New York returns to action after a blowout loss to Tampa facing Arizona at home tonight. Former Ranger Derek Stepan is in the lineup but Antti Raanta is sidelined long-term and possibly the season with an injury. Following the contest against the Coyotes, the Blueshirts take on the Golden Nights at home Sunday.
Mats Zuccarello (groin, missed 13 of the last 15 games) and Pavel Buchnevich (thumb, Nov, 10) return to the lineup tonight. With both wingers active, Lias Andersson and Steven Fogarty are healthy scratches while Cody McLeod (broken thumb) is 2-3 weeks away from returning. Andersson will remain with the team for now, but in the near-term, coach David Quinn and GM Jeff Gorton will need to decide where he will be develop and should that be in Hartford playing or in the NHL watching or on the fourth line?
I think focusing on the fact New York used a #7 pick on Andersson is a bit of a waste of time, because as we had discussed, rumors exist and persist he might not have gone much beyond there. Second, for those that went after him, the jury is still far out on them, as only a handful are in the NHL while others are still in the AHL etc. In 3-5 years, we will have a better sense as to the value of taking Andersson, the same with Filip Chytil, over others
Lines:
Chytil-Zibanejad-Zuccarello
Kreider-Hayes-Buchnevich
Namestnikov-Howden-Fast
Beleskey-Strome-Vesey
Adam McQuaid, out with a lower-body injury since Oct. 25.was a full participant in practice for the second straight day Thursday but will not be in the lineup tonight. As seen in the below pairings, Quinn had Brendan Smith practicing in place Kevin Shattenkirk (out 2-4 weeks with a separated shoulder), on the right side of a duo with Freddy Claesson. Smith was a healthy scratch for the recent two-game trip through Florida, but with McQuiad not yet ready and New York choosing not to call up a d-man, he is in the lineup.
Staal-Pionk
Claesson-Smith
Skjei-DeAngelo
Power Play:
The Rangers have scored one power-play goal in 15 chances in the last eight games, including 0-for-4 in their last three, With Shattenkirk out, a change was necessitated, but the struggles warranted a bigger alteration. The return of Zuccarello and Buchnevich result in both seeing time on the man-advantage,
1- Pionk, Zibanejad, Hayes, Kreider, Zuccarello.
2- DeAngelo, Buchnevich, Howden, Vesey, Chytil.
Adam Herman transcribed what Elliotte Friedman spoke about the Rangers, Kevin Hayes, Mats Zuccarello and Artemi Panarin on the
31 thoughts podcast this week.
On Panarin, Friedman said that while Chicago might be trying to clear space to bring him back, “until I’m told differently, If I’m putting money on it, I’m betting on the Rangers.”
On Zuccarello, Friedman said, “Zuccarello is an interesting one, I could see Nashville liking a guy like him. But if you told me that Zuccarello signed an extension to stay, I wouldn’t be surprised.”
On Hayes, Friedman said, “The one thing with Hayes is that they really tried to sign him and the two just didn’t agree. I don’t have a problem with that if you perceive your value one way and you disagree with the team, then there is nothing wrong with going to open market but it says to me that if they couldn’t get it done last summer, why are they going to be able to do it now. I think Boston will be in on Hayes, Winnipeg will be in on Hayes and Colorado and probably more. He’s a center there is going to be a lot of people in on Hayes.”
Also, TSN’s revealed their Trade Bait Board this week. On it, Hayes is ranked 3rd, Zuccarello 11th and Vladislav Namestnikov 19th. Colton Parayko of the Blues is first.
I will ask a few questions, rather than giving my views, to see what you think:
1) Would you re-sign Zucc after the season? If yes, for how many years and at what max dollar amount?
2) Would you deal Hayes and/or re-sign him? Would you take the risk of dealing him but try and re-sign afterwards if your goal is to bring him back? Is an NMC/NTC a deal-breaker?
3) Is Nam someone worth holding onto until next year before dealing him or are your concerned his value will decline between now and then?
Last and most important,
hat tip to the Rangers for showing the class that permeates the organization. Same to Adam Graves and Chris Kreider. Have a box of tissues ready when watching the video. The last name on the back of Emma's jersey hit me very hard when seeing this:
New York Rangers Blogger • 
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