Messages from the team and players

Despite the fact that the NHL season is paused, through social media and the internet, we have been hearing from the team and some of the New York Rangers themselves.

After a couple weeks of relative silence, the New York Rangers surfaced with  video message from Team President John Davidson.  It was good to hear from the team and while most of the message was about the Covid-19 pandemic, there were some welcome words about hockey.

In the message Davidson address a topic many Ranger fans are thinking about and something we have written about here at Blue Line Station, the NHL Entry Draft.

Davidson said that the team is still working through their computers and the internet. “The team has scouts quarantined all over the world.  In Russia, Finland, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Canada and here in the U.S.  One day there will be an NHL draft…we’re doing our part, looking at games every day, having communications via the computer.  We’re trying to do our best under the circumstances.”

The use of video is absolutely essential for this draft with the cancellation of all international prospect tournaments as well as the NCAA post-season and all league championships in Europe and North America.   It’s good to know that they are working hard at it.

From the league

The NHL has done a good job engaging fans with video chats with players and some interesting posts.  An example is their post with Sidney Crosby, Marc Staal, Jordan Staal and Claude Giroux talking about what they don’t miss from hockey.

One of the NHL posts featured Marc Staal who is home in  Connecticut.

From the players

One of the first Rangers to post was Mika Zibanejad who sent a message to all fans on his Twitter account.

Missing these moments but this is bigger than hockey! Make sure you guys take care of yourself and each other! Stay safe ❤️ pic.twitter.com/5NT9uOXFbF

Henrik Lundqvist is very active on social media and sent a message about the virus shortly after the season as suspended.

Not many of us have experienced anything like this. Let’s be thoughtful, kind and somewhat optimistic. We all need as much good energy around us as possible, especially in times like these🙏🏻

Earlier this week, Lundqvist and his wife Therese, announced that they are donating $100,000 through their Henrik Lundqvist Foundation to the Food Bank for New York City.

He followed that up asking fans to help.   The link to make a donation is https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/HLundqvistFoundation

For Ryan Strome, his latest post shows that he is still working on honing his hockey skills.  Considering how many shots he missed in that last game against Colorado, he needs to keep working on it.

Just finished working on my game…went 7/7 today! Back to Call of Duty. Goodbye Twitter👋🏼😂 pic.twitter.com/0CB3laNC9R

Some controversy

One of the most active social media users on the team is Anthony DeAngelo. He posted a tweet on March 24 that created some controversy and warranted a clarification.

DeAngelo posted this later that day after some of the comments on the original post.

DeAngelo has never hesitated to express his opinions and while you may not agree with his politics, it is a good thing that the team has a player so willing to engage with his followers and fans.

A last word

Finally, Saturday, Artemi Panarin weighed in with a brief message to Ranger fans.

It’s clear that the players are getting as stir crazy as the rest of us. The good thing is that everyone can stay connected as we work our way through this crisis.