Rangers Still Can't Buy Success
It seems as though with Pavel Bure, Eric Lindros, Thereon Fleury, Brian Leetch, Mark Messier and Mike Richter (amongst others) that the New York Rangers still believe they can buy Stanley Cup success. The fact of the matter is that this team who has a payroll well in excess of most (if not all) is still many points behind teams like the Phoenix Coyotes who have only half the payroll and apparent talent? So why is it that despite having about 5 or 6 all-stars/internationals that the Rangers are going to miss the playoffs for the fifth straight year?Do we point to the fact that they don’t really have a farm system cause they acquire talent with their “Broadway” money, or is it the coaching and directing, or maybe the pressure that players are subjected to playing in MSG in the Big Apple all the time.
Overconfidence is probably a concern, with that many big names you’d have to think they’re a little arrogant and ego-driven…once again though, besides their paychecks (Australian) they still haven’t got much to be confident about.
At the start of the year if one looked at the Rangers lineup and someone said they were going to pick up more good players at the deadline, you would have thought that they’d be up with the Detroit Red Wings, Colorado Avalanche and Philadelphia Flyers (their roster equals) come April…but once again a second half season slump means they will probably once again miss out.
I used to like the Rangers, but nowadays their big spending no-result year in and year out has become very frustrating. I like the Avs and the Grandaddies (Dallas Stars) as well as the Los Angeles Kings, teams who all have better than modest rosters and usually transfer this into good performance.
Maybe the Rangers should start to develop a farm system and just be patient for once…it seems as though they could have team Canada as their roster and as long as they were wearing Rangers colours they would lose. Look for them to probably acquire even more big names in the off season, but let’s all hope Tony Amonte, Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne (amonst others) don’t get dragged into this reckless stupidity.
They’ll finish 10th in the East this year…at best!