from Andrew Gross of The Record,

Prediction: Keith Yandle will be an All-Star this season for the third time in his career.

Second prediction: The Rangers will be much closer to a top 10 power-play team than a bottom 10 squad, as they were last season when they finished 21st in the NHL at 16.8 percent.

Third prediction: Yandle won’t be an ex-Ranger by the end of the season.

Waffling quantifier: Prediction No. 3 is far from a sure bet with Yandle in the final season of a five-year, $26.5 million deal and figuring to be worth $6 million or more annually on his next deal.

The 29-year-old, offensive-minded defenseman, now comfortable as a Ranger within coach Alain Vigneault’s up-tempo system, certainly seems poised for a dominant season. The type of season the organization envisioned when it sent a first-round pick, speedy forward prospect Anthony Duclair and defenseman John Moore to the Coyotes for him on March 1.

It took Yandle time to adjust after spending his first nine-plus NHL seasons with the Coyotes, the team that drafted him in the fourth round in 2005. A shoulder injury then slowed his postseason play.

Yandle had two goals and nine assists in 21 regular-season games with the Rangers — with just a disappointing three assists on the power play — and the same two goals and nine assists in 19 postseason games.

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