Way to take the words out of context and go to the other extreme...
You're also contradicting yourself, because you yourself seem to believe the Sens are going to win, yet you imply based on your comments that regular season records and seedings are important... so which is it?
I'd also wholeheartedly disagree with your last sentence... people aren't necessarily picking the Rangers because of their seed or record... it's because they're a BETTER TEAM. If your argument about people picking solely based on rankings made sense, then everyone would also be picking the Blues to make the Western Conference finals.
If you want to break down Rags vs Sens... here's how I see it:
Goaltending - no comment needed
Defense - sure Karlsson's an offensive stud, but the playoffs aren't about defensemen flying through neutral zones making outlet passes... it's about DEFENSE and GRIT. I have MUCH more confidence in the Rangers depth on defense than I do the Sens.
Rags top 4: Staal / Girardi / McDonaugh / MDZ
Sens top 4: Karlsson / Kuba / Gonchar / Cowen
In terms of defensive depth - are you kidding me? Rags win this one EASILY.
Offense
-Rangers have two threatening lines... Sens have one (maybe one and a half).
-Rangers also have better skilled grinders like Dubie and Cally.
-Rangers also have leadership in proven cup winner Richards, and that kind of leadership experience is indispensable. Who (important) has ever won anything on the Sens?
At the end of the day we both agree Rags should take it, but I don't see this going the distance.
That's besides the point anyway, my beef was more against throwing all these meaningless regular season statistics as support behind your Sens