Jacob Trouba

Hockey Community Shows Support for the New York Ranger’s K’Andre Miller

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New York Rangers

On Friday, New York Rangers prospect K’Andre Miller was subjected to a repeated racial slur from a hacker during a Zoom video chat with New York Ranger’s fans. Immediately many of the people in the hockey community tweeted their dismay over this vile incident and their support for the twenty-year-old defenseman.

Current New York Rangers among the first to offer support and encouragement

Ranger’s defenseman Jacob Trouba was among the first to tweet his support: “What happened today was inexcusable and cowardly. Racism has no place in the hockey community or the world. K’Andre Miller, we are excited to have you as a part of the Rangers and I look forward to having you as a teammate.” Sentiments that were also echoed by Ryan Strome and Tony DeAngelo. Strome tweeted out that “This team and this organization sticks together. You are one of us and we have your back!”

Many outsides of the Ranger’s organization was also quick to respond. Miller’s former head coach at Wisconsin, Tony Granato tweeted this: “K’Andre Miller has the support of myself and the entire Wisconsin hockey family. He has a bright future in the game of hockey. No one should be subjected to the inexcusable, racist behavior experienced today by K’Andre.” USA Hockey, which Miller has been a part of through his performance representing the United States in two Junior World Tournaments, stated that: “We support K’Andre Miller, an incredible leader, teammate, friend & person. Racial & derogatory slurs have absolutely no place in the game or society.”  Miller even received support from the Los Angeles Kings twitter feed when the posted that: We support K’Andre Miller and are proud to have you as part of the NHL family. There is no place for the racist remarks you had to endure today, and we look forward to hosting you and the Rangers in the future.”

A couple of years ago, William Douglas posted an article on thecolorofhockey.com that detailed Miller’s journey through hockey. Let’s hope that this incident goes a long way in making sure that incidents like these can be purged from this sport and our society.

Looking Back at the Pre-Season Predictions for the New York Rangers

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New York Rangers

This was supposed to be the week that the New York Rangers played their final set of regular-season games for the 2019-2020 season, with the hope of many that it would be a springboard to the playoffs. But of course, we all know that the NHL as are most sports around the world are in a holding pattern. So with the normal regular season all but done, let’s take a look back to see what some experts predicted what the season would look like for the Rangers.

Some Experts had the New York Rangers doing well

A bit understandable, even as most realized that the Rangers were in a rebuilding mode. In the Sporting News, very few experts had the Rangers making the playoffs. One pundit who did was Jackie Speigel of the sportingnews.ca, who predicted the Blueshirts would capture the second wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference. She even selected Kaapo Kakko as the winner for the Calder Trophy, awarded to the league’s top rookie. Many might remember Jackie for her wonderful work at SNY, so it could be a bit of regional bias but at least the Rangers were knocking at the door when the season shut down. Jace Mallory took it a step further and predicted that the Rangers would secure the third spot in the Metropolitan Division.  Brooklyn native Sammi Silber of NBC Sports even had the Blueshirts winning the Metro. Dave McCarthy of NHL.com and SiriusXM-NHL picked the Rangers second in the Metro.  Overall, less than half of the experts polled had the Rangers making the playoffs.

In looking at some articles that had more in-depth features, Adam Gretz stated in his article for NBCsports.com that: “They should be significantly better. How could they not be after adding Artemi Panarin, Jacob Trouba, Adam Fox, and two potential rookie of the year contenders at forward in Kaapo Kakko and Vitali Kravtsov? That is a ton of talent to enter the organization in one summer and it should be enough to have the team at least in contention for a playoff spot.”

The SI.com staff predicted that the Rangers would finish seventh in the Metropolitan Division and wrote that “It’s easy to imagine the Rangers playing above their station, and it’s also easy to see them hit growing pains.”

They also wrote that “Each season always brings its own surprises”. I don’t think they had our current predicament in mind when they wrote that!

The New York Rangers Need These Three Players to Mature in Order to Make Playoff Run

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New York Rangers

As the New York Rangers continue with their All-Star/Bye week break, they will soon come upon a favorable part of their schedule that could get them within shouting distance of the NHL playoffs. In order for this to happen, three of their younger players will need to step up their game in the second half of the season.  This is even more important for a team that has 14 players who are 26 or younger and five of whom are 21 or younger.

Filip Chytil is making nice progress after the New York Rangers called him up

It would have been very easy to put your head down and pout after being demoted. We have seen that before. But that was not the case with Filip Chytil. he started this season in the AHL but was called up to New York after playing just nine games with the Wolf Pack. The Rangers rewarded him with the opportunity to have consistent ice time, including time on the power play. This time he has taken full advantage of it  Last year he finished with 11 goals and 12 assists but struggled to play with consistency and also was a minus-22, worst on the team. This year he already has 11 goals and has been sometimes paired Brett Howden and Kaapo Kakko, forming what has been termed “The Diaper Line”. The twenty-year-old will be expected to demonstrate the leadership and maturity needed in order for this third line to continue making contributions for the Blueshirts.

The New York Rangers continue to be patient with Brady Skjei

The Rangers were expecting a lot from Brady Skjei after a promising rookie season in 2017-18. They did not get that from the young defenseman in the next two seasons. Instead, the saw an inconsistent, mistake-prone young player struggling to play up to his potential.  The turn around may have come when the Rangers traded for longtime friend Jacob Trouba. The two 25-year-olds have been a duo on the ice in the back part of this season so far. For Skjei, this has led to some improvement this season. This season he already has seven goals and has added 14 assists in 47 games and he has still been much better with his decision-making and in the defensive zone than he was in previous seasons. This needs to continue as many times the Rangers have suffered from poor decision making. However, it is time to reward the Rangers for the patience they have shown him in previous years.

Adam Fox making a case for Rookie of the Year

His move from college to the NHL has gone better than most have anticipated. Fox has shown a level of poise with the puck that was always evident at Harvard, and his average north-south speed has not been an issue thanks to good edges and anticipation. Fox moves the puck remarkably well, racking up assists and aiding in the transition game. He recently took sole possession of the team lead in power-play assists with 11. Fox is having an outstanding season with 27 points. The process of the maturing of young NHL players is keeping this kind of play up for the entire season, especially as the Blueshirts gear up for a playoff run.