Carolina Hurricanes: Heroes to the Rangers’ Villains.

The Carolina Hurricanes are going into the play-in round as heroes.

The Carolina Hurricanes and the New York Rangers will play each other in a perfect “heroes vs villains” matchup when playoffs return.

With each passing day, the New York Rangers are slowly becoming one of the most hated franchises in the league. While its nothing new to hate on a team from one of the biggest cities in the world with a large fanbase, for once, the fans have nothing to do with it. The team’s management and leadership, or lack thereof, is the main culprit.

On the other hand, the Carolina Hurricanes have been winning the hearts of hockey fans all across the globe. From their Storm Surges to social media handling to heartwarming tales of EBUGs, the Canes have been the sweetheart of the league. That has made the upcoming matchup to start the play-in round an almost perfect storm.

After all, how can you root for the Rangers after this hollow message:

On the other hand, the Carolina Hurricanes have had the words “Black Lives Matter” as their twitter bio for the last two weeks and have made it absolutely clear where they stand on racial justice. The clear heroes in this impending matchup.

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It just might be a good thing that the Rangers don’t have a mascot and remain the only team in the league without out. Other than the fact that New York Teams more often than not do not have a mascot (Giants, Jets, Knicks, and Yankees all do not have a mascot either), what an organization as outdated and uncreative as the Rangers would come up with would probably leave Gritty traumatized.

But there is more to this story than just the Rangers having the worst social media presence in the league. Tony De’Angelo has also “outed” himself on his new podcast “Watch your Tone”, which was promised to be unfiltered without any “political correctness”. That was already a bad start before it even aired, and believe it or not, it got worse from there.

De’Angelo has been hailed as a hero for those who want hockey to remain the way it has always been; racist and misogynistic. Which naturally makes him a villain to just about anyone with an active functioning brain cell.

Now am I saying that Tony is a racist or a misogynist? Not at all, but just take a look at his statement after the Floyd murder to take a look at the thought process of the man:

Notice how he finishes it will a very defensive statement. This isn’t unique to DeAngelo who has been defensive and unapologetic about everything. The Rangers have been going around blocking hockey fans who have called out their empty statement.

Also, let’s not forget about an actual victim of the way the New York Rangers operate and the lack of responsibility they take. K’Andre Miller, a young black prominent prospect for the Rangers was, on a live chat open to the fanbase, subject to racist slurs while the team basically did nothing. It was horrifying to watch and it will be something he will never forget.

When the puck finally drops between the Carolina Hurricanes and the New York Rangers, many in the league will be rooting for the team in red over the team in blue. Sure, the two teams are pretty well matched, and with the long break, both will be at full strength, but there is extra reasoning for the Carolina Hurricanes to send the Rangers packing.

The Rangers will have a rude awakening waiting for them as they realize that regular-season records mean nothing in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. It doesn’t matter that the Carolina Hurricanes are the underdogs on the betting sheet, they will be the champions of many who oppose racial injustice.