Can the Rangers once again win the Metropolitan Division?

While everyone is looking forward to the festivities of the All Star Game and taking advantage of the break, management teams from every NHL team are looking to see where they are and what they will need to do to make the playoffs. Things are no different for the Rangers.

New York will be looking to once again finish 1st I the Metropolitan division but with how good Washington has been, it might be a tall task. Even looking at clinching a spot in the playoffs isn't guaranteed right now. Yes they are currently 3rd in the Eastern Conference but are only 4 points up on the 9th place New Jersey Devils. The Rangers do have 1 game in hand.

Considering the Caps are 15 points up on the Rangers with 2 games in hand, we will have to hope they hit a wall to have a chance to win the division so we will focus on what the Rangers will need to do to clinch a playoff spot. They have 59 points and 33 games remaining so if we take what Pittsburgh had in terms of points to clinch the last playoff spot last season, the Rangers would need a minimum of 98 points. So the Blueshirts need 39 points to reach that mark. That would mean the Rangers would have to go 19-13-1 the rest of the way to reach that 98 point mark. New York is 6-3-1 over their last 10 and if that type of play can continue, it shouldn't be too hard.

The Rangers will still have lots of hard work ahead of them, but we should hopefully see them return to the Stanley Cup playoffs once again.