New York Rangers News, Rumors and Stories, February 23rd, 2017

All the latest news, rumors, rumblings and stories about your New York Rangers, all in one place to enjoy with your morning cup of coffee!

The New York Rangers managed to get a point for the eighth time in their last nine games Tuesday night as they fell to the Montreal Canadiens in a shootout.
Before I get into the news and notes from around the league, if Tuesday night’s overtime didn’t prove to you how much fun the 3v3 overtime format is then I don’t know what will. Both teams were flying and trading chances. If it wasn’t for two of the best goalies in the world being in net, the game could’ve ended at four or five different points in the five minutes of added time.
Brett Cygallis of the New York Post wrote about how the Rangers fourth line is clicking in limited action. It is hard to dispute that claim. Lindberg scored another goal tonight off an immaculate feed from Jesper Fast. The Rangers were dominant in 2013-14 when they were able to roll four lines that can score. They look to have that again with this squad and they need to take advantage of that.
Larry Brooks of the same New York Post is suggesting putting Grabner on the Rangers power play. I say at this point, why the hell not? The power play has reached a new level of futile, only converting on one of their last 19 attempts with the extra man. At this point, little Timmy who sits in three rows up from the ice could be put on the unit and it wouldn’t make it any worse.

Cyrgalls of the Post wrote about Alain Vigneault’s comparison of Brady Skjei to Ryan McDonagh. That comparison is nothing new. In fact, I can remember people dating back to when Skjei was drafted comparing him to the Rangers’ captain. It is a very fitting comparison, too.
The both of them can skate with the best of them. Skjei may end up having more offensive upside at the end of the day, but if Skjei can go on a similar career trajectory then the Rangers should be very happy.
Speaking of rookies, I wrote about how it appears that Jimmy Vesey has climbed over the rookie wall after months of struggling. Of course, it helps to be playing on a line with Rick Nash and Derek Stepan, but Vesey has looked like a completely different player over the last four or five games.

Mike Murphy of Blueshirt Banter looked at rental defenseman and how much value they may have. I don’t think the Rangers should even bother with a defensive rental at this point. They need to put a healthy majority of their eggs in Kevin Shattenkirk’s basket and hope he joins the team via free agency this summer.
Steve Zipay of Newsday wrote about how Brandon Pirri, Adam Clendening and Matt Puempel are aware that it is trade season and that they have to be ready for anything. As much I crave trade rumors, I empathize with guys like them who’s entire future is up in the air because of the game of hockey. Of course, that’s what they signed up for, but it still sucks.

Kevin on Blue Seat Blogs wrote about how there is a lot of pressure on Jeff Gorton to fix the defense at the deadline. I don’t think that Gorton will be feeling that much pressure. All things considered, the Rangers have exceeded expectations to this point. The defense that he inherited was a mess and is gonna take some waiting and patience to fix. Give him time, my friends.