NYR

Need Injury Advice? The New York Rangers Can Just Look to their Next Opponent

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New York Rangers, Igor Shesterkin

The New York Rangers have struggled a bit in their last couple of games. It is not like losing to the Philadelphia Flyers twice in a row is a bad thing, but it was how they lost that has many worried. The Blueshirts have now had to deal with injuries to two of their major players in recent days after Chris Kreider will be lost for an undetermined amount of time, joining Igor Shesterkin who has been out after being involved in an auto accident. Injuries to key players always take a little time to adjust, a luxury the Rangers do not really have. But if they are looking for a model of how to deal with it, they can look at the opponent Tuesday night, the St. Louis Blues.

What have the Blues done that the New York Rangers can learn from?

Let’s set aside the Jay Boumeester situation for just a minute. That is a little bit of a unique situation. The big injury that the Blues had to overcome was to Vladimir Tarasneko, who underwent surgery on his left shoulder after he was injured in an Oct. 24 game against the Los Angeles Kings and was originally stated to be out for at least five months. He has recently started practicing with the team and could rejoin them in time for the playoffs. However, they went through a long stretch of the season without a player who scored over 33 goals in each of the past five seasons. So how did they survive and remain in first place in their division? The fact that young talents such as Zach Sanford and Jordan Kyrou have turned up their games recently has helped ease the pain of this loss. A Blues player may have summed it up best when Oskar Sundqvist said. “We’re starting to find our game and we’re a tight group in here, especially in the D-zone. We’re finding our roles, and that’s important now as it was during the whole season.” It is not like the Blues have had smooth sailing all season long. In one recent stretch, the Blues went in a 2-7-3 funk until winning four games by a combined score of 13-2. So the key is to have the expectation that all of the players need to step up. The Rangers cannot afford to have games like the did Sunday from Ryan Strome, who was eventually benched by head coach David Quinn.  The Rangers did a good thing by having a talk with Strome as Quinn stated on Monday that “We talked before practice today, and I would do that with any player. Letting the guy wonder isn’t good for anybody. He’s back at it, and we’ll need him.” The Rangers will need every single player on their roster to play like they are capable if they have any chance to weather these injuries and capture a playoff spot.

The New York Rangers Need to Keep Chris Kreider

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New York Rangers, Chris Kreider

One of the puzzles that the New York Rangers need to figure out for their future is whether to trade or keep forward Chris Kreider. The dilemma is that the 28-year-old forward is in the final year of his 4-year, 18.5 million dollar contract. With the February 24 trade deadline a month away, the Rangers are in a tough situation as to whether to pay up and keep him or move him to another team. Unless the Rangers really hit a big losing streak in the next month, they should not trade the veteran and do everything possible to keep him for the future

The New York Rangers need a tough, veteran presence

While it is true that Kreider would bring a lot on the trade market, it might be wise to hang on to him to see if he will resign either before the trade deadline or after the season when he hits the free-agent market.

One of the negatives to signing him is that his people will ask too much for a player who will ask for a much of money but has yet to garner more than 53 points in a season.  But Kreider will bring more to the Ranger team than just points. He has blazing speed and an ability to finish that makes him difficult to contain.

In the most recent Ranger win, when the big 6-foot-3 wing camped out in the low slot and shoveled in the rebound chance to give the Blueshirts the victory. This dominant net-front presence and success at winning puck battles mean that opponents really have their hands full. This is not something that grows on trees in the NHL.

Could the New York Rangers Pull an Aroldis Chapman like Move?

If you remember back to 2016, the New York Yankees traded Aroldis Chapman to the Chicago Cubs, and in return picked up a player named Gleyber Torres. Then the following winter, the Yankees resigned Chapman as a free agent, while also picking up what looks like a future MVP candidate. Would it be possible for the Rangers to trade Kreider, then make a strong push to re-sign him in the off-season?  It would be a bit of a dice roll, but it would be a scenario that should really benefit the team if they picked up another key player and kept Kreider for this young rebuilding team. It will be an interesting month for general manager Jeff Gorton and President John Davidson indeed.

The New York Rangers Need to Take Advantage of January Home Cooking

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New York Rangers

The familiarity and comfort that come with playing at home are significant advantages and the New York Rangers are hoping that a home heavy January schedule can help them get right back into the playoff race. The Blueshirts have six of their remaining eight games at home and after the team’s winless trip to Western Canada, they will need to take advantage of these home games.

This Week: Two at Home, One on the Road

The Rangers start with the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday night at MSG. The good news for the Rangers is that the Avs are on a road trip of their own, and will have to play back-to-back games as Colorado will play the Islanders Monday night.  However, the Avs are 7-1-1 in their last nine road contests and 9-2-1 in their last 12. Colorado is also 11-2-2 against the Eastern Conference.  Then on Thursday, the Rangers host the New Jersey Devils, who had a three-game winning streak snapped last Saturday by Colorado. The 15-20-6 Devils will host the Islanders on Tuesday night before making their way to MSG. The Rangers finish out the week by taking a trip to meet the defending Stanley Cup Champion St. Louis Blues. Realistically, going 2-1 this week would be a nice start to making a playoff push.

Next Stretch Includes Three Games with the Islanders

Before the All-Star break, the Rangers will play three of their four games against the Islanders. Two of these games are home, and one is out on Long Island. The Blueshirts will also host one game with Artemi Panarin’s former team, the Columbus Blue Jackets. That means that after a quick trip to the midwest, the Rangers will get stay in the Metropolitan area for the rest of the month.  The first game after the All-Star break is a home game on January 31 against the Detroit Red Wings. The Islanders have also struggled recently, losing 5 of their last seven going 2-4-1. The team that stormed through the season’s first seven weeks, going 16-3-1, has won fewer than half its games (9-8-2) since Nov. 21. A Rangers team that could go 4-1 through that stretch could show the league that they are playoff ready.

The New York Ranger’s Mika Zibanejad Deserves to Play in the NHL All-Star Game

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New York Rangers, Mika Zibanejad

The NHL announced on Monday that the New York Ranger’s forward Artemi Panarin has been selected to the All-Star Game. Fans will get a chance to vote for another deserving Ranger in Mika Zibanejad.  The NHL announced the candidates for the Last Men In selection.  Fans can go and vote for one more player to be selected for the contest, and Zibanejed has been placed on the ballot. Voting for the Last Men In opens Wednesday, Jan. 1, at 12 p.m. ET and closes Friday, Jan. 10, at 11:59 p.m. ET. Fans can vote at NHL.com/Vote or on a mobile interactive ballot on the NHL app.

Zibanajed has an All-Star Resume

We know Tony DeAngelo is not a huge fan of analytics, especially when it deals with Ryan Strome. But with all due respect to the Ranger defenseman, we need to dig into the numbers to make a case for Zibanejad. First, let’s take a look at his recent play.  Since Dec. 12, Zibanejad has seven goals in eight games, along with 13 points and five multi-point affairs. Just last Friday, he posted two power-play goals and an assist at even strength in a 5-3 victory over the Hurricanes.  For the season, he has 14 goals and 30 points with a plus-4 rating in 25 games.  Taking a look at 2018-19, Zibanejad scored 30 goals, 44 assists for 74 points in the 82 games played.  He is also considered one of the better two-way players in the NHL, as he is only one of 11 forwards this season who is averaging 2 minutes of power-play time and 2 minutes of shorthanded time.  Finally, let’s consider this stat: If we take a look at his most recent 82 games, Zibanejad has 37 goals with 47 assists for a total of 84 points. That makes him one of only 24 players who have averaged more than 1 point per game over that time period.

Of course, New York Ranger fans are very much aware of his skill set. This is to help you persuade friends and family to vote for one of our favorite Blueshirts. Even if he does not get voted in, there is a chance that he could also be selected to replace Alex Ovechkin, who has decided to skip the proceedings in order to rest his 34-year-old body. If so inclined, vote early, vote often and let’s place our well deserved forward into the NHL All-Star classic.

 

Should the New York Rangers Trade Chris Kreider?

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New York Rangers, Chris Kreider

Much of the news swirling around the New York Rangers this holiday season centers around the possibility that the Blueshirts would move 28-year-old winger Chris Kreider. But after watching him recently with linemate Mika Zibajenad, many wonder if this is a good idea.

The Case for Moving New York Rangers’ Kreider

The biggest motive in making the move is that Kreider will be an Unrestricted Free Agent after the season. Kreider does have a modified no-trade clause and carries a $4.625 million salary-cap hit. A couple of weeks ago, Kreider reportedly gave the Rangers a list of 11 teams that he would consider playing for. There are many that feel that the Rangers are unwilling to commit a lot of money to a player that was good but never achieved what many thought he would, even if it means alienating fans.

The second part of the equation is that if the Rangers are dead set on dealing him, is whether to do it now or wait until the trade deadline in February.  There seems to be quite a bit of interest in Kreider, who currently is playing very well. Trading him now will give the Rangers the chance to assimilate any new players on the team for a playoff push. However, the general thought is that waiting until the deadline makes teams willing to offer more in one last attempt to improve their team.  Creating bidding wars means that the Rangers can get the most in return for Kreider. In either scenario, with Taylor Hall off the market, Kreider is now one of the top targets of many teams.

The Case for Keeping Kreider

One of the biggest reasons for keeping Kreider is that he is a leader on the team and popular with teammates. An important consideration for a young team that has a fair chance to at least make a playoff run. Last year’s purge of popular players did not go well. After trading Zuccarello, Hayes, and McQuaid, the Blueshirts proceeded to go 1-6-5 over their next 12, which lead to a poor 5-11-5 finish. That would not be a great message for a young team.  Then there is the chemistry that Kreider and fellow linemate Mika Zibanejad have built up this season. He is also proving to be a leader to a team with many young players.  This may be what the Rangers are thinking as on the Hockey Night in Canada pregame show Saturday, Sportsnet reporter Elliot Friedman mentioned that Kreider is getting some interest but may not be available yet. It was also stated that the Rangers still have interest in resigning him.

The bottom line is that the decision to keep or move Kreider may hinge on whether the Rangers can stay in the playoff race. If the Rangers would falter before the trade deadline, the decision to trade him becomes much easier.

 

New York Rangers Face Critical Five Game Stretch

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New York Rangers, Artemi Panarin

The New York Rangers are facing a critical five-game stretch coming off the NHL holiday break. The Blueshirts are sitting eight points out of the last wild card spot in the Eastern Conference and must make a strong showing during these key match-ups in order to keep that wild card spot within reach. The challenge for these next five games comes in two parts.

Part One: Back-to-Back Games

The Rangers will face the Carolina Hurricanes in their only home matchup of this stretch. The Hurricanes are 23-13-2 on the season but are facing a two-game losing streak after giving up eight goals in their last game to the Toronto Maple Leafs. The good news for the Rangers is that Carolina has gone 5-22 in the previous 27 meetings in New York.  Nonetheless, the Rangers will have to deal with one of the better offenses in the league. The Blueshirts will then travel to Toronto on Saturday to face the Maple Leafs in an Original Six, “Hockey Night in Canda” matchup. The Leafs defeated the Rangers last week 6-3 at MSG.

Part Two: Trip to Western Canada

Leaving their golf clubs behind, the Blueshirts head out west for three games against Edmonton, Calgary, and Vancouver.  These teams sit in third, fourth, and fifth places, respectively, in the mediocre Pacific Division.

On New Year’s Eve, while many of us are preparing to watch the ball drop in Times Square, The Rangers will square off with the Oilers in a 9 PM (ET) face-off. After a strong start to the season, the Oilers are 3-6-1 over the last ten games. On January 2nd, the Rangers will travel to Calgary to face the Flames, who have been shutout twice in their previous five games. The Rangers will then be the late game feature for “Hockey Night in Canada” when they travel to Vancouver on January 4th for a 10 PM (ET) game against the Canucks.  Vancouver came into the holiday break on a three-game win streak, with their most recent victory coming against Edmonton.  We will all get a clear idea of where the Rangers playoff hopes stand after these five games.

 

Fiesty New York Rangers End Three-Game Skid

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The New York Rangers were backed into a corner and saw an opportunity to get out of it. They did just that on Sunday afternoon by steamrolling the depleted Anaheim Ducks 5-1 on Kids Day at Madison Square Garden.  The win ended a three-game losing streak.

A Very Physical Game

After playing the Islanders the night before, The Ducks came into Sunday’s game tired, sick and cranky.  There were without its three leading scorers, as Rickard Rakell, Ryan Getzlaf, and Jakob Silfverberg all sat out. The latter two sat out with flu symptoms while Rakell was listed with an upper-body injury.  This all led to an ever-increasing physical game, starting in the second period. Erik Gudbranson and Brendan Lemieux were both given 10-minute misconducts. Gudbranson earned his trip to the penalty box after dropping his gloves in an attempt to fight Lemieux, but Lemieux declined to join him. By the time the second period ended, 36 total penalty minutes had been handed out. Anaheim and New York entered Sunday each having taken 15 major penalties this season, tied for most in the league, and they did little to give up their league leads in that category. The Ducks ran into a team, as Head Coach David Quinn said in his post-game news conference that was a little pissed off about how they played in the Toronto game.

Power Play Still Struggling

The Blueshirts finished 0-for-5 on the man advantage, leaving it without a power-play goal in four games. Fortunately, they did not need it.  Due to the physical nature of the game, they were confronted with three stretches of 4-on-4 play, including a 4-on-3 opportunity for the Ducks late in the second period.  They dominated the short-handed possessions and even added a short-handed goal in the third period.  The Rangers did manage to put up 41 shots on goal but Quinn commented that he thought there were 20 more opportunities to take shots. The Ducks only managed 21 shots, which made for light work for Rangers netminder Henrik Lundqvist.

The New York Rangers jump right back into action on Monday night when they travel to Philadelphia to take on their division rivals.

New York Rangers: Has The Bread Man Delivered so far in 2019?

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New York Rangers, Artemi Panarin

Quick Question: When is the last time the New York Rangers had a 100 point scorer in a season? You have to go back to the 2005-06 season when some guy named Jagr scored 123. The Rangers have a player that is on pace to duplicate that feat in their significant free-agent acquisition Artemi Panarin.

So far, Panarin has been everything the Rangers had hoped for when team President John Davidson signed the forward in the offseason. It probably helped that Davidson had been President for Columbus, where Panarin lead that team in scoring the past two seasons. Panarin was brought in help anchor a young rebuilding team and is now on pace to score 110 points over 82 games.

How Great Has Panarin Been for the Rangers in 2019?

Early on, Panarin started paying dividends as he put up a 12 point streak from Mid-October to Mid-November, providing the Rangers with the scoring consistency a young team needs. Panarin has been vital in helping frequent linemates Jesper Fast and Ryan Strome, who has also seen a bit of revival since being acquired from Edmonton last year. Strome has been so impressed with Panarin and skill set that he has frequently referred to him as a “game-breaker.”

Even though some may consider 33 games too small a sample size, Panarin scoring 20 goals and 23 assists for 43 points is not out of character for him. He did lead Columbus in scoring last season with 87 points. He also scored 77 and 74 points in his first two years with the Chicago Blackhawks while sharing ice time with prolific scorers Patrick Kane and Jonathon Toews.

Panarin has also been a positive force in the locker room. Up and down the roster, players have pointed to his commitment to playing an all-around game as one of his standout qualities. Teammates also describe him as a guy who is dynamic offensively but is willing to play that whole 200-foot game, which lets everyone know that, if he can do it, everyone has to buy into that defensive responsibility as well.

Free agency can be hit-or-miss in any league, but it’s safe to say that the New York Rangers’ decision to pursue Artemi Panarin has been a very good one.

New York Rangers top Winnipeg Jets in wild home opener

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New York Rangers

The New York Rangers opened their season having high expectations in which they beat the Winnipeg Jets 6-4 in a wild back-and-forth home opener.

“It was exciting,” said Mika Zibanejad. “It was a hard-fought game… we didn’t play that well in the first two, I thought we did some good things but not often do you get a good 20 minute period and get a win from that.”

Marc Stall scored the first goal of the season in the first period to give the Rangers a lead and then the game was tied up with a goal by Mark Scheifele in the remaining three minutes of period one.

In his first game as a Ranger, Artemi Panarin gave them a 2-1 lead 27 seconds into the second period and then the game was all tied up 30 seconds later by a goal from Blake Wheeler. Jacob Trouba scored his first NHL goal later that period and then again was quickly followed by another goal from Blake Wheeler.

The Rangers broke open the game in the third period with three unanswered goals, one being an open-netter. Mika Zibanejad, who only had 30 goals last season, scored first followed by Brett Howden and Brendan Smith.

Beginning his 15th season in the NHL, Henrik Lundqvist allowed the four goals on 47 shots.

“I feel really good,” said Lundqvist before the game. “I’m happy with where I am physically, technically and mentally. My timing is good. I’m moving well.”

The New York Rangers will play their next game Saturday against the Ottawa Senators at the Canadian Tire Center.