Here are 25 thoughts from The Maven on where the Rangers currently stand.
1. The post-defeat cry goes like this: "GET BRADY TKACHUK FROM OTTAWA. It's as if the Senators want to give up its foundation captain.
2. Just for the heck of it, I'm gonna check with my buddy, Senators' coach Travis Green, but I'm convinced that there's no way the Sens will deal Brady.
3. He's the heart and soul of a growing team; same as his big brother with the Cup Finalist Panthers.
4. One thoughtful line explaining the Rangers third-round failure is that it had little to do with coaching and all about the "Core" players not coming through."
5. My buddy, Matthew Blittner hit it right with this: "Three coaches – Quinn, Gallant, Lavvy – have all tried to get the "Core" to play a certain way. None have succeeded. That tells me it's the players not the coaches.
6. Peter Laviolette stays, no matter what. The 'no matter what' ends next spring. His Rangers either win the 2025 Stanley Cup or lose it. Failure to win=pink slip.
7. When all's said and done we have to concede that the club's offensive weakness remains the lack of a top-level – I mean highest level – center; one notch above Vincent Trocheck quality.
8. I love Trocheck's game. He's very effective. He scores, he produces helpers and wins faceoffs but he's not a strong, tough guy. That's a debit against a team like Florida in the playoffs.
9. One solution: Next season put Big Al Lafrenière at center and surround him with two tough forwards.
10. The Rangers had no answer for Aleksander Barkov. As one of my Rangers fan chums puts it: "He made all our guys look like rag dolls."
11. Suggestion for one of the Vegas parlors: Which Cup-starved team will win Stanley first – the (57 years and waiting) Leafs or going on 31 years Rangers.
12. The Maven says Rangers because I don't think it will ever happen for Toronto. Never-ever. (There is such a thing as tradition).
13. When the Leafs were winning Cups, Conn Smythe's theme was, "If you can't beat 'em in the alley, you can't beat 'em on the ice."
14. In Toronto they later upped the theme to "Guts, Goals and Glamour."
15. Florida has passion, grit and skill. The Rangers had one element – skill.
16. The Maven's final say on the mystical comparisons between the current non-Cup club and the 1994 winners: Messier's team was overloaded with skill and grit.
17. Names like Noonan, Larmer, Graves, MacTavish, Lowe, Tikanen cannot be matched with the contemporary club. Not even close.
18. Wouldn't you just love to be Almost-Smythe-Trophy-winner Igor Shesterkin's agent?
19. Once the contract is done The Maven is going to change his nickname from "Iggy" to "Break The (MSG) Bank Shesty."
20. Hey! Come to think of it, Matt Rempe's rep's chat with Chris Drury figures to make the GM squirm a bit. (Maybe more than a bit.)
21. A Glamour Boy is a Glamour Boy and this kid is that kind of beast. Rock Star=$.
22. This is why my calling the Rangers "Destiny's Team" has to be reduced to "Tiny's Team." They lost to Florida because, as one scout put it, "The team stopped skating hard and making good, smart plays."
23. The Rangers "contract" with Lady Luck ran out when the series with Florida was2-1 for the Blueshirts.
24. Once and for all, we must dump the line "Home Ice Advantage" into the round file and forget about it. Teams are not afraid to play in Madison Square Garden. Period!
25. My Rangers Three Stars Of The Florida series: 1. Igor Shesterkin: 2. Big Al Lafrenière; 3. Ryan Lindgren. (Honorable Mention: Vincent Trocheck.)