Are The NY Rangers A Playoff Team? | Up In The Blue Seats

What do you feel like you need to see from him, or that the Rangers need to see from him, to know that he's their guy long-term? Because let's not forget, his 18-0 trade list kicks in next season. You want straight lines and you want the edge. I've seen the edge. He's played with it. He's run his mouth. He's been a pain in the rear end on occasion. And it's hard to do it every single night, but make sure you're doing it at home. Hopefully this summer, he built that engine up so he can get through it. He's a grown-up now. He's a big boy. He's been around long enough. And again, he's counted on. He's going to be counted on. Welcome back. Welcome back. It is finally the season preview episode of Up in the Blue Seats, your favorite Rangers podcast from the New York Post. You guys know the drill at this point. It's Molly Walker. I'm the Rangers beat writer for the New York Post. And it's Brian Boyle, a beloved former Ranger and current MSG slash NHL network analyst. There's a chill in the air, Brian, and it feels like hockey season. So I went out and got a microphone. I don't think it works because it's plugged into my phone. My computer's on the fritz again. We're almost there. It's still preseason for you boys. I know. I'm trying not to be underwater. We heard you loud and clear. We heard you. We heard you guys. Yeah, we're sorry. Still some some technical difficulties. But yeah, Brian needs to get a hot spot on his phone. That's the number one thing that he needs to do. Oh, we're working through it. We're working through it. So if he sounds like he's underwater, we apologize. We're working on it. Hopefully the next episode will be a little bit better. But first things first, big changes to the preseason this year, reduced from six games to four. Less time. Season begins September 29th in Boston for the Rangers. Very, very early. And I think this quote from Sullivan from day one really captures what these few weeks are like for the Rangers in particular. He said last year we had three teams. This year we're going to have two. When you look at it starting tomorrow to opening night against Boston, we have 12 days for exhibition games and two days off built into those 12 games, 12 days. We essentially have 10 practices, six when they're not including a game that night. So time is of the essence, he said. How do you see this shortened preseason affecting teams across the league, Brian? I'll try not to go too long on this, but we saw some colorful quotes from Nikita Kucherov last week that I thought were honest to God. And there's a lot of people that were kind of celebrating it. The skill level is off the charts because there's so many skilled coaches and guys pretty much are on the ice 12 months out of the year. Now, when the league sort of changed its rules in terms of you have to play every team in every building, right? Essentially that just turned into less practices because you have to rest for games. Games are worth two points. Now you have two more games and I get that they're moving things up earlier, but there's just no time to practice. There's really less time to implement anything. How much can you get done with video? Because I mean, with adults, I think you get 12 to 15 minutes of attention and that's it. And then you got to retain it, right? So it's difficult. And I saw Mike Sullivan, I saw all the Ranger guys last week at the alumni golf outing and the whole team goes and I point blank asked him, I go, how do you, I mean, thank, thankfully it's a second year, but, and you have some veteran guys, but how do you bring in these new guys that big roles and get them to sort of understand. And, you know, one of the guys is Marks Patterson who he played for in Pittsburgh, but it is hard and you better start fast. And I think the non-negotiable things let's start. Like you started last year, but just put a couple of pucks inside of the start and they should be okay. Please pretty pleased. No, it's it's, it is very interesting. I, I, I feel like the condensed time also, it affected the, their initial starting point for a roster, no PTOs, no junior level players, only Albert Smith's as the representative for the 2026 draft class. And yeah, that's what Sullivan was saying is it kind of forces them to, to focus on, you know, these are the players that are the closest to making the New York Rangers, which I think was pretty good for where the Rangers are at right now. Just to kind of see this revamped group of players that they have now fighting for, for roster spots, but for preseason games, first one was against the devils on Monday, a three, two loss. It was a primarily AHL looking lineup for the Rangers and a primarily NHL looking lineup for the devils. So pretty close in score, which is a good sign for that AHL group. But how did the team look in their first preseason preseason game to you, Brian? Yeah. I mean, they were bending a little bit and you saw the shot totals and some possession time. It's just so hard. It's chaotic. You don't even get, you're playing with different guys and you're going on the road. You can only play two games if you've played a hundred games in the league. So it's, that's what it's going to look like. If you have home fans buying tickets to the home games, they're going to want to see the guys that they're going to want to see. Yeah. So that's just how it is. But again, you can't look at it like that if you're in the lineup. And I think a number of them did a pretty good job. We saw a nice play from green tree over to bleed with a nice finish. I think Spencer Martin for the most part, got some work. I don't know how that third one went in. Like Jack, it was, it was, it was grand, grand, grand, grand, that's big for him because in the last year and what we saw and he kind of got bypassed earlier in the year, that's big for him because yeah. But that last goal, I mean, I know I get deflected. I thought it went off with the man escape, but then it looked like he was just made that play. Who looks, he put it in pretty good. Yeah. Yeah. No, I, I watched it a couple of times trying to figure out because I think the first one went off of a ranger in front, not much you could do about that. Right. Second one. But the third one is kind of where you think, you know, and, and from, you know, people that I've talked to in Hartford, those were the kind of goals that he would give up. You know, he would be pretty solid for a majority of the game and then give up a softie at the end. And, and we can get into the whole battle for the number two goalie spot. Cause I have a lot of thoughts on that later, but yeah, that was obviously a big game for Dylan Grant. You're right. But I still think he was able to make a decent impression, especially considering the circumstances of having an AHL lineup in front of him and facing an NHL lineup. I mean, it's a, again, you said, I think you get what you get with, with Rempe. You look like he was trying to control the puck a little more. I thought he had one rush in the third that looked like he was confident. The puck kind of fell off his stick at the end. And yeah, you want, you want at least a shot on net there. Um, who's the Sikora tangled. Yeah. I, yeah, Sikora and IORIO both exited the game with injuries and Sikora's in particular did not look good. It looked like he bent his knee back and he wasn't putting any weight on that. I think it was his right leg as he was getting helped off the ice. Sometimes you get squished like that and it's sort of up in the, in the pelvis, your hip can kind of get jammed. There's some nerves there. So, I mean, you can hope for that and hope for the best where it's not long-term because yeah, he was so fun last year. Let me tell you, I like when I was doing, uh, if you haven't seen our, but a bunch of videos for the rookie camp and I was picking, you know, the five guys who I felt like were under the radar and you wanted to know. And one of the guys who I wanted to do was hurt and not playing. And I was like, okay, who am I going to fill in for this fifth guy? Who's under the radar. And I feel like they should know, but I'm like, he's not even under the radar, but he's the only guy that I want to talk about because every single year, year after year, he comes to training camp and he is just a joy to watch out there. Like what a hard worker just gives you 110% every shift. And he was having a nice little camp and obviously he's trying to work his way into the conversation for that fourth line role, but this was, this was a tough blow for him. And he was having a pretty good start to camp. Not that I thought that he was front running for the role or anything, but just in terms of getting into the conversation for, if you need help later in the season with injuries and stuff, like he, he's that guy, I think, but tough blow for him for sure. Yeah. And he made an impression last year, so they'll give him an opportunity to work himself back regardless of what it is. This is what happens. My, my second year in New York, Sean Avery collided with somebody in a crossing pattern in a, in a non-contact trail. Like it was just a passing doors, MCL up. He was out for three or four weeks. That's why I made the team. My second year I was going down to Hartford. So somebody was getting a longer leash because of it. Yeah. I also thought drew Fortescue looked good. He has a nice goal. I'm pretty steady. It looked like he had NHL experience out there. So I thought it was a showing for that AHL lineup. I did. All right. Moving on to some new additions to make note of, if you guys didn't watch our off season recap episode that I recommend that you do. I thought we covered everything pretty well there, but we got Pavel Dorofeev, 25 years old, 37 goals last season career year, 64 points. You know, seven year, $11 million extension after the trade with Vegas. We've got Oliver Bjorkstrand, one year, 4.5 million Marcus Patterson, Sean Dursey, Eli Tolvanen, Joe Valino, Junis Carposalo, Paul Baudouin, and Janice Cholowoski, who was just waived by the way. Him and Erhovec. Yeah. Him and Erhovec on defense were waived today. And then Albert Smith, too, drafted fifth overall this summer. Yeah. So I think I was looking at it. I mean, the lineup that they're putting out there tonight against the Islanders, a lot of guys were not here last season. Like a lot of that lineup. So it should be interesting to see, but who are you looking forward to seeing most out of the newest additions that they got this summer? Well, you might think I'm crazy, but it's because of their, especially the start to season, their lack of scoring. But I think the biggest thing, the thing that has the potential to really make this team look completely different is Dursey and Patterson. And if we can click and play well, they can transition well. They can break the puck out well. They can add a little bit of offense. I think Dursey for sure can add offense. You know, he won't be on the top power play, but he can get into plays and keep plays alive and keep things going offensively. And Patterson can as well. Where the Rangers struggled, if you kind of can break it down, was a lot of times their first opportunity to exit a zone last year got stuffed out somehow. And maybe some guys were miscast. I remember, you know, all the talk how great Gavrikov was when Fox went down. And even the season that he had, it was just kind of him for a while. And Fox came back had a great year. You know, you got your first pair. If those two are good to go and stay healthy, and then you have that middle pair, it's just lightens everyone's load. You're defending less. You're out quicker. The game has more rhythm for you for offense. I think the subtraction of Panarin and all 100 points that he put on the table, I think you're going to get more from Lafreniere. He looked more comfortable. He looked more natural going in straight lines. Now the loss of Trocek is a loss. Yeah. If there was a way you could have kept Trocek, your top six is legit. That's a legit top six. I still think they're stronger. Their top six is definitely stronger on offense. I think the transition game will definitely be better. So that will help these guys get to their offense a little bit quicker in an 84 game season. If you're not defending as much and you're more efficient, it just wears on you a little bit less. So those two guys, I think, were huge moves. Yeah, I completely agree. I think that that was the biggest takeaway for the Rangers this summer, was overhauling the D a little bit. And we're not even sure how the third pair is going to shake out right now, because it's looking like Albert Smith is skating in that spot right now. So we don't know if he's looks poised from clips I've seen at the training center, you know, under pressure to guys barreling down on just makes the play. You know, he seems like he's adjusted to the men's game very well. Yeah, no, we'll get to him. But back to Lafreniere. Lafreniere, he's starting on the top line with Gabe Perreault and Mika Zibanejad, which they left off from last season, had pretty good chemistry at the end. And he's also starting on the first power play right off the bat. Year seven for him. And this is the first time that he is going to be on the power play from day one of training camp, which is pretty crazy when you think about it. But then I mean, obviously, Trocek is the one who's who's replacing by year seven. Like, it's pretty crazy how long he's been around at this point and how much of the same conversations I feel like we're having going into each season. Yeah, but if you think about it, if he's going to be around the net, I mean, Chris Cryer didn't leave a long time ago. You know, I mean, he was and then you brought in J.T. Miller. It's just, yeah, Lafreniere's number one overall pick and he gets goals around the net. All right, here's your chance. Get goals around the net and top line. He's going to be the hunter. Yeah, we all have to work. Everyone has to do. But it's going to be if it if it does end up going in the zone, it's probably himself to himself on a soft chip. You know, these other guys, Mika is probably going to want to carry it in. These guys want to carry it in. That's great. But he's going to hunt. He's going to be the grunt work guy, but then get to the net because he's been he's been. No, I've seen him score some. They look like garbage goals. Having been around the net in my life, there are things of beauty. He knows what to do. He knows sort of how to manipulate the defense and find ways. He just has to get there more and they have to beat him there more. And again, not saying Panarin wasn't an unbelievable player. And he was and he was one of the greatest players that these fans got to watch for a number of years. But in terms of how it fits with Lafreniere, he wanted to bring it out and it kind of. And then, you know, if you can attack and hit seams and stuff like I think it's just going to play, maybe I'm just hopeful it does. But I think he looked more comfortable after the trade last year. Hopefully that confidence can continue to grow in the game, set up more for, you know, you're not putting a round peg in a square hole, so to speak. What do you feel like you need to see from him or that the Rangers need to see from him to know that he's their guy long term? Because let's not forget his 18 no trade list kicks in next season. Well, I mean, it's a lot of these deals are looking better and better as the summer has gone through. I should start training again, but he's like he's like Justin sort of in Washington is almost making what he's making. It's wild. So like that's what you have. And the potential for him to outkick that is I think reasonable for sure. I just, you, you want straight lines and you want the edge. I seen, I've seen the edge. He's played with it. He's run his mouth. He's been a pain in the rear end on occasion. And it's hard to do it every single night, but like, make sure you're doing it at home. Make sure you're doing it. But hopefully this summer he built that engine up so he can get through it. He's a, he's a grown up now. He's a big boy. He's been around long enough. And again, he's counted on. He's going to be counted on. They need him. Yeah. Yeah. They really do. And then dropping off from the first line, you got door Fay of Miller and Bjork strand or the second line. All three guys have been 20 30 goal scorers in their careers. I think I'm personally most excited to see door Fay of the Miller together. Just because when I look back on Miller last season, I mean, that man moved around a lot, a lot, a lot, like a multitude of different line mates played both center and wing. Uh, I'd like to see some more consistency for, for him, uh, just in terms of a lineup standpoint. Cause I feel like that'll be beneficial for him. And obviously the Rangers are going to need a much, much better season from their captain. Yeah. And, you know, definitely not to use it as an excuse, but health will have to be, and he did, he did deal with some serious stuff last year, started right out of camp pretty much, you know, at the lower body. And then I know he dealt with upper body for most, if not all the seasons. So he's not gonna make it an excuse. Um, but again, yeah, I think the spot he's in this, this is it's go time. Now you got to show these people why they traded for you. And, and I think he's pretty motivated. I haven't seen him in school a little bit at that golf thing. He's pretty excited and motivated to get it going. I will say that the vibes around the team and in the room have been pretty good through the of camp. Um, another guy, Matt Rempe, it's looking like he's projected to start the season in Hartford right now. He did play against the devils with the mostly AHL lineup, but it's looking like it's between him and Yaros, Yaroslav Himelash. Himelash is playing tonight against the Islanders, but, um, I think at the very least Rempe's stick handling looked a lot better than he was during all his thumb issues last season, but that's, I think just cause he can actually grip the stick again, finally. Um, but it's feeling like that spot is, is more Himelash is to lose rather than Rempe's and Rempe will, we'll have to clear waivers if he's assigned to the Wolfpack. But what do you feel like is the best course of action where Rempe is concerned? Yeah. You know, it's, it's such a lightning rod, right? Like there's people are so adamant one way or the other about, you know, what he, I just, I just want to remind everybody what he's capable of doing by being on the ice. And maybe the league's changed so much, whereas people wouldn't be bothered by it, but there's an intimidation factor there and his skating is good enough. Is it, is it going to help the team or is it going to hurt the team? And that's the, that's the decision ultimately that they're going to have to make, because if he hits someone high, cause he's bracing himself to go into the, the boards, like, I don't think it's malicious. I don't think it's something he's trying to hurt somebody with an elbow to the head. I think he's trying to catch himself because he's flying around. So being that big developing takes longer and I mean, so much you could do with them. So I wouldn't want to lose him for nothing. Exactly. Yeah. And I mean, today we were asking Mike Sullivan about, you know, what he wants to and he said he wants to see more of an impact. So I feel like the Rangers are also kind of looking that if, you know, Yarrow's not going to make the same kind of physical intimidation impact that Rempe does more of an offensive impact, you know, more of a contributing impact. So I think that that's something that they're looking to see a little bit more consistency from Yarrow. But that'll be an interesting roster battle, so to say, what they decide to do. I'm pretty sure Yarrow, I think, is exempt. So that could also come into play, you know, from waivers because I feel like that always comes into play coming out of training camp. I mean, you have to look at the now, but you also have to look in a couple of ways. What if there's injuries? Yeah. And do you have enough of that in your lineup if you need it? You just gave it away for nothing. Now you have to go buy it again. So you have to sort of try to account for everything. And then ultimately, it should be a meritocracy. Who earns it? Who played the best? How does it fit? But it's a hard league to make. It's complicated. Yeah. And another hot topic, I feel like this summer was Gabe Perreault. A couple of rankings over at the Athletic this summer that caused a stir amongst the fan base. A lot of people felt Perreault was unfairly placed, but it looks like he's starting on the top line. So I wanted to ask you where you're at, Brian, on Gabe's game and his potential ceiling in this league. Yeah. So, you know, and I touched on it briefly about what Kucherov said, that not applicable for Gabe Perreault. And not a burner, but anticipates so well, reads the game so well, and has so much unique plays and traffic. I've seen him since, you know, his days at BC playing and just sort of watched how he calculated the game and manipulated the game. I think he'll continue to get quicker. His mind will get quicker as well. His offensive skill set is very high. But I think he's just a really smart player. But he's still young. And, you know, again, it's a hard league. But I think there'll be opportunities. And Mike Sullivan seems to be wanting to put him in position to get those opportunities for offense. And again, if Mika has a year like he did last year, it's going to open up lots of space for Perreault to make some plays. And we saw some chemistry there towards the end of the year. So take the rankings and throw them in the trash because it never really matters. And they're never, ever right. Ever, ever. And Perreault is skating on the second power play unit too. But I mean, I asked Sullivan today if he feels like that second power play group is looking a little bit deeper for him and if that might prompt him to be a little bit more balanced with the ice time with those groups. But it sounded like no. A very affirmative no. But I would like to see Perreault get some time just because I feel like that will help him in terms of developing and his confidence and all that jazz and stuff like that. But it's so hard because I don't blame Mike Sullivan necessarily for having as much faith as he does in that top power play unit because they do have history. They have in the past been a very automatic group. But we're at a point where I also feel like they have to think of these development decisions too. And I just would hate to see Gabe's growth stunted because he's not getting that part of his game worked. Thoughts? Feelings? It's just so funny how far the game has come and for the right reason. But you get called up, you're a young player. You've got to earn your five minutes to prove to the coach you can be trusted for eight to 12. Then you're on the third line. Then you might get to the second power play. And if you get over the course of two games, a couple of plays on the second unit where it's you have poise, then maybe you get to sniff the top unit. But now it's like, well, this kid's a power play guy. Why isn't he on the top unit? It's kind of like, I get it. The more reps he has at a younger age, he's going to learn faster, right? Because we're conditioned to know that young learns quicker and absorbs more and teach new tricks, whatever. I didn't get on the power and I stayed on it for the next seven years. So whatever. Take that. But I agree. I also know, as you do, Molly, that there's a lot of pressure on these players, the coaching staff and management to have a good start and make the playoffs. So decisions will be made for the front of the jersey and certainly for no one's name on the back of the jersey. That's fair. That's very fair. Wrapping up the forwards, we just got word about a couple of cuts on that front to Justin Dowling and you. So Parson were waived. So we'll hear if they clear or not tomorrow. And then moving on to defense and goaltending, I feel like we have to start with the backup job. I have so many thoughts and like, it's so funny because, you know, obviously the backup role is very important, but it feels like kind of funny to be focusing on it as much as we are. I don't know. That's just me. But I mean, I was having this conversation with someone at the rink the other day and I found it so interesting, this training camp, you know, the Rangers have very clearly are trying to do right by their youth right now. They kept Lafraniere and Perreault together. They've got Noah Laba on his usual spot. Rempe and Hamelash are alternating on the fourth line and even Albert Smith gets put right into the third pair. But offseason forward and defensive signs weren't like they weren't road blocks to the youth like they usually have been in the past. But the only person that it didn't apply to was Dylan Garand. And like, yes, as I mentioned, it's important and experiences is probably the safer option. But if this was truly the competition that they made it out to be when they signed Corpus Allo, Garand would be in the would be the third group, would be the third goalie in the first group. He's been with the second group for the entirety of training camp so far. Like the first group, it's been Igor Corpus Allo and Spencer Martin. And then they put Garand with the second group. And I just feel like it's giving the decision is already made. And for your homegrown goalie, who's been such a good soldier and, you know, he's been marinating in the American League, he went to 0 and 1 in his first three games, didn't really give them much of a reason to doubt his potential. It just feels like a little bit of a miss on my part and their part. I feel like I think whichever one is waived, Garand or Corpus Allo, I think that they'll be claimed. So, you know, it's I feel like I would want it to feel like more of a competition than it actually is, you know? Well, do you want him to be the third goalie or the second goalie on the ice with Igor? Because you're splitting the net practice, right? Am I wrong? No, I mean, I think it I think it I think they rotate. Yeah, I think it depends on the day. I think sometimes it's like all rotating and then other times it is like today ahead of a game, you know, Igor had his own own net because he's playing two or three periods tonight. Anyways, yeah, the point is, like, I mean, you could spin it that way. I think it was Corpus Allo was a trade, wasn't it? Yes. One year left. Yes. Let me double check that. Either way, it's I mean, they didn't give up any. They didn't give up. I don't think that I don't think that like, you know, they did Boston a favor because they have Michael. Yeah. He's like, it's his time now because he's done well. He's done better than what what Dylan Grant has done in the American League. But they were like, we have to open up a spot for him behind Swayman because this is what this is the natural order of things. I mean, we have to move on. So almost the Rangers do them a favor by taking them on. But what the Rangers are doing is less about the battle, I think could be wrong, but I think it's less about the battle between Corpus Allo and Grant and more about what if Igor gets hurt in January again? Do you know what I mean? Which which is there's a good which, of course, like, and I've said that his track record, he's good for at least one injury every year, basically, like he's Garrett. It's like it's just his history at this point. He's good for at least one every year. So I get why it is such a big deal, you know, and why there's a hesitant hesitancy there to trust such a young goalie who's so inexperienced in such an important year. I do see it. I do. The Martin and Martin and Grant. But yeah, you want that to be if it's in Corpus Allo. I mean, he had some good games last year. He kind of had a little bit of a bounce back resurgence. So there's 84 games. I don't know. It's only two more games. But the way that the goaltending was trending before that was like 50 to 55 is your number one guy, especially if Igor's having, you know, once a year, something happens to Igor. And, you know, we saw we saw with Igor, we saw it with quickie and then someone to take the line shared. I don't I don't get I don't know all the reasons for it. Maybe it's just because three games is not enough to judge and they didn't love what he was doing in Hartford last year. But but my counter to that would then be there was no reason why Spencer should have been the recall last season. And if you want to point out the fact that Garand wasn't doing that well, I could point the whole freaking team in front of him was a dumpster fire. Like, yeah, exactly. I mean, the team was horrific last year. Like, I just feel like it's unfair to have, you know, to to take that as the reason why they went to Spencer Martin over Dylan Garand at that moment in time. So they could have had five, six games to evaluate Garand off of, but they chose not to. And they only got three. And I just yeah, I mean, I guess I'm more so just coming from a place that we've seen the decisions that they make when it comes to their prospects, their homegrown guys. You know, one of the biggest knocks against the Rangers is their lack of development, their inability to foster confidence. And and that, to me, was such a simple choice to put Garand with the main group to let him know, yes, it is you in Corpus Allo. That second group placement to me told me the decisions made that. That's all I'm saying. Because I think you want to be a group when you only have ten practices. But like my, my counter is like, you know, if they were to wave Corpus Allo and go with Garand, like, I don't necessarily think it would be the biggest loss ever if he were to get claimed just in terms of obviously it would for the depth and like the state of the goaltending. But they only gave up a prospect who's not an NHL or, you know, he's not even a prospect anymore. He was, you know, a very low level guy in the organization. And then a fourth rounder that they basically recouped elsewhere. So it kind of it just, you know, it didn't really feel like that big of a, you know, you know, of a cell to get to bring him in. But I just yeah, I guess I don't know which one I'd if I'm the Rangers, I'd rather lose for nothing because I feel like one way or the other, that's what's going to happen. There's 31 other teams that are going to camp right now that might have an injury. You know, you could have a trade partner. There's a lot of different things. There's a lot of moving parts. You just I think you just the most important things you need to have a backup plan on. I think that's sort of what they're positioning themselves to do. Yeah, no, I definitely think and, you know, this organization has no reason not to have the utmost faith in their goaltending evaluation. I mean, look at their history like they I you know, if there's something that they're seeing with grand, you know, like, I guess I, you know, I wouldn't blame them. But I guess I just I don't know, when they signed for solo, they made this whole big thing about it is a competition, you know, this and it just doesn't feel that way. And I just think that's something that knocks confidence it, you know, it just you want to you talk about setting up all your players for success. And that's the thing that's so fascinating to me is they made that decision with so many other parts of the lineup, but him. So it just Yeah, that was the only thing that was. Yeah. Also, yeah, Corpus Allo has two seasons left on his deal, including this year, at 4 million each. Yeah. So, yeah, so they have an another season in there, you know, too. And and, you know, with Louis de Ming leaving being needed, they did need to bring someone in for sure. I just kind of thought it would be less of a veteran person to kind of give grand more of, you know, make it more feel like a competition. But yeah, like I said, it just hasn't really felt like much. So I guess we'll see how that how that plays out. Because I feel like that's a very interesting one. Yeah. And all right, let's do some predictions. Shall we? Great. Where do you think this Rangers team is going to finish? Brian? I think Washington's a bit scary. Carolina is Carolina. And you know, I'm not as concerned about Philly or Pitt. Yeah. Islanders. I don't know what's happening in Columbus. I love it. Yeah. Yes. So Jersey, it's a team across the river. Might be better. I think they'll be better. But I still think that the players that this Rangers team has with the additions on the back end and what you have in Adam Fox and Gabor Cobb is your top pair and Igor. I don't know if they're going to be in the top three of the Metro, but I don't. I think they're in the playoffs. And people are counting them out. And people are probably thinking I'm crazy or I'm too close to the situation. But I think it's a playoff game just on right now. If you get a little more, what if you get more from lava? Takes a bit. And Perot does what we think he's capable of doing. I'm high on laughing here again. Yeah. And Dorothea is the finisher that JT needs next to him. For sure. And he's yeah, he didn't think the guy scored 12 goals in the playoffs. Like, yeah, I mean, you know, you know, who was like Miller's one of his number one line mates last year, Connor Sherry. Like if you, it just, I, I, yeah, I think, yeah, I think this will be really good. It's a much different looking top six. It really is. I'm in agreement with you. Yeah. I thought if I were to predict, I think that they will comfortably be in a wide wild card spot. I think they'll comfortably be there for, for a decent amount of time. That's my definitive prediction. I'm going to put it comfortably. Yeah. The Atlantic was with, you know, with, with Tampa, Florida and Montreal, it looked really good. And I think Toronto might be a little bit better. I mean, so who knows? I think you're going to try to battle Jersey. You're going to try to battle Jersey. The goaltending is better to get to that top three if you can, but yeah, it's, I think they're a playoff team on paper. And top two players you're excited to watch this season. Oh man. I think Adam Fox might be a little angry with some people at work, which is great. Cause then he'll play it. Awesome. I feel like last season I had a Mika's advantage at Jersey here and it worked wonders for him. So maybe I'll get a Fox Jersey here and it could help him a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. I want, I just, I just want to see JT Miller do well. I want him to just, cause I love how he just is who he is. And I think he's more like the people, the great people of New York and the fans of the Rangers than they realize there's a lot of similarities there. Yeah. I haven't had a chance to say hi to him yet, but I can't wait to ask him how much crap he got from the Rangers for doing that spin chiclets. They couldn't have been happy about that one. Nope. Nope. That's my guess. Uh, I'm going to go with Sean Jersey. I've been high on Sean Jersey since I, like, since I started watching him in the league, honestly, I love, I've always loved him as a player. I think he brings such a fire to the game. He's got a little nastiness to him. And I feel like this team could use way more of that. And I'm, I'm going to go with Lafreniere. I am excited to see a full season of him being the guy, at least in terms of usage. So what he does with it, very excited to see. Um, and maybe last question, uh, will they score in their home opener? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. You want to put money on that? I don't bet. No, I don't either. I don't either. I don't either. I hate that. I can't, I can't do betting. I did. And it was like, cool when you did. And then when you, when I lost, I wanted to like, yeah, I, I can't, I'm not a gambler because I can't see my money disappear that quickly. I'd rather do so like, I don't need it to go even faster. Alrighty. On that note, let's, uh, let's wrap it up. But, uh, thanks so much for listening. Give us a thumbs up down below, comment down below and tell us what your season predictions are for the Rangers and the two players that you're most looking forward to seeing this season. Um, and we'll chat again next week. Looking forward to it.