Tag Archives: LGR

New York Rangers: After the Trade Deadline

NY Rangers, , , ,

We’re in the final quarter of the season and the playoff picture changes almost every day. All wildcard spots are on fire as many teams are duking it out in the entire league.

At the All-Star break, the Rangers were 11 points out of the playoffs. Today they are 4 points away. They’ve had a tremendous run since Igor Shesterkin was called up from the AHL and with 70 points, they’ve caught up to Florida. Columbus and Carolina are tied with 74 and the Islanders have 76.

The rest of the season is a game of inches. A losing two games could make these teams fall out of contention so the pressure is on.

And for the Rangers, that pressure has been on all season. Going into this week (games with Islanders, Montreal, Philly) are all against contenders. Isles have been not been playing at their best, Philly is doing really well and Montreal is duking it out with Buffalo (66 points) trying to catch up to Florida and Toronto. Toronto land must be in a panic because there is no almost no wiggle room for them. At 72 points, Buffalo and Florida could knock them out of the playoffs. The top 2 teams in the Atlantic division have 90 (Boston) and 85 (Tampa) so the rest of the division is no threat to them. Toronto is 100% on the defense.

But back to our side of the rink, the Rangers are now in some drama. There have been trade rumors for a good 2 months and that book is now closed, stopping that emotional question in the locker room. Chris Kreider has signed a new contract for 7 years at $6.5 million a year. That’s a relief. He’s an asset to the team. He’s hitting his stride right now and he’s always been important in the Playoffs. So close to making it this year, management wants to commit to him. And odds are, they didn’t get an offer for him they could say an absolute yes to. He’s a major part of the locker room, I think losing him would crush a few guys and hinder team morale. Last year when Zucc was traded, the team gave up (Kreider especially). Still, this is a gamble. Kreider is a hot or cold player. He’s an asset or he disappears. With this kind of commitment from the team, the pressure is now on him to show everyone he’s worth it. Time will tell but I’m optimistic. He’d be incredibly hard to replace.

The other trade is Brady Skjei to Carolina for a First Round draft pick in 2020. He’s been with the team for 4-5 years now and rolled with Jesper Fast like twin brothers. He’s well liked and I know he’ll be missed by many on the team. Stats wise, this makes sense and the belief is that he’ll be able to be replaced immediately by the guys that are on hand. Plus the next wave of rookies are coming next season so this isn’t too surprising.

The drama is this humdinger: Shesterkin and Buchnevich were in a car accident last night. Buch is basically okay but Shesterkin has a broken rib. The odds of him being ready to play again in a month is slim to nil. That’s basically the start of the playoffs. Now can they make the playoffs?

Lundqvist’s time to shine is now. With Igor out, he’ll get to play games he otherwise wouldn’t have. There’s a very good chance that this could be his last year with the Rangers, opting to move on by waving his no-trade clause for the final year of his contract. He’s always been a team member and he’s always going to give his all. The pressure is probably bigger now as he can make an impact on getting the team to the playoffs and prove that he’s still a viable goaltender in the league. The good news in this is that Georgiev wasn’t traded so their goaltending as a whole is still in good shape. The Rangers still have a chance to pull this off.

The team is finally playing as a team and they can’t break their stride.

2019-2020 NHL Season: The Halfway Mark

NY Rangers, , , , , , , ,

With a record of 19-18-4, the New York Rangers have remained steadfast at being the best bad team in the league. They have tremendous talent but it’s too infrequently coming together to make winning games. This week they traveled through Canada and lost all three games, putting a serious dent in their standing.

Sloppy defense continues to be the problem with all over the place goaltending. In a test of their fortitude this week, they were down 6-0 against Edmonton in the first period and managed to rally to 6-5 only to lose 7-5. Not a total disaster and shows that the team does have goal scoring capabilities (they have not been shut out this season). Against Calgary, the horrific defense put them down 2 early on and they rallied to tie it back up quickly on the power play. They never took the lead in that game, losing 4-3 despite a solid third period effort. The lesson here is that it isn’t reasonable for any team to have to score 5 goals a game every night to win.

They were revitalized in last night’s game against Vancouver. The defense looking like a completely different squad making smart passes and never letting up on the pressure, both on offense and defense. Phenomenal goaltending for Vancouver and a screened shot with 1:29 left in the game ended the Canada trip in another loss, 2-1.

That Vancouver game was exceptional, the team played extremely well and shows how good they really are. Losing like that happens all the time in hockey, it’s part of the game. You just want to be up by 2 goals to keep those points on your side at the end of the hour of gameplay.

Clearly they aren’t Cup contenders. Washington, Pittsburgh, NY Islanders, Toronto, and Tampa are all killers. I’m leaving out Boston right now because they have an alarming amount of overtime losses that are padding their point total. Clearly they have a problem that needs to be addressed. Those top teams don’t even contain the West (look at Vegas strut their stuff again!) The Rangers still do have a mathematical chance at the playoffs but it’s to the point of needing a ridiculous final half run (something like 28 wins out of 41 games).

They just can’t get any momentum and it’s killing team morale. Face-off wins are well under 50% and that’s a huge problem (for years now). Penalties are out of control. Power play goals are too far and few between (20% I think). They haven’t had a win streak longer than 3 in a row and rarely go 2 in a row. With the trade deadline coming up in about a month it’s hard to believe some sales won’t be made…there are serious cap issues for next year looming and with their record as it stands, there’s no reason not to do more trimming to prepare for a better 2020-2021 season.

That’s the realist in me but I long for the team to come together as they are now and show everyone they have what it takes.