SAN JOSE — Honestly, you cannot be serious if you’re calling this taffy pull for the final playoff spot in the East a “race.”
What it is, as the Rangers, Canadiens, Islanders, Blue Jackets and Red Wings have spent weeks defining themselves as imposters, is simply an exercise of attrition.
Least bad and most mediocre team wins.
The Rangers, who may not qualify for either designation, are somehow in the mix even after blowing a two-goal, third-period lead to the Ducks in Friday’s 5-4 overtime defeat in Anaheim that represented their fifth defeat in six games (1-4-1) and ninth in the past dozen (3-7-2).
They woke up here Saturday tied in points for the final wild-card spot, though yielding one or two games in hand to their competitors in advance of their match against the last-overall Sharks.
Last overall? Didn’t the Blueshirts lose twice within a week to 32nd-overall clubs mid-winter when the Predators and Blackhawks were at the very bottom of the league?
Why yes, they did.
But there is another interesting scenario regarding the Rangers and their overall position in the standings, as it relates to this year’s first-round draft pick that was sent conditionally to Vancouver in the J.T. Miller deal before the Canucks transferred it to the Penguins.
The pick is top 13 protected so that, if the Rangers finish 20th overall or lower, general manager Chris Drury has the option of keeping the 2025 selection and giving Pittsburgh next year’s first-rounder without qualification.
The Blueshirts were ranked 21st overall (22nd by percentage) before concluding their swing through California against the Sharks. The teams with the league’s 11 worst records qualify for the first-overall selection lottery.
If the Rangers finish 11th from the bottom, they would have a 3 percent chance to claim the first-overall selection, now projected to be either Boston College’s James Hagens or OHL Erie’s Matthew Schaefer. The lottery will be held during the early rounds of the playoffs.
If a bottom 13, Drury has until 48 hours before the draft to notify Pittsburgh GM Kyle Dubas whether the Blueshirts are keeping the pick or sending it to the Penguins.
The puzzle confronting Drury is that next year’s draft class, by all accounts, has more upper-echelon prospects and would present a deeper field. It is supposed to be loaded. And again, the 2026 pick would be unprotected, meaning that if the Rangers finish toward the bottom of the league, they might lose a top-five selection.
But if Drury decides to move the selection to the Penguins this year, is the GM sending the message that he expects an even worse 2025-26 than this diseased season? Would this be interpreted that way?
Everything the hierarchy does apparently is taken personally by this group of sensitive souls, so there is that ramification to consider — though the group is going to be dramatically different next year.
Oh, and there is this: 2003 represented the deepest and most loaded first round in the history of the draft. Jeff Carter went 11th, Dustin Brown went 13th, Zach Parise went 17th, Ryan Getzlaf went 19th, Brent Burns 20th, Ryan Kesler 23rd, Mike Richards 24th and Corey Perry 28th,
The Rangers, bless their hearts, came away with Hugh Jessiman after selecting the Rangers fan from Dartmouth 12th overall.
Which means that there are no sure things when it comes to loaded draft classes.
Drury has the obligation to protect the future every bit as much as the present. Goodness gracious, what if the Rangers crash next season and are scraping the bottom of the league and wind up sacrificing a top three or top five pick that would go to the Penguins?
There would be an uproar.
Of course, the Rangers could make the playoffs and take the decision off the GM’s plate. They could do that.
Hahahahaha.
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