The Rangers Are for Real

The stats don't lie; neither does the record. After twenty-two games, the Rangers are an incredible 15-4-3, good for second in the Metropolitan division, two points behind the Washington Capitals whom they have two games in hand on. They are fourth in the Eastern conference, and fifth overall in the NHL out of 32 teams. And while their offense has only generated an 18th best 65 goals, their defense has allowed the 6th fewest with 55. If you saw this coming at the start of the season, you're a better person than me.

Igor Shesterkin has had a huge role to play in this team's success, no doubt about it. His performance in Toronto, in which he literally stole two points, was one for the ages. That's why it's critical that the injury he sustained last night at the Garden against the San Jose Sharks not be too serious. When Gerard Gallant said at his postgame presser that it - the injury - wasn't as bad as it looked, he conveniently left out that it looked REAL bad. Even a minor groin pull could sideline Shesterkin for a couple of weeks. Alexandar Georgiev will finally get the chance to establish himself as a top-flight goalie. So far this season, he's been anything but.

Shesterkin's injury notwithstanding, this team has been one of the biggest surprises of the 2021-22 season. Since they were blanked by the Calgary Flames on November 6, the Rangers have gone 9-1 in their last ten games, seven in a row at home. The only blemish, a 2-1 loss to the Maple Leafs in Toronto. Call it payback for the heist Shesterkin pulled off earlier in the year. Their even-strength play has gone from one of the worst in the league to one of the best, and their power play is 9th in the NHL.

They are getting key contributions from every one and every line. Adam Fox continues to improve upon last year's Norris Trophy performance; Chris Kreider is having the best year of his career; both Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin continue to put up points, even even while still struggling to score goals; Barclay Goodrow - the player virtually everyone insisted Chris Drury overpaid for - has produced everywhere Gallant has put him; Kevin Rooney, the player everyone and their uncle wanted Drury to leave unprotected in the expansion draft, has scored 5 goals - 2 against the Islanders; Jacob Trouba is shooting the hell out of puck and has found the back of the net four times so far this season; and Kaapo Kakko, who went scoreless in his first ten games, now has 8 points (3 goals and 5 assists) in his last seven.

I know it's not fair to draw comparisons, but this team does remind me a lot of the 1978-79 Rangers. That team had role players like Dean Talafous, Pierre Plante and Eddie Johnston who contributed to an unlikely Stanley Cup final run. Seriously, before the season started, did you think we'd be talking about Julien Gauthier and Dryden Hunt? Neither did I. Yet both players are now integral to the success of this team. Go figure.

Last night's game might be the best one they've played this young season. Up 1-0 when their star goalie went down five minutes into the third period, they protected that lead. Not by sitting back, like other Rangers teams in the past might've done, but by carrying the play to the Sharks. It was four minutes before Georgiev was forced to make a save. In all he stopped nine shots, at least four of which were ticketed, but his teammates did their damnedest to help him out and preserve the shutout. The last two minutes of the game were spent almost entirely in the San Jose end, much to the delight of their head coach.

And speaking of that head coach, it's time to admit he was the right choice for this team. After three years of David Quinn, who quite frankly never should've been hired, Gallant's approach has been just what the doctor ordered. This team not only believes in itself, it sticks up for itself. When J-G Pageau of the Islanders hit Ryan Lindgren in the head with his elbow, his defense partner Adam Fox immediately went after Pageau. Later on near the end of the game, Alexis Lafreniere decked him. Last year's team would've wilted; this year's team responds. That's the difference. They may not be the biggest or the toughest in the league, but they are no longer the pushovers they used to be.

I've said all season long that this team is resilient. Well now they're more than that; they're for real. And what's more, they're starting to believe it. They can skate, they can check and they can defend. And if Gauthier ever learns how to finish, watch out. No, they're not the Edmonton Oilers or the Carolina Hurricanes; not yet, at least. But they are a legitimate playoff team. If Georgiev can hold the fort until Shesterkin returns, they will be a force to reckoned with, mark my words.

I'm genuinely excited about this team. The rebuild is finally over and it was a resounding success. Drury deserves his share of the credit, as does Jeff Gorton, who is now running the Montreal Canadiens, and John Davidson, who is back with the Columbus Blue Jackets. 

Management doesn't need to panic and make an unnecessary trade for disgruntled Boston Bruins winger Jake DeBrusk, or reacquire J.T. Miller from the Vancouver Canucks, especially when we still don't know how long Shestekin will be out. If a backup goaltender is needed, that's where the resources should go. $7 million in available cap space can go a long way.

The bottom line is this: Rangers' fans have been waiting for this moment for four years. Well, it's finally here, guys. So, sit back and enjoy the ride.

Evaluating Chytil is the Key to Rangers' Future Success

Some thoughts on the news that Sammy Blais will miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL due to a collision with P.K. Subban, and where the Rangers go from here.

One, it's time the NHL finally dealt with this man. This is not the first time Subban has injured someone by slew footing them. Ryan Reeves was almost seriously injured during the pre-season when Subban stuck out his leg, causing Reeves's right leg to buckle and landing him on his ass. And while technically, Subban did not slew foot Blais, he definitely stuck out his leg and caused Blais to go down awkwardly. A simple fine won't be sufficient; the league must suspend him in order to send a clear message.

Two, while Blais was having a good season, four assists in 14 games is hardly what I would call indispensable. It's amusing to see the same people who publicly ripped Chris Drury a new one for only getting Blais in return for Pavel Buchnevich now proclaiming Blais as the second coming of Stephane Matteau. At best, he's a third or fourth line winger. The fact that he was on the first line says more about the team's lack of depth at right wing than it does about Blais' bonafides.

Three, having said all that, it was a relief to see that Gerard Gallant resisted the urge to replace Blais with Filip Chytil on this line. While my first choice would've been to move Chris Kreider over to right wing - where he's scored all but 3 of his team-leading 12 goals - and promote Alexis Lafreniere to the first line, I can live with Barclay Goodrow there for now. He does have 7 points so far this season and he's played alongside Kreider before; it was Goodrow's pass from center ice that set up Kreider's goal in Seattle earlier in the season. And I must admit, having Lafreniere on the third line with Chytil and Julien Gauthier, who scored his first goal of the season last night against the Habs, does make this team deeper and harder to play against.

But the biggest reason for keeping Chytil at center has more to do with next season than it does this season. As I've mentioned before, the Rangers have a salary cap problem that is going to profoundly impact the roster for the next several years. They may have $7 million in available cap space now, but once the season is over, all that goes out the window. Both Adam Fox and Mika Zibanejad's contract extension's kick in next season. Between the two, the Blueshirts will have to pony up over $11 million in additional salary. 

But they're not out of the woods just yet. That's because Ryan Strome, who's currently making $4.5 million, is a UFA. When you factor in that Kaapo Kakko and Alexandar Georgiev are both RFAs, the total hit to sign all could well exceed $15 million. Even if the team decides to let Georgiev walk, they still have to come up with a suitable backup goalie, and that won't be cheap. Neither Tyler Wall nor Keith Kinkaid seem like viable options - Kinkaid looked average at best in his brief stint with the Rangers last season - so Chris Drury will most likely have to look outside the organization to find one.

Clearly some tough decisions are going to have to be made if this franchise is to make the jump from playoff contender to Cup contender. While Strome is having another solid season anchoring the second line with Artemi Panarin on the left and Kakko on the right, unless Drury can convince him to re-sign for the same salary, he will be gone next year.

And that means it is imperative that Gallant find out whether Chytil can handle the 2C position. Before he got hurt in a collision with Blais a week ago, Chytil had a goal and an assist in the game at Edmonton. Last night, he put on a burst of speed, blew past the Montreal defense and hit the goal post. His forecheck helped set up Gauthier's goal in the 3rd period. When he's been healthy, he has shown signs of promise.

And that's the rub for Chytil. He has proven to be brittle. Last year he missed 14 games due to injury. Assuming he has what it takes to be the second-line center, can management entrust him with the duties knowing he's one hit away from being out for an extended period of time?

Now you know why Drury signed Goodrow instead of Blake Coleman. Goodrow has played both center and wing throughout his career and is comfortable playing either. If push comes to shove, Drury can always trade Chytil for a bruising winger. Then maybe Strome re-ups for, say, $5.5 million, and Goodrow centers the third line. Not ideal, but it works (see chart below).

But none of that can happen until a full assessment is made of Chytil. He is the key to any future success this team has. If he develops into a solid 2C, then Strome is gone; if he doesn't, Drury will likely trade him and do his best to retain Strome.

It's all on Gallant's shoulders. He has the unenviable task of determining who plays and where. We know David Quinn wasn't up to the challenge, which is one of the reasons why he's no longer behind the bench. Gallant has gotten teams with less talent into the postseason. The question that begs to be answered is whether he can navigate a team coming out of a rebuild into the postseason while not sabotaging its still uncertain and fragile future.

Season	2022-23
NHL CAP	$82,500,000.00
Forwards
Panarin	$11,642,857.00
Zibanejad	$8,500,000.00
Kreider	$6,500,000.00
Strome	$5,500,000.00
Goodrow	$3,641,667.00
Kakko	$2,300,000.00
Reaves	$1,750,000.00
Blais	$1,500,000.00
Lafreiniere	$925,000.00
Cuylle	$850,833.00
Gauthier	$775,000.00
Hunt	$762,500.00
Rooney	$750,000.00

Total	$45,397,857.00
Defensemen
Fox	$9,500,000.00
Trouba	$8,000,000.00
Lindgren	$3,000,000.00
Nemeth	$2,500,000.00
Lundkvist	$925,000.00
Miller	$925,000.00
Tinordi	$900,000.00

Total	$25,750,000.00
Goalies
Backup	$1,000,000.00
Shesterkin	$5,666,667.00

Total	$6,666,667.00
Buyouts
Girardi	$1,111,111.00
Shattenkirk	$1,433,333.00
DeAngelo	$883,334.00

Total	$3,427,778.00
Total Cap Hit	$81,242,302.00
CAP SPACE	$1,257,698.00

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.

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.