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Game 57: NYR-BUF, Minor lineup tweaks, more on Zucc, Hayes, trade deadline

February 14, 2019, 10:07 PM ET [305 Comments]
Jan Levine
New York Rangers Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
New York shuffles off to Buffalo to play the Sabres on Friday. Alexandar Georgiev gets the start, giving Henrik Lundqvist, who wasn't great Tuesday, another game off. Georgie has been very good his last several starts and deserves the additional playing time. I would presume we see Hank on Sunday in Pittsburgh for the national televised game, but another strong outing from Georgiev could change those plans.

Lines in practice:
Kreider-Zibanejad-Zuccarello
Vesey-Hayes-Buchnevich
Namestnikov-Strome-Fast
Chytil-Nieves-Brickley

Skjei-McQuaid
Staal-Pionk
Smith-Shattenkirk
(Claesson-DeAngelo)

Georgiev
Lundqvist

Namestnikov was hit in the face with a puck during practice, breaking a tooth. As long as he is okay, he will be in the lineup. The key takeaways are Filip Chytil back on the fourth line. I guess not surprising seeing how his minutes have been cut the past few games, but not optimal. On D, back to Staal-Pionk, yippee. Claesson not yet ready to play, but maybe Sunday against Pittsburgh. ADA on pine for Brinkley, why, who knows, though Brickley - see tweet for call up below - might not be in lineup and we could see 11/7 again. Brett Howden inching closer, maybe back sometime next week or around trade deadline.










David Quinn Post-Practice:



With all the focus on the 2/25 trade deadline, below are some interesting tweets or information from columns I posted during the day today or yesterday:

Bob McKenzie on who the Rangers might move and for what:



Corey Pronman provided a seller's guide to prospects in The Athletic .
He touched on Boston, Calgary (mentioning Rasmus Andersson, Oliver Kylington and Juuso Valimaki), Nashville (Eeli Tolvanen and Dante Fabbro), Islanders, Tampa Bay, Toronto, Vegas (Cody Glass or defenseman Erik Brannstrom, unlikely to move, but defenseman Nicolas Hague, winger Lucas Elvenes and winger Jack Dugan are those likely available), Washington and Winnipeg (Kristian Vesalainen and Dylan Samberg, though price would be high, more likely to go are Mason Appleton and Sami Niku)

Elliotte Friedman on Kevin Hayes: holdup is waiting on Duchene, Stone and Panarin. Friedman mentions Winnipeg and Colorado, but dust might have to settle with the big-three before Hayes is dealt.




Greg Wyshynski: Bold NHL Trade Deadline predictions for all 31 teams



The Rangers trade someone with term left. Yes, Kevin Hayes, Mats Zuccarello and Adam McQuaid are gonzo as pending free agents. But the Rangers dip a little deeper into roster for the rebuild and trade away a player with additional contract years. The hockey world hopes it's Chris Kreider. It'll probably end up being Vladislav Namestnikov.


Larry Brooks discussed Mats Zuccarello and Kevin Hayes in his column, advocating mainly to keep both. This was discussed by you in the blog. But I wanted to add in one piece that wasn't discussed much that I thought was interesting.

Cap considerations: Ryan Strome, with one year remaining on his contract at $3.1 million, can be bought out at a one-third rate. A buyout would bring a cap charge of $433,333 next season and $533,333 in 2020-21, so you better believe the center is playing for his job on Broadway.


With Dan Girardi already bought out, much of the focus on a next buyout has been rightfully on Brendan Smith. Some have mentioned Marc Staal or Kevin Shattenkirk. But suspending belief for many and presuming Zucc and/or Hayes are back. New York could clear $2.6+ million in room by buying out Strome, paving the way to bring in Panarin and maybe one more big name free agent, even if Zucc and/or Hayes remain in the fold.

Brett Cyrgalis today on Hayes and Zucc:
The laid-back Hayes seems to be taking this whole thing in stride. Unless negotiations between his camp and general manager Jeff Gorton find some new traction — which is to say, any traction — then it seems like the 26-year-old free-agent-to-be is the biggest piece the Blueshirts have going into the deadline. It would be a big gamble to keep him through the deadline and hope he re-signs in the summer, but it might be a risk Gorton is willing to take.

Zuccarello, meanwhile, has cleared his head after a conversation with management just over a month ago. His line with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider has carried almost all of the offensive load. Not only has it been the team’s best line but one of the league’s best during this torrid stretch.

It has raised Zuccarello’s value, both externally and internally, which hardly makes the decision to deal him any easier. The same can be said for Hayes, who maybe hasn’t been quite as good since returning from his upper-body injury, but has still been one of the team’s best skaters this season — if not the past three seasons.


With the deadline 10 days away, your guess is as good as mine what will happen. I have a feeling this could be like Rick Nash and Ryan McDonagh last season. One going the day before the deadline and one just as the deadline approached. It's also possible neither go anywhere and each remain with the team, as GM Jeff Gorton doesn't believe he is getting enough value for each or decides that retaining them and trying to re-sign them is the better course of action. I have no real sense how this plays out.

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