The Chicago Blackhawks are the best team left in the NHL playoffs

C1-Hawks’ PossessionCon argues that the Hawks missed the net more than the Rangers. That is true, but the Hawks also had more shooting attempts than the Rangers. Using Fenwick to measure shooting attempts (which is the same as corsi, except it doesn’t account for blocked shots), to stay consistent, the Hawks hit the net 2182 out of 2900 attempts, or 75.2% of the time. (1) Meanwhile, the Rangers hit the net 2025 out of 2729 attempts, or 74.2% of the time. (1) The difference is fairly minor, but it still favours the Hawks of hitting the net at higher rate. Therefore, the Hawks were not only able to the out-shoot the Rangers, but also hit the net at a higher rate.Con also argues that the Rangers got more shorthanded goals and had more shots on the penalty kill. Although the Rangers had a more successful penalty kill, the Blackhawks were able to both draw more penalties and take less penalties than the Rangers. (2) This is critical in the playoffs when, in general, there are less penalties called and one powerplay can make a huge difference, even if not generating a goal, in a momentum swing, so discipline can come through.R1-Goals/C3-DepthThese points go together, so I’ll address them together. Con cites how the Rangers had more depth goal scoring throughout the season (which also led to more goals). That is true, however, a lot of the times a team’s depth doesn’t show up until the playoffs. No better example of this than last year’s Cup champions, the LA Kings. With the exception of Kopitar with 70 points, no one on that team had over 50 points. (6) Observing the Hawks lineup, they have gotten plenty of goal scoring from their top 2 lines already, with Toews and Kane playing on separate lines, with the rest of their linemates chipping in, not only on the point sheet, but through other things such as Hossa’s two way play or Bickell’s physicality. Then there is their 3rd line, which is interesting, as it was just formed this playoff run, and could be a major factor. It includes Sharp, Vermette, and Teuvo Teravainen. Sharp has performed very well this playoff run and historically has proved to be a solid player, scoring 78 points last season. However, he suffered from injuries and lackluster play this season which was a big factor in the Hawks not scoring as much, but he is clearly showing up now. Vermette is also interesting as he didn’t even become a Blackhawk until the Trade Deadline when he was traded from the Arizona Coyotes. He had trouble fitting into the Hawks system when he came, but he was an effective player in Arizona, centering their first line. (7) Finally, is the 4th line containing physical grinder Andrew Desjardins, two way center Marcus Kruger, and winger Andrew Shaw. Shaw has been producing well this playoff run (although many of his points most likely came from the powerplay). It is clear, that when it actually counts, the Blackhawks are a very deep team that can score. However, the Rangers have not seen many players spike up in production and in fact, many have seen their production decline in the playoffs (keep in mind the Rangers have gotten a couple higher scoring games since this debate was created). (8) Therefore, the Hawks are a much deeper team and a bigger offensive threat during the playoffs than the Rangers, even if regular season stats don’t suggest that.R2-President’s TrophyCon mentions how the Rangers won the President’s Trophy and came into the playoffs with a stronger record. However, the President’s Trophy doesn’t necessarily mean anything when it comes to playoff performance. Since the lockout season in 2004/05 only two President’s Trophy winners have won the Cup (the Hawks being one of them). (3) In fact, certain teams such as the LA Kings for the past 3 years who would always have relatively weak regular seasons and then turn it on for the playoffs, making it to the Conference Finals all 3 years and winning 2 cups. The Blackhawks aren’t different as they’ve proved recently. Despite finishing only 3rd in their division this year and last year, they were still able to make it to the Conference Finals last year and are poised to again this year (technically they haven’t eliminated the Wild yet). This can be seen from players like Kane and Toews seeing their point totals spike up come playoff time, year after year, as pointed out last round. The reason for this, is because teams may not always put a full effort in during the regular season, as they are “saving” for the playoffs. As for the record going into the playoffs, the Hawks were dealing with the injury to Kane, but any record going in is meaningless now as they’re in the 2nd round. Overall, the President’s Trophy is meaningless once the playoffs start and teams that have weaker regular seasons can have amazing playoff runs.C2-Playoff ExperienceCon cites how last year the Rangers were able to get further than the Blackhawks. However, one can easily argue that the Hawks could have went just as far in the same position. Last year was the Kings’ year and many would agree that they would have defeated any team in their path. The Hawks made it as far as they could until facing the Kings, as did the Rangers. However, the Hawks/Kings series was really close, having to be decided in game 7 OT. The Rangers, on the other hand, only managed one win against the Kings and were often outshot and outplayed badly. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume the Hawks would have went to the Cup Finals too in the Rangers' situation. At this point, it is too early to determine much from the second round series, so I’ll focus on the first round series. Con mentions how the Penguins are a much more experienced team than the Predators. However, this is not the same Penguins team that dominated the league for years. They were suffering major injuries on top defenseman Kris Letang and other D-Man, Christian Ehrhoff, Olli Maatta, and Derrick Pouliot. Adding to the broken blue line was not having defenseman Matt Niskanen and Brooks Orpik who moved on after last season. Veteran winger Pascal Dupuis was also injured. Plus, they finished 8th in the Eastern Conference this season. Not to mention, elite player Evgeni Malkin had 0 points the whole series. (4, 5) This Penguins team clearly had problems and was not what it used to be.R3-ShorthandedI've already addressed shorthanded goals and shots. The same arguments can be used, that the Blackhawks are more discipline and the huge difference that will make. However, I'd also like to point out even if the Blackhawks get scored on more on shorthanded, they allow less goals overall as already shown throughout the debate.Conclusion:Just to address one more thing, the Hawks/Rangers season games were too close to determine much from and were just 2 games of a long 82 game season for both these teams.So, in conclusion, due to the Blackhawks' dominant possession game, their playoff performers that the Rangers don't have, and depth that also really shows up in the playoffs, the Blackhawks are a better team than the Rangers.Sources: 1-http://stats.hockeyanalysis.com... 2-http://www.foxsports.com... 3-http://en.wikipedia.org... 4-http://www2.dailyfaceoff.com... 5-http://penguins.nhl.com... 6-http://kings.nhl.com... 7-http://www.nhl.com... 8-http://rangers.nhl.com... Also, could I request anyone voting is at least somewhat familiar with hockey and hockey terminology, because some points made by both sides may not make sense to the average reader.