After losing in the Eastern Conference Final, the Rangers still have a lot to learn.
The Florida Panthers are still celebrating their unprecedented Stanley Cup triumph. By contrast, the Rangers still are pining for what is not.
For every Blueshirts – not to mention the franchise's fans – there are lessons to be learned from Stanley's tourney, Viz and To Wit:
1. Virtually anything is possible, from The First Round To The Finish. Even the Oilers – and not the Rangers – going to the Stanley Cup Final.
2. New York's easy victory over Washington led many to believe that New York had a juggernaut. In the end, it had a top-flight goaltender and not much beyond that but Vincent Trocheck and Long Live Lindgren.
3. A mediocre goalie such as the Canes and Oilers had, can only take a club so far.
4. Meanwhile, a superior netminder such as Igor Shesterkin can only carry his team through a second round. Once his high-paid teammates let him down. (Yoo-hoo, Moo-hoo, Breadman!)
5. An old – yet competent and inspired – goalie such as Bob can go the route while a younger ace like Shessty is stopped in the third round. Big lesson when it comes to goalkeeping; age ain't everything!
6. A senior coach such as Paul Maurice is a lot smarter than his contemporaries such as Peter Laviolette and Edmonton's young whippersnapper. Maurice trained his men right. The others are what is known as runners-up; also defined as "Losers."
7. Sunrise, the smallest – and warmest – NHL city can -- and did -- win hockey's biggest prize. The Alberta metropolis called Edmonton will have to wait until who knows when?
8. Had the Rangers been in the seventh game of the The Final and then lost, and Jacob Trouba had won The Conn Smythe Trophy, the New York captain would have had the decency – despite his team's loss – to show up on the ice and not duck the alien crowd!
9. Some of us would call it "New York Class."
10. Ditto for "Florida Class." (I'm not sure how they feel about McD's Smythe's no-show at the end in beautiful Downtown Edmonton!) Then again, at this point, who cares?