It's going to be a long, uncertain offseason for Chris Kreider and the Rangers.

It’s going to be a long, uncertain offseason for Chris Kreider and the Rangers.Andrew Mordzynski/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Hurricanes: Clutchless

You have to hand it to the Hurricanes’ depth players, like Jordan Martinook who came up with 10 points in the series against the Devils: They really did everything they could. Under head coach Rod Brind’Amour, you’re generally going to get a consistently “all-in” effort to a man on this team.

But Brind’Amour couldn’t bring injured star forwards Andrei Svechnikov or Max Pacioretty back, and as the Panthers completed the Eastern Conference Final sweep Wednesday, it was clear that finishing touch is exactly what was missing for the Canes.

Should they have done more at the trade deadline for finishing touch insurance? This has been a common criticism since deadline day, but then you look at a team like the Rangers who went all in and still lost in the first round. Maybe it’s simply a matter of Svechnikov returning to health and re-signing Pacioretty, but the recurring theme of Carolina’s scoring drying up as playoff series go on has been their achilles heel throughout their recent playoff trips.

Devils: Cooking

The lopsided scoring nature of the Hurricanes-Devils second-round series aged a bit poorly for the Devils now that Carolina couldn’t buy a goal in the Eastern Conference Final.

It makes for further evidence for New Jersey that goaltending is the only thing holding an exciting offensive team back now. It was super encouraging to watch the young core take the next step and thrive under relatively low pressure. Underlying metrics aren’t as meaningful in the playoffs when you’re 1. just trying to live another day and 2. working with a significantly smaller sample size, but the dominance we saw from Jack Hughes (OK, not against the Canes in those wacky games) and Co. have me convinced this is a team on the rise with nowhere to go but up. That is, if rookie goaltender Akira Schmidt fine-tunes his game and/or they seek out a proven goaltender, they can improve the power play, and figure out contract extensions for players like Jesper Bratt and Timo Meier.

With a playoff round won and one lost now under their belts, the Devils are officially cooking in the potential perennial playoff team kitchen.


Rangers: Disappointing?

The Rangers had the biggest trade deadline splash we’ve seen in ages, acquiring veteran playoff stars Patrick Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko among others. It didn’t matter, as their scrappy, young rivals across the Hudson came back from a 0-2 series deficit to facilitate their first-round exit.

In retrospect, it’s obvious our expectations got a bit too high for the Rangers after the trade deadline. Kane and Tarasenko weren’t the sole reason they lost, but their twilight years and power-play prowess just weren’t enough to overcome the inconsistencies that had been plaguing this team all year. Then there was the fact that this conference was full to the brim with contenders, the randomness of a seven-game series, and the Devils’ ability to solve Igor Shesterkin.

I put a question mark at the end of “disappointing” because if I’m the Rangers, I don’t regret going all in at the trade deadline. They only gave up one of their two first-round picks and had plenty of salary retention help.

The question mark could turn into a period if they don’t have a great offseason.


Islanders: Ugly

For the record, I was riding with the New York Islanders when most weren’t. With Vezina finalist Ilya Sorokin in net, Mat Barzal’s return, and the out-of-nowhere Bo Horvat acquisition, I wondered if this team had the makings of the Cinderella story of the postseason.

That ended up being Florida’s title to claim. Despite games that looked close on paper and two overtime coin flips, the Islanders were no match for the Hurricanes’ speed. At their worst, they resorted to a frankly unenjoyable and muddy style to stay in it. It’s not entirely the players’ fault, who were probably trying their best under the circumstances.

Between their brutal power play and lack of production, the Islanders in their current state just couldn’t hang. Maybe a fully healthy Barzal and a more comfortable Horvat will be a different story next season, and I enjoyed the evolution of Barzal’s two-way game throughout the 2022-23 regular season. But maybe they need more juice upfront that their current cap situation just doesn’t allow.

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