The Hudson River rivalry gets a renewal in what looks to be the closest first round matchup.
While other teams made more additions at the trade deadline than the Devils and Rangers, it’s safe to say that no one added more in terms of quality than these two teams. The Devils went after the guy who in my opinion was the best player available at the deadline in Meier, while the Rangers doubled-down on big names with Cup-winning experience in Tarasenko and Kane.
While the Rangers have the bigger offense by name, the Devils have some names that don’t jump out at you as much, but they’re all either in their primse or entering their primes and might actually be better than the Rangers group, especially in the top six. Jack Hughes is the Devils biggest advantage, as he is the best skater in this series and brings a dynamic of talent and two-way play that no one on the Rangers can really match.
Up front, they’ve only had one line combination play more than 50 minutes of even strength ice time together that didn’t have a positive expected goal share, so that group can also handle its own as well. Hischier in particular has stepped up as an excellent two-way presence in that top six, but the Hughes line is no slouch in that regard either. And their penalty kill group is certainly one that can handle the Rangers offense, as theirs was the fourth best this year.
It’s a good thing they do, because beyond that, there are plenty of holes defensively. Not that the Rangers struggle to defend like last year’s rendition of the team, but the rest of the lineup is littered with players and combos in the 48-52% range, so not a ton of impact in the lineup in terms of pure domination outside of Fox. That’s not entirely bad, you can survive with a team like that, but the Devils are possession monsters, so they won’t give the Rangers too much room to breathe.
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