Have the New York Rangers Found Harmony and Will They Trade One of Their Top Players?
The New York Rangers have been one of the more inconsistent teams in the league over their first seven games. And now there are trade rumors concerning one of their best players. We’ve got that and a whole lot more coming up on today’s Locked on NHL podcast. You’re Locked on NHL, your daily podcast on the National Hockey League, part of the Locked On Network. your team every day. Gil Martin here and welcome everybody to the Monday edition of the Locked on NHL podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. I want to thank everyone who makes Locked on NHL your first listen every day. Don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts so you never miss an episode. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Download the FanDuel app now by visiting fanduel.com and win $300 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins. It is my pleasure to welcome back to the show the host of Locked on New York Rangers, John Chick. And John, what is going on with the Rangers this season? One game they look like world beaters and the next game they look like they can’t get out of their own way. What’s been going on here? You know, I know there’s just kind of this perception right now that the Rangers have been inconsistent to start the season. And I guess in terms of like just going by, you know, final scores and statistics and certain uh, you know, players on the team maybe not necessarily playing to the back of their hockey card, so to speak. But honestly, other than opening night, I think they’ve actually been very consistent to start this season. There’s been a newfound emphasis on playing strong defensive hockey. And I’m kind of like hit or miss with the metrics. You know, I could take it or leave it. I don’t want hockey to become like a computer simulation. But one stat that I saw that definitely checks is that the Rangers, at least as of the other night, were first in the NHL in high danger scoring chances against. And that I mean, when you watch these games, you can tell that that’s true. these the Rangers have really clamped down when it comes to defending the front of their net, supporting both of their goalies, uh limiting oddman chances, and even on the PK, uh doing a great job there as well. So, they’ve been very consistent when it comes to playing their game, playing a smart defensive style of hockey. The one area where they haven’t been consistent, it’s not creating scoring chances. They’ve been doing that every single game, believe it or not. And I know some of these final scores, you wouldn’t necessarily think that. uh they’ve gotten goalied a couple of times, but I I think even more importantly is that they are creating scoring chances every single game, you know, and high danger scoring chances. It just hasn’t always shown up in the box score. Um but that’s been awesome to see and it was nice to see the dam finally break, so to speak, against Montreal the other night, you know, down two to nothing four minutes into the game. I can tell you Gil 100%. If this is last season, the Rangers roll over and they die and they lose that game in an absolutely land inside the fact that they’re on the road against this fast rising Montreal team 4- one to start the season and they come back in their barn and just stick to their game and you know I dominate might be a strong word for the third period, but they clearly had the better of play. It was 20 excellent minutes of hockey for the Raiders and they deserve to win that game and they and they got the win. So, it was nice to see it’s very gratifying to see them finally uh win a game that they should win even though that hadn’t been happening in the handful of games, you know, before that. Chemistry was a big issue for this team last year. Changes were made during the off season. Talk to me about what you’ve seen chemistry-wise through seven games so far. Yeah, it seems a lot better. Um, you know, you to go back to the game last night. Raiders are down 2-1. They were chasing a goal for, you know, a good chunk of this game and Sam Carrick gets into a fight against Jack and he’s obviously a big dude and and we all thought it was going to be him against Rempy and it ends up being him against Carrick instead and Carrick hung in there really tough. I would call the fight overall, you know, probably a draw. Uh that really fired the Raiders up and got them going a little bit. It’s just been nice to see more intensity, more fire out of some of these players. Even somebody like Mika Zabanette, we’re going back, you know, quite a ways now to the first couple games of the season, but there was a game where they scored short-handed, a great feed by Sam Carrick to set it up and Mika’s like fired up and he’s pointing at him and, you know, bleepia and all this stuff, dude. Like, I didn’t see anything even resembling that from Mika Zad for 82 games last season. So, that’s been cool to see. I think the choice of JT Miller to captain this team was the correct choice. It’s not without risk because we know, for lack of a better term, he can be a little bit of a hotthead. We’ve seen that at different stops throughout his NHL career, but you know, honestly, I said this on my show, you go 85 years with one Stanley Cup, I think it gets to a point where you want to roll the dice a little bit and you want to take a calculated risk. And for me, making JT Miller the captain was that. Uh he plays the the style of hockey, that north south game, that physical game that the Rangers are chasing. My understanding is they’re pretty near the top of the NHL right now in team hits. And it’s been good, man. You know, you had Vladisov Gabriov that was the big uh you know, free agent addition. He’s really strengthened the Ranger Blue line as well and and that group has held up very well despite being, you know, somewhat untested and kind of pieced together, you know, over the last year or so that it’s been it’s been very solid so far. So, what’s going on now with the trade rumors concerning Art Tammy Panera? And is there substance to this? And if so, why? I I mean, you could kind of connect the dots and see why. you know, he is in the last year of his contract. And my understanding is that the Raiders approached him about a possible contract extension, you know, during the offseason here, but it doesn’t sound like talks really went all that far. You know, maybe the Rangers want him to take a teamfriendly deal, both in terms of years and dollars. And maybe Paneran wasn’t so keen on doing that. Maybe Panaran just wants this year to play out and see how everything goes. In terms of trading him though, like I know it’s the last year of his contract. If we get to the trade deadline and the Rangers are terrible, I don’t think this is going to happen, but if they’re terrible and they’re out of the playoff chase, by all means, you go to Panaran, you approach him about waving his no move clause and you see if you can get something done because in a situation like that, you can’t lose him for nothing. But right now, the way things stand, I mean, we’re just getting underway here and the Raiders, they didn’t go for a rebuild. They went for a retooling. You know, they they’ve kind of, you know, re-imagined this roster, so to speak, and they they’ve put everything together. doing all that and not rebuilding, but then turning around and trading your most talented player, the guy that’s led your team in points every single season since he’s been here. That doesn’t make any sense. That would go completely against everything that the Rangers did in the offseason. So, I think right now you’re kind of in wait and see mode. I’m kind of comfortable doing that. As a Ranger fan, you see how this season goes. When it gets to the deadline, see where you’re at in the standings. Do we keep him? Do we try to trade him? And if you keep him, you know, you go through the season, you hope for the best. if you make it to the playoffs and then you cross that free agent bridge when you get to it in the offseason. I mean, it’s not a situation where I feel like you absolutely must resign him, but I wouldn’t be so quick to just brush him aside either, especially when you see some of these big free agents around the league. They were going to be UFAS this upcoming offseason and a whole bunch of them have signed. Uh, you know, Eel, McDavid, Capri off, those guys are already off the board. So, uh, it’s an interesting, uh, situation to track right now, but I don’t think anything’s imminent, and I I would be shocked if the Rangers were to trade Panera in the short term here. What are the keys to a successful season for the Rangers? I mean, honestly, I I think just kind of uh, continuing to do what you’re doing, you know, support your goalies. There have been too many times in the past where I feel like it’s kind of been an over reliance certainly on Igor Shurk. I mean, we’ve seen that time and time again, but I I feel like just kind of uh, you know, sticking with this uh, defensive-minded hockey that this brand of hockey that the Raiders are currently playing. And I think also, and I talked about this the other day on on on my show, one of one of my more recent episodes, is that I can appreciate the fact that Mike Sullivan as the Rainer coach is actually reacting to things that he sees. You know, there was a a game a couple nights ago. I think it might have been the Toronto game where the fourth line of Edstrom, Carrick, and Rempy. They really played well. You know, they they were forchecking hard. They were creating all kinds of chaos. They were creating some scoring chances, and Sullivan actually reacted to it. He increased their ice time. We’ve seen those guys, you know, playing late in games because they’ve really stepped up their game uh thus far this season. Uh I think something else that’s going to happen, Matthew Robertson. Now, he’s not a household name, but he was a former second round pick by the Rangers six years ago, if you can believe that. And only now, at the start of this season, has he, first of all, he made the team, which was kind of surprising. And now he’s actually playing well and maybe on his way to become an AHL regular. And I think he’s going to stick in the lineup for the foreseeable future going forward. And with other coaches that the Rangers had, like like to me, it’s so obvious that he should stay in the lineup um even when Suzie comes back and you make Vaka in a healthy scratch. I feel like other Rainer coaches that we’ve had in recent years maybe wouldn’t have done that. You know, the common sense would just kind of elude them or they’d see something that maybe we don’t all see somehow. Um, but I I just like the way that that things are kind of flowing right now. And uh everything the Rangers have done so far this season, whether it’s focusing more on defense or whether it’s time on the ice or line combinations or personnel decisions, it all makes sense, you know, and sometimes it’s the little things, especially after uh the kind of season that the Rangers had last year. You know, this is very, very refreshing through seven games so far this season. All right, so some early reasons for optimism. John, I know you’ll have it covered every step of the way. Why don’t you tell our viewers and our listeners where they could find the podcast and where they could find you on social media? Yeah, you know, wherever you’re watching this or listening to this, you can find Locked on New York Rangers there. Uh, we’re on YouTube, we’re on every audio streaming platform that you can probably even think of. And as far as you know me, you can find me on social media uh on Twitter, Jix17, JCHK17. So yeah, give us a follow and uh talk some hockey. It’ll be fun. John, always a pleasure. Thank you. All right, thanks Gil. Thanks for having me. Today’s episode is brought to you by Monarch. Let’s be honest, most of us can’t even name all our financial accounts, let alone what they’re worth. Between 401ks, savings, and investments, it’s easy to lose track, and that can mean leaving money on the table. That’s why I started using Monarch, an all-in-one personal finance tool that brings your entire financial life together in one clean, easy to use interface on your laptop or your phone. I love the fact that if you and your significant other share accounts, Monarch can help you both stay on the same page. and Monarch’s visual dashboards and smart tools make it so much easier to understand where my money’s going and how to make it work harder for me. So, don’t let financial opportunity slip through the cracks. Use code locked on NHL at monarch.com for 50% off your first year. That’s monarch.com. Code lockdown NHL for half off your first year.
The New York Rangers are playing better defensively and seem to have more harmony in the locker room after a difficult season a year ago.
Jon Chik of Locked On New York Rangers joins us to discuss the differences in the team so far this season, and the latest trade rumors concerning Artemi Panarin.
All this and more on today’s Locked On NHL Podcast with Gil Martin.
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