As you’ve already heard, the Rangers have agreed with two of their top prospects on entry level contracts. Both Shestyorkin and Kravtsov will be in training camp this September, as well as in prospect camp early in the summer. The contracts can’t be officially announced until May 1st, but I’m sure it’s a max allowed 3 year ( 2 year for Shestyorkin, since he’s 23), two-way deal with $925K salary including 10% signing bonus.
The Rangers also have fired the entire coaching staff in Hartford. Clean slate!
Speaking of clean slate. Philadelphia hired our old friend and coach AV. Good luck to him, he’ll need it in Philadelphia. But not too much luck. I wonder how long until he gets booed in Philadelphia with his pacifistic, whistle to whistle approach
Four games tonight:
Bruins (1)- Maple Leafs (1), 7 pm start, TV-NBCSN
Capitals (2)- Hurricanes (0), 7 pm start, TV-CNBC
Predators (1)- Stars (1), 9:30 pm start, TV-NBCSN
Flames (1)- Avalanche (1), 10 pm start, TV-CNBC
130 responses to “It’s Go time!”
A Frenchman (AV) signs with the Flies and one of the most beautiful French (and the world) icons burn down. Not a good sign for the Flies.
Well here come the two guys that are expected to make an impact with this team. Shestyorkin make the log jam in the crease official.
Sometimes your the windshield
Beezle agreed from last post. And I would say that this far Tampa has looked unprepared
Why doesn’t the NHL celebrate Willie O’Ree’s anniversary by having the players all wear #25 for a game?
So we still get a pick from Tampa if they lose and if it’s in this round it’s around 58? Someone explain without all the hullabaloo
Sometimes you’re the bug
Wow! Ovechking just knock the fugg out Svechnikov! Insane! Kid’s got a lot.of balls challenging Ovi like that!
James
yes 58th if they lose in 1st or 2nd rd. the 4 conf finalists go to last 4 picks in each rd. so last pick in 2nd is 62 and the other 3 semifinalist go 61, 60, and 59.
Jumbo Joe suspended 1 game for hit to head
Not a wise decision by Svechnikov. He had to go to the quiet room. Ferland also out so the Canes are down 2 forwards.
Dumb move by Thornton. He deserves to sit. Toronto does not have the players to out grit Boston. So the Russians are Coming. Rangers might be able to put a Russian 5 out there in a few years.
Of course Dominic Moore
Lol. Trevor Moore
That’s a different Moops. DMoops is retired
Lol
Go Leafs Go!
Boston with the quick response.
Playoff onions.
McAvoy knocked both Tavares and Chytil into Rask. Anybody surprised Milbury didn’t point that out?
Thanks, Alex
AV, lol. They’ll love his whistle to whistle pacifism in the Wells Fargo.
AV will be great for Giroux
I thought we heard AV’s last speech already.. was I wrong?
Georgi impressed here, but let us not forget that he was 2-9 in Hartford with a 3.65 GAA. Before he’s crowned, we need to see plenty more.
Something stunk in Hartford and it wasn’t exclusive to the players
AV standing sideways chewing Juicy Fruit and pulling at his lower body lingerie, giggling with delight.
Sick pass by Tavares!
Gostisbehere too, AA. There’s going to be a lot of scoring off the fly.
Not so much for future former Flyer Radko Gudas
Did Drury retain himself?
Coos I think what you just said was that even though he’s been getting it done in the NHL, you want to see him get it done in Hartford before we consider him NHL ready? Lol 😝
I have a feeling that we might next season employ, somewhere in the lineup, a hated thug.
Drury quite literally a one man show in Hartford right now
chuckling here, James. Drury gots himself some Calzones.
Watch the Canes win this serious and then promptly bend over and get swept in the next series vs the fish.
Team for next season seems like it’ll include Chytil, Kakko, Andersson, Kravtsov and Buchnevich. That’s four 1st round draft picks from the last three years and a 3rd rounder from ‘13 who’s still only 23. Looks like the start of a fresh new core to me. One with hopefully a lot more skill and scoring power. I like it.
I like It too, James.
Yes, but he D is being sorely neglected.
It’s not that we haven’t drafted dmen. Just drafted the wrong dmen.
Leafs need a good 10 minutes.
And when Doc said “the probing continues..” I just shook my head…
Regarding Ovo fight. When we see a player hit his head on the ice like that and he does not get up. Will that be enough to stop fighting in the nhl. Also what is with all the head shots. Players trying to hurt one another. No respect for your opponent. Seems pretty crappy to me.
Boston-Toronto is a good game.
Leafs Win! Edge of my seat game.
The Leaves a bit exuberant there. Long ways to go
Y is a woman on my NHL broadcast ?
Canes won’t go down easy. Well, other than Svechnikov…
JT Miller –
60 career playoff games.
3 measly goals
(Aunt Tillie like numbers)
That wasn’t easy, Olga. That was a jackhammer to the face.
Go Stars. Strictly for the first round pick.
Makar makes his presence known. He should have no problems on that end. Let’s see if he can defend. Buch was a third round pick.
Wow. Calgary is a mess
How to conjur up snow: take plow off, schedule tire swap for 4/16. Shouldn’t be more than a couple inches but really. Freakin windy too.
Really disappointed in Calgary. Playing pond hockey.
Not getting much enthusiasm for these playoffs. Pitt on the ropes? fine. Tampa imploding? No 1st draft pick. Meh. Toronto ahead of Boston? I’ve seen that once before. Where’s the multiple OT’s? I hope it picks up some in the next round.
Good Morning James,
Shestorkin received and AHL out clause in his contract. Georgiev will be else where come draft day.
Georgiev will be in Hartford I think. Igor will probably platoon with Hank.
These signings and the #2 pick will speed up the rebuild greatly, I figure that means they’ll want to move Smith and/or Staal asap
Good morning, boneheads!
Buchnevich had a similar AHL out clause, it doesn’t mean Shestyorkin going back to Russia the moment he is assigned to Hartford.
The situation with Georgiev is even further complicated by his waiver status. He remains waiver exempt as of this moment and can be sent to Hartford in September. But the moment he plays another 17 NHL games, he becomes waiver eligible.
It’ll be interesting to see where we go with the Winnipeg pick, will they try and find another scorer? Or more D prospects?
Igor, who has yet to stop a puck in an NHL game vs Georgie who stood on his head in quite a few games late in the season against good teams that needed wins for playoffs with an outstanding defensive structure in front of him. Given what they have gotten back in past goalie trades I would rather hold Georgie and get absolutely nothing later than to piss him away on garbage pick or garbage player.
Hank is the one who should be leaving so the two kids can sort it out – they are the future. The Hank of a few years ago couldn’t win us a cup, the Hank of next and following year won’t either, even if you believe in miracles that the kids can make it that far that soon. Thanks for the memories Hank but c’ya.
On the Ovi fight – he tossed on punch to many. Everything before that was fine but cranking the guy when he’s already well on his way to the ice is bush, especially from a long time veteran.
I agree with the analysis Beezle but Hank and his contract aren’t going anywhere. I wonder what’s going through Hank’s mind this offseason.
There comes a time in every athletes career when the love of the game is overshadowed by the declining skills due to age. Unfortunately most wait until embarrassment forces the issue. The Minx has spoken!
Coos – In reference to your 8:35am post, I made the same point a week ago. The problem isn’t Georgi’s bad numbers because Hartford was a mess. The problem was that Marek Mazanec and Dustin Tokarski posted better numbers. Not sure what it means, but it is something to keep in the back of our minds before we anoint Georgi the best thing since нарезанный хлеб.
Igor’s AHL out-clause will likely only come into play if:
– He goes long stretches without starting, which is unlikely.
– He struggles mightily, in which case…alright, go back for now.
Oh, I liked that one , AnthonyM. Though this is in Russian. It’s нарязан хляб in Bulgarian. 😃
Samsonov just played a full year in Hershey. He’s 22. If Drury and the Rangers can fix a lot of the problems in Hartford, would it be unreasonable to ask Shestyorkin to play most of the season down there?
Don’t trade Georgie.
And I’m not just saying that.
He was a bless of luck as well, something tells me it may not work out well, trading the gift, thinking the unwrapped present will be better.
You have keep Georgie until the other kid proves he is the real deal.
If not, it could blow up everything
Bet on the wrong goalie.
Just buy hank out, tell him thanks for the memories and give him a gold watch on the way out the door
😉
Anyone know whetetampa ranked 5v5 during the regular season?
“Where Tampa”
ILB – Originally I had it in Swedish, but decided to switch to Russian. I am sure Georgi wouldn’t mind 🙂
I think both of the youngsters see time in New York and Hartford. I would expect Hank to start about 40-45 games with Georgi and Shesty splitting the rest of the starts. You can rotate the young’uns so that one is the starter in Hartford while the other is the “backup” in New York. The Rangers will have to be judicious with Georgi’s playing time because, as ILB wrote, his waiver exemption goes away after 17 NHL games.
Wicky
In Florida 🤣
Not unreasonable at all Tom. It’s the right thing to do IMHO. As JPP said, you need to keep Georgiev until Igor proves himself.
I feel like the quickest anything could possibly happen is if Igor comes to camp and looks like the 2nd coming of Tretiak, still starts in Hartford, and really forces the issue in the first month or so.
Most likely – he looks good, plays a full season in Hartford, they get him some spot duty here and there, and we re-evaluate next summer.
Unless someone offers the moon for Georgio at the draft.
Lmao st pete
My new name for Svechnikov is “Balls”
Ben Bishop damaged the Rangers chance at another #1 pick last night. 2 softees in a game that Dallas deserved to win.
Pekka Rinne was standing on his head at the other end though so it’s not all on Bishop
Tough to play this game, but I wonder…if Dallas makes their Conf Final and we get that 2019 R1…does it make them less-inclined to resign Zucc, as it’s more costly to their asset pool? I’d also say a strong showing by Zucc, combined with that team going deep, would up his value on July 1.
I can see a scenario where Dallas gets bounced, the 2019 condition isn’t met, but Dallas really likes what little they saw of Zucc and tries to re-up him. By all reports, 2020 is the better draft anyway, and there’s the very slight chance that Dallas craps the bed and that pick becomes a lottery one. That team screams Wild Card bubble to me anyway.
Zuke is continuing to produce for the Stars. Hopefully he is good enough to convince them to re-sign him.
Dallas will have a chance to convince him before July 1st but given his playoff production I don’t think he’ll be short of a few offers from contenders who need to add some secondary scoring and playoff experience at a reasonable cost
Yeah but that heiskanen kid though….
That kid looks like an old soul hockey. That kid is some player already
Yeah makar is good and fast and all that.
But the kid on Dallas looks like he might be a HOFer (I know I know sample size)
Come on.
Fix the O and D line and I still believe in some Eli magic.
And Eli knows the giants are gonna take his successor bc he knows the giants are gonna take the Duke QB, his old college coach’s new protege.
That doesn’t mean there isn’t some magic yet in the next 2 years if the line of scrimmage can be won.
I’ll add:
I met Eli on the concourse of the old garden, after his 2nd season I think. I only realized it when My peripheral vision told me I was about to walk into a wall, which was actually a mountain of a man named David diehl, creating a path for his QB.
I told Eli than
‘Don’t worry about the noise man, this is New York. Everyone’s quick to doubt. I believe in you, watch 2-3 years and watch.’
3 years later the giants beat the undefeated Pats in the super bowl.
So yeah I think Eli got some magic left. You have to have those hog-mollies 🙂 to give the old man some time though. right.
8.5 million reasons Hank is not going anywhere …. and don’t see Rangers buying out their franchise/future HOF goalie…sorry boys
I mean right?
Run the ball, brings the defense up in the box, gives Eli open spaces and now without Odell, Eli will be able to scan the whole field without referring to look for Odell.
Protect your QB to cut down on turnovers.
And have a defense that can hold a team to a field goal instead of touchdown after touchdown.
Something tells me, just like Lou/Trotz and the islanders this year. That old-school football formula would do mighty well in this NFL
i think you are posting on the wrong blog there JPP!
Assuming the trigger is being dressed for 17 games (ie even if just sitting on the bench), then it’s harder to manipulate, but wouldn’t be the end of the world to sometimes be carrying three goalies on the roster, knowing they can waive Igor to hartford if need be on a given day to bring up another defenseman or forward etc. But also another reason to buy out staal so we don’t have so many d on the roster at all times
I don’t even hate to say this football meh!
The bosses thought that Hank would shine behind this bogus defense? They should prepare themselves for an uber- embarrassing essay from him once he’s gone.
Leading up to the draft, you will see Georgiev name mentioned in trade rumors. There will be players available to trade for. Trading Georgiev would be trading from a strength. It makes a lot of sense. I’m not talking about dumping him for draft picks. I’m talking about trading from a strength, to address a weakness.
Exactly, BDl. I’ve been eaten up by some for saying he is an asset. Someone else may be willing to trade from a strength. A D-men loaded team who needs a goaltender. You add an extra pick or prospect, you may have yourself a deal
Bdl
I do agree not saying we should trade Boy George, but from now on Groton must always trade from strength, Zero desperation trades please.
Eli for Ranger goaltender and Hank for Giant QB. Change of scenery.
My cousin went to Groton.
What will it be like to watch Henk the next 2 seasons?
Old enough to have seen Willie Mays with the Mets in 72-3?? Say Hey Kid was old and in the way.
.
R1 #4 Mitch Marner is MVP of the Tor-Bos series while Eichel watches from the clubhouse.
very few areas of strength to currently trade from, lot still assuming prospects pan out or we sign players via free agency.
Which makes a pure hockey trade complicated for us because at what position do we really feel we are covered at that we can trade current NHL player for another need? Maybe Kreider, but that assumes we are getting Kakko (and then have to trust he and Kravtsov pan out). And unfortunately Kreider now only has one year left on his deal so less attractive for other teams unless they can get him to extend, we add another piece or they are moving us say a defenseman with only one year left on his deal. Time for Gorton to start really earning that paycheck!
I think the Bruins would welcome Kreider, and I believe he would resign there. What the return would be is another thing! Of course that’s if Gorton decides to move him.
The entire league would welcome Kreider.
BDL history has shown that we don’t get anything much back trading our young/youngish goalies. Sure, if somebody shows you a quality asset you make the deal. I just don’t see that happening, or at least not meeting my (or others) definition of quality.
Georgie is like a cheap call option that is now showing a small profit but has a lot of time and upside left. You can flip it and use the gain for something else or you can sit on it a while longer knowing in the end, it may be worthless but could be a homerun. Sometimes its better to be a pig than take the far smaller sure thing.
Marner is a hell of a hockey player.
Sometimes you have to strike while the iron is hot.
BobbyO
Thought everyone would get my hank buyout as tongue in cheek, sorry if that wasn’t clear enough.
Bdl
My point is that Kreider is a Boston boy!
Strike when the irony is haute.
Wonder how many new azzes, if any, Topo puts into the seats in Dallas.
Re position of strength….
Goal, yes it is even with hank.
I’d also say draft picks are a position of strength.
Where it gets tricky is with certain positions on the rangers and if the rest of the league views them as many on the blog do…they all suck, or is there value in some of the players around the league that we expert fans say are terrible.
I think The rangers positions of strength are their young nhl ready or close to Nhl ready forwards (position of strength imo), young nhl offencive righty D, prospect lefty D, and middle 6 Nhl forwards.
Loved Babcock’s comment about skill vs will.
Wick there have been more than a few Hank buy out comments
BobbyO
Oh, my bad thought you were referencing my post.
ilb had a great idea; Henk retires and becomes Pres of NYR making; $6.5M (his salary is less than cap hit) for the next 2 years and watches Dolan eat crayons and try to play the billionaire blues on his guitar.
I added the crayons and guitar part..
I’m with you guys re: Georgiev. If you can add a strength you do it. If people want something for nothing then wait and let him up his value next season while teams without elite goaltending or injured goalies start to sweat.
Hi, BDL
Who knew Stralman was the key to the Bolt’s D?
BDL, right on point at 12:10. We have all the leverage, and if we have to, we can stash Georgiev if Igor forces us to.
Possible teams who should have interest:
Columbus – Bob is probably gone, and there’s not much in the way of reinforcements coming their way. I would trade Boy George for Josh Anderson in a heartbeat.
Colorado – Losing Varlamov (they’re probably okay with that) but could use someone to split time with Grubauer while they figure out if Grubauer is anything.
Chicago – Crawford a year away from being an UFA.
Ottawa – Anderson a year away from UFA. They have a nice war-chest of assets and young players.
Carolina – No NHL goalies under contract next year.
Vancouver – Do they really want to go another year with THN’s 22nd ranked goalie in the NHL?
Actually, as I go down the list…there are a lot more teams with question marks in net than usual.
Again, no rush or absolute need to move Georgiev – but we shouldn’t lack for suitors at the draft if it comes up.
If they trade Boy Geroge ands Igor doesn’t pan out they are screwed. Plus you don’t get any value for an unproven backup. Lots of potential , but, little value. Got to keep the youngsters until one or the other proves himself or they’ll wind up trading for Mike Dunham again in two years. The 17 game limit will be an issue with Boy George. After midseason they won’t be abe to send him to Hartford. Do they each play 20 and Hank plays 40?
They really should only consider moving Georgiev immediately (draft/offseason) if somebody really makes them an offer they can’t refuse. And it should be a hockey trade, not a dump or for a pick package.
Otherwise – you hang onto him until you’re dead sure you have something better in Shestyorkin.
Wick, i hear what you are saying, but very few of our assets would be desired for what we need-a top pair or future top pair D, ideally a righty. I think it will be too costly to get an established young defenseman that meets that criteria and it will still hurt to get the up and comer.
For instance the other team would have to be pretty confident that Chytil is going to pan out to accept him as the center piece of any such deal and hard to see that being the case, but always the chance we may be undervaluing somewhat.
I don’t think we are getting much back for the bottom 6 forwards or offensive D surplus we have. the Winnipeg first would be a good sweetener but not the main piece obviously
exactly Dave. worst case georgie is in hartford for a lot next season if Igor shows he is ready to play more
Lol
So about 20 mins ago I think about what I said this morning about the giants and I think to myself ‘i bet you like 5 boneheads were like dude you’ve said you don’t even watch football anymore’
Well yeah those were my 2 cents on the NFL from the backwoods of Ocala national forest lol
(80 degrees and beautiful clean spring water)
Georgie is gonna be the compensation for JD and panarin 🙂 🙂
Look I get it, and I’ve done the math, I know what most likely gonna happen with Georgie.
I’m just saying my karma meter says watch the rangers trade this guy, keep shesoskin and put together an amazing team and he can’t do it, and none of the goalies in the system are the guy either and there’s Georgie in Columbus as a steady #1 goalie making like 5mil a year
If Georgie goes, I’d like to see him go to CBJ. Good spot for him, good team defense
Brind’Amour is frustrated but off base. I think Ovie feels bad enough and may unconsciously tone down a bit.
I watched the clip. They are competing hard and going at each other. Ovie can give a slash or two, and do what he did, in the heat of playing, without actually thinking the kid is gonna want to go.
What happened is (you see it clearly) Ovie slashs him and is like what’s up, you want something different like a fight? and the kid clearly nodded yes. And at that point Ovie was quick to drop the gloves, but he was just playing the kid hard and not expecting the kid would be down to fight, once the kid said he wanted to go, Ovie approached it just like he used to attack the net. What do you expect to happen. You just see what can happens if a powerful man in the mood to swing a punch can do if he connects. People aren’t meant to get punched in the face. Funny all these suspensions for headshots, yet the worst one of all was legal.
You guys see the picture of Bettman and Daly (who were at the game) right after it happened. They were mortified.
You see the kid’s finger when he went out. He got messed up. That kid should not play to next season regardless
My guess is Ovi probably feels pretty bad about it too. He’s a tough competitor but I don’t think he really wanted to hurt the kid. It’s just kind of unfortunate what happened.
Exactly. If it’s regular season and that happens Obie probably tells him “easy kid” but regardless of age it’s the post season and the captain of the Cup champions who plays balls to the wall. Svechnikov has to take some accountability
And of course Bettman is upset. He wants 31 teams filled with figure skaters who score 9 goals a game. Not playoff hockey
If Tampa gets swept anyone think GM does anything drastic like coach firing or trade of a big name like Stamkos?
62 – 16 and they get swept? Nice peak job. I’d chase that cocky little coach out of town with a hot azzpipe.
NEW POST
BobbyO I think Tampa will keep things status quo for a bit longer.
They’ll probably shed the likes of Girardi and Coburn. Maybe Stralman.
So change is inevitable regardless