We almost had a Rangers-Blackhawks Stanley Cup Final in back-to-back seasons, but the Blackhawks lost Game 7 in their conference finals the first year and the Rangers lost Game 7 in their conference finals in the second year. Now it seems like it’s going to be a long, long time until the next time the Rangers and Blackhawks will both be contenders at the same time, and it’s more because of the Blackhawks’ future than the Rangers.

Chief of Barstool Sports joined me to talk about the Blackhawks trading Artemi Panarin and all the roster decisions made by Stan Bowman over the last few seasons, the Blackhawks’ front office dynamics, wasting the remaining prime years of Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews, the future for Brent Seabrook and when the Blackhawks will be back to being both a playoff team and a contender.

It’s losses like the one the Rangers suffered to the Blue Jackets at the Garden a few weeks ago that keep bubble teams out of the playoffs. It’s games like the one between the Rangers and Blue Jackets in Columbus on Friday night that could be the difference in playing an 83rd game or not. The all-important, four-point swing within the division and wild-card race will be present, and the Rangers have to win to keep their postseason dream alive.

Blue Jackets team reporter Jeff Svoboda joined me to talk about the surprising play of this season’s Blue Jackets, the void left by Artemi Panarin, the decision to not sign Sergei Bobrovsky, the team’s never-ending injury bug in, the differences between John Tortorella in New York and Columbus and what the roster will look like after the trade deadline.

While the Rangers were picking up a 4-1 win over the Kings on Sunday night at the Garden, I couldn’t help but think back to nearly six years ago when the two teams met in the Cup Final. I preached back then about the Rangers needing to win that series because you never know when or if the team is going to get back there, and since then, they haven’t been back. While the Rangers have been rebuilding for the last few seasons, the Kings have started their own rebuild as well. The difference is Kings fans can look back on recent happy memories as their team got the job done during its window of opportunity.

Jesse Cohen of All The Kings Men joined me to talk about the Kings’ trade of Jack Campbell and Kyle Clifford to Toronto, what’s happened to the team since their last championship, the team’s recent head coach carousel, if the franchise’s organizational shift is the right plan, why Ilya Kovalchuk didn’t work out in Los Angeles and current Kings who might not be Kings two weeks from now.