True Grit

In the end, the Islanders didn't have quite enough to pull off the upset of the decade. The Tampa Bay Lightning were simply too much for them to overcome. Credit Barry Trotz for getting this team - a team which on paper didn't belong on the same ice with the Lightning - as far as it did. Full disclosure, I had them losing to the Boston Bruins in the second round. Indeed, the Lightning looked more like those legendary Islander teams of the '80s than this Islanders team did. Apart from Mat Barzal and Semyon Varlamov, there wasn't one player on this roster who could've cracked that lineup. I know; as a Rangers' fan, I watched them win four consecutive Cups. It was the most painful period of my life.

I hope Chris Drury was watching this series, and I hope he was taking notes. Because this series was a textbook example of what is needed in order for a team to contend in today's NHL. I've been saying this for a while but it bears repeating. Talent alone isn't enough. To win in the postseason, you need grit, and tons of it. 

Question: What do Auston Matthews, Conor McDavid, Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin all have in common? Answer: They were all playing golf after the first round of the playoffs because their teams simply weren't tough enough to advance to the quarterfinals. Two years ago, the Lightning ran away with the President's Trophy, posting a record of 62-16-4 and leading the league in scoring with 325 goals. Yet they were swept in the first round by a Columbus Blue Jacket team that checked the hell out of them and limited them to a paltry eight goals in four games. How did the Lightning respond? They added size to their lineup and, lo and behold, the following year they won the Cup. Lesson learned.

Look, I am no fan of the style of play the Islanders and teams like them employ. Truth be told, I miss the good old days when the most talented players in the league were afforded the space they needed to create scoring chances. Back then, you never knew which player might go from one end of the rink to the other and score a dazzling goal that brought the crowd to its feet. Those days are long gone. Blowouts like the one we saw in game five of the Lightning - Isles series have become something of an anomaly. Scores like 3-2, 2-1 and, yes, 1-0 are now the norm.

The sad truth is that even Wayne Gretzky himself would have a hard time scoring today. Yes, he'd still get his points, but he would hardly be called the Great One; more like the Good One. And those Oiler teams that won five Stanley Cups in seven years, might not even have had one if they were forced to play in this league the way it is currently structured. And anyone who thinks that's acceptable should take a gander at the NBA, where the stars rule and the officials do everything in their power to keep it that way. Trust me, a lot of really stupid people in this league are literally running the game into the ground, and they don't seem to give a shit about it. But that's another topic for another day.

As the old saying goes, when in Rome do as the Romans do. You don't have to like the NHL of today, but if you want to succeed in it, you'd better adopt to it. The Islanders may not have had the most talent in the league - they were 20th in goals scored - but they had the heart of a lion, and any opponent that took the ice against them this year was in for the fight of its life. 

I can assure you that had the the Islanders faced off against the 2019 Lightning, the boys from Uniondale would've beaten the pants off them. But with players like Blake Coleman, Pat Maroon, Ross Colton and Barclay Goodrow on the roster, the Bolts outlasted the grittiest team in the NHL. In the final analysis, the Lightning were able to play the Islanders game, but the Islanders were unable to play the Lightning's game, and that was the difference in the series. 

That's why it's imperative that Drury and new head coach Gerard Gallant have the courage to make the changes that are necessary in order to transform this Rangers' team from the jellyfish they are into the warriors they need to be if they ever expect to drink from the Stanley Cup again. The operative question next season will be can Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin adopt their style of play the way Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov were forced to? If so, the Blueshirts have a chance; if not, this rebuild that was started four years ago was all for not and it's back to the drawing board.

You can dismiss the Islanders all you want, but with the exception of the Lightning, no other team in the NHL has been as dominant in the playoffs these past two seasons. The Bruins, the Carolina Hurricanes, the Colorado Avalanche, all were legitimate contenders with imposing lineups, and all failed to make it past the second round. Believe me, this is not a game for the faint of heart; in fact, it's the closest thing North America has to Rugby. You may hate Casey Cizikas, Matt Martin and Cal Clutterbuck all you want, but know this: Drury would give his eye teeth to have all three on his team. And deep down so would you.

To those who are clamoring for the Rangers to trade for Jack Eichel, you better pray you don't get your wish. Even if he's healthy - and that's a HUGE question mark - he's the last thing this team needs right now: another skater who loves to shoot on the fly. The smart move would be to spend the $10 million Eichel would cost on some wingers who can inflict serious pain on opposing defensemen. They're out there; in fact, it looks very much like Coleman and Goodrow will be available if for no other reason than the Lightning won't be able to afford to keep them. That's what happens when you're in cap hell.

Yep, July will be a busy month for the NHL. For the Rangers, it will be the most consequential month quite possibly in the franchise's history.

Drury Goes With Gallant

In the end, Chris Drury went with the bird in the hand. Before we go any further, let's get something straight. Gerard Gallant is no Barry Trotz, nor is he John Cooper or even Rod Brind'Amour. But with the first two gainfully employed for the foreseeable future and the third likely to remain in Raleigh, he was the best available option on the market. And to be fair to Gallant, it's not like he's the second coming of Jean-Guy Talbot. The man has won everywhere he's gone. His resume speaks for itself.

This is a good move for the Rangers; the smart move. The reality is that had Drury gone after Brind'Amour, not only would he have most likely struck out, he most assuredly would have lost Gallant. And with the Seattle Kraken still looking for a coach, that was a risk Drury was not prepared to take. So he played it safe and got himself one hell of a good coach. As I wrote in my last piece, I wouldn't have a problem if Drury inked him to a contract. Well, he did.

So now that the Rangers have found their head coach, they need to find his assistants. While Gallant has an excellent track record dealing with players, he's not terribly good with the X's and O's. And in this conference, with coaches like Trots, Cooper and Brind'Amour, having someone on the bench who can make adjustments on the fly is critical. Fred Shero had his Mike Nykoluk, so Drury and Gallant will have to find theirs.

Then there's the issue of input. How much of it will Gallant have with regards to the roster? The sad truth is that for all their talent, there is a dearth of size and grit on this team. In short, they're soft as hell, and no amount of coaching can overcome that. Even if Gallant manages to get players like Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin to buy in, Drury's going to have to get him the horses he needs to turn this ship around. Rangers' fans may not want to admit it, but the team playing in Uniondale is a far better representation of what a contender looks like than anything the Blueshirts bring to the table, and if they manage to win seven more games this postseason, they will hoist the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1983. Imagine that nightmarish scenario.

But regardless of what happens over the next few weeks, we can honestly say that Drury's first hire is an unqualified success. With his coach in place, the President and GM can now focus on the Expansion Draft, the Entry Draft and free agency, all taking place next month. It would behoove him to find an assistant GM to help lighten the load. Remember, the reason Drury had so much on his plate to begin with is because his boss fired everyone else.

That's what happens when you work for an owner like Jim Dolan.

Coaching Matters

Chris Drury will be making a lot of important decisions this year. Who will the Rangers protect going into the Seattle Expansion Draft? Who will they select in the Entry Draft? Which player or players will they add to or subtract from next season's roster? But the decision that will have the biggest impact on the fortunes of this franchise, and the one Drury can't afford to screw up, is who will be behind the bench when the season starts?

As any trainer knows full well, you can have the best horse in the world, but if you don't have the right jockey, you're not going to win many races. Since Barry Trotz departed the Washington Capitals for the New York Islanders, the Isles have won five playoff series in three seasons, the Caps have won none.

The job Trotz has done since arriving in Uniondale has been nothing short of extraordinary. Not since the glory days of Al Arbour have the Islanders had a coach with a resume like this. Consider that going into the 2018-19 season, the Isles lost their captain and best player, John Tavares, to the Toronto Maple Leafs in free agency. Not only didn't they miss him, they went from 7th in the Metropolitan division to 2nd, and from 31st in the league defensively to 1st. Last year, they were two wins away from going to the Stanley Cup finals.

This year's team struggled to score goals and finished 4th in the pandemic-constructed East division. Their best offensive player, Anders Lee, went down with an ACL tear. And yet, even with all that, they managed to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Boston Bruins in consecutive series. The latter team was considered a legitimate contender for the Cup.

The reason for this is simple: Trotz has gotten his players to buy into a hard-nosed, defensive-style of play that frustrates opponents and forces them into making mistakes. And those mistakes then get converted into scoring opportunities. This team clogs the passing lanes better than any team I've seen in years. Wayne Gretzky would have a hard time scoring against the Islanders.

Despite not having a single player on his roster finish in the top 40 in league scoring, Trotz was able to role four lines this post season - a testament in large part to Lou Lamoriello's predecessor Garth Snow. That proved to be the difference maker, particularly against Boston. While the Bruin's top line of Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak had a good series, the other three lines were completely ineffective. By contrast, Trotz got significant contributions from every line. Part of that is talent; the rest is simply great coaching.

The Rangers are a team with a lot of talent; some would say more talent than the Islanders. What they don't have is the right coach who can get the most out of that talent. David Quinn was a good teacher, and that no doubt was beneficial on a team with so many young players. But he struggled to reach veterans like Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin, and with the former entering his walk year, it is vital that the next coach be able to get through to those players.

Gerard Gallant might be that coach. Like Trotz, he has an impressive resume; he came within three victories of being a Stanley Cup-winning coach. Yes, he was fired from his last two gigs, but apart from that he checks all the boxes. Good with young players, connects with veterans. I wouldn't have a problem if Drury inks him to a contract.

But it would behoove him to at least put in a call to Rod Brind'Amour. With the Carolina Hurricanes having been dispatched by the Tampa Bay Lightning in five, Brind'Amour is now a free agent. Reports are that owner Thomas Dundon has an offer on the table worth $1.8 million per year for three years. That's a lot of bread for Raleigh. In Manhattan, it's practically minimum wage. 

Bottom line, James Dolan has the resources to make Brind'Amour a very wealthy man. By wealthy, I'm talking $5 mill per year guaranteed over five years. The question is does Brind'Amour really want to leave a situation where he's laid down roots and has a team that is a player or two from winning a cup?

That's why Drury needs to feel him out and see where his head is at. Perhaps Brind'Amour takes a look at the Rangers roster and thinks maybe this could be the next Lightning in the making and he wants in. Or perhaps he sees what happened to John Davidson and Jeff Gorton, wants no part of that circus and just uses Dolan's money to entice a better offer from his owner.

Either way, Drury has to find out. Gallant will still be there, especially since the Columbus Blue Jackets have opted to promote someone from within their own organization to fill their head coaching vacancy. What Drury can't afford to do is pass up an opportunity to get what I believe is the third best coach in the NHL. The first two are Trotz and John Cooper of the Lightning.

Larry Brooks has an excellent piece in the New York Post about just how far away the Rangers are from the Islanders that's required reading.

You watch the Islanders and you see that three of their four lines can be utilized as checking units, every one other than the Leo Komarov-Mat Barzal-Jordan Eberle trio. Brock Nelson, between Josh Bailey and Anthony Beauvillier, can center a matchup line. Jean-Gabriel Pageau’s unit with deadline expatriates Travis Zajac and Kyle Palmieri can handle the assignment. And we know that the Matt Martin-Casey Cizikas-Cal Clutterbuck Identity Line can take on any line on any team.

Three checking lines for the Islanders.

Not a one for the Rangers.

Of course, Brooks left out one very important detail: with the exception of Pageau, Martin, Zajac, and Palmieri, all of the above forwards - plus Tavares - were here four years ago, and as I pointed out above, they finished an abysmal 7th in the division and dead last in defense. The reason why this team is now eight wins away from a Stanley Cup championship is because of the man behind the bench. If Drury doesn't get that, than everything we've read about him over the last few weeks is good for shit.

During the 1980s, I was forced to watch an Islanders team reel off four consecutive cups while the team I rooted for spun its wheels in futility. The hard cap will probably prevent the Isles - or any team - from doing that again. What it won't do is save a Rangers organization with a long history of screwing up from a repeat performance.

Bittersweet

In the end, it wasn't as close as the final score suggested. The New York Knicks, a team that captured the hearts and minds of an entire city, was rudely shown the door by an admittedly superior Atlanta Hawks team.

It is axiomatic that regardless of which sport you play, your success is determined by how well you covert on your scoring opportunities. In baseball, if you're a batter at home plate and there's a runner on third base, your job is to drive him in. In football, if you're a quarterback and you have a receiver open in the end zone, your job is to get the ball to him. In hockey, if you have the puck on your stick and you have a clear shot at the goaltender, your job is to put the puck in the net. And in basketball, when you have an open shot, your job is to put the ball through the hoop.

In this best of seven series, one team understood that and that team wasn't the orange and blue. Indeed, the Knicks shooting over the five games was brutal, especially their star player, Julius Randle, who shot 51 percent against the Hawks during the regular season but an abysmal 30 percent against them in the playoffs. 

You can make this about Trae Young all you want - and let's be honest, he's a very easy player to hate - but Young wasn't responsible for the bricks the Knicks were throwing up. I don't care how good your defense is, you still gotta make your shots if you expect to win and the Knicks simply didn't make enough of them when it counted.

So now that a 41-31 season, which was good enough for 4th best in the Eastern Conference, has come to a premature end, the question begs what do the Knicks do in the offseason? Let's face it: whether they beat the Hawks or not, this team was never a serious threat to go past the second round. That's because the Milwaukee Bucks, Brooklyn Nets and Philadelphia 76ers are all considerably better and are legitimate contenders for the title. The Knicks are at best two players away from that being the case. Clearly Leon Rose and Scott Perry have their work cut out for them.

The first thing they have to do is decide who to keep and who to send packing. Regarding the latter, it's clear the experiment with Elfrid Payton has run its course. Payton was a virtual non-entity down the stretch and forced coach Tom Thibodeau to start 32 year old Derrick Rose at point guard in game three against the Hawks. The extra minutes took their toll on Rose who looked exhausted by game five, and a Knicks' bench that wasn't exactly overstocked to begin with was left badly depleted. This team has to sign a legitimate point guard that can run the floor and distribute the ball.

Because the Knicks opted to go with one-year deals going into this season, several of their players including Reggie Bullock and Rose are now free agents. That means if management wants to retain them, they will have to pony up some serious bucks.

Rose is a no-brainer. Had it not been for him coming off the bench, this team most likely would not have made the postseason. The other star on the team, Randle, thankfully is signed through next season, but his flaws were exposed during the Hawks series. He may have been the most improved player in the NBA this season, but a first option offensive threat he is not. The Knicks not only need someone who can score from the perimeter but someone who can score from the paint. In short, they need their own Trae Young.

Players like that don't grow on trees, so it will be up to Rose and Perry to find one and convince him to move to Manhattan, the same way the Nets' Sean Marks convinced Kevin Durant to move to Brooklyn. Lest we forget, two years ago, the Nets were only 42-40. Anyone who tells you they saw this team coming together in 2019 is a fool or a lier. In today's NBA, contenders aren't grown, they're assembled. If Marks could do it, there's no excuse for Rose and Perry at least not trying.

As with all things pertaining to the Knicks, the wild card here is Dolan. If past is prologue, you can expect him to try and fuck up this rebuild the same way he did the last one in 2013. But for the moment, let's assume his new-found discovery of a frozen substance known as ice keeps him preoccupied long enough for this rebuild to be completed. The Knicks will have sufficient cap space this summer to make a splash or two in free agency. In other words, fans have every reason to expect that next year's Knicks will be better and more durable than this year's Knicks were.

The bottom line is that the future at the Garden looks bright. It sucks losing, I know, but this management team appears well equipped to address the team's needs. They have their coach and they have a strong nucleus of good role players. If they find the missing pieces, a championship may not be all that far away.

Stand up, New York!

Rangers Need To Find Their Own Tom Thibodeau

Before I get to the Rangers head coaching vacancy, I want to send a shoutout to "JD" John Davidson, who according to The New York Post, will be rejoining the Columbus Blue Jackets as President of Hockey Operations, his old job. JD was a class act and he deserved a much better fate than the one he got at the hands of James Dolan. I wish him nothing but the best.

Now onto to the head coach.

With all the talk about rebuilding, it's worth noting that the most successful rebuild going on at Madison Square Garden has nothing to do with the hockey team. It involves the basketball franchise that since the 1972-73 season has made the finals just twice. The New York Knicks are the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference and this Sunday they will begin a best of seven series against the Atlanta Hawks.

Just seeing the words "Knicks" and "postseason" appear in the same sentence is like seeing the words "Nickelback" and "outstanding rock band" appear in the same sentence. Well almost. Since their last trip to the NBA finals in 1999, the Knicks have made the playoffs six times and only twice have they advanced to the second round. Going into this season, they had seven consecutive losing campaigns.

The man most responsible for this tremendous turnaround is head coach Tom Thibodeau. Not since the glory days of Red Holzman have the Knicks had a coach who commands the respect of his players the way this man does. A coach who is equal parts teacher and disciplinarian; a coach who preaches defense first, and who got his players to buy into a team concept in a league that is obsessed with individual stats. If Thibodeau isn't coach of the year, the award is meaningless.

As Chris Drury conducts his search for the next head coach of the Rangers, he would be wise to take a good hard look at what his counterpart - Leon Rose - accomplished by hiring Thibodeau, and then copy it. The days of a head coach screaming at his players is over. To earn their respect, coaches these days have to wear multiple hats: Yes, they still have to hold players accountable, but not by humiliating them the way John Tortorella often did. To succeed with today's players, coaches have to have a temperament that can both inspire and correct at the same time. 

As much as I liked David Quinn, he just wasn't able to get through to the veterans on this club. Players like Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin resisted Quinn's calls for a more conventional north-south style of play that teams like the Islanders and Bruins have adopted successfully. The result was that this team, exciting to watch though they may have been, severely underachieved and missed the postseason, despite having more talent than last year's roster.

Whoever Drury hires as Quinn's replacement has to be able to harness that talent while also convincing it that this isn't the 1980s anymore. Today's NHL is about aggressive forechecking and driving to the net. It's about taking care of your own end first and getting the puck in deep. No reckless, cross-ice passes that can wind up in the back of your net. You get a scoring chance, you take it. Period!

The Capitals / Bruins series is a case in point. All three games in this best of seven series so far have gone into overtime and all three have been low-scoring affairs. No 9-0 or 8-3 blowouts. No sequence of three or four passes by self-indulgent players trying to come up with that "perfect" shot that in the postseason almost never materializes. The best teams in the league are simply too quick and too big to let that happen. The core of this Rangers team never fully accepted that reality. The next head coach will be tasked with driving it home.

With that in mind, who will Drury choose? So far, Gerard Gallant is the only candidate that's been interviewed. Gallant has an impressive resume. In his last two stints as HC he led the Florida Panthers to a second division title and the Vegas Golden Knights to the Stanley Cup finals during its inaugural season. However, Gallant was fired from both jobs in only his third year behind the bench, and that is a red flag for a team looking for long-term stability.

Another candidate is former Arizona Coyotes' head coach Rick Tocchet. Though the Coyotes severely underperformed during Tocchet's four-year reign, the team's defense did improve dramatically. Last year, it was 3rd in the league. The Coyotes also made the play-in round in 2020 and beat the Nashville Predators before losing to the Colorado Avalanche in the first round of the playoffs.

We likely won't know until after the playoffs are over who the next Rangers head coach will be. That's because one candidate is Rod Brind'Amour of the Carolina Hurricanes who is unsigned beyond this year. In his three seasons behind the bench, the Hurricanes have been one of the toughest teams in the NHL to play against. Last year, they swept the Rangers in the play-in round. This season, they finished first in the Central Division and came within two points of winning the President's Trophy. They currently have a 2-0 lead over the Predators in the first round of the playoffs and are among a handful of teams that have a legitimate shot of winning the Stanley Cup. 

Brind'Amour wouldn't be the first Stanley Cup-winning head coach to switch teams. Barry Trotz left the Washington Capitals after they won the Cup in 2018 to become the Islanders' head coach. And let's not forget Mike Keenan, the last Rangers' coach to hoist Lord Stanley, departed for the St. Louis Blues barely a month after the season ended.

The bottom line is this: In addition to deciding on a head coach, there's the upcoming Seattle expansion draft as well as the league draft, not to mention off-season trades and/or potential free-agent signings. Drury has a lot on his plate. The moves he makes over the next couple of months will go a long way towards determining whether the Rangers progress as an organization or slide into oblivion. One thing's for certain: with Dolan taking a sudden interest in the hockey operations, you can bet the ranch Drury's leash will be a short one. 

Where Do the Rangers Go From Here?

Now that the season is over, I thought I'd share some thoughts on what lies ahead for the Rangers. I'll confine my comments to the coaching staff and personnel.

Torts, Part Deux?

John Tortorella is out in Columbus, which should come as a surprise to absolutely no one who was paying attention. While the Blue Jackets did make the playoffs four times during his tenure, the bottom fell out this year and both sides had had enough. It's also no secret that James Dolan likes the former Rangers head coach and feels he never should have been fired back in 2013. But while Tortorella is still a good coach, his act is wearing a little thin around the league. He was single-handedly responsible for the trade that sent Pierre-Luc Dubois to Winnipeg for Patrik Laine and then benched the latter when - surprise - he wound up in the doghouse. If Chris Drury decides to make a change behind the bench - and all reports indicate David Quinn's chances of being retained are 50/50 at best - he should stay as far away from Tortorella as possible. Quite frankly, the game has passed him by.

Kinkaid or Georgiev as backup goalie?

If, like me, you were wondering why Quinn decided to start Keith Kinkaid instead of Alexandar Georgiev in the season finale in Boston, it probably had to do with determining which goalie the Rangers are going to keep as Igor Shesterkin's backup. Both Kinkaid and Georgiev are signed through next season, but Kinkaid is making $825,000 while Georgiev is making $2.4 million. Assuming the organization believes Shesterkin can handle a workload of 60 games and Kinkaid can cut it in the backup role, they will likely expose Georgiev in the Seattle expansion draft and use the savings to re-sign Brendan Smith to a one-year deal. Keep in mind, Tyler Wall is also in the system and is currently on an entry level contract through next season, so the Rangers have depth at this position.

Eichel or No Eichel?

As expected, the Jack Eichel trade rumors have started up again. The Buffalo Sabres' center missed most of last season with an upper-body injury, but that hasn't stopped every beat writer around the NHL from pontificating on when, not if, the Rangers will land him, especially since Eichel has already hinted that he wants out. But as talented as Eichel is, he's basically a Mika Zibanejad clone. And at $10 million per season, he would tie up a substantial portion of the team's available cap space for the foreseeable future. Not to mention that in order to get him, the Rangers would have to pay a hefty price in players and perhaps even draft choices. The smart move is to bulk up on the wing and leave the center slot alone for now. But if Drury is under orders to improve this position, he should head down the Jersey Turnpike to Philadelphia. The Flyers had a horrific season and could be persuaded to move Sean Couturier for the right package. Couturier is a bonafide 30 goal scorer, who weighs 210 pounds, isn't shy in the corners, and, most importantly, won 56 percent of his face-offs this season. And his $4.3 million salary is far more manageable than Eichel's.

True Grit!

Not to beat a dead horse, but Oliver Wahlstrom scored his 12th goal for the Islanders Monday tonight against the Bruins. He could've been a Ranger. That being said, a number of unrestricted free agents will be available this off season and several of them could be attractive targets for the Blueshirts. Among the forwards, Blake Coleman - who I wrote about in my last piece - and Barclay Goodrow, would be outstanding additions. On defense, Jamie Oleksiak might be the best value in the league. He weighs a whopping 250 pounds, and at 28, he could anchor the backline for years to come. Then there's rookie Morgan Barron who made a favorable impression in the last few games of the season and should earn a spot on next year's roster. Imagine a fourth line of Goodrow on the left, Barron at center and Julien Gauthier on the right; and a third line of Coleman and Chris Kreider flanking Couturier in the middle. That would be a formidable bottom six. I'd like to see the Isles push those guys around.

The Messier factor.

Look, The Captain is my favorite Ranger of all time, but under no circumstances should he be given a prominent role in this organization. The last time the Rangers made the mistake of giving someone who was clearly unqualified the keys to the kingdom, it was Phil Esposito. And it took Neil Smith three years to overcome the damage he did. If Dolan wants to give Messier a job, he should hire him as an announcer for the MSG network. Maybe he can take over for Steve Valiquette, who seems to be bucking for an analytics position within the organization.

The Bottom Line.

The Rangers will have approximately $24 million in cap space to sign their own free agents and/or other teams free agents. That gives them a leg up on just about every team in the NHL. How well Drury spends that money will determine whether this team progresses or regresses. Based on how well Dolan handled not making the playoffs this year, the pressure to succeed couldn't be greater.

James Dolan Strikes Again

Maybe in hindsight it was too good to be true. For the last twenty years, Rangers fans always had the satisfaction of knowing that no matter how bad things got, at least ownership stayed the hell out of it. James Dolan's fixation with his beloved Knicks gave the Blueshirts the cover they needed to operate under the radar, free from any interference. 

Well not anymore. Dolan, who single-handedly turned one of the premier franchises in the NBA into a laughingstock, apparently found out that he also owns the hockey team currently residing in the same building. So Wednesday afternoon, the man who thinks he knows something about professional sports, decided to fire team President John Davidson and GM Jeff Gorton.

I'll get around to the ramifications of this house cleaning and what it means for the organization going forward in just a bit, but first, I gotta talk about the Wilson situation. 

I've been a fan of hockey since I was a teenager. I've made no secret of the fact that this sport, when it's played well, is one of the most exciting sports to watch. But that's the caveat: "when it's played well." Because all too often, this sport that I love has been dragged into the mud.

47 years ago this Wednesday, Dave Schultz pummeled Dale Rolfe in game seven of the 1974 semifinals at the Spectrum. The Broadstreet Bullies, as the Flyers were known back then, were notorious for beating up their opponents. Just think the movie "Slapshots" only worse, because unlike the fictional team that was a bunch of vagabonds, the real-life team managed to win consecutive Stanley Cups in the mid-'70s. Indeed, they would've won three in a row had it not been for the '76 Canadiens who were too quick for the plodding Flyers. 

The NHL would have you believe that they've made great strides since those dark days. Goons like Dave Schultz have been banished and the league no longer tolerates such behavior. Really? Tell that to Artemi Panarin, the 170 pound Rangers winger who was picked up like a rag doll by 220 pound Capitals winger Tom Wilson and slammed to the ice Monday night. It was a miracle that Panarin did not hit the ice head first or he might very well have cracked his skull open.

The circus that occurred at the Garden two nights later, which saw over a hundred minutes in penalties doled out between the Rangers and the Capitals, is a direct result of the league not dealing with Wilson the way it should have. Wilson, at the very least, should've been suspended for ten games. Instead, all he got was a $5,000 fine. What would Wilson have gotten if Panarin had been hospitalized, two tickets to a Broadway show?

If this is the NHL that Gary Bettman believes has made great strides, no wonder it isn't taken seriously by sports networks like ESPN. As far as I can remember, hockey has been mired in last place; a distant fourth behind football, basketball and baseball. It is garbage like this that is partly responsible. 

Name another professional sports league that allows its stars to be brutalized the way the NHL does. Go ahead, I'll wait. Do you know what would happen if an opposing player grabbed LeBron James by the neck and threw him to the court or picked up Tom Brady and drove him head first into the turf? I can tell you exactly what would happen. That player would be pumping gas at an Exxon station. His career in that league, or any other league for that matter, would be over. In the NHL, not only doesn't that happen, deep down the league actually encourages it. As Sean Gentille sadly and correctly pointed out in The Athletic, "This is a feature, not a bug."

And that "feature" gives league officials like George Parros, Director of Player Safety - an oxymoron if ever there was one - the excuse they need to look the other way. Seriously, putting Parros in charge of player safety is like putting an elephant in charge of peanut distribution. The man scored 18 goals and racked up 1092 penalty minutes in 474 games. To put that in perspective, Nick Fotiu had 60 goals and 1,362 minutes in penalties over 646 games. Think about that. 

A goon in charge of player safety and a commissioner giving a wink and a nod to behavior unbecoming a professional sports league. What's it gonna take for the NHL to wake up, a tragedy? We came dangerously close to that happening Monday night. Artemi Panarin, thankfully, didn't suffer a serious injury. The next player might not be so fortunate.

Now onto Dolan.

This is the most bat-shit crazy thing this organization has done since Phil Esposito fired Michel Bergeron with two games left in the 1988-89 season. In fact, it's even crazier. At least that year, the Rangers were going to the playoffs, and Esposito felt that Bergeron had lost control of the team. This year's team, while still mathematically alive for a playoff spot going into Wednesday, was literally on life support. To put it bluntly, I'd have had a better shot of scoring a hat trick than the Blueshirts had of making the postseason, and I can't even skate. 

Clearly, Dolan did not like what he was seeing and felt he couldn't wait until the end of the season to make a change. And as I pointed out in an earlier piece, there was a lot to be concerned about. This team, for all its talent, does not have the foot soldiers necessary to contend in today's NHL. Leaving aside the Wilson incident, the fact that they get pushed around by bigger teams like the Islanders and Bruins is a red flag that must be addressed. The last three games against the Islanders in which the team got outscored 13-1 was probably the breaking point for Dolan. 

So where do we go from here? First off, the announcement that Chris Drury is taking over in the dual role of President and GM is good news. Drury has been in the organization for the last six years and was hand-picked by Gorton. He knows the personnel and is widely respected around the league. Indeed, the fact that he was interviewed for two GM spots - Pittsburgh and Florida - bodes well for the Rangers. 

The problem here is the owner. Is he going to give Drury the time and space he needs to fix what's wrong? Or is he going to meddle like he did with the Knicks and really fuck things up? Time will tell which it is. If it's the former, then this should work; if it's the latter, expect a repeat of the nightmare we've seen with the Knicks over the last two decades.

Regarding David Quinn, it's 50 / 50 whether he'll be back. Coaches that go three seasons without making the postseason - and apparently last year's play-in round against the Hurricanes didn't count as a playoff appearance - typically don't survive. Don't be surprised if Drury replaces Quinn. The question is with whom? Kris Knoblauch has done an outstanding job with the Hartford Wolf Pack this year and he was behind the bench with Drury for a few games earlier this season when Quinn and his coaching staff were sidelined with Covid. 

If Drury decides to go outside the organization, one possible candidate could be Arizona Coyotes' head coach Rick Tocchet, who is unsigned past this season. While the Coyotes have underperformed, most of that is due to a lack of offensive talent. Defensively, the team has been in the top six two of the last four years, and last season it beat the Predators in the play-in round.

As far as the personnel is concerned, Drury will have to thread a needle between the talent he has and the muscle he needs. It's a delicate balance, but this team cannot take the ice next season without significant changes and they will have to come via trade and/or free agency. Thankfully, Gorton didn't make any senseless trades at the deadline. That means Drury will have a boatload of cap space with which to work with during the offseason. And with several teams at or above the cap, the Rangers should be in a position to sign one or more players.

One of those players is Blake Coleman of the Tampa Bay Lightning. An unrestricted free agent, the 29 year old earned $1.8 million this year and is a solid two-way forward who can play center or either wing. He scored 13 goals in a shortened season, and at 200 pounds, he'd be a perfect fit on either the second or third lines. Drury could offer him a four-year deal at $4.5 million per and the Lightning would be hard-pressed to match it. 

I would also re-sign Brendan Smith to a one-year contract. The 32 year-old defenseman has proven his worth down the stretch, and until Braden Schneider is ready to take his spot on the third defensive pairing, Smith is more than capable. Plus I like the way he took on Wilson Wednesday night. It takes balls to go up against a 220 pound opponent who 48 hours earlier almost put one of your teammates in the hospital. Good for him.

Speaking of defensemen, the St. Louis Blues are up against the cap and Vince Dunn, who's making $1.875 million, is a restricted free agent after this season. Did I forget to mention he also weighs 200 pounds? The Rangers could offer the Blues Zac Jones and next year's number one for him. A four-year deal for $5 million per should get it done.

Center ice is a huge question mark for this team. Mika Zibanejad and Ryan Strome are both entering their walk years. Do the Rangers keep both, one, or neither? Zibanejad is making $5.3 million and will command a huge increase. Strome at $4.75 isn't going to be cheap either. The smart move is to trade one of them. And what about Flip Chytil? Is he ready to take over as the second-line center? If not, what can the Rangers get for him? And what about Morgan Barron? The kid scored his first goal of the season against the Caps Wednesday night, and at 220 pounds, he could be just what the doctor ordered. Or he could be a bust. It will be up to Drury to figure out who stays and who leaves.

And lastly, some final words on Davidson and Gorton. While the rebuild was overall a success, it was not without its share of mistakes. The decision to re-sign Tony DeAngelo during the offseason, as I wrote back in February, was "indefensible." It showed an utter lack of judgement on the part of both men. DeAngelo's tweets and his track record with past teams were problematic even before the defenseman took a swing at his own goaltender. Fortunately, the organization will be able to get rid of most of the cap hit when they buy him out this summer, as DeAngelo is under 26.

Then there's the draft. Leaving aside Alexis Lafreniere and Kaapo Kakko, who were no-brainers, some of Gorton's draft picks left something to be desired, as well. A few, like Lias Andersson, have been outright busts, and some just lack the physical size to compete with other NHLers. Take Vitali Kravtsov, for instance. Yes, the Russian winger is talented, but the same year the Rangers drafted him, the Islanders nabbed Oliver Wahlstrom out of Maine. Kravtsov is 189 pounds; Wahlstrom is 205. Seeing a pattern? Drury has to stop this love affair with European players. As gifted as many of them are, the Rangers simply have too many of them. A steady diet of North American players over the next couple of years should help cleanse the system.

The season is over come Saturday. The rebuild will now be a retool. Rangers' fans will have to wait and see if Chris Drury is the man who can turn this young, promising team into a bonafide contender. 

"Trader Dave" Silences the Haters

I have two questions for the man posing as Giants general manager. Who are you and what have you done with Dave Gettleman?

Seriously, in the past eight NFL drafts, five of which were with the Carolina Panthers, Gettleman hadn't once traded back. And with six picks in this year's draft, including the 11th pick in the first round, it was looking very much like number nine wasn't going to be any different.

And then...

The Philadelphia Eagles, who had the 12th pick in the first round, decided to leap frog ahead of the Giants, and took DeVonta Smith, considered by some as the best receiver in the draft, with the 10th pick. There's no doubt Gettleman had Smith on his board and would've taken him had he been there, so you can just imagine what the scene was like at MetLife Stadium after the Eagle selection.

With Smith gone, Gettleman examined his options. He still wanted a receiver but pondered possibly taking Micah Parsons, the linebacker from Penn State, who everyone and their grandmother had rated the best defensive prospect in the draft. That's when the Chicago Bears entered the picture. The Bears had the 20th pick and they were looking for a quarterback, having struck out trying to pry Russel Wilson away from Seattle.

Since the 49ers threw a monkey wrench into everything and chose Trey Lance instead of Mac Jones with the 3rd overall pick, the conventional wisdom was that Bill Belichick would grab Jones with the 15th pick. That left Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields available. But would Fields still be there at 20? That was the sixty-four thousand dollar question. No one knows who initiated contact, but when all was said and done, the Bears and Giants swapped first round picks and the Giants wound up getting the Bear's fifth round pick this year and the Bear's first and fourth round picks in 2022. 

Given it was Gettleman's first trade down, it was a nice haul. Not only did he get a quality receiver in Kadarius Toney with the 20th pick, he accumulated valuable draft capital for next year's draft, which almost everybody agrees will be deeper and richer than this one.

Gettleman wasn't remotely done trading, though. He swapped second round picks with the Dolphins and netted their 2022 third rounder. And with the 50th pick, landed outside linebacker Azeez Ojularo, one of the best pass rushers in the draft. Then in round three, he traded up and snagged cornerback Aaron Robinson, who many analysts thought was a mid- second rounder.

As a result of Gettleman's wheeling and dealing, the Giants had one of the best and most productive drafts that they've had in years. They filled two needs - receiver and edge rusher - and fortified a strength - the secondary. The Giants now have one of the deepest secondaries in the league and have the pass rusher they've been looking for since the glory days of the Tom Coughlin era.

Two years ago, Dave Gettleman panicked and used the 6th overall pick on Daniel Jones when he could've gotten him with the 17th pick. In so doing he let a valuable defensive player in Josh Allen slip away and he was justly ripped for that blunder.

This time around, Gettleman didn't panic. He used his leverage to not just improve the present roster, but the future one as well. With two number one picks in next year's draft, the Giants are well positioned to either improve on what they already have or combine both picks and trade up to draft a new quarterback if they decide Jones isn't the second coming of Eli Manning after all.

It's a position the organization hasn't been in in a very long time. And it's long overdue. Bravo, sir.

Bi-Polar Rangers Aren't All That Hard To Figure Out

We've seen this movie all too often throughout the season. It's a familiar pattern. The Rangers go on a hot streak and torch a few, shall we say, lower echelon teams, which gives fans hope that this rebuild, which started three years ago, is now on the verge of producing tangible fruit. Then they get shut down by a top-caliber playoff team and just like that, the air is let out of the balloon. As Robin Williams used to say, "Reality, what a concept."

After Sunday's drubbing of the Buffalo Sabres, the Blueshirts have the sixth best goals for and against differential in the NHL at plus 33. Their 164 goals are third best in the league; only the Capitals and Penguins have scored more. They are also the only team to have five players with 40 points or more. Their penalty killing is sixth best and they lead the league in short-handed goals. All very impressive stats.

And yet even with all that, this team is still four points behind the Boston Bruins for the last playoff spot in the East Division, with the Bruins having two games at hand. And their 56 points ranks as only 14th best out of 31 teams in the league. That is most certainly NOT very impressive.

So what can we surmise from these two sets of conflicting data? Simply put, the Rangers are two very different teams depending on the opposition. Against opponents that don't cover their own zone very well or prefer to play a wide open brand of hockey, the Rangers do extremely well. Their east/west style of play, so reminiscent of those free-wheeling '80s teams, allows them to generate scoring opportunities that lesser-skilled teams simply cannot compete with. Witness what they did to the Philadelphia Flyers and New Jersey Devils, two teams that are to defense what Napoleon was to height. Twice, the Rangers routed the Flyers (9-0 and 8-3), and against the Devils, they swept a recent four-game series in which they did not trail for a single second.

But against the Islanders, Capitals, Bruins and Penguins, teams that are considerably more disciplined in their own end and tend to employ a north/south brand of hockey, the Rangers have had a tough time generating offense. Stars like Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin, deprived of their ability to create off the rush, are reduced to virtual non-factors. For example, so far this season, Zibanejad has scored three hat tricks. The first two came against the Flyers in the above-mentioned routs; the third came against the Sabres this past Sunday. Take away those 9 goals and Zibanejad has a grand total of just 10 goals in 46 games. That comes out to about 18 goals over the course of a full season. And keep in mind, eight of those 46 games were against the Devils, a team they've beaten six times.

Conclusion? This is very talented team with serious flaws that must be addressed in the offseason if it is ever going to become a playoff team, much less a contender. Yes, there are a lot of rookie and second-year players on the roster, but that shouldn't be an excuse. Adam Fox and K'Andre Miller are not the problem here. Nor is Kaapo Kakko and Alexis Lafreniere. Fox is having a Norris-trophy type season, Miller is fast becoming a dependable defenseman, and Kakko and Lafreniere are improving with each game.

No, it is the core of this team that is the main problem. In short, the stars just aren't pulling their weight. In addition to the issues Zibanejad and Panarin have against tight-checking teams, Chris Kreider is a 210 pound player who plays more like a 170 pounder, which has rightfully earned him a demotion to the third line. Filip Chytil, now in his third season, has yet to blossom into the top-six forward the Rangers were hoping he'd be. And while Ryan Strome has done a good job centering Panarin, he too has a habit of disappearing in big games. Plus next season is his walk year.

With so many red flags, you'd think Jeff Gorton and John Davidson would've gotten the memo by now. Yet every indication is that they don't think there's anything all that wrong, at least not with the forwards anyway. The defense, well that's another matter. 

Larry Brooks of The New York Post is reporting that during the offseason the Rangers made an offer to 43 year-old Zdeno Chara. According to Brooks, it was serious enough that they were "in the hunt until the last minute" before Chara finally decided to sign with the Capitals. Granted, Gorton had no way of knowing that Miller would develop so quickly, but the move reveals both his and the organization's thinking. And that thinking is deeply concerning.

Because this team, even with all its flaws, is still mathematically alive for a playoff spot, and the fear is that coach David Quinn will keep playing the same horses that have consistently come up short in the crunch. Meanwhile, Morgan Barron, a center who had a good year in Hartford and is 220 pounds, still hasn't been called up. Julien Gauthier, a 230 pound winger, hasn't played in weeks because for some strange reason Quinn is still in love with Brett Howden, despite the fact that Howden has a whopping one goal and six assists this season.

There's no other way to put this. Quinn is making a tactical error that may help him in the short run but will come back to bite him in the long run. What he and Gorton should be doing with the remaining games this season is to find out what they have in the cupboard. Barron and Gauthier should be in the lineup and given significant ice time. Vitali Kravtsov should be paired alongside Panarin to see whether he is the real deal. And it is time to find out if Kakko was worth the second overall pick two years ago.

If I were in charge I'd set my lines up this way: 

Forward Line One: Lafreniere, Zibanejad, Kakko

Forward Line Two: Panarin, Chytil, Kravtsov

Forward Line Three: Kreider, Strome, Buchnevich

Forward Line Four: Rooney, Barron, Gauthier

Defense Pairing One: Miller, Trouba

Defense Pairing Two: Jones, Fox

Defense Pairing Three: Lindgren, Smith

By moving Lafreniere, Kakko, Chytil and Kravtsov up to the top six, the Rangers will be able to evaluate who will be the odd-man out during the offseason. And make no mistake about it: not all of these forwards are going to be here next season. One or more may be dangled in a trade to get the help this team needs. It is essential that Gorton and Davidson make an "informed" decision before pulling the trigger. What the organization can't afford to do after going through this rebuild process is to have the player or players they give up come back and haunt them for the next decade. It's been 45 years since Rick Middleton was given away for Ken Hodge and 34 years since Mike Ridley and Kelly Miller were sent packing for Bobby Carpenter. Rangers' fans still haven't forgiven the team for those colossal blunders. Some wounds never heal. The goal should be no more blunders.

On defense, Zac Jones has looked real good so far and has even gotten some time on the second power-play unit. He picked up his first assist against the Sabres, Sunday. Pairing him with Fox makes sense. The more ice time this kid gets the better he'll become. And let's not forget that Braden Schneider - all 200 pounds of him - is waiting in the wings. Imagine a one-two punch of Trouba on one defense pairing and Schneider on the next. Not bad. Trust me, defense is the last thing management should be concerned about. They're loaded.

The bottom line is this: The Rangers are not a playoff team. Despite some flashes of brilliance, the sauce isn't quite cooked enough. What management should be doing is getting all their cards lined up so they know whether they have a full house or a pair of duces.

Rangers Do the Right Thing and Stand Pat

The trade deadline came and went and Jeff Gorton didn't flinch. The man who three years ago let millions of Rangers fans know via a letter that the team which had twice gone to the conference finals and once to the Stanley Cup finals was going to be torn down and rebuilt, resisted the urge to take a short cut and stood pat.

Not that it was all that difficult a choice for Gorton. The players who were available were, for the most part, rentals at best and came with a high premium. To give up a first round pick for a player who not only would've been gone in a couple of months but would've taken a valuable spot away from an up and comer, might well have set the whole rebuild back a year, maybe more.

And while the team has taken something of a step backwards in its development this year, the immediate future looks quite promising. The Kid line of Filip Chytil, Kaapo Kakko and Alexis Lafreniere is finally starting to click; newcomer Vitali Kravtsov picked up his first point against the Islanders on Sunday; sophomore Adam Fox is tied with Victor Hedman for the most points among defensemen; and, as we speak, the Rangers are in the process of signing UMass phenom defenseman Zac Jones to an entry level contract. I expect him to make his professional debut soon.

Not counting Tony DeAngelo - whom they will surely buy out - the Rangers will have an extra $13 million in available cap space to play with going into next season. More than enough to work out a trade for Jack Eichel, assuming the Sabres aren't unreasonable in their demands. Gorton would've been nuts to panic now.

Indeed, the Rangers, despite the prospect of missing the post season three out of the last four years, are sitting pretty when it comes to the salary cap. Virtually every team from the Islanders to the Tampa Bay Lightning is going to have to make some tough decisions about which players they can retain and still stay under the cap, which for the foreseeable future is going to be flat at $81.5 million. Apart from extending Pavel Buchnevich to what will likely be a hefty raise, I don't anticipate Gorton having any issues with his contracts.

And then there's the Seattle expansion draft, where each team is allowed to protect seven forwards, three defenseman and one goaltender. Here again, the Rangers are in the cat-bird's seat. Thanks to a plethora of entry-level contracts that exempts almost a third of the roster from exposure, it's entirely possible the Blueshirts will emerge as the only team in the league to remain intact going into next season. Gorton couldn't have designed this any better if he'd tried.

That's not to say that everything is hunky dory over at the Garden. Far from it. There are still a lot of unanswered questions concerning the makeup of this team. They have way too many east-west type players that can bury the puck if you give them the room, but when you take away their passing lanes and force them out of their comfort zone, they tend to disappear. The three-game sweep at the hands of the Carolina Hurricanes last year, as we now know, wasn't an anomaly; it was a red flag. They're way too soft, and management must find a way of injecting some muscle into this bunch if they are ever going to take the next step forward.

But even with all that, things are looking up for this organization. The glass is more than half filled, and by this time next year, this young and, at times, exciting group of players, should be a playoff team.

Rangers Are To Blame for DeAngelo Nightmare

Let's be clear, here. The Tony DeAngelo nightmare did not start after Saturday's overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins in which the troubled defenseman took a swing at goaltender Alexandar Georgiev over the latter's admittedly costly mistake. Nor did it start with his tweets, which were problematic to say the least.

Indeed, if we're going to be thorough, you could say it began years ago. He was suspended twice in the OHL for slurs and abuse of officials and once in the NHL for actually going after an official. Head coach David Quinn benched him two games for getting hit with a misconduct in the third period of the opening game of the season. Clearly, he was a loose canon just ready to go off.

To be frank, it wasn't just his support for Trump that was a red flag; it was his propensity for trafficking in racist tropes and picking fights with fans on Twitter that should've sounded alarm bells in the bowels of the Ranger organization. It is inconceivable that team president John Davidson and G.M. Jeff Gorton didn't know what was going on, and both must now bear the brunt of the blame for the disaster that the franchise must now deal with.

The decision to sign DeAngelo to a two-year $9.6 million deal is indefensible. Period. Yes, he was a restricted free agent, meaning had the Rangers not made him an offer he probably would've been awarded a one-year arbitration deal. But the Rangers could have walked away from that deal, making him an unrestricted free agent. Had they done that, it is highly unlikely another team would've signed him given that the Rangers were unable to move him during the offseason.

So now Gorton has the unenviable task of trying to get a team - any team - to take the problem child off his hands. Good luck with that. Even a team with the cap space needed to take on DeAngelo's contract will want nothing to do with a player with that much baggage. That means that this team, which is currently playing musical chairs with players on its own taxi squad just to stay in compliance with the league salary cap, will have to buy out yet another contract after this season is over. Oh goodie.

Fortunately for them, because DeAngelo is under the age of 26, they will only have to eat one third of the remaining $5.3 million he's owed on the backloaded contract, which comes out to $883k annually for two years. But the point is they didn't have to go through this. They have two young, promising defensemen in their system - Nils Lundkvist and K'Andre Miller - who are a year away from making the team. They could've moved Brendan Smith over to the right side until Lundkvist is ready to take the reigns. And they would've saved themselves almost $10 million worth of cap space in the process. Cap space they would now give their eye teeth to have.

I have been patient with Davidson and Gorton, primarily because the core they are assembling has the potential to one day be a Stanley Cup contender. But there have been hiccups along the way. The buyout situation is growing alarming. Including Henrik Lundqvist, who was bought out during the off season, the Rangers currently are carrying almost $13 million in dead cap space. And while that number will go down by about $8 million next season, the DeAngelo buyout, if it happens, will bring it back up.

But here's the greater issue. That Davidson and Gorton looked the other way with someone like DeAngelo sends the wrong message, especially to a player like Miller, who is the first African American to wear a Rangers uniform. And Davidson's explanation in his press conference that this was about "freedom of speech" is absurd on its face, something that in his days as a TV analyst he would've decried.

The New York Rangers may not be the most successful hockey organization in the NHL, but even in the days of Sonny Werblin, it would never have allowed something like this to fester within its ranks. Hopefully, the braintrust has learned its lesson and won't repeat this colossal mistake.

End of an Era

It's official: Henrik Lundqvist has been bought out by the New York Rangers. An era has come to an end. 

15 seasons, 459 regular-season wins (6th all time), 61 postseason wins and one Vezina trophy. Had it not been for his acrobatics in the 2014 playoffs, the Rangers would never have made it out of the first round, let alone all the way to the finals.

An argument can be made that, apart from Mark Messier, Lundqvist is the most valuable player ever to wear the uniform. And given how many good players the Blueshirts have had in their proud history, that's quite a statement.

But as valuable and great as the King has been, it was time to turn the page. It was obvious that no team was going to trade for a 38 year-old goaltender, especially one with a $8.5 million cap hit - $4.25 with a 50/50 split - so the Rangers did what they had to do.

And now this team - officially the youngest in the NHL with the trade of Marc Staal to the Detroit Red Wings - has $23 million of available cap space with which to sign their four restricted free agents and maybe even their one unrestricted free agent, assuming GM Jeff Gorton and Jesper Fast can agree on a contract. In short, the Rangers, with the addition of first-round pick Alexis Lafreniere, will field a considerably deeper team next season than the one that was dispatched in three straight by Carolina.

This is a sad day, a bittersweet day, in New York Rangers history. A legend is gone. But it was a day that was a long time coming. Lundqvist was the oldest player from the team that went to two conference finals and one cup final. It never did drink from the Stanley Cup. Hopefully, Gorton and team president John Davidson will assemble a team that can close the deal and capture the championship that alluded its predecessor. 

 

Rangers Can't Afford To Get Sentimental Over Lundqvist

Face it, growing old sucks. Trust me, I know. I'm 59 going on 80. And that's on a good day. I can't imagine what it must feel like to be an athlete and to grow old. The window for a professional athlete is extremely small. Most don't survive for more than a decade without serious decline setting in.

For the better part of 15 years, Henrik Lundqvist has been an elite goaltender who was almost single-handedly responsible for the Rangers advancing to the Stanley Cup finals in 2014. And if his team had managed to protect multiple two-goal leads in games one and two against the Los Angeles Kings, it is quite likely that the Blueshirts would've captured the Cup that year and the King, as he has come to be affectional called, would've been awarded the Conn-Smyth trophy.

Alas, that wasn't the case. The Rangers blew those two-goal leads and with it the series, losing in five. The following year (2014-15) the team won the President's trophy only to lose to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the conference finals. From there, it's been all downhill. Back-to-back early exits in the first and second rounds respectively, followed by a two-year hiatus from the playoffs altogether.

All that brings us to this past season. A young coach and a very young team with an aging goalie, who looks more like a backup than a perineal Vezina trophy winner. Were Lundqvist making what most backups make, he'd be a steal. But with a salary cap hit of $8.5 million, he's a luxury this team can no longer afford.

In an earlier piece, I wrote that the Rangers had approximately $13 million available cap space with which to sign their RFAs and UFAs. In actuality, it's $14 million, so they shouldn't have all that much difficulty, right?

Wrong.

Turns out I neglected to factor in all those ELCs that the team is carrying. What is an ELC, you ask? That would be an entry level contract, and the Rangers have a boat load of them. While on the surface, it may seem as though players on entry level deals are quite cheap insofar as the cap is concerned, if you look under the hood, they're not quite as cheap as you might suspect.

That's because virtually all ELCs carry what's called a performance bonus that if a player hits, entitles him to additional money. And that additional money, as you might expect, gets added to the cap. According to Capfriendly, the Rangers would need to set aside roughy $7 million in cap space if all their ELCs were to hit their bonus levels.

How likely is that to happen? Let's put it this way, would you want to take a chance that Igor Shesterkin wins the Vezina and Kaapo Kakko scores something like 80 points and have to pay out more than $5 million in bonuses between them, only to find out you don't have enough cap room and are now relying on the benevolence of Gary Bettman to avoid what will almost assuredly be a substantial penalty? I sure as shit wouldn't.

So, long story short, that $14 million is now, for all intents and purposes, $7 million, which barely covers the cost of re-signing Ryan Strome and Brendan Lemieux. The former is an absolute must. There's no way this team can afford to go into next season without a number two center, not unless you think Filip Chytil is ready to assume those duties. And from what we saw last season, that would be an enormous risk, one that the franchise would be reckless to take. You don't commit $11 million a year to arguably the best left wing in the NHL in Artemi Panarin and not have a legitimate center to feed him the puck. Strome and Panarin were - to coin a phrase from the movie Forrest Gump - peas and carrots. You don't split that pair up unless you're pretty damn sure you have someone in the wings who can step right in and assume the role.

So let's say Strome agrees to a two-year bridge deal for $5 million a year, and Lemieux re-signs for, say, $2 million. Now what? You're at your cap limit, and you still have at least two players left to sign. Without shedding some salary, you're basically rolling the dice hoping your young players under perform. But what would be the point of that? Either these last three years have been worth it or they haven't. The truth is nothing would accelerate this rebuild more than to see Kakko have a breakout season alongside Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider.

And let's not forget, there will be one pretty substantial young player joining the team next season: Alexis Lafreniere, the overall number one pick. And unless the scouting reports on this kid are severely off, he will likely hit his performance bonus with room to spare, meaning the Rangers would need to set aside at least $2 million for him, not the standard $925,000.

You can see where this is going. If it sucks getting old, imagine what it must be like being the GM of the second youngest team in the league with a lot of holes to fill and not enough available cap space to fill them.

That's why it is imperative that the Rangers buy out Lundqvist's contract. Sure it adds more dead cap space to an already mountainous total, but Gorton has no other choice. He needs the $3 million in cap relief to help him fill out his roster, and even then, he'll have to get creative.

This is the part of the game nobody likes. A player who has given everything he can for an organization that came up short twice and is now on the verge of putting together a core that will hopefully be together for many years, is now the square peg in a round hole, and that sucks. If there was another way to do this, I'm sure the Rangers would've found it by now. 

He isn't going to retire, nor should he, and in a league with a flat cap and with several teams needing to shed salary themselves, no one is going to trade for a 38 year-old goaltender that is at least two years removed from elite status. Even with the Rangers picking up half the tab, you're still talking about $2.75 million. Think about it this way: the Rangers will likely have to fork over $2 million just to re-sign Alexandar Georgiev, and he's 24. Get the idea?

It's been a nice career for Hendrik Lundqvist; a brilliant career, in fact. As I've said before, he's the best Ranger never to win a Stanley Cup, but it's time to move on. Gorton knows it and so does Lundqvist.

Parting is such sweet sorrow, especially when it's bittersweet.

Post script, 

Breaking News: the Rangers announced Saturday that they have traded defenseman Marc Staal and a 2021 second-round draft pick to the Detroit Red Wings in exchange for future considerations. Staal was in the final year of a contract that paid him $5.7 million. Detroit was able to absorb the full amount of Staal's cap hit because they were significantly under the minimum and actually needed to add salary.

Given this development, the Rangers might decided not to buy out Lundqvist but I would still do it. The added cap space would help them acquire a solid left-handed defense partner for Jacob Trouba - Vince Dunn? - and allow them to re-sign Tony DeAngelo who had a good year offensively last season.