied, "If you don't allow a run, I guarantee you at least a tie." Some fan bases are conditioned to be happy with what they can get.

But after giving the matter considerable thought, I think it would be a huge mistake to sleep on this team. To be honest, I'm rather bullish on their chances. And not because I'm an incurable optimist. If anything, I'm more jaded now than I was 30-40 years ago. I just have a hunch that this team, which has broken more hearts than Taylor Swift at a Jets game, might catch lightning in a bottle.

There are three reasons for my optimism:

The core: After getting off to a sluggish 11-10-5 start last season, the Rangers went 36-12-8 the rest of the way. That's a .642 winning percentage. Only the Boston Bruins - at .793 - were better. They accomplished this mostly without the assistance of Tarasenko or Kane, who despite their impressive bonafides, wound up disrupting the chemistry on this team. That no doubt was a contributing factor in their early exit.

With Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider, Artemi Panarin, Vincent Trocheck, Adam Fox, Jacob Trouba, Ryan Lindgren and Igor Shesterkin, the Rangers have one of the more impressive cores in the NHL. If the kids take the next step and fulfill their promise, this will be a very tough team to play against this season.

Blake Wheeler, Nick Bonino, Tyler Pitlick and Erik Gustafsson are the sort of complimentary players Tarasnko and Kane never were. While other G.M.s overpaid for their free agents, Drury didn't panic and got good value. Given what he had to work with, he had himself a helluva good summer.

The coach: Four times over the last 30 years, the Rangers have brought in a more experienced coach to turn around a roster that had underperformed the previous year: Mike Keenan in 1993; John Tortorella in 2009; Alain Vigneault in 2013; and Gallant in 2021. With the exception of Tortorella, every hire paid immediate dividends. The '94 Rangers won their first Stanley Cup since 1940; the '14 Rangers went to the Cup finals; and the '22 Rangers went to the Eastern Conference finals.

While it's no slam dunk that Laviolette will replicate his predecessors success, it's worth noting that in his first full season behind the bench in Carolina, the Hurricanes won the Cup; four years later in his first year as head coach in Philadelphia, he took the Flyers to the finals. Everywhere he goes, his teams win. If that isn't a good omen, I don't know what is.

Laviolette's two greatest challengers will be 1) to convince a team that is used to playing an east-west style of hockey to play a more north-south style; and 2) to get Alexis Lafreniere and Kaapo Kakko to play like the top six forwards scouts predicted they'd be when they were drafted number one and two respectively. David Quinn and Gallant each failed at both. The hope is that Laviolette will be the proverbial third time charm.

The Eastern Conference: The hockey gods have a strange sense of humor. Last season, the Atlantic division was stacked with the Boston Bruins winning the President's Trophy going away and the Tampa Bay Lightning vying for their fourth consecutive trip to the finals. In the Metro division, both the Devils and Hurricanes had outstanding seasons.

This season, the Metro will still be tough, but in the Atlantic, both the Bruins and Lightning have had roster turnovers that will weaken them considerably. Tampa will be without goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy until mid December. Nobody knows what to make of the Florida Panthers. Are they the team that came within three wins of capturing the Cup? Or are they the team that got swept in the second round in '22. And let's face it, the Toronto Maple Leafs are the Cleveland Browns of Canada. Any team that gets out of the Metro should be the odds-on favorite to advance to the finals.

I'm not saying the Rangers will have an easy path; far from it. But they have had success against the Canes. And if they can find a way to contain the Devils speed, there might be another banner hanging in Madison Square Garden.

Prognosis: Like that 2013-14 team, which went 16-18-2 in their first 36 games, I fully expect the Rangers to struggle out of the gate. They were 1 for 18 on the power play during the preseason. Not a good sign. Going all the way back to game three of the Devils series last season, they're 2 for their last 39. That has got to change. For this team to be a contender, they must have a productive power play.

Assuming they hit their stride by early December, the Rangers should once again finish third in the Metro; the Kids will blossom under Laviolette; and Shesterkin will lead them to their first Stanley Cup in 30 years.