I'm not convinced either. In the NHL playoffs you really never know. In the NBA you know the top teams win in round 1...period. In the NHL that is no lock. Double so when you factor in the ridiculous playoff seeding system the NHL uses where 4 of the top 6 teams in the whole NHL will be in the same half of the East bracket, 2 will play in round 1.
The Rangers could very easily play the Pens in round 1 again. That is why I wouldn't mind at all if the BJ's beat the Rangers tonight. No doubt to me getting into the weaker Atlantic bracket and playing Montreal or Ottawa in round 1, and Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, or Boston in round 2 is a much better path than Pitt/Wash in rounds 1 and 2. Not that it would be an easy series in round 1 against Montreal let's say, but there are no easy series in the NHL playoffs, so you just hope for the best road, and the Atlantic is by far that. With that said with 21 games left it is still way early to get too hung up on it yet. A win or loss tonight doesn't lock anything in, but this is one game I wouldn't mind an L in.
As for the team, I do truly believe if the Rangers got an upgrade on D they would be a legit SC contender. Right now they are a top 5 or so team, so if they upgrade the D they clearly would be a top team. It comes back to price you'd need to pay (no 1st should be dealt), and path you draw to go on a long run (good luck to any team having to play the Pens and Caps in rounds 1 and 2).
I am a big believer that scoring depth is huge in the NHL playoffs unless you have total studs all over your top 6. And we have maybe more scoring depth than any team in the NHL this season. Look at the SCF run in 2014...a big part of our special sauce that season was a 3rd line that had Pouliot/Brass/Zucc on it. This season we have Grabner/Hayes/Miller on the 3rd line. Same sort of awesome depth. And a 4th line that can contribute as well. That is huge come playoff time. If we can upgrade our D to go with that depth, and Hank in goal there is no reason a long run can't happen. And oh BTW we could still lose in round 1 no doubt, Met or Atlantic bracket, again there are no guarantees in the NHL playoffs. The beauty and curse of it.
If we upgrade on D my concerns would be:
Special Teams. The PK has improved, but still is ranked 14th, which is not good enough. Need to improve there as the playoffs get closer. And the PP has fallen off a cliff again. To me one of those units needs to be very good in order to go far in the SC playoffs, OR they both need to be solid. If both struggle you have virtually no shot to go far. I have some hope here we can play well, especially on the PK, and it needs to happen. We have good PK players, just need to be consistent and clear the puck when given the chance. Recently we have been a little caught up in making plays to try and score SH goals. Get it out.
Face-offs. It is an issue. You cannot lose faceoff after faceoff, especially in your own zone (especially on the PK) and expect to win playoff games against the best teams. Your possession #'s get crushed, and the more the other team has the puck the more bad things can happen to you. We need to be better on face-offs, but at this point I have almost no hope this happens, we sort of are what we are there, and we need to hope Ziban can win a lot of draws for this team during the playoff run. He is by far our best FO guy, followed by Lindberg who may be counted on more come playoff time.
So to me the opportunity is there if we can improve this D. No reason we cannot make a long run, especially if we get into the Atlantic bracket (we'd be the favorite I think). But, as I said above, we could also easily lose in round 1. Welcome to the NHL playoffs I guess. I would look to upgrade on D (for the right price which means no 1st), and then let the chips fall where they may.