Steve Cohen Finally Reels in a Big Fish

Look, did the Mets overpay for Max Scherzer? In a word, yes. 

Why? Because they're the Mets, that's why. They had to beat out the Dodgers who, truth be told, are a lot closer to winning a World Series than the Flushing Orange and Blue. So when Los Angeles offered Scherzer $40 million per year, Steve Cohen had to up the ante to $43.3 mill to close the deal.

Was he worth it? That depends on whether Cohen's offseason spending splurge is over or whether it's just getting started. Because even with a starting rotation that features Jacob deGrom and Scherzer at the top, there are still plenty of question marks for this organization.

For starters, who's going to be the closer? Edwin Diaz has one more year left on his contract and has yet to establish himself as a reliable closer with this team. At times he's been light's out; at others he's been lit up like a Christmas tree. No matter how great your starting rotation is, if your bullpen can't protect the lead, you're not going to be successful. And it's not just Diaz that is a cause of concern. The middle relievers by the end of the season had clearly been overworked. If the starters can't pitch into at least the 7th inning, the Mets are going to find themselves in the same predicament as last season.

And speaking of starters, the Mets still don't know what they can expect from Carlos Carrasco, Taijuan Walker and David Peterson. Carrasco was on the IL most of last season, and when he wasn't he was hardly what you would call major league caliber. Walker had an outstanding first half of the season, then crashed and burned the second half. And Peterson is still a work in progress. With Noah Syndergaard defecting to the Los Angeles Angels for $23 mill and Marcus Stroman practically out the door himself, this is very top heavy rotation. And keep in mind, we still don't know if the physical ailments that plagued deGrom most of last season will return in 2022. If they do, Scherzer might be the only legit starter on this staff.

Starling Marte, Eduardo Escobar and Mark Canha are all quality signings and represent upgrades over the players the Mets had at those positions, but none are what could be considered elite. Marte was once viewed as one of the best center fielders in the game not that long ago. And while his numbers have tailed off a bit since his days with the Pittsburgh Pirates, he managed to hit 12 homers, drive in 55 runs and bat over .300 with the Miami Marlins and the Oakland A's last season. If he can replicate that performance this season in Queens, the Mets will be very happy with him. 

With Javier Baez signing with the Detroit Tigers, second base is now up for grabs. Do the Mets go with a tandem of Jeff McNeil and Robinson Cano, or do they buy out Cano's contract, trade McNeil and sign a replacement? And with Michael Conforto turning down their qualifying offer to become a free agent, the Mets will also need a new right fielder. In other words, don't put that check book away just yet, Stevie.

And we still don't know who's going to manage this team. New GM Billy Eppler, who in his five years with the Angels did not have a single winning season, will be tasked with finding someone who can take this team to the next level. Good luck with that. Quality managers don't grow on trees.

So, yes, the Scherzer signing was huge and well worth it. Kudos to Cohen for ponying up the big bucks. But there's a lot more work that needs to be done before this team is ready to contend for the National League East, let alone the World Series.

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

The Kids Are Alright

Two games do not a season make, I realize. But they do represent a rather significant improvement and, hopefully, a turning point for a team that was relying way too much on the heroics of its goaltender Igor Shesterkin to bail them out.

The statistics don't lie. A 5-3 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets, followed by a 4-3 shootout win over the New Jersey Devils, in which the New York Rangers not only won more face-offs, they out shot, out hit and out scored their opponents, is about as one eighty a turnaround as you can expect. 

More significant, the play at even strength, the one metric by which successful teams are measured, has improved considerably. Of the 12 goals they scored over the last three games, all but 3 came at either 5x5 or 4x4. That comes out to an average 3 even-strength goals per game. Extrapolated over the course of an entire season, that would tie them with the Florida Panthers for the league lead.

But last night's thrilling win over the Devils was more than just the second consecutive strong showing by a group of players looking to deliver on the promise of a four-year rebuild that was seriously in doubt; it was the coming out party for one Kaapo Kakko, the second overall pick of the 2019 Draft, who had gone ten games without scoring a single point. The Finnish winger set up fellow milk carton contestant Alexis Lafreniere's fourth goal of the season in the second period to put the Rangers ahead 2-1. And in the third period, his first goal of the season, off a beautiful give and go with Ryan Strome, allowed his team to regain the lead before the Devils tied it late. He would later score on a backhander in the shootout.

The goals were sorely needed. Let's face it, as brilliant as Adam Fox, Chris Kreider, Artemi Panarin and, to a lesser extent, Mika Zibanejad have been throughout the season, they cannot continue to carry the load all by themselves. Sooner or later, Kakko and Lafrenirere have to step up and start pulling their weight. They don't have to be stars, but they can't continue to be missing in action game in and game out. Not if this team is going to succeed.

Fortunately, that won't be the case here. Seriously, did anybody really believe for a moment that Kakko was going to go the entire season without scoring a single goal? Or that Lafreniere was going to score only 15 goals? The Twitter mob notwithstanding, these two players simply have too much talent. My advice for the restless and the weary is to chill and stop comparing them with other first rounders. It'll only give you a headache and it won't accomplish a damn thing.

It's easy to forget that Kaapo Kakko and Alexis Lafreniere are only 20 years old; K'Andre Miller and Nils Lundkvist are barely 21. Even with all the changes Chris Drury made during the off season, this is still a very young team. Despite their early-season struggles, they are in third place in the Metropolitan Division, one point behind the Carolina Hurricanes and Washington Capitals, and two points behind the league-leading Panthers. Imagine where this team will be when they start clicking on all cylinders.

Gerard Gallant finally appears to be getting through to his troops, and assuming Sammy Blais isn't too badly injured after his collision with P.K. - slew foot - Subban, Rangers fans might be in store for a very exciting and rewarding season.

I, for one, am pumped.

Rangers Lock Up Their Fox

For once the Twitter universe was in complete agreement. News that the New York Rangers have re-signed their Norris trophy-winning defenseman Adam Fox to a seven year extension with a $9.5 million AAV was met with widespread approval. Even the Debbie Downers who expressed their skepticism about the Mike Zibanejad extension three weeks ago took the night off on this one. For once, all was right with the world.

Let's be honest. The moment the Bruins inked Charlie McAvoy to an eight-year, $9.5 million contract, you knew Fox was going to get the same money. The only question was why didn't Chris Drury lock him up for the full eight years? He certainly had the option to do so if he wanted. Also, while the terms have not yet been disclosed, you can bet the ranch Fox got a no move clause for the full duration. Meaning he isn't going anywhere.

The significance of this signing cannot be overstated. In an earlier piece, I wrote that Artemi Panarin was the best player on this team, but that in a couple of years, Fox might supplant him. Turns out I was only off by about two years. Adam Fox, right now, IS the best player on this team and will likely be so for the foreseeable future. Indeed, both he and Igor Shesterkin are almost entirely responsible for the Rangers being tied for second place in the Metropolitan division going into tonight's game against Vancouver instead of in dead last. Between Shesterkin's acrobatics in net and Fox's clutch scoring, a team that still hasn't gotten comfortable with coach Gerard Gallant's system is quickly becoming one of the best stories of the season.

But while Drury locked up yet another vital component of his core, he will have his work cut out for him next season. That's because Ryan Strome will be a UFA. The second-line center is currently making $4.5 million and when he hits the open market next summer he will fetch in the neighborhood of $6 to $7 million per year. According to Capfriendly, when you account for the Fox and Zibanejad signings and the $3.4 million in dead cap space, the Rangers have a total of $70.8 million committed for 2022-23 with only 16 players under contract. The NHL allows each team up to 23 players.

Starting to see the problem? Even if, as expected, the league increases the salary cap to $82.5 million, that leaves Drury with approximately $11.6 million to sign seven players. And that's not counting the bonus cushion penalty that teams are required to set aside for players with ELCs that have bonus provisions. For instance, this season, the Rangers are setting aside $1.4 million. Assuming that next year's cushion is the same, the real number for Drury will be closer to $10.2 million. Good luck squeezing seven players into $10.2 million.

Bottom line, Strome is gone. Whether he's dealt at the trade deadline or he walks during the summer, the Rangers simply cannot afford to keep him. That's why it is imperative that this team find out whether Filip Chytil can hack it as a number two center. I've been saying for weeks that Galant needs to pair him with Alex Lafreniere and Kaapo Kakko to give him the ice time he needs to display his talents. David Quinn tried this combination a few times last season with mixed results. If Gallant can't get him to the next level, Drury will have to find a suitable replacement for both him and Strome that is affordable. 

As for the balance of the roster, Drury can sign Kakko to a two-year bridge deal similar to the one Pavel Buchnevich got two years ago. $3.25 million is more than fair for a player that is still developing into the second overall pick of 2019. Maybe Sammy Blais re-ups for $1.5 million; the same for Kevin Rooney at $750,000. Drury has several goalies in Hartford that can take Alexandar Georgiev's place as a backup for under a mill. With a little creativity, the Rangers should be able to field a team that can contend while still remaining under the cap. Once the dead cap comes off the books in '23, Drury should have enough to re-sign Lafreniere in two years.

Things will be tight but manageable for the next couple of seasons. But this organization is headed in the right direction. Rangers fans who've been more than patient during this rebuild will soon be rewarded for their loyalty. Think about it. They have two of the top ten forwards in the league, a top five defenseman who's just entering the prime of his career, and an elite goalie that might one day win the Vezina trophy. 

How many teams can say that?

Rangers Glass Half Empty

This time there was no miracle comeback. This time there were no acrobatic saves. The lucky and resilient Rangers were neither last night against a Calgary Flames team that out checked, out hustled and, in the end, outscored them. The final score was 5-1, and like the season opener in Washington, it was a fair representation of a team that is still finding it difficult acclimating to the system their coach wants them to play.

After a four-game road winning streak that saw them play maybe four periods of spirited hockey, last night's performance was a dud, to say the least. Time after time, the Rangers tried to carry the puck out of their zone; time after time, the Flames prevented them from doing so. When they did manage to gain the offensive zone, their passes were often intercepted and led to scoring chances the other way. 

Chris Tanev had one of those chances when the Rangers got caught up ice on a 3 on 2. The Calgary defenseman scored with 70 seconds left in the first period. Another came courtesy of a giveaway by Patrik Nemeth behind his own net early in the second and was converted by Andrew Mangiapane. And just like that it was 2-0 Flames. In all, they committed twenty giveaways, nine in the opening period.

We've seen this movie before. The Caps, the Stars, the Senators and now the Flames. The common theme in all four games has been a lackluster performance leading to deficits that make it difficult to overcome. Seriously, if you had the Rangers scoring three goals in a span of 3:20 in Ottawa you're either a liar or clairvoyant. Regardless, this is no way for a team to play if it has any postseason aspirations.

Consider this: not one of the seven teams the Rangers have played this season is considered a legit Cup contender. I know there are fans in Washington and Toronto who might beg to differ. Let them. If either the Caps or Maple Leafs makes it to the finals, I'll start buying lotto tickets. Like I wrote in my last piece, if this is how they're going to play against teams that are beatable, imagine what's going to happen to them when they play against the Bruins, the Hurricanes, or, gulp, the Islanders.

They haven't scored more than three goals in a game all season. Their power play is an anemic 3 for 26. Apart from the goaltending, the lone bright spot has been their penalty kill, which had successfully killed off 14 straight power plays until Mangiapane scored on a five on four at 19:55 of the third period.

Gerard Gallant hinted they might have been tired after a long road trip. Excuses won't cut it. They weren't tired out there, they were sloppy; sloppy and stubborn. They still think they can carry the puck into the zone and set up shop like it's the '80s or something. This reluctance to dump the puck in the corner and forecheck is mind numbing. Even more frustrating is the unwillingness to put bodies in front of the opponents net. Indeed, their only goal came as a result of Kevin Rooney and Dryden Hunt screening the Calgary goaltender with Hunt pouncing on the rebound. See how simple that was?

They got Ryan Strome back last night. He was one of the few bright spots on the ice, winning 11 of 12 face-offs and setting up Artemi Panarin for a breakaway that was stopped. Kaapo Kakko makes his return from an upper-body injury Friday when they host the Columbus Blue Jackets, another beatable team. After that, they embark on a road trip out west.

They're 4-2-1. They could easily be 2-4-1. Barring a trade or serious injury, this is the team that will determine whether the rebuild started by Jeff Gorton four years ago, and tweaked by Chris Drury this summer, was successful or not. Are the Rangers a contender or a pretender? This is the question that remains to be answered. I'm still bullish on the former, but then I've been known to be wrong.

Just take a look at my blog posts.

Bread Man and Circuses in Toronto

Any doubts that Igor Shesterkin is an elite goaltender and worth every penny of the $5.6 million the New York Rangers are paying him were, hopefully, put to rest after the performance he displayed in Toronto Monday night. The man put on a clinic that invoked memories of his predecessor, Henrik Lundqvist. In all, Shesterkin stopped 40 of 41 shots, including one while he was 20 feet out of his crease in overtime.

I won't mince words here. The Rangers stole two points; or rather their goaltender stole two points. I haven't seen a game this lopsided in years. The Blueshirts were outshot, out chanced and out hustled by a Maple Leafs team that looked more like the '76 Canadiens than the team that choked in the first round of the playoffs last season. The only stat they managed to win was hits, and that was because for the vast majority of the game they were chasing the puck around the rink like a cat chasing a laser pointer.

Indeed, the winning goal by Artemi Panarin was set up because Mika Zibanejad had the good sense to go forward on the draw rather than back and somehow managed to get the puck to the Bread Man, who wristed it past Jack Campbell. It was one of only 13 face-offs the Rangers won in the game, and it was Panarin's first goal of the season. Prior to that, the all-star winger was so invisible there were milk cartons in Manhattan with his picture on it. 

Look, I know they're shorthanded. Both Ryan Strome and Kaapo Kakko are out of the lineup. The former is due back Thursday against the Predators; the latter probably won't be back for a while. But shorthanded or not, there was no excuse for this performance. Apart from Shesterkin's brilliance in net, Zibanejad, Chris Kreider and Adam Fox are the only skaters on this team pulling their weight.

That is not nearly enough for a team looking to take the next step to playoff contention. In their first four games, the Rangers have played exactly one excellent period of hockey: the second period against the Dallas Stars in game two. They got blasted by the Caps in the season opener, lost in OT to the Stars in their home opener, were good enough to beat a Montreal team few if any expect to make the postseason, and, as I mentioned above, stole two points from Toronto. Just imagine what's going to happen to them when they start playing the elite teams in this conference like the Islanders, Bruins, Panthers, Hurricanes and Lightning. And don't forget Western conference teams like the Avalanche and the Golden Knights. Shesterkin is going to be shellshocked by the All Star break.

Mollie Walker of the New York Post is right. The Rangers can't expect their goalie to continuously bail them out every night. "It's unsustainable." For the team to win it has to do more than just hit. It has to be able to carry the play. The Islanders hit, but they forecheck the hell out of their opponents. It's the number one reason why they've made it to the third round of the playoffs two years in a row and why they were five wins away from winning the Stanley Cup last season.

Adjustments are clearly needed, and Gerard Gallant may have stumbled upon one by accident. He put Panarin and Zibanejad together on the same line half way through the third period and the two generated some scoring chances, including the overtime winner. Until this team gets comfortable with its new faces and its new system, it would behoove Gallant to at least have one cohesive line out there that opponents actually fear. Right now, no one fears this team.

Another thing he can do when Strome and Kakko come back is to elevate Filip Chytil to the second line centering Alex LaFreniere and Kakko. David Quinn tried this combination a few times with mixed results. If the Rangers are going to go anywhere this year they have to figure out whether these three players can handle the load. The sooner they find that out the better. Strome can center the third line. Unless the NHL substantially increases its salary cap - don't hold your breath - Strome is likely going to be dealt at the trade deadline or walk after the season. They simply can't afford to keep him, especially if, as expected, Fox re-signs in the $9 million neighborhood.

And finally, if this team is going to establish a real physical presence, Gallant has to keep Sammy Blais and Barclay Goodrow on the same line. Blais reminds me a little bit of Blake Coleman the way he pursues the puck and finishes his checks. The two could be an effective tandem, but only if they play together.

Bottom line? While it's too early to panic, it's not too early to be alarmed. The problems that are besetting this team, if not addressed soon, threaten to undermine what was labeled as a breakout season.

Did the Rangers Wait Too Long to Re-Sign Adam Fox?

By now you've heard that the Boston Bruins have re-signed their all-star defenseman Charlie McAvoy to an eight-year, $76 million dollar contract extension beginning in 2022-23. For those who didn't bring their calculators with them, that's $9.5 million per year. Or, as we say in New York, "a fuckin' lotta dough."

Just where the Bruins, who are $1.2 million under the cap this season, intend to get that "dough" remains a mystery, especially since Patrice Bergeron, their all-star center, is currently making $6.875 and will be a UFA next summer. But that's their problem.

They say timing is everything. Lost in all the hoopla of the Rangers signing Mika Zibanejad to an eight year, $8.5 million AAV contract is the fact that they have a plethora of pending contracts that will have to be either re-upped or moved over the next couple of seasons. And the biggest of those is Adam Fox, who is in the last year of an entry level contract worth $925,000 per.

With Cale Makar re-signing in Colorado for $9 million per over the summer, the market for defensemen who can score is pretty much set. By waiting as long as they did, the Rangers may have boxed themselves into a corner with their Norris-trophy winner. After the Zibanejad signing, there was some optimism that Chris Drury might be able to persuade Fox to agree to a similar, team-friendly contract. The McAvoy signing pretty much tosses that scenario out the window. At this point, Drury will be lucky if he can get Fox to accept $9 million per. Shit, if Seth Jones is worth $9.5 million, how much is Fox worth?

Welcome to life in the flat salary cap era, or as it's better known in the NHL, the Hunger Games. The Rangers, who for the last three seasons have "enjoyed" the benefits of being among the youngest teams in the league, are about to find out what happens when that youth grows up. In addition to Fox, Kaapo Kakko, Alexis Lafreniere and K'Andre Miller will all see their ELCs expire over the next two years, and barring something unforeseen, all will be due substantial pay raises. Maybe Vitali Kravtsov did them a solid by going AWOL after all. If they can move him for a 2nd rounder or a serviceable forward with a reasonable cap hit, that'll be one less headache for Drury to deal with next summer.

But getting back to Fox, did you see the way he played Thursday night? It was as if the puck was glued to his stick. If Wayne Gretzky had been a defenseman instead of a center, he would've looked just like Fox. Drury is going to have to bite the bullet here. There are some contracts you don't fuck around with. If he's this good at 23, imagine what he's going to look like two or three years from now. 

Get him signed. Get him signed now! If it takes $9.5 mill per to get it done, then that's what it takes. Fuck it, if it takes $10 mill, do it. In five years, it'll be a bargain. Think about it: right now, Artemi Panarin is the best player on this team. Who knows, in a couple of seasons, Fox might supplant him. He's that good.

I know there are risks involved in assembling a top heavy roster. Just ask the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Edmonton Oilers. Both teams have a substantial portion of their salary cap tied up in just a few players. And as a result, both have had a hard time acquiring the depth needed to make a serious run at the Cup. I won't lie to you, that fate could await the Rangers.

But the greater risk, in my opinion, would be letting a generational player like Fox walk because you want the "freedom" to pursue lesser players that, and let's be honest, can be had in any given off season. Yes, the Tampa Bay Lightning would not have won either of their two Stanley Cups if they didn't have foot soldiers like Barclay Goodrow and Blake Coleman in the trenches; but they would never have gotten close if they didn't have world-class talent like Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point. You need both types of players to win a championship these days.

Adam Fox is the best defenseman the Rangers have had since the days of Brian Leetch. Hell, he might even be better. Chris Drury must make every effort to ensure he never plays for another organization.