Articles in New York Rangers

from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

You should know that there were no concrete developments Friday in this ongoing saga. The Rangers did not place Vitali Kravtsov or Jake Leschyshyn on waivers, though neither of the “roster-management” guys participated in the club’s optional practice ahead of the Saturday afternoon match against the Capitals.

Suffice it to say, neither was given the option.

Similarly, Kane did not skate in the Blackhawks’ practice in San Jose, Calif., his absence cited as a “maintenance day.” Nevertheless, the wheels are turning. The Rangers hierarchy, led by president-general manager Chris Drury, has completed all of the required mathematical equations and all of the potential roster and lineup implications.

The Blueshirts are not somehow going to be caught pennies short when (and still if, until it isn’t) a deal is ready to go. There is a plan in place that may involve a 2024 conditional first-rounder, Zac Jones or both going the other way, even as one informant told us on Friday, “There is nothing definitive to report.”

Speculation has escalated through the week. The outside noise has made its way into the room. How could it not? That will continue to overshadow on-ice events if a trade is delayed until Friday, as it may have to be because of cap reality and roster constraints.

more

added 2:19pm,

added 2:31pm, NYR release is below.

Nazem Kadri the recipient.

from The Athletic,

The New York Rangers responded Saturday following questions and online criticism over apparent changes to the team’s Pride Night festivities during Friday’s game against the Vegas Golden Knights.

The Rangers said in an email to fans earlier this month that the team would wear Pride-themed warmup jerseys and use tape on their sticks “in solidarity with those who continue to advocate for inclusivity,” according to screenshots posted by fans online. While plans went ahead for other aspects of the Pride celebration, players wore regular jerseys in warmups and did not tape their sticks.

“Our organization respects the LGBTQ+ community and we are proud to bring attention to important local community organizations as part of another great Pride Night,” the Rangers said in a statement Saturday. “In keeping with our organization’s core values, we support everyone’s individual right to respectfully express their beliefs.”

continued ($)

from Justin Tasch of the New York Post,

Rangers fans might find themselves without any alcohol at an upcoming game.

Owner James Dolan is threatening to pick a night at the Garden, possibly a Rangers game, to shut down alcohol sales in response to the New York State Liquor Authority investigating Dolan about his facial recognition technology that has resulted in bans against lawyers suing him.

“They’re being extremely aggressive and they’re saying, ‘We’re gonna take away your liquor license,’ ” Dolan said of the SLA during an appearance on “Good Day New York” on Fox 5. “So I have a little surprise for ‘em. They’re basically doing this for publicity, so we’re gonna give ‘em some publicity. What we’re gonna do, right, is we’re gonna pick a night, maybe a Rangers game, and we’re gonna shut down all the liquor and alcohol in the building. This isn’t gonna bother me because I’ve been sober 29 years. I don’t need the liquor.”

Dolan then held up a sign with a photo of Sharif Kabir, the CEO of the State Liquor Authority, along with his contact information. He said the signs will also ask fans to call Kabir if they want to drink at games.

“Tell him to stick to his knitting and to what he’s supposed to be doing and stop grandstanding and trying to get press,” Dolan said.

continued

from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

We know that Mika Zibanejad contributes in myriad ways even when he is not scoring. But here’s the thing, the Rangers need their No. 1 center to score if they are going to make an imprint on the NHL.

And No. 93 is off on one of his patented streaks, scoring goals even when he loses the puck on a move, as he did Sunday in Florida against the Panthers, and even when he is trying to make a pass to the front, as he did at the Garden on Tuesday against the Hurricanes.

“Obviously I want to score and help the team,” said Zibanejad, who has scored four in the last three games after going eight straight without one. “But I try not to focus on too much. The focus is on winning games.

“That’s all it is.”

The Rangers recorded one of their most impressive victories with this 5-3 triumph over a Carolina team that had won 11 straight games and had gone 17 straight (15-0-2) without losing in regulation. The Blueshirts competed and improved from start to finish, overcoming deficits of 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 (entering the third period). They are 10-2-1 over their last 13 contests.

continued

Game highlights are below.

from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

SUNRISE, Fla. — Regarding the Rangers, who open 2023 here Sunday night against the Panthers.

In other words, regarding Alexis Lafreniere.

1. The latest L’Affaire Lafreniere does not look good on anybody: not the Rangers organization, not the coaching staff and not the player. That is no small issue.

It is incumbent upon president and general manager Chris Drury to put the full weight of the organization into working with Lafreniere and his camp to determine why it reached the point that on Thursday at Tampa Bay, the 2020 first-overall pick needed to be jolted by being made a healthy scratch.

The burden of proof is on everyone, but the Rangers do go back administration after administration culpable of either mishandling or misidentifying prospects. The organization is famous for eating its young, so it is not a particular reach to wonder how much of Lafreniere’s one-step-forward, two-steps-back dance this season is on the team.

Progress in fulfilling the potential of Lafreniere, Filip Chytil, Kaapo Kakko, Vitali Kravtsov and, soon enough, Brennan Othmann — all first-rounders — is paramount to the success of the franchise.

continued

from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

This is the kind of showdown for which Hockey New York, New York hungers. It is the Rangers and Islanders competing for a playoff spot in a race that very well may go into the final week of the season.

But don’t blink when these two clubs hook up at the Garden on Thursday. Because this will mark the final meeting between the clubs this season under a broken NHL schedule matrix that minimizes intra-divisional matchups.

Three is all we get this season. Three installments of the Battle of New York. Count’ em: three, which means not one over the nearly four months remaining in the season after the Islanders had taken the first two meetings within two weeks bridging October and November.

But that’s not all (well). For when the Rangers play in New Jersey on Jan. 7, that will mark three-and-out for the 2022-23 Battle of the Hudson in a year in which these two teams are competing for a tournament berth.

The absurdity of the NHL schedule matrix knows no bounds.

continued

from Luke Fox of Sportsnet,

“Fundamentally as a coach I believe we can win every game. No matter what’s happening, that’s my approach,” head coach Sheldon Keefe said. “Our execution was off with the puck here today.

“Just weren’t sharp.”

Truth is, the Maple Leafs almost escaped New York with a win, despite bringing their B-game.

Passes weren’t quite as crisp, neither side gave away too much on the inside, and the Leafs’ uncharacteristically sloppy power play went 0-for-4. “Horrible, really,” Marner said.

Puck management was an issue, too. Toronto committed 29 giveaways to New York’s nine. Marner had six of those, Auston Matthews four.

And yet, at even strength, the game was a 1-1 draw, and the Leafs held an edge in most possession metrics.

“They had two scoring chances, really, and scored on them both,” Keefe said.

more, game highlights are there too...

from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

from Greg Wyshynski of ESPN,

Through Tuesday night, the Devils, Islanders and Rangers had a combined .657 points percentage, or the number of points in the standings divided by the total possible points. If that holds, it would be the most successful season for the three rivals combined since the Devils relocated from Colorado in 1982. According to ESPN Stats & Information, the previous high for combined points percentage is .599 in the 1993-94 season.

As Stan Fischler told me recently: "I don't recall a trifecta quite as special as this."

That assessment carries the weight of history. Fischler attended his first Rangers game in 1939. As a journalist, he covered each of these franchises during their Stanley Cup championship runs. He's seen a lot of New York hockey. He's never seen it look like this.

"Right now, we have the rare opportunity -- slumps notwithstanding -- for each of the Met clubs having a shot at making the playoffs," he said. "This is rare, exciting stuff for the fans overall, and me in particular. It feels like a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I'm sopping it up every night."

read on (paid)

from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

We can pick at the line combinations, at the head coach’s allotment of ice time, at the regression of most of the kids who have been unable to use last year’s playoffs as a springboard to success, at the team’s lack of resilience.

We can and we have. More than once.

But that’s kind of like being unable to see the forest for the trees.

The primary reason the Rangers have not been able to replicate their performance from a year ago is that, 23 games into the season, last year’s Vezina winner would not get a single vote for the trophy if the balloting were conducted today.

Igor Shesterkin knows it and Igor Shesterkin is wearing it after surrendering another four goals in Monday’s depressing, but not unexpected 5-3 empty-net abetted defeat to the Devils at the Garden that left the Blueshirts a staggering 14 points behind New Jersey.

“The goalie played a s–t game again,” Shesterkin said without a translator after surrendering at least a couple of wonky ones in a game the Blueshirts actually led 2-0 after 3:01 of play. “I’m ashamed.”

continued

Then 4 unanswered goals from the Edmonton Oilers in the 3rd period to win 4-3.

Here are the Edmonton goals.

NEW YORK, November 23, 2022 – New York Rangers President and General Manager Chris Drury announced today that the team has acquired a fifth-round pick in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft from the Minnesota Wild in exchange for Ryan Reaves.

Following the trade, the Rangers now have eight picks in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft.

Reaves skated in 81 games with the Rangers over parts of two seasons (2021-22 and 2022-23), recording five goals and eight assists for 13 points, along with 55 penalty minutes.

“We haven’t allowed negativity to creep in even when it’s gotten frustrating. That’s been a focal point. We’ve had one team discussion up to now, but there have been a lot of player-to-player talks, a lot of discussion within the leadership group.

“If we weren’t playing hard, that would be one thing, but that’s not the case.

“So we’re not getting down. We know what we have to do as a team. We know what we are.”

-Jacob Trouba, captain of the New York Rangers/ Larry Brooks of the New York Post has more.

from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

There was proper solemnity and concern from the Rangers on Tuesday night following their staggering 4-3 Garden loss to the Islanders, in which they held a 3-1 lead into the third period following their most urgent first 40 minutes since opening night.

But of all the observations inside the postgame room, the most pertinent came from Adam Fox, who said: “We can’t rest on last year. We can’t say ‘We did that last year.’

“It’s been the same thing. We bring it for 40 or 30 or 50 [minutes]. We have to right the ship here.”

No one cares at this point about the 2021-22 Rangers’ run through May into mid-June. That seems as long ago as their last Stanley Cup. That group no longer exists. This 2022-23 team, which entered the season carrying expectations created by that team last season, hasn’t been able to come close to meeting that unenviable challenge.

continued

Below, catch the highlights of rhe Islanders 4-3 win over the Rangers.

from Mollie Walker of the New York Post,

If the substantial number of Rangers fans in attendance didn’t make the club’s first experience at Mullett Arena one to remember, the rambunctious atmosphere and back-to-college feel of the building certainly did.

The intimacy of the lower bowl was palpable. There were jerseys from all walks of life to be seen. It felt like a melting pot of hockey’s rowdiest traditions.

“I have no words, I really don’t,” K’Andre Miller said with a laugh. “I’ve been trying to figure out what I just played. I don’t know. It was a weird game. You see the guys in the stands taking off his shirts. I don’t know.

“It was a fun atmosphere, that’s for sure. Something you’re not really used to once you play in the league for a little bit. It was cool.”

Sure, the locker rooms are barren with only the absolute essentials — just a chair to sit on and a stall to hang your jersey in. And yes, there are scarce concession options that make Madison Square Garden look like a five-star restaurant of Bobby Flay’s or Gordon Ramsay’s.

continued

from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

After four straight defeats (0-2-2) in which the Rangers have scored a sum of five goals and only one on the power play (at five-on-three, no less), the first instinct might be to change things up for the sake of changing things up.

To do something for goodness sakes — to do anything! — to stop the club’s longest losing streak since Gerard Gallant went behind the bench at the start of last season.

But that is not how the 3-3-2 Rangers are processing things at the moment. To the contrary, according to Very Important People Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin, who advise that this is not time to panic, not time to overthink it, but instead an occasion to stay the course.

“We can do things a little better, don’t get me wrong, but I feel we are doing the right thing a large part of the time and are just not getting the end result we want,” Zibanejad told The Post following the Blueshirts’ 3-0 defeat to the Islanders at UBS. “I think we have to be careful to understand that just because pucks are not going in that we shouldn’t abandon what we’re doing and look for a different play, or the next play.

continued

Game highlights are below.

from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

Before the Garden crowd took the low road by booing David Quinn when the Rangers flashed a picture of him on the video screen thanking him for his service, the one-time Blueshirts coach weighed in on his former team.

“They’ve got stars everywhere,” he said. “They’ve got stars in net, they’ve got stars on the blue line, they’ve got stars up front …”

Hours later, playing against Quinn’s current team from San Jose that had opened the season 0-5 while outscored by an aggregate 19-8, the Rangers played like a team of stars trying to win with skill rather than will.

They were disconnected and frustrated when early power plays did not connect. They practiced the fine art of poke-checking over and over again. They yielded swatches of open ice in a game where the Sharks were free to roam. Not a single Blueshirts skater was exempt from criticism.

And the Rangers lost, deservedly so, 3-2 in overtime on Erik Karlsson’s shot into an all-but-empty net at 0:49 after a typically dreadful attempt at defending that was a carryover from the third period in which the Blueshirts were outshot 16-2.

continued