October can’t come soon enough

Who else has had enough of salary cap talk and crunching the numbers when it comes to the New York Rangers this offseason? We’ve got actual hockey cravings now and we want those satisfied.

After going through the euphoria of seeing the New York Rangers throw their chips in the middle of the table and go out to aggressively get Adam Fox and Jacob Trouba via trades, Kaapo Kakko in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft and then Artemi Panarin in free agency, the mood has somewhat changed over the last couple of weeks.

Don’t get me wrong, there is still an air of excitement around Madison Square Garden but that has been polluted somewhat by the sheer amount of gloom and doom narratives being written about the franchise when it comes to their salary cap situation.

If you believe some the Blueshirts are hurtling towards a cap blackhole, while others debate the pros and cons when it comes to trading away the likes of Chris Kreider, Pavel Buchnevich and Ryan Strome.

All of a sudden buyouts, cap crunch and trade bait have become regular staples of our daily diet of Rangers news, and it probably won’t stop for a while given the work General Manager Jeff Gorton and President John Davidson have ahead of them when it comes to thrashing out new deals with the likes of Buchnevich, Brendan Lemieux and Tony DeAngelo, while trying to solve the million dollar question that is Kreider’s future on Broadway.

However, this column isn’t designed to break down the intricate complexities of the salary cap conundrum the Rangers face, nor does it serve the purpose of trying to come up with potential solutions for the Blueshirts. Instead, check out this brilliant article from our very own Steve Paulus who suggests that maybe we should all have a little bit more faith in the front office.

No, this piece will basically provide the platform to allow me to have a good old moan and express my longing for some proper hockey action. So, on that note, October please hurry up and stop all this offseason nonsense.

I probably am a bit of a hypocrite, before we delve in, because I would be the first to moan if there was nothing going on because, let’s face it, there is nothing worse for writers than a dead offseason with no material for precious offseason content. And there is also nothing worse for sports fans when they have nothing to talk about when it comes to their favorite team.

But I’m fed up of dissecting various cap implications, crunching numbers and trying to work out what contract fits where almost as if I’m battling with a giant game of Jenga. I’m nowhere near clever enough for that.

Instead, I want to fast forward to a chilly day in October when we are all preparing to see this new era of exhilarating New York Rangers officially ushered in on the ice for the very first time. I’m craving that sweet sound of sticks clashing together as the first puck is dropped to represent the start of an 82-game slog that holds so much promise for Blueshirts fans the world over.

Who else can’t wait to see Kaapo Kakko bully the NHL’s elite like he did countless opponents on the global stage at the IIFH World Championships? Will Vitali Kravtsov make the opening night roster and, if so, will he follow in the footsteps of Vancouver Canucks stud Elias Pettersson and take the majors by storm in his rookie year?

I’m dying to see Artemi Panarin, a genuine elite star, in that famous, beautiful New York Rangers jersey for the first time. After years of seeing the Russian stud bamboozle NHL bluelines with his vast array of skill and trickery before finishing them off with that deadly snipe of his, I can’t wait to see him do all of that at Madison Square Garden.

I’m eager to see Mika Zibanejad continue his upward trend towards becoming a powerhouse center in the NHL, I want to see Chris Kreider in a Rangers jersey still and I’m intrigued to see Ryan Strome as the pivot of a second-line that could feature anyone from Kakko to Buchnevich to Kravtsov.

I really hope we see the return of vintage Henrik Lundqvist to the crease with the events of this offseason sure to have injected fresh hope and optimism into the veins of “The King” that maybe lifting the Stanley Cup over his head down the Canyon of Heroes isn’t a broken dream after all.

Give me highlight after highlight of Jacob Trouba ruthlessly transforming into the stud NHL defenseman he’s well on the way to becoming, and I’m also all in for Brady Skjei to finally fulfil his potential and be a horse on the blueline for the Rangers.

I’m absolutely 100 percent all in on the above and I’m ready now for some meaningful hockey talk about our beloved New York Rangers. Offseason speculation and cap talk is par for the course but enough is enough. Bring on October and the start of what looks to be a truly special chapter in this storied franchise’s illustrious history.