The Rangers return to action Thursday facing the Capitals. After taking on those in the lower end of the division in the first part of the season, New York plays the upper half in 10 of their next 11 contests. Bob McKenzie drops info on the Tony DeAngelo market.
It's Reverse Retro day:
IT'S HAPPENING. pic.twitter.com/JQy7XP9X9s
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) February 4, 2021
#NYR practice lines:
Kreider - Mika - Buchnevich Panarin - Strome - Kakko Laf - Howden - PDG Lemieux - Rooney - Gauthier
Miller-Trouba Lindgren-Fox Bitetto-Hajek
Igor Georgiev
Keys from above? Kakko, who missed the last game due to COVID protocol, is back on the second line. With Colin Blackwell out another week, Kevin Rooney remains in the lineup, as New York only has 12 healthy forwards available with Jonny Brodzinski sent back to the minors on Tuesday night and Filip Chytil out at least another month with his upper body injury.
On the blue line, the top four remain the same. The third line will be without Brendan Smith, who was injured against Pittsburgh. With Tony DeAngelo on waivers and Jack Johnson still nursing a groin injury, Anthony Bitetto is in the lineup for the second straight game. Joining him, making his season debut, will be Hajek, who last played in the majors on Jan. 11, 2020 before losing his roster spot to Lindgren. The sand is running through the hourglass on Hajek, who looks like to be exposed to Seattle and is the ninth blueiner used by the Blueshirts.
Vince Merocgliano summed up Hajek's situation well: "For a time, Hà¡jek was considered the headliner among the organization's left-handed defensemen prospects. He's been surpassed by Lindgren and Miller, with others such as Matthew Robertson, Zac Jones and Tarmo Reunanen knocking on the door behind him." With the team banged up and needing blue line assistance, Hajek gets a chance to show he belongs in the lineup. He needs to display the aggressiveness that has been lacking from his game. If he does that and is better positioning, maybe he sticks, at least in the short term.
Originally, Georgiev was to start, as coach David Quinn was staying with his decision to rotate goalies. But he changed his mind. "(Alexandar Georgiev) has been through a lot in the last 48 hours (referring to the ADA incident) and maybe give him another day to kind of unwind a little bit and get back into the groove of things," Quinn said. "Shesty has played well, so we are going to play Shesty tomorrow."
#Caps lines ahead of NYR: Ovechkin-Backstrom-Wilson Vrana-Oshie-Panik Hagelin-Dowd-Hathaway Carr-Sgarbossa-Sprong
Chara-Carlson Dillon-TvR Orlov-Jensen Siegenthaler-Fehervary
Vanecek Anderson Copley
Out: Eller, Pinho, Sheary, Schultz, Kuznetsov and Samsonov.
Vanecek has played well between the pipes and even when Samsonov returns, he should keep a decent portion of the job share. No Kuz hurts the offense, but Ovi came back Saturday with an OT GWG and Orlov, who was out, aids the blue line with his return, especially with Schultz still injured.
Bob McKenzie on NBCSN regarding DeAngelo:
Bob McKenzie said on NBCSN: four or five teams interested in DeAngelo, including Calgary and Detroit. Rangers not willing/interested in retaining or taking back salary.
— Jan Levine (@airjan23) February 4, 2021
Bob McKenzie: Four or Five teams interested in DeAngelo, including Calgary, Detroit, LA, Anaheim.. Rangers not interested retaining back salary. McKenzie said if they can’t trade him DeAngelo would be bought out this off-season. #NYR pic.twitter.com/UzFiW2D3db
— David 🔹 (@DaveyUpper) February 4, 2021
McKenzie added that the Southern California teams are also in the mix. Some of the names thrown out as possibly available, each one not necessarily as a 1:1 and additional assets possibly required, include: Staal (who says you can't go home again), Sam Bennett (who wants out but would be a kind of reclamation project), Maatta, Brown or Carter (no thanks, largely due to contract the next two years for each, though Brown or Carter might fill a role) or Hampus Lindholm (which would cost a solid prospect or first rounder, which might be too steep for the Blueshirts). Add in Ottawa, who is looking for a talent uplift and I know several want Derek Stepan back, though I am not one of them as unsure he has much left. But a maybe a return home would help his game.
DeAngelo back in Detroit where Steve Y who drafted and traded him may not be a viable option. But paired again with Staal, well you can fill in the next comment. Putting him in Calgary next to Matthew Tkachuk would make Oilers-Flames games even more must watch. (You can insert your own views on the two teams that employed Mike Babcock and Bill Peters expressing interest in DeAngelo).
When I said just because they may not want to retain or take back salary, doesn’t mean they won’t (which was what Elliotte Friedman reported). Plus from listening again, Bob McKenzie seemed to indicate they won’t take a lot of salary back, but imply they might take some. New York can have him sit out the year - not optimal but an option - and then buy him out at the end of the season for 1/3 of the salary spread over two years ($383,333 in 2021-22 and $883,333 in 2022-23).
The increased interest shows a market exists for DeAngelo. This might allow New York to recoup a usable asset if a deal can be reached. But the ability to hold and buy him out means that they won't make a trade they think improves the squad rather than just dumping salary.