Sweating the Met: Why the Metropolitan Division is wide open for the stretch run

We’re just about at the halfway point of the season and the Metropolitan Division couldn’t be any closer than it is right now. Aside from the Columbus Blue Jackets, who sit all alone as the eighth-place team with a record of 14-21-9 for 37 points and a -31 goal differential, the division appears to be completely up for grabs. 

Even after a big win on Monday against the Canucks, the Blue Jackets found a way to provide drama. After the win, their goaltender Elvis Merzlikins requested a trade.

No disrespect to the Blue Jackets, but I don’t see them having any chance at making a second half push or even coming close to competing for a playoff spot.

Let’s talk about the other seven teams in the division who are only separated by 10 total points.

The New York Rangers have been sitting in first for the majority of the season, but they have seen their cushion dwindle. The Rangers just played in a weekend home-and-home against the Washington Capitals and things haven’t been all that glorious in the Big Apple as of late. After having an incredible first two months of the season, the Rangers have gone 4-5-1 since Christmas and 10-9-1 in their last 20 games. 

The first place team in the division knows how important these divisional matchups are as the second half of the season gets underway. 

“I think I saw something recently about how tight the Metro is right now. It’s like 10 points between the first and seventh teams or whatever it is,” Rangers defenseman Ryan Lindgren told Daily Faceoff. “These points are crucial right now. There’s a lot of good teams in the Metro and we play a lot of them toward the end of the season, so they definitely matter and they’re always fun rivalry games.”

The Washington Capitals have now played 41 games and are sitting in seventh in the division with a record of 20-15-6 along with a total of 46 points. The Capitals haven’t had much drama this season, but they have certainly been riddled with injuries and have been trying to adjust to their new head coach, Spencer Carbery. The Caps are only three points back of the second Wildcard spot in the East and just six points back of the third-place Philadelphia Flyers. Someone who’s familiar with the Metropolitan division is Islanders Beat Reporter for NHL.com and The Hockey News, Stefen Rosner. I sat with Rosner at Madison Square Garden this past Sunday at the Rangers-Capitals game and spoke with him about his outlook on the division. 

“The Metropolitan Division may not be the most talented division in hockey, but it’s certainly the closest in terms of skill set. No team truly runs away with the division and even if they do, as we saw earlier this season, the Rangers’ lead has become rather slim,” Rosner explained. He made a good point in saying that there’s never been a team that runs away with first place in previous years, so why would it be any different this season? 

“Teams like the Philadelphia Flyers are letting it be known that they are here to stay. The Hurricanes are improving. The Washington Capitals, under Spencer Carbery, are finding ways to win without Alex Ovechkin playing to his usual level. The Penguins are getting strong goaltending and Sidney Crosby is off to (one of the best starts) of his career. The Islanders are staying afloat despite their inconsistencies and it looks like it will be another season where the standings come down to the final week of the regular season, which makes the playoff race one for the ages.”

The two teams that were predicted to finish at the top of the division in the preseason were the New Jersey Devils and the Carolina Hurricanes. The Devils have arguably faced the most adversity in the division when it comes to injuries. Jack Hughes, who was on an absolute tear to start the season, has only appeared in 32 of the teams 41 games. Even if nine games doesn’t seem like too much time missed, the Devils forward was on pace to have an MVP season before being injured. Hughes has recorded 15 goals and 30 assists for 45 points in those 32 games played. New Jersey is in desperate need of finding consistent goaltending. They’ve turned to Nico Daws as of late because Vitek Vanecek and Akira Schmid haven’t been able to run away with the starting job. If the Devils find their guy in goal, they’ll be scary. Until then they will just be a good team, not a great team.

As for the Hurricanes, their issue early in the season was keeping the puck out of their own net. That narrative has shifted since Christmas. In that span, the Hurricanes have the fourth-best defensive numbers in the NHL, allowing just 2.00 goals against per game while skating to a 85.2% on the penalty kill. Despite falling to the Los Angeles Kings on Monday afternoon, the Hurricanes have been buzzing. The biggest concern for them is in goal, as their netminders can’t seem to stay healthy.

The New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins have run it back once again with very similar cores to previous years. Both teams have had up-and-down starts to the season, but if they can find some defensive consistency, I wouldn’t be surprised if either makes a surprise run this spring. The Islanders are finally getting consistent goal scoring thanks to the production of Mat Barzal, Bo Horvat and, on the back end, Noah Dobson, who to me belongs in the Norris Trophy conversation with how he has played this season. Crosby and Jake Guentzel are producing at a rapid rate for Pittsburgh, but Guentzel’s name has been floating around as a trade target, so it will be interesting to see what happens with him in the near future.

Peter Laviolette has coached in this division for quite a while and he spoke openly about how important each and every game as well as each point is as the second half of the season gets underway.

“They’re all important, even if they’re not divisional,” he said. “It seems like the division is winning every night. It’s amazing how many streaks are going on in the NHL right now.”

“Teams are winning, so you have to keep pace and you have to find the win column,” Laviolette added. “I think that there are peaks and valleys inside of a season and you just have to maintain a course. Try to fix things and make things right, but everybody is going to deal with something at some point. I thought our guys stayed focused and fought through it today and got us a win to start the second half.”

The Rangers have been the team to beat in the Metropolitan division for the majority of the year, but there is a lot of hockey to be played.

Strap in for the second half, because this division can go to anyone.

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