Well, how about that for a weekend?! Since I’ve last had a chance to write, the Rangers have made a blockbuster trade, sent Libor Hajek to waivers to be assigned to Hartford, won back to back games, one of which against a heavy favorite, have had one of their top young players request a trade (again) and have been ranked atop the NHL’s weekly power rankings. Needless to say there is plenty to talk about so let’s get right into it.
Rangers Make Blockbuster Trade for Vladimir Tarasenko
Right before the Rangers were set to head into a back to back weekend, I was set to head home for the weekend and to MSG on Friday. At the same time, rumblings were coming out on Twitter that the Rangers were acquiring Vladimir Tarasenko from the St. Louis Blues. Therefore, for roughly 40 minutes or so, Rangers fans everywhere were anxious and eagerly refreshing Twitter, awaiting confirmation and specifics on the trade to drop. After what felt like hours, word came out that the package going to St. Louis was a first round pick, a fourth round pick, Sammy Blais and Hunter Skinner. Which on its own, seemed like a reasonable enough package. However, a little after the return was being discussed, it was announced that Libor Hajek, who has been the Rangers seventh defenseman and hadn’t played since early December, was also being placed on Waivers. It wasn’t long after this announcement that indications suggested defenseman Niko Mikkola was also going to New York as part of this trade. This ended up being true which made the final trade:
Sammy Blais, Hunter Skinner, a conditional first round pick and a conditional fourth round pick to the St. Louis Blues in exchange for Vladimir Tarasenko and Niko Mikkola.
If you recall from my trade deadline previews, this was one of the Rangers best options on the trade market and after the Islanders made the big move for Horvat and trade talks around the league started picking up, the timing seemed perfect for Chris Drury to make this move. As far as the conditions of the trade go, the fourth rounder becomes a third if the Rangers make the playoffs. (Which hopefully should be a safe bet) For the first, because the Rangers also have Dallas’ first from the Nils Lundkvist trade, the Blues will get whichever of the Rangers picks comes later. So essentially, the Rangers got an elite top-six right winter and a reliable bottom pair defender to play with Schneider, all without giving up any major roster pieces. The only draft pick they really lose is likely a third since the first was kind of a bonus pick anyway.
Obviously this is a blockbuster trade in general but for the Rangers, it is such a good trade overall. We all knew they needed to bring in a guy who can play on the right side of the top six, ideally with Zibanejad and Panarin as well as a bottom pair defender. The fact that they got a guy like Tarasenko and addressed their need on defense, giving up assets they didn’t absolutely need is so clutch. The best part however, is they finally righted their wrong from the draft of 2010 where they passed on Vladimir Tarasenko, opting to draft Dylan McIlrath. Who? Exactly.
Tarasenko Lights Lamp in 6-3 Win Against Seattle
Finally, after sitting through four of the Rangers fourteen regulation losses this season, the Rangers won a game with me and my Dad in attendance. The energy at the Garden leading up to this game was electric. Even just walking around the city and talking to other Rangers fans, everyone was psyched up after hearing the news that Tarasenko was going to be joining the Rangers and it became evident when the Garden erupted after Joe Tolleson introduced his name as part of the night’s starting lineup. If you thought the Garden was loud then, just wait until we got about two minutes into the game when Artemi Panarin fed Tarasenko with a beautiful pass that he put away for his first as a Ranger.
You can’t make this stuff up man. The stories write themselves on Broadway and Tarasenko not only scoring in his first game as a Blueshirt, but scoring the first goal of the game was magic and definitely set the tone for the game. It became a dominant first period for the Rangers with goals from Kaapo Kakko and Vincent Trocheck, giving them a 3-0 lead to take into the second period. As if that wasn’t enough, a Jaden Schwartz headshot to Ryan Lindgren gave the Rangers a power play they took into the second where Jacob Trouba would deflect a shot to the back of the net to make it a 4-0 game very early in the second period. All signs were pointing to this being all New York all night.
Unfortunately, 64 seconds after Trouba found the back of the net, Oliver Bjorkstrand would put one past Shesterkin to show some signs of life for Seattle. The Rangers took a couple penalties throughout the second but would hold Seattle off and keep a 4-1 lead through two periods of play. The Rangers again, had an early power play opportunity in the third and were able to capitalize thanks to a cross crease pass from Kreider to Zibanejad making it 5-1. However, things took a quick turn and all of a sudden, the Rangers needed to wake up. One thing I made note of about Niko Mikkola when exploring trade candidates was that he does have a tendency to take a lot of penalties. Boy was this proven true as a hooking call would lead to a rocket of a shot from Jared McCann beating Shesterkin to bring Seattle within three. This would be the second of three penalty calls against Mikkola on the night, granted the third one was a bad delay of game call where the official did not realize the puck hit the glass before going into the stands.
22 seconds after McCann’s goal, Brandon Tanev snuck a backhander past Shesterkin and just like that it was a new game. After sitting through four losses at the Garden this season, I begged that they don’t do this again. Thankfully, they would wake up a bit and keep Seattle off the board for the rest of the night. The Kraken would pull the goalie for the extra attacker and once Mikkola got called for that delay of game call, they had a good chance for a last ditch effort. Thankfully, Ryan Lindgren iced one right into the gapping net for his first of the season, capping the night off at 6-3. An incredible win and a sort of statement win around the league following the Tarasenko trade indicating that if they weren’t already, they should be looked at as serious contenders from this moment forward.
Five Point Night for Panarin Propels Rangers Over the Hurricanes
As we get closer and closer to the back half of the season, these kinds of matchups are only going to gain more and more attention in regards to the postseason. That’s exactly what we had with Saturday Night’s game and it’s part of why the Rangers are now atop the league’s latest power rankings. It’s no secret the Hurricanes are among the top contenders in the Eastern Conference as they are currently the top team in the Metropolitan Division with 76 points. Having already beaten them once this season, this was going to be yet another big test for the Rangers, especially after the additions of Tarasenko and Mikkola.
It wouldn’t be as strong of an all around game as they had against Seattle but all in all, the Rangers persevered and came up with a huge win in Carolina and a big part of that is thanks to Artemi Panarin. Before we got there, it was a much slower game despite the Rangers getting on the board a little over the halfway point of the first. Jalen Chatfield was called for interference which gave the Rangers a power play and for the second game in a row, it was Mika Zibanejad converting which is a great sight. After going through quite a slump, with the addition of Tarasenko, the power play units finally got a much needed change up, now putting Chytil on the top unit between Kreider and Zibanejad, making for quite a second unit with Tarasenko there. Zibanejad picked up his 27th on the year, keeping the Rangers power play hot through the weekend’s back to back.
The second period would be all Carolina. They outshot the Rangers to begin with in the first period and continued that theme through the second. Between the two periods, the Rangers were outshot 25-13 having only registered four shots in the second. Teuvo Teravainen tied the game up about seven minutes into the second and Jesperi Kotkaniemi beat Halak with a backhander to give the Canes a 2-1 lead a few minutes later. For what it’s worth, Halak had an outstanding game and despite his rough start in the beginning of the season, has been a tremendous back up as of late, having gone 7-0-0 in his last seven appearances. Neither of the goals were really his fault as the Rangers were just getting outplayed by Carolina heavily.
Towards the end of the second, Panarin was taken off that top line with Zibanejad and Tarasenko and interestingly enough, it worked pretty well for him. He already had an assist on the power play goal but with just about two minutes left in the second, he put one past Anderson to make it a 2-2 game. A big goal that would evidently spark an explosive third period for Panarin and his linemates. Four and a half minutes in, Panarin picked up his second of the night and later in the third, would make it a natural hat-trick. At 4-2, Kaapo Kakko put away an empty netter and sure enough, Panarin tucked away another with about a minute to go, completing his four goal night with an assist to top it all off. Whether it was bringing in his good buddy in Tarasenko or if he was just feeling himself, it is so important for him to finally get going offensively and hopefully something he can keep up in this back stretch of the year.
Another Page in the Vitaly Kravtsov Saga
Monday afternoon, word came out that Rangers forward Vitaly Kravtsov had requested a trade from the New York Rangers. Sound familiar? Well, this is at very least, the second time he has asked to be traded, if not the third time. It’s no secret that his brief tenure with the Rangers has been a bit tumultuous. He’s gotten chances, but hasn’t really been given extended chances. He’s been up, down, all around, to Russia and back and still hasn’t seemed to find his game here in North America, at least with the Rangers. What likely brought the request on was the fact that he spent another stretch of games in the press box before returning to the line up Friday Night against Seattle. While he didn’t really stand out, he didn’t play badly nor did he do anything to really warrant him being taken out of the lineup yet again. Nevertheless, Gallant wanted to get Jake Leschyshyn back in the action and claimed Kravtsov “didn’t do enough” Friday Night.
We’ve had this conversation with Kravtsov tirelessly. Both things can be true where he hasn’t always gotten a fair chance from the organization and at the same time, hasn’t always earned a more permanent chance. Whether it was his decision or his agents, he never should have fled when not making the Rangers out of camp or any other time he was assigned to Hartford. No one grows up playing hockey and necessarily dreams of playing in the AHL, but when you find yourself in that situation, you have to not only be able to appreciate it, but be able to give it everything you’ve got. It doesn’t matter if you’re a ninth overall pick, a 90th overall pick or a 209th overall pick. If you’re not ready for the NHL. you have to go to work in the American League if the time comes and no one should feel they’re above it.
At the same time though, how many times do you have to hear Gerard Gallant say you're a top-nine kind of player and continuously have depth players given that role instead of you. I can see Jimmy Vesey earning that spot as many people forget, he was once upon a time expected to be a top-nine kind of player. But time after time we’ve seen Barclay Goodrow and Dryden Hunt and Colin Blackwell, countless other situations where depth players are more or less forced into that second line, right wing role over younger players, specifically Kravtsov. There have been times as recently as now where Gallant and the coaching staff could’ve and should’ve given Kravtsov an extended look at that position in attempts to get him going.
On the other side of that coin though, Kravtsov has gotten extended time at that position and hasn’t necessarily flourished. In 28 games this season he has six points spread evenly with goals and assists. Over his career at the NHL level, he has only played a little over 50 games with only two more goals than he has on the year. It’s never been a smooth journey but he’s never gotten a consistent chance or had much work out in his favor. At this point, if Gallant isn’t going keep him in a top nine role consistently, Drury might as well just honor his request and work out as good of a deal as he can manage. He doesn’t hold much trade value at this point but if the Rangers can either prospect swap, get some picks back or a combination of the two, might as well just get it over with. The relationship has been tarnished, rebuilt and now tarnished again. It’s been over four years since Kravtsov has been drafted, that’s four years of his development he isn’t getting back a change of scenery might be his saving grace.
It’s a shame how things have worked out for him with the Rangers, or perhaps how things haven’t worked out but given where the team currently is, if they can and want to trade him for a Tanner Jeannot or a Nick Bjugstad or some kind of picks and players package that will boost their depth for playoffs, they might as well just go for it. We won’t know until it happens whether the Rangers were wrong about him or will miss him down the road but right now, it’s not doing anyone any favors playing this game of will they won’t they.
Final Recap
So all in all, aside from the Kravtsov drama, it was a pretty good weekend for the Blueshirts. Their pair of wins against Carolina and Seattle have brought them closer in the Metro race with the Devils and Hurricanes and have propelled them into the top of the league’s weekly power rankings. Between the Tarasenko trade and how they’ve looked since, they’re starting to send a message that they are indeed a playoff contender
The Rangers are currently getting settled in Vancouver as they’ve set off on a three game road trip across Western Canada. They’ll take on the Canucks Wednesday Night before a back to back with the Flames and Oilers. If they keep this winning streak going, there’s a real chance they can start to make even more noise around the league and potentially leapfrog the Devils and eventually Carolina as top team in the Metro.
Chris Feldman
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