Rangers and Sharks heading in opposite directions and could be fitting trade partners
LOS ANGELES — On Friday, the Rangers will face a Sharks team that is finally making a racket after years of purgatory.Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Mollie Walker about the inside buzz on the Rangers.
The matchup feels like a sudden inversion.At the end of just last season, the Sharks were in the exact same position the Blueshirts are in now: dead last in their conference.
While the Rangers have been on a downward trajectory, San Jose is beginning to reap the benefits of their rebuilding process.The Rangers, on the other hand, just entered a retooling phase.A young and promising Sharks core coming into its own has prompted an organizational shift.At some point, the Rangers could very well do some business with their upcoming opponents.“They’re a team that hasn’t had a lot of expectations, so there’s not a lot of pressure,” head coach Mike Sullivan said of the Sharks after practice Thursday afternoon in El Segundo, Calif.“They’re an emerging group.
I think they have a young Sidney Crosby in [Macklin] Celebrini.That’s who he reminds me of, with the way he plays the game and his passion to play the game a certain way.
“But he not only has elite skill, but he’s got an elite work ethic.And that’s most specifically what reminds me of the way Sid approached the game.
When you have an emerging superstar like that, I think they’re going to make noise because of that.It doesn’t just end with him.
They’ve got a lot of young talent.”The Sharks entered Friday’s game on the cusp of the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference.Tied with the Kraken in points (53) and points percentage (.541), San Jose is in prime position to add to its roster and make a push to end the team’s six-year playoff drought.They’re a fun team to watch.
Between Celebrini, Will Smith and William Eklund, the youth movement in Northern California has picked up.Former Rangers veterans Barclay ...