nhl

The New York Rangers and the NHL Respond to the K’Andre Miller Incident

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New York Rangers

On Friday, the New York Rangers hosted a zoom chat for the first 500 people who could get on Zoom with newly signed defenseman K’Andre Miller. The chat turned ugly when a person decided to use a racial slur repeatedly toward Miller. The twenty-year-old was selected with the 22nd pick of the 2018 NHL Draft and many expect him to make it to the Rangers shortly. An excellent skater, Miller has featured for the United States at the past two World Junior Championships and just finished his junior season at the University of Wisconsin.

The New York Rangers were slow to react to the racial slurs

A Zoom user used the chat function to repeatedly direct a racial slur targeted at Miller. It is not clear whether it was one of the 500 people who participated or was someone who hacked their way into the chat. Zoom has had issues with security over the past few weeks as video chatting has become more popular during the COVID-19 outbreak. Hackers gain access to a Zoom meeting and attempt to disrupt the video chat and upset participants by shouting profanity or racial slurs or putting offensive images in the video feed. Zoom hacking issues like this are happening all over the world, from over-the-Internet Alcoholics Anonymous meetings to sensitive, high-level government gatherings.

Regardless of the Zoom issue, the New York Rangers created the event. Their reaction to this situation was a bit timid and slow. It took them more than three hours after the incident to post this statement:

“We held an online video chat with fans, and New York Rangers prospect, K’Andre Miller, during which a vile individual hijacked the chat to post racial slurs, which we disabled as soon as possible. We were incredibly appalled by the behavior, which has no place online, on the ice, or anywhere, and we are investigating the matter.”

Shortly after, the NHL posted this statement:

“The National Hockey League is appalled that a video call arranged today by the New York Rangers to introduce their fans to one of the League’s rising stars, K’Andre Miller, was hacked with racist, cowardly taunts. The person who committed this despicable act is in no way an NHL fan and is not welcome in the hockey community.  No one needs to be subjected to such ugly treatment and it will not be tolerated in our league. We join the New York Rangers in condemning this disgusting behavior.”

You can see a video of the incident on our Fireside Rangers twitter feed.

This just one of the incidents where the league needs to take a firmer stance to protect its players from this type of situation, even if the fault remains with the Zoom website. Racism has no place in hockey or anywhere, and this incident should expect a diligent response from the New York Rangers, the NHL, and any law enforcement division that this applies to.

The New York Rangers, NHL, should follow the NBA’s ideas

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New York Rangers

If the NHL and the New York Rangers want to return to action, they may want to look at some of the ideas that the NBA is floating. As COVID-19 lingers, it is becoming apparent that the bigger metro areas may not be able to stage sporting events, even if fans are not permitted. For example, the city of Toronto on Tuesday banned all “city-led and permitted” events through June 30. A spokesman for Mayor John Tory later told reporters that the ban does not apply to sports events, but the province of Ontario has “banned organized public events and social gatherings of more than (five) people.” This is just one example of the difficulty that all professional sports organizations are facing as they try to resume or start their seasons.

What the NHL and the New York Rangers can learn from the NBA

Recent reports have stated that the NBA is considering clustering teams to play games in locations such as the Bahamas and Las Vegas. While of course, that won’t work too well for the NBA, the NHL can consider the same idea in locations that can provide rinks and facilities to handle clusters of teams. Single city locations and a cluster of a few cities allow leagues some flexibility. Holding all games in a single city, or a small group of cities allows the leagues to play within the confines of quarantine and eliminates the need for travel and the hurdles that come with the need to comply with different cities’ restrictions and regulations when it comes to the necessary pandemic response. Recent reports have the NBA looking toward a single city option, using Las Vegas and casino hotels as a way to house players and employees.  But of course, putting down a basketball court is much easier than creating ice hockey rinks. One of the ideas that the NBA has considered could work well for the NHL.  The NBA had considered “taking over” some college campuses in the Midwest, where reported cases of COVID-19 are lower for the moment. This could work for the NHL as states such as North Dakota and South Dakota do not have severe “stay-at-home” restrictions like other parts of the country have. These states also have nice size colleges and hockey facilities that could host one or more clusters of teams to play.

Hopefully, all leagues, including the NHL, will leave no stone unturned in an attempt to safely resume seasons and help us get back to some sort of normalcy.

The New York Rangers 2020 NHL Entry Draft Will Be a Little Different

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Brady Skjei, New York Rangers

The New York Rangers may end up doing what millions of fantasy sports participants do every year: draft online. That’s right, you could see John Davidson, David Quinn, and other Ranger officials sitting in front of a big screen, time clock ticking away in the corner, as the look through the list of players available. Then they make their selection and press enter, and the New York Rangers have made their pick. Sound far-fetched? It might not be as the NHL canceled some events, including the live 2020 Entry Draft.

Covid-19 Forces the NHL to cancel events

Recently, the NHL announced it has postponed the 2020 NHL Draft Combine, the NHL Awards Show and the 2020 NHL Entry Draft. The Draft Combine was scheduled to take place on June 1-6 in Buffalo, NY as it always does. The Awards show was to be held in Las Vegas, NV on June 18 and the draft would’ve been June 26-27 in Montreal. Not surprising because in a best-case scenario, the Rangers and/or other NHL teams will be playing games during this time. But in postponing this live, planned event, the NHL will have to look at other ways to have teams, select players.

This is from the official press release: The location, timing and format of the 2020 NHL Draft (and Draft Lottery) will be announced when details are finalized. 

The New York Rangers may be drafting “online”.

Overall, this has possibilities. Whether it may be to help with the continuing practice of social distancing or to facilitate a draft that has to be planned in a short period of time, drafting online has some merits. It could also be quite interesting to watch this kind of draft. Imagine following along on the television or on a computer. You might get to see the same screen that the teams are using. Maybe there is a little trash talking going on between teams in the little chat box that is featured in most fantasy draft formats.

Something to ponder while we do some mock MLB drafts while practicing social distancing for a little while longer.

Where Do the Islanders Stand with Mathew Barzal?

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New York Islanders, Mat Barzal

As the coronavirus shutdown continues for all sports, there isn’t much to talk about currently. For the NHL and the New York Islanders, it’s mostly about waiting for word to come down as to when they can return to play. But there might also be another thing worth discussing — Mathew Barzal.

Before the season was suspended last Thursday, the 22-year-old had just eclipsed the 60-point plateau for the third straight season. He was, once again, the leading point scorer for the Isles as they battled for a playoff spot. And he’d just come off another solid performance in his team’s 5-4 shootout loss to the Canucks in his native British Columbia.

The two-time All-Star has been carrying the Islanders since the break and pretty much all season. Which poses the question, if the season is canceled, where does the franchise see itself with Barzal?

Obviously, he’s the face of the franchise and their most valuable player. It’s been that way since former captain John Tavares left for Toronto two summers ago. While all the hoopla has always been about getting help around Barzal, there were more than a few instances this season where a lack of leadership and maturity has overshadowed his skill and insane hockey sense. The late-game moment 3-2 OT win in Buffalo back in December, the benching during the third period against the Rangers before the All-Star break in late January, and most recently his infractions in the Ottawa game and in Vancouver, are all examples of where the organization needs him to grow his game.

“You’ve got to stay in the moment,” head coach Barry Trotz said about Barzal after his bad decision nearly derailed all the Isles’ momentum in the game last Tuesday. “It’s all a part of the learning process and something you have to fight through.”

Look, this isn’t an article to rip him, but it’s clear that even though Anders Lee might wear the “C” on his jersey, Barzal turning into a leader is just as crucial for this organization to be successful. He is an RFA heading into this summer with his rookie deal expiring, and there’s no doubt he’s going to be paid by g.m. Lou Lamoriello, despite the rumblings of possible offer sheets and contract disputes.

Barzal has shown the qualities a team would want in a leader — fiery, competitive, resilient — to a certain extent. Still, he needs to prove even more that he’s going to be “the guy” moving forward.

What that means is showing more consistency.

Before his second period tally in Ottawa last week, Barzal had just three goals in his past 31 games. Those types of slumps are brutal, especially after he had started this year off red hot before cooling down. And many will say it’s because he doesn’t have the top players around him, but Barzal has the type of ability to transform the guys around him in vice versa.

The Islanders would also benefit well in the future if Barzal played a more straightforward game. I know, I know, he’s the only one who can drive anything offensively. But watch at times this year, that type of individual play has resulted in an abundance of turnovers and self-inflicting mistakes that have altered games.

We’ve already mentioned his maturity, but just to add to that, Barzal just needs to be aware of situations to engage and to stay away from. At 22, it’s easy to be a hothead. Then again, when a team depends so much on you, there has to be a middle ground. That comes with growing your game and showing accountability in oneself. By going this route, Barzal would not only be seen as a different player among his teammates but also the referees.

There’s no doubt the Islanders are building around Barzal as the centerpiece of their future. He being that key piece also means taking steps to become the star everyone believes he’s capable of being.

The Isles might not know what the future holds, but they know where they stand with Mathew Barzal. It’s an evolving place, one that looks different the next time they step on to the ice.