from Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet,

The New York Rangers caused a huge stir Monday night when Glen Sather, Doug Risebrough, Jim Schoenfeld and Gilles Leger showed up in the Canadian capital for Montreal/Ottawa. Chances are they weren’t there for the beaver tails, although I thought it was odd a pure scouting mission wouldn’t include GM Jeff Gorton.

Whatever they were up to, the trip was a reminder that you could make a great argument no team could make a bigger impact on this NHL season than the Rangers. It goes back to last season’s draft, when they traded Derek Stepan and Antti Raanta to Arizona for Anthony DeAngelo and the seventh-overall pick, which became Lias Andersson. Twelve selections later they snared Filip Chytil, who already has eight points in six games at AHL Hartford.

The message was clear. The Rangers are ready to re-stock. Now comes the next question: How far will they go? My sense is they are honest about who they are. They’re not interested in the “dreaded middle.”

continued plus 31 Thoughts...