As the NHL reaches its usual Thanksgiving checkpoint, the New York Rangers (12-11-2) find themselves below the playoff line and at the bottom of the Metropolitan Division — not precisely the spot fans wanted to see on a holiday built on comfort and calm.
In years past, this would have set off alarm bells across the fan base. Thanksgiving usually acts as an unofficial line in the sand: if your team wasn't in a playoff spot by the holiday, history suggested you weren't getting in at all. That belief didn't come out of nowhere. For much of the salary-cap era, roughly three-quarters of teams in a playoff spot on Thanksgiving eventually made the postseason.