Rangers connections: A rooting guide to the Playoffs

Western Conference connections

1. Vegas Golden Knights – Former Blueshirts defenseman Nick Holden is a fixture on the Vegas defense. Forward Jonathan Marchessault was a minor league prospect for the Rangers who never made it to the varsity as the team chose to promote Mats Zuccarello instead from their Hartford affiliate.

In the front office, former Blueshirt George McPhee is the team President and architect of this Stanley Cup contender.   His former teammate on the Rangers, Kelly Kisio, is also a scout for Vegas.

2. Colorado Avalanche – Ryan Graves is Cale Makar’s defense partner and is the one who got away, never getting promoted from Hartford despite making the AHL All-Star team.  Vlad Namestnikov was a trade deadline acquisition from Ottawa who has been a valuable depth forward.

3. Dallas Stars – There are no players or coaches with Dallas that have connections to the Rangers,  There is one connection in Hall of Famer Sergei Zubov who serves as Senior Consultant to Hockey Operations.

4. St. Louis Blues – While no players on the Blues have a connection to New York, Assistant Coach Marc Savard was a Ranger draft pick.  In the front office, Larry Pleau is the Senior Advisor for Amateur Scouting and served as the Rangers Assistant GM and Director of Player Personnel for eight years including the Cup winning 1993-94 campaign.

Rob Dimaio played 12 games as a Ranger in 2000 and is now the Blues Director of Player Personnel.  Dave Farrish and Tony Feltrin, two former Rangers, are scouting for the Blues,

5. Vancouver Canucks – Former Rangers first round pick J.T. Miller has became a star with the Canucks, leading the team in goals and points this season.   Another former first round pick, Manny Malhotra, is an assistant coach.

The Assistant Director of Player Personnel is former Ranger Chris Higgins who was the cetnerpiece of the trade tha of Scott Gomez that netted the Rangers Ryan McDonagh.   Former player Todd “Heartbeat” Harvey is a scout as is Pat Conacher who started his playing career with New York and is one of the few players to suit up for all three metropolitan area teams.

6. Calgary Flames – If there is one player to root for this postseason, it’s Cam Talbot. The former Ranger back up goalie has been on a roller coaster ride over his career.  First as an overworked number one netminder for the Oilers,then one of eight goalies to play for the Flyers in 2018-19.  He surfaced this year in Calgary and in the qualifying round, won the top job away from David Rittich.  Talbot has been through a lot and the revival of his career is a great story.

Another reason to root for Calgary is that Don Maloney is the Senior Vice President of Hockey Operations. After starting his front office career with the Islanders, the former Ranger has bounced from the Rangers to Arizona to Calgary.   Named the first NHL General Manager of the Year with Arizona in 2010, Maloney is a Ranger hero.

7. Arizona Coyotes -The Coyotes are one team with no front office Rangers presence, but three players in Derek Stepan, Michael Grabner and Antti Raanta.  You have to feel good for Stepan as he was always a strong playoff performer and this summer was no exception. Grabner chipped in with two goals and no assists (of course) while Raanta is backing up Darcy Kuemper.

8. Chicago Blackhawks – The only Blackhawk skater with a connection to the Rangers is Dylan Strome, Ryan’s little brother.  The question remains, did the Rangers get the better Strome sibling?

In the front office, the Vice President of Player Personnel is former Ranger defenseman Norm Maciver who broke into the NHL in 1986 with the Rangers. Curiously, he never played for Chicago in his 12 year NHL career.   A European scout for the Hawks is former Ranger center Peter Sundstrom. Sundstrom burst into the NHL with a 22 goal rookie season in 1983-84 and never came near to those numbers again.

Summing up

So, who to root for? It’s always hard to cheer for another team in the Playoff, but just keep imagining Alexis Lafreniere in a Ranger uniform.  There are a few individuals worth supporting, Cam Talbot in particular.   He was always a great Ranger and considering the ups and downs in his career, he deserves playoff success.   Plus, a Calgary victory doesn’t hurt the Rangers drafting position.

Arizona is another deserving team. They’ve never won it all and Derek Stepan and Michael Grabner are two worthy alumni who didn’t do anything to like them any less. Don’t forget that their General Manager abandoned the team just weeks ago and the fact that an Arizona victory would help the Rangers draft position too!

Finally, John Tortorella has taken a team that was destined to be an also-ran and has them in the playoffs.  If your feeling is that it is better for the winner to be from the Metropolitan Division, the Blue Jackets are your only choice.   Throw in the fact that Torts is still the most entertaining coach in the business, it’s not a bad choice.

Feel free to weigh in with your choice below, but be sure to explain why!