he played a good game in his buffalo debut, then went invisible for several games, then got a groin pull and sat out. that is him in a nutshell.

I have seen both players a lot, and Avery is way more of a winning factor and team uplifting catalyst than Bernier is, believe me.

1. Shanahan has 7 goals in his last 20 games.
2. Straka has 2.
3. They are both 35+ years old and have played PP, PK and ES minutes, which takes a toll.
4. If there’s an injury, do you want a player inserted into a playoff lineup that hasn’t seen any game action for 1+ months? I don’t.

You riff and rant and whine about other people’s realistic arguments and insert your own wild innuendo as if we should all bow to your fountain of knowledge.

You can be a blind faith fan if you want, it doesn’t mean you have to knock those who have worries about the team based on fact. WANTING the team to win is one thing…Believing they CAN win is something entirely different. If you watch games and think this team, playing as it is now, can make a DEEP playoff run, then you don’t really know anything about the sport.

..........

Hey, I do hear you on that, and it is absolutely a fair criticism. Believe me, I have actual guilt about that. End of the day, I’m still a Ranger fan. Maybe just a harsh parent who expects my “kid” to be the best though.

All I can say is I want to be proud of the team, for real…the funny thing is they don’t have to neccesarily win for me to be proud of them… they just have to play like they are interested in beating teams and proving everyone wrong (or right?).

True, but we always seem to play like absolute “Sugar Honey Iced Tea” against them. That’s my only motivation in wanting to avoid them.

As for Ottawa, they slumped for a while, but on any given night are the most dangerous team in the East. Their biggest weakness remains in between the pipes, but I think that’s why they would match well against us, since the Rangers have a habit of making B level goaltenders look like Vezina winners.

You mention Carolina, and while I would agree, I think that they are too weak defensively to compete effectively in the playoffs. I think even our lame PP would be able to destroy their even lamer PK.

I’ll be glad to help, but it’s really no use. I can’t try to change their minds anymore. If people don’t want to enjoy this team, they don’t have to. The people who doubt their team and bitch to other Ranger fans about this guy sux, that guy sux, are the same one’s who turn around and bash the other local teams to their fans.

It’s easier for them to say “I told you so” when their team doesn’t win a championship b/c the odds are in their favor to be correct. I DO think that positive fans are better fans. There’s nothing physical to prove that. It’s an emotional connection to something that you love. Win or lose, I love the Rangers.

Pavel – good thing it’s not pre-2004 anymore huh? It’s 2008 and we’re a few points out of the conference lead.

We’ve earned the most points over any 13 game stretch that any other team in the NHL has this year. This team does not suck. To the contrary, we’re playing our best hockey at THE most important time of the regular season.

The playoffs are anyone’s. Detroit is going to hobble in with injuries to some of their top players. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them exit in round 1 … again. Haven’t we learned anything from seeing them win the Pres trophy year after year? I actually think it’ll be Ana or CGY in the finals from the west. (I picked cgy at the start of the season, so I have to stick with it).

The East is ABSOLUTELY any (of the top 6)team’s for the taking right now. Regular season and playoffs.

Then we were within 7 secs of beating the Sabres. We took the sting out of the Sabres that allowed Ottawa to beat them, IMHO.

This year with Carolina going 8-1-1 in their last 10 I find it hard to think they are not a playoff worthy team.

I still firmly believe in a 7 game series, I like our chances versus anyone in our conference.