The Daily Faceoff Show: Who is the best team in the Metropolitan Division?

Tuesday night saw an amazing showdown between the Carolina Hurricanes and New York Rangers competing for the top spot in the Metropolitan Division. The Hurricanes pulled ahead with a 4-2 win, and gave them a four point lead on the Rangers in the division standings with just eight games left in the season for both teams.

With this win seemingly cementing the Hurricanes as the class of the Metropolitan Division, Matt Larkin and Scott Burnside talked on the Daily Faceoff Show about which Metro team truly is the best.

Burnside: “It’s a good question, and I do provide some content for the Hurricanes and spend some time down there, and I think it’s a little premature to say they’ve pulled away from the pack. That was a critical win in New York, fell behind early against the Rangers and came back to win that game. I think they’ll end up in first place in the Metropolitan Division.

I can tell you though, and no teams will ever tell you honestly who they would prefer to play in the playoffs, but the way that Pittsburgh is playing, with all due respect to the Penguins, you might actually be further ahead to finish second in the Metro, play the Penguins in the first round. The first place seed, at this point Carolina, is likely going to draw Tampa or Boston. That’s a tough nut to crack in that first round, even as a division winner.

But I think with Carolina is like a lot of teams, especially in the East, that have gone a little bit sideways, maybe played a little bit under expectations for the last month or so. I think that’s a function of that we’ve known who the top eight teams are going to be in the Eastern Conference literally for weeks. I think it’s understandable that we’ve seen Carolina, Pittsburgh, Washington, although they’re on fire now, certainly Tampa Bay has had a lot of discussion about their level of play. I think Carolina fits into that group.

I was talking to Rick Tocchet, a longtime NHL coach and analyst with TNT, and he said that he felt that Carolina’s in an interesting spot down the stretch, because they’re still trying to prove to themselves, and to everyone, that they are an elite team. But he felt with the structure under head coach Rod Brind’Amour, that that will supersede any kind of slight sideways drift with eight or ten or twelve games left in the regular season. So, he didn’t anticipate a problem for the Hurricanes ramping it up come playoff time.

I do think they end up in first place, but that whole Eastern Conference is going to be tough, especially with Washington playing as well as they are right now. But yeah, I think the Canes end up with the number two seed and the number one spot in the Metropolitan Division.”

Larkin: “I think you’re probably right, the question is do they go all the way or at least to the end of their side of the bracket. I do think you have to keep a close eye on the New York Rangers. I know the analytical numbers suggest that they’ve been bailed out a lot by Igor Shesterkin, but if you look at the way that Chris Drury has built that team, bringing in guys like Ryan Reaves and Barclay Goodrow, this team can play heavy in the playoffs. Chris Kreider, of course, 50 goals and still a very physical player. Jacob Trouba. And the star talent, guys like Adam Fox, and of course Shesterkin can steal a series himself, so they’re going to be a tough out, just based on that high end talent. You have to watch out for the Rangers, even though they took one on the chin last night.”

You can watch the full episode here…