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Understand this: The road to the Stanley Cup, let alone to the playoffs, will become exponentially more difficult for the Rangers, Islanders and Devils to travel upon inception next season of the NHL’s four-conference radical realignment plan that was overwhelmingly passed Monday night by the Board of Governors.
Everything is cyclical in sports, that’s true — one only has to consider how dramatically the once-mighty Devils have fallen over the past few seasons to support that axiom — but it doesn’t take a seer to see the degree of difficulty that will confront our three local teams beginning in 2012-13.
There will be fratricide in the as-yet-unnamed conference in which the Rangers, Islanders, Devils, Flyers, Penguins, Capitals and Hurricanes will compete for four playoff spots and then further compete in the first two rounds of the tournament in a return to the postseason format that essentially existed from 1981-1993.
In simple terms: In order for the Rangers, Islanders and Devils to all make the playoffs (a happenstance about as rare anyway as John Tortorella patting Sean Avery on the back, the trifecta occurring just three times since the Colorado Rockies moved to New Jersey in 1982), then two out of three among the Flyers, Penguins and Capitals would have to miss.
Craig Patrick and Herb Brooks had a pretty good thing going in the early 1980s with that band of Smurfs they had on Broadway. But the Rangers had the misfortune of being locked in the Patrick Division with arguably the greatest team and dynasty in NHL history — the Islanders who won four straight Cups and 19 straight playoff series. The Rangers thus found their path blocked while lesser teams were able to get through to the tournament semis.
Of course, the Rangers were not the only strong team to find their path to glory blocked by a dynastic foe back in the day, for both the Flames and Jets had to contend with the Oilers within the Smythe Division.
The Rangers have built a pretty good foundation for themselves here. The organization appears reasonably deep. Presuming they are able to keep Henrik Lundqvist when the King’s contract expires following 2013-14, they are in good position.
But the Devils? Oh, boy, are they in for it. And the Islanders? Well, their young guys better grow up in a hurry.
It is impossible to think of a single benefit that will accrue to the Rangers, Islanders and Devils — and by extension, their respective fan bases — under this new plan that does seem to have the potential to be a boon for clubs in the central time zone.
Under the current system, the three local teams play seven or eight games a year out of the Eastern time zone. Beginning next season, they will play 14 annually upon the adoption of a home-and-home against every club in the league outside the conference.
For the first time ever, the Bruins and Canadiens will visit only one time apiece. Instead, a steady stream of visits from the Predators, Blues, Blue Jackets and Wild will dot the home schedule, with out-of-conference matches comprising 23 of the 41 dates at the Garden, Coliseum and the Rock.
This in the new reality facing the Rangers, Islanders, Devils and their fans. The NHL gave to the Midwestern clubs, took from the foundation of the old Patrick Division and the old Adams that featured the Bruins, Canadiens and Sabres.
There is, though, one way it can get worse for our three teams, and it is this: If they will be forced to play in a conference named for Mario Lemieux.
* The Rangers, who were off yesterday and face the Lightning at the Garden tomorrow night, will provide an update on Michael Sauer’s condition today. The defenseman left Monday night’s 4-2 Garden defeat to Toronto after being crushed along the boards on a thunderous high hit from Dion Phaneuf with 4:42 remaining in the match.