from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

Regarding the Rangers, who go into the NHL’s most civilized three-day holiday hiatus eight points behind second wild-card qualifier Carolina, which is twice as far as they are ahead of 29th-place overall Los Angeles:

Believe me, I would have posed this question even before Monday’s 5-1 loss at Philadelphia, in which Kevin Hayes scored twice.

But here it is: Would the Rangers be better off if they’d signed Hayes to the five-year deal, worth between the $5.75 million-$6 million, for which they could have had him during summer 2018 rather than trading him to Winnipeg at the deadline for Brendan Lemieux and that first-rounder the Blueshirts then sent back to the Jets with Neal Pionk in exchange for Jacob Trouba?

They’d have Hayes ensconced as their second center, they’d have had Pionk as an asset entering last offseason and they almost certainly would not have bought out Kevin Shattenkirk if they hadn’t acquired Trouba.

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