I'll tell you why I'm starting to worry about the Rangers.
It started with a note I received and a few more after that. But the most troubling came from Cosmo Leone who I never met before but who's a friend of my pal Dan Reagan.
Leone is a long time Rangers fan who happens to be fed up with a team he had hoped to have played better than the one at the bottom of the Met Division.
Cosmo said a few things but the statement that infuriated me went this way: "I'm troubled by the Rangers' lack of effort."
LACK OF EFFORT???
What the heck is wrong with these skaters wearing pale blue? Is asking for 100% effort over a 60-minute game too much to ask?
Leone is merely echoing a growing sentiment of disenchantment that could make this season even worse than last.
"After the loss to the Avs, the Rangers record is 10-10-2," points out Jess Rubenstein. "But last year at this exact time the Rangers were 12-5-1. Given that the Rangers fell apart in the second half, how can Chris Drury be allowed to keep his job if the results will not improve?"
(I already assured Jess that Chris Drury will keep his job, no matter what.)
Getting back to the "lack of effort" issue, it reminded me of former MSG Networks tv analyst Joe Micheletti's analysis of last year's losers. "They lacked spirit." Which is the same as "lack of effort."
That's on Mike Sullivan, the coach who was last seen advising Artemi Panarin that it wouldn't hurt to backcheck once in a while.
"I wish I had your optimism," Rubenstein wrote me today, "but when I watch Panarin make a boneheaded rookie play that costs them a goal, I can't."
Looking For A Blueshirt Miracle In Colorado And Finding Zilch
Yesterday, The Maven made it clear that it would take a miracle for the <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/new-york-rangers">Rangers</a> to visit Denver's Ball Center and emerge with a victory.against the sizzling hot Avalanche.
When The Maven looks at the roster, I still say that there's a mix of vets and youth, plenty of talent and a solid goalkeeping pair. But my buddies mock my optimism.
"They just aren't that good," says Bernie Rohde. "They aren't deep enough to skate with the top teams in the league. As for Sullivan, he doesn't have Crosby or Malkin this time around."
Sullivan's disease is "Coachitis," according to Jess, and it afflicts a team with an inept roster.
Rubenstein: "Symptoms include never keeping lines together for even a full game; fear of using their time-out in the first period, and refusing to bench a star he stinks."
I'm a heckuva lot more worried about what Cosmo Leone said; "LACK OF EFFORT!"