Mailbag! Connor McDavid, Rangers captaincy, K’Andre Miller, Vladislav Gavrikov, and more!

Mailbag! Connor McDavid, Rangers captaincy, K’Andre Miller, Vladislav Gavrikov, and more!

Could Conor McDavid really end up on Broadway? Ranger fans weigh in. You’re Locked on the New York Rangers, your daily podcast on the New York Rangers, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. Welcome back, Blue Shirts fans, to episode number 1365 of the Locked On New York Rangers podcast. I’m your host, John Shick. Just want to thank you guys as always for making Lockdown New York Rangers your first listen every day. We are free and available on all platforms including YouTube. And today’s episode of Lockdown New York Rangers brought to you by FanDuel. Football season is right around the corner. Visit the FanDuel app today and start planning your futures bets right now. And we are of course part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. So today going to go ahead and kind of check the polls of Ranger Nation here. going to hear from some of the things that you guys have been talking about, you know, in the YouTube comment section and emails or whatever it might be. Just everything that you’re feeling about the current state of the New York Rangers. It’s always interesting to do this. Honestly, we should probably do these mailbags a little bit more often, but uh better late than never here in the offseason. And like I said, basically going to turn the controls of today’s episode over to you guys and just read a couple of your comments, concerns, and uh anything else that you have going on right now as it pertains to the Rangers. And we’re gonna start with Conor McDavid because in the episode before this one, I recorded an episode where we talked about the possibility of Conor McDavid not only not resigning with the Oilers after this upcoming season, but then hitting free agency and potentially coming to the Rangers. Now, I still do believe that it is a long shot that that happens, but I wouldn’t say that it’s completely off the table either. And you guys had some interesting comments and thoughts on that as well. So, we’ll start there. We’ll move on to some other topics like uh Keandre Miller, him being traded, uh the signing of Vladislav Gaver, the acquisition of Scott Morrow, the Rangers captaincy, and whether they should or will name a captain, all that good stuff. But like I said, let’s go ahead and start with some of your questions and comments and concerns on the idea of Conor McDavid potentially coming to the New York Rangers. And we begin with Insomniac here, who says 15 to 20% chance he will go to the Rangers. McDavid wants a cup. The Rangers are a lot team. you have a better chance of getting McKenna than McDavid. So, that one kind of made me laugh and I get what you’re saying in the first part of this where, you know, at least on the surface and things can change quickly in one season. Just ask the 2024 252 Rangers how quickly things can change. But I get what you’re saying about right now, at least on paper, it certainly looks like McDavid has a much better chance of winning a Stanley Cup with the Oilers than he does with the Rangers. And I understand that, but one season can obviously change a lot. You know, we’ll see how it goes for both teams this upcoming year. Um, so I get what you’re saying there. As far as the Rangers being a lotto team and having a better chance of getting McKenna than McDavid, I don’t see that either. The Rangers are not as bad as people make it sound like they are. I mean, don’t get me wrong, they were absolutely atrocious last season. Everything that they did or nearly everything they did was unacceptable on just about every single level you could possibly think of. However, in spite of all that, they only had the 11th worst record in the NHL. I mean, I say only I realize it was a massive drop from the year before, but I also think they’ll be better this upcoming season. So, the idea of them being a lotto team and uh having a good chance of getting McKenna, I don’t see that either. I I don’t think that that’s true at all. Uh we’ll move on to Brian Gilroy here. If McDavid does not resign with the Oilers, the Rangers should have a good chance of getting him. You are correct that Eigor is our best selling point. So, what Brian’s talking about there, he is referencing the episode before this one. We talk about the possibility of Conor McDavid somehow someway ending up on the New York Rangers. And one of the things that I said is that the big sales pitch for the Rangers or at least part of it has to be to Conor McDavid that hey, we’ve got a world class goalie here. We’ve got Igor Shurkin and the Oilers have never had really even average goalending since Conor McDavid has come into the league. I mean, that might be a slight exaggeration, but it’s not much of one. And obviously Eager will be far and away the best goalie that McDavid has ever played with. So, uh, that’s that’s what Brian is getting to there. Uh, as far as like the Rangers having a good chance. I mean, I talked about this in the last episode as well. I do feel like if the Oilers do not resign McDavid, if he wants to test free agency and he actually ends up on a different team next year, I would maybe put the Leafs just ahead of the Rangers. I would go Oilers number one, Leafs number two, probably Rangers at number three, and then a team like maybe Vegas because you can never count them out when it comes to this player or that player. They always seem to land their guy. But uh yeah, I mean I think uh if he’s not back with the Oilers this upcoming or or rather the one after this season, then I think the Rangers probably do have about as good of a chance as anybody else of of potentially landing Conor McDavid. But we shall see. Ed Pottinger says the Oilers are going to sign him and if he wanted to go to a team, it would be Toronto or Ottawa. Yeah, this is pretty much what I just talked about. Uh Ottawa maybe I mean that is a a vastly improving team. They they’re getting quite a bit better in a very short amount of time and obviously they were in the playoffs this last year, but for me I would think it would be Toronto uh before Ottawa. Uh we shall see. Joe Rosa says even if there’s a remote chance of getting McDavid, jury would mess that up. I believe the only team besides Edmonton to sign him and it’ll be a challenge Maple Leafs. Trust me, jury is here to bury the Rangers. Probably worse than Satherther. I don’t think we’re we’re quite that bad. I mean, you got to remember the Rangers went eight straight years of missing the playoffs. Really think about this. This is the New York Rangers here. And in a sport where half the teams make the playoffs and back then more than half the teams made the playoffs and you go eight straight years without it. I mean, and this is not a sport where it’s I I think that difficult to rebuild. I mean, some teams would convince you otherwise. these teams that are stuck in these perpetual rebuilds. But, you know, rebuilding is almost inevitable in this sport given the the state of the salary cap and and players getting older and you have to um get out from under aging core and sometimes you have to trade some veterans. It’s kind of what the Rangers did the first time that they rebuilt and they sent out that letter and everything. Sometimes you got to, you know, look to the future and teams do tend to do that. Um, so I don’t think we’re quite in as bad a shape as we were in the Sather era at all. I mean, there are two recent Eastern Conference appearances, Eastern Conference final appearances for the Rangers. Um, but I would not argue that if that if uh if McDavid does not resign with the Oilers, probably the Leafs have a better chance than anybody else. I think the Rangers are are somewhat close, but I would say probably the Leafs. Uh, Howie says, “Maybe we should concentrate on making the playoffs first because McDavid is not going to a team that is not a contender.” I 100% wholeheartedly agree with this sentiment. In fact, this is something that we discussed in the most recent episode, the McDavid ccentric episode that we posted right before this one. I mentioned it there. You know, if the Raiders, if they turn things around and and they have a good season and they’re back in the playoffs, they make a little bit of a run at it, you know, whatever it might be, then that bodess well for their chances of getting McDavid. Again, this is assuming that McDavid even makes it to free agency, which is a big question mark in its own right. But if the Raiders do all that, they’ll greatly increase their chances. If the Raiders come out this upcoming year and they look flat and lifeless and uninspired and they don’t want to play for Sullivan and everybody just looks like they’d rather be anywhere else in the world than playing hockey for the New York Rangers, then that’s going to be a problem. First of all, it’s going to be a problem for the Rangers this year because I don’t think they’re going very far if that’s the case. In fact, I know they’re not going far if that’s the case. But beyond that, yeah, I mean, Conor McDavid, he’s gonna have his pick of the litter. This guy can pretty much decide where he wants to play hockey uh next off seasonason. And if he sees the Rangers are a complete dumpster fire for the second straight season, yeah, he is not coming to the New York Rangers. I think we can pretty much all agree on that one. Uh Chris says he is the greatest hockey player ever. Well, I mean, he he’s going to be up there when it’s all said and done. We can’t say ever as of yet, but we we’ll roll with it. He is the greatest hockey player ever, and yet no one outside the hockey world knows who he is. I have to believe going to the Rangers and raising a cup to become a living legend is a bit enticing. See, I get what you’re saying and I think that would definitely be true of a lot of other players because yeah, I mean they are the Raiders original 16 all this history. They’ve been around forever and players seemingly against logic based on the things that have gone on here and the fact that they have won cup in 85 years. They do tend to want to come here. I don’t know that David really needs all that. I I don’t know. And I could be wrong. Maybe he’s dying for that. Maybe he wants the bright lights of a big city and big expectations and a a rabid fan base. And Oiler fans are great, don’t get me wrong. I mean, that that’s a very passionate fan base in its own right. Um, but I I don’t know that that really speaks to McDavid the way that it would speak to other players. I would love to be wrong about it, though, because if I am wrong about it, that would seemingly increase the chances that Conor McDavid uh one day does play with the Rangers. Clearing the benches says, “This is the most Ranger-ish type of scenario available, but what if he comes to New York and in four years still no cups? As much as I want to see the Raiders bring in the best players available, I see this one possibly ending up in a drawer with Phil Espazito, Bobby Carpenter, Bruce Driver, Bobby Holik, Wade Redden, and Brad Richards, and even 99 Wayne Gretzky. I say leave it be and let it roll with Offman Pro and the kids. So, I get what you’re saying. I understand the comparisons and whatnot. And a lot of those players, pretty much everybody you mentioned there, came to the Raiders once they were past their prime into their 30s or at least uh yeah, at least their early 30s and in some cases even older than that. The thing is though, McDavid is a better player than almost everybody you mentioned. We’re not going to say he’s better than Gretzky or anything like that. Philpazto was a wonderful player, but I put McDavid ahead of him as well. Um, these other guys, I mean, they were very clearly past their prime. I think pretty much everybody else that you mentioned here, I mean, for sure guys like Driver and Holique and, you know, Rein, I mean, I I don’t even know what that was. That was just atrocious hockey. But, um, they they just buried him in the minors. But, yeah, I mean, the thing is I I would still go after McDavid. I wouldn’t let that stop me. McDavid, you got to remember when he’s a free agent next off season, I believe he’s going to be 29. We’re talking about the guy that is far and away the best player in the game today. So, I’m not gonna let what happened with like Bruce Driver like concern me about the possibility of signing Conor McDavid. To me, it’s just not really like I understand the comparison again, but to me it’s it’s not even a blip on the radar because McDavid is just that good. And if that was to happen, if if McDavid was to come here and four straight years without a cup, I mean, it wouldn’t be ideal. But this dude’s played 10 years in Edmonton. They don’t have any cups. I mean, are they looking to run him out of town because of that, you know? And I I I feel like if you want to win a Stanley Cup, that’d be the best way to do it, to somehow get Conor McDavid under contract with the New York Raiders. And again, all this hinges on him even making it to free agency. That’s step one. And that very well may not happen, but it’s the offseason. It is fun to discuss these things. Roman, so Roman’s got uh similar sentiments to what I just said here. Roman says, “Mcdavid doesn’t strike me as a New York guy. To get him here, I’d realistically think you’d give him $20 million a year.” a $20 million a year contract is somewhat scary to think about. Uh Leon Dzidle currently has the highest uh contract in the NHL in terms of uh you know money per season. And I want to go ahead and look that up because that is you know somewhat important obviously. Um I I want to say that it’s around like 14 point something million for Dry Idol. Okay. 14 million right on the dot. 14 million a season for Dry Idol. So McDavid, I think you’re looking at like 17 million a season. But to your point, Roman, if he’s kind of hesitant to come to New York and the bright lights in the big city and would rather just stay with Edmonton, the one way to pry him away would be to go nuts with the contract, the length and uh the dollar amount of the contract. And would it take 20 million a year? I mean, it could. It’s entirely possible, especially when you see the salary cap rising and rising. I’d like to think that you could do it for a little bit less than that. But the bottom line, if the Rangers have a chance of getting McDavid, I’m not going to haggle over a million or two million per season. It’s Conor McDavid. you make it happen. And then Pete says about McDavid, McDavid to the Rangers. First he would have to go to the Kings, then the Blues, then finish his career with the Rangers. Swear I’ve seen this somewhere before. Yeah, Pete, that does sound uh somewhat familiar for sure. And uh if that were to play out just like that, I would be convinced that we’re uh we’re pretty much living in a simulation at that point. We’re living in a rerun, if you will. But uh yeah, I mean, interesting uh comments and thoughts on Conor McDavid. You know, there’s a lot to unpack here. And again, he’s got to make it to free agency for this to even really become a discussion. But yeah, man, it is fun to think about. Even if he didn’t come to the Rangers, it would still just be ridiculously exciting to to see that happen, to see him make it to free agency because you just don’t see that in the NHL if you’ve got a young superstar player homegrown. I mean, far more often than not, they get locked up long term. And and that may well happen with McDavid, but obviously it hasn’t happened yet, and we’ll keep an eye on it going forward. But in just a second, going to shift our attention to some other topics. Gabricov, Keandre Miller, Scott Morrow, couple others, you know, the other uh wheelings and dealings that the Rangers have made this off seasonason. Some of you guys weighed in on that as well, and we’ll discuss that in just a second. All right, we just want to take a minute to let everybody know that today’s episode of Lockdown New York Rangers brought to you by FanDuel. August 26th is officially FanDuel Futures Day, a brand new holiday for football fans who live for bold predictions and preseason hunches. For just 24 hours, FanDuel is giving you deals on NFL season predictions. So whether you’re calling your MVP, eyeing a longshot division winner, or ready to crown your Super Bowl champion before week 1 even kicks off, this is your moment. Visit the FanDuel app today and start planning your future bets right now because Futures Day is one day and one day only. FanDuel, play your game. All right, we just want to go ahead and thank you guys as always for making Locked on New York Rangers your first listen every day. Means a lot that you guys obviously stick with this team and stick with this podcast throughout the whole season, the offseason, the whole nine yards. For the everydayers moving forward, we’re going to be continuing our fun-filled offseason series of best and worst case scenarios. It’s basically just what it sounds like. We take a look at every single player that we project to make the Rangers opening night roster this upcoming season. We talk about everything that could go right, everything that could go wrong, and then just kind of have some final thoughts and a verdict and a season outlook for said player at the end of the episode. We might turn our attention to Adam Fox in the next one. But for right now, more questions and comments uh from you guys for the uh special lockdown New York Rangers mailbag edition here. And we shift our attention to some of the other offseason wheelings and dealings that the Rangers have made. We’ll start with uh this comment from Muted Growl here. If this Okay, so he’s referring or he or she is referring to the trade that sent Keandre Miller to the Canes in exchange for a first round pick, a second round pick, and Scott Morrow. This is what muted grow had to say about that. If this trade happened with almost any other team, I’d be laughing to the bank. But Carolina is a smart team, so it does make me wonder. And that’s a fair point. You know, Carolina does seem to have a certain type of player that they like to go for, and it’s got to be somebody that’s going to fit their system. And I think more often than not they tend to get it right. It’s very rare that the Kings go out and get a player and then it’s like a square peg and a round hole kind of a deal. You know, they get players that are going to play the system right and fit in as far as the culture is concerned and whatnot. So, you know, your eyebrows do go up a little bit there. And again, the Canes are a team that’s kind of been knocking on the door recently. Although, I did see a stat that kind of made me wonder about that a little bit. It’s been years and years and years, I think, since before Brenda Moore ever took over as the head coach, since the Canes have won a single game in the Eastern Conference final. They’ve made it there a couple times, but they keep getting swept right out of it. So, you know, do we overrate the Canes? Maybe a little bit, but it’s just one of those teams that seems to have its bleep together, for lack of a better term. Again, they bring in players that fit the system and it tends to go well. And I mean, look, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t at least a little bit nervous about this homegrown defenseman prospect for the Rangers that they sent away to a division rival and one of the Rangers biggest rivals in general. It makes me a little bit nervous. But when you look at the contract that Miller got and you look at the way that his play declined the last two seasons and especially this year, this past season, I can’t really get too upset about the Rangers for doing this. I mean, he’s a half decade into his career and we’re still kind of waiting for him to become the player that we all thought we were getting, the player that we all that he looked to be in his first couple of seasons in the league and then everything pretty much went south. But yeah, I I think muted grow makes a good point here. You know, the fact that he is on the Canes, it does give you a little bit of nervousness or at least it does for me. Um, but again, I think it’s a deal that needed to happen and the Rangers did indeed make it happen. Agent Smith says, “I am floored the Rangers got this much for KARE Miller who was clearly on the way out. I’m not even mad he went to the Canes because you go for the best package available. Rangers are now in a much better shape draft capital-wise and added an above average prospect to boot. Organizational outlook is vastly improved in a day. I do think that that was a good day for Jury. Like I said at the time, the first day of free agency, I thought that was the best uh day that Chris Jury had had as Ranger general manager in a very long time. You know, he got his guy in Gabricov. He struck this deal with the Canes and got a very good return. I thought for Keandre Miller and the funny thing about this to me is that and this is to Agent Smith’s point as well here getting this much for Kandre Miller. I got laughed at, man. You guys, some of you were thought I was nuts when I said that you could get a first round pick in exchange for Kandre Miller, but I just looked at the trade deadline this past season and that seemed to be going great. I mean, we’re seeing guys who are just role players at best and they’re fetching second round picks and I’m thinking like, well, I mean, Keandre Miller probably gets you a first. I too was floored though that they got this much for him. I think it was a good trade, a trade that needed to happen. And um you know, again, there there’s some nervousness from me and probably some from other Ranger fans as well as far as him going to the Canes, but again, it had to happen. If the Canes were offering the most back to the Rangers and the most back by a long shot, then so be it. That’s where KA Andre Miller has to go. That’s where they sent him. It is what it is. And now we uh begin the process of finding out who won this trade. The Rangers have to put those uh draft picks to good use to really win this trade. Uh, Durk says Scott Morrow straight across for the turnover machine Miller would have fleeced the Canes. I don’t know if I would go that far. I mean, Morrow has played like 16 games in his NHL career and there’s certainly some upside there and he’s got some uh offense to his game as well. Kind of known as an offensive defenseman. A little bit on the smaller side as far as defenseman go, but I do think he’s a promising prospect in a way. He almost kind of replaces Zack Jones in this reindeer lineup. And I like Jones. I mean, I I don’t think he’s like a superstar or anything like that, but I I feel like he was at least deserving of a spot in the lineup more often than he actually got into the lineup. But this might be an upgrade here. Let’s just hope the Raiders do a better job with Morrow uh than they did with Zack Jones. Uh we keep everything rolling here. We go to Anonymous. Uh this is in reaction to the signing of Gaboff. Good work by Drury. And I loathe Drury. This team could actually make the playoffs. Yeah, I honestly I think the Rangers are going to make the playoffs. I’ve said uh for four straight years now, four straight off seasonasons, and this will be the fifth, that I do think the Rangers are a playoff team. So, I’ve been right three out of four times. I mean, even if you weren’t sold on the Rangers from two years ago, I don’t know that any of us could have really foreseen the kind of collapse that this team endured uh this past season and obviously missing the playoffs as part of that, but I think that overall this is a team that I mean, all you got to do is finish in the top half of the Eastern Conference and you make it. I do think this team will do that. And to Anonymous’s point here, I do think that that was one of the better days that Drury had had uh in quite some time. As we talked about earlier uh in today’s episode, BK King says, “Jury won the day. Not every move has been perfect, but two conference finals now. He has retoled the team. Maybe some faith and less whining from the fan base.” Well, we’re Ranger fans. There’s always going to be some of that. Yeah, I’ve said all along I I do think Jury has done a better job as Ranger general manager than most would admit. But I also think that his worst stretch as Ranger general manager has been about the past year, year and a half. Um just things not really going right, not really working out all that well. And hopefully here, uh he’s made some moves that are going to improve this team. But that’s where people lose me because there’s people that try telling me that like Jury is the worst general manager in the history of the sport. You can’t go that far. Okay, two conference final appearances in three years. That alone tells you that that is not true. Um, he’s been a mixed bag for sure. There have been some hits, there have been some misses. More hits early in his Ranger GM tenure, more misses later in his Ranger GM tenure. So, if you’re mad at Jury for everything that happened with the Rangers this past season, I mean, I think the players deserve most of the blame, but Jury is clearly not blameless, and I understand where you’re coming from. And if you want to let Jury have it for the job that he did over the past year, year and a half, I completely understand. and uh have at it by all means. Uh Richard says, “Is Gabricov a tough guy? Other teams are constantly harassing Fox as part of their game plan. It would be great if he was paired with someone big who is tough, not Lingren, who is tiny.” Yeah, Lingren played bigger than certainly his frame would suggest, but we’re also seeing kind of the price that he’s paid for that with the injuries that have happened recently and obviously he’s been banged up in recent seasons. Uh, as far as Gabricov, I mean, he’s not really that guy that’s going to go out there and like clean somebody’s clock and and wow you with all these open ice hits. I mean, he he will hit a little bit and, you know, overall uh you know, he’s got some good size as well. He to me is somebody more that has a very very safe floor. This is somebody that is very steady, very consistent, has good positioning, defends the blue line, uh will clear guys out of the crease if need be, has some offense to his game, just a very, very solid, steady all-around defenseman. And when you look at how bad the Ranger defenseman were this past season, or at least how inconsistent they were at best, somebody like that does have some appeal. Even if there’s not a ton of flash, even if there’s not like an astronomical ceiling or anything like that, um I think a player like that is still appealing. Now, as far as being a tough guy and somebody that’s going to throw on the gloves and fight everybody and, you know, jump into every different scrum and and have somebody in a headlock at the bottom of a of a pile, I don’t think he’s really that guy either. Um, but he can certainly hold his own and he can certainly stand up for himself out there. I I have really warmed up to the Gabricov signing. Um, I was kind of lukewarm to it early in the offseason, but look, you’re trying to improve this team and they felt they needed to move KAR Miller. Got to replace him somehow and, uh, Gabricov was the guy and they brought him in and they they they got the guy that was at the top of their list as far as their offseason, uh, free agent target. So, good on them for doing that. So, going to keep everything rolling in just a second. I want to uh wrap up today’s special mailbag edition of Locked on New York Rangers by talking about the captaincy or more specifically you guys are going to talk about the captaincy. Some interesting opinions there. Uh even some love for Will Coulie potentially being the next guy to wear the captain. Uh definitely some Troek fans, some JT Miller fans. So we’ll discuss all of that in just a second. All right, we just want to let everybody know that today’s episode of Lockdown New York Rainers is brought to you by Indeed. 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All right, let’s go ahead and wrap up today’s episode by diving into another hot button topic among Rainer fans, and that is of course the question of if and when this team will name a captain and who it should be and who it’ll likely be, the whole nine yards. What does this leadership group look like uh for this upcoming season and beyond? So, I’m going to go to your comments here. JT Hockey says, “Troch should be the captain. Miller and Fox should get the A’s. Mika and Breadman are out.” So, you could definitely make a case for everything that you just said there. I do think that you will see Vincent Troch wearing a letter this upcoming season. We’ve talked about this recently, too. The Raiders very quietly, it’s it’s very much a subplot. Not too many people have talked about it all that much, but it wasn’t too long ago, we saw this team with six alternate captains, which was a little over the top and and slightly ridiculous, but that number has dwindled. And obviously, they traded Shouba this past offseason. So, there goes your captain. and they trade Krider this off seasonason. So there goes another alternate captain and you’re down to just Mika, Panaran, and Fox. Those are your three alternate captains. And I I think if nothing else, you might not see them name a captain. I think you’ll get at least one more alternate captain. And if that’s the case, I think Vincent Troche is probably that guy. But JT wants Troch to be the next captain. You can certainly make a case for that. I’m still kind of in the camp of JT Miller. I just feel like he’s come over to change the culture, shock the system a little bit, and be one of those guys that, you know, can get in your face a little bit, but can also lead by example just from the style of hockey that he plays. You know, that that straight line forchecking, hard-nosed, in-your-face game, not to mention all the skill that he brings to the table. Uh, that is basically synonymous with JT Miller. For me, he should be the guy. Uh, like I said, you can make a strong case for Troche, too. I think Troche would be be my second choice. As far as Mika and Breadman being the odd men out wearing the A’s, though I don’t think they’re going to do that either, because to begin with, I mean, this has been a very, very chaotic, you know, year plus if you want to go back to last year’s off season with the New York Rangers. And I don’t know that stripping guys of their alternate captaincy, even if you could make an argument that it is somewhat deserved, I don’t know that that’s going to do a whole lot of favors to that locker room. with Paneran. I mean, he’s going into the last year of his contract. If he walks in free agency, then there was really no point in taking that away from him from just one season. And on top of that, I mean, look, you could still resign Paneran. And I don’t think that a good way of doing that is going to be to have the new coach strip him of his alternate captaincy uh to start this upcoming season. And we could debate and we have debated and we will continue to debate whether the Raiders should extend Paneran at some point and whether he’d want to come back. But to just at least leave the door cracked on that, I don’t think you want to take away the alternate captaincy. Now, Mika, I mean, he’s here for another 5 years pretty much come hell or high water, you could take that away, but I it’s one of those things where like you got a new coach. Let’s let the coach see how these guys interact and let’s see how they perform. Next off seasonason, if Mika doesn’t cut it this year and you want to move in a new direction, maybe that’s the time to do it. Uh right now though, I I don’t think I would take away an A from anybody. As bad as last season was and as poor as the leadership was, I don’t think I’m going to do anything that drastic when this team needs a rebound season. Uh we’ve also got Lewis Pendleton here. JT Miller should not be the captain. He just got here. That is true. But again, I’ve talked about this off and on, you know, throughout the offseason here. I’m looking for this team to do something bold. When you are a fan of a team, and I can’t stress this enough, that has won Stanley Cup in 85 years, maybe it’s time to roll the dice a little bit. Maybe he’s trying to do something that takes some guts to do that has some risk to it, that has high risk and high reward. And to me, that’s JT Miller leading the way as an ex- captain of the Rangers. He obviously is somebody that can be a little bit of abrasive and, you know, some controversy. He had other stops in his career. There was that time he was arguing with Hun Lungquist on the ice. Uh Tampa Bay trades him away. He’s on Vancouver. He’s a great player there obviously, but him and Elias Person, I mean, that was like oil and water. It just did not work. It just did not gel. Um, so look, there’s some risk involved, but I also think JT Miller got what he wanted. You know, he wanted to be traded. Once those trade wins started to pick up a little bit last offseason, it was pretty clear where he wanted to go. And since he had the full no move clause, he basically held all the cards and he worked his way back to the Rangers. I just feel like that being the case, I don’t think you have to worry too much about JT Miller, you doing something that’s going to hurt this team. To me, it’s one of those things. It’s like this is the style of hockey we’re going to play. And and I think for that reason, JT Miller uh does make the rest the best captain. Not saying there’s no risk involved because there is, but for me, he’s my pick. Uh, we’ve got New York Rangers fan05 here. I do like JT. Don’t feel he’s quite captain material, though. Seems too much my way or the highway type of guy, which can easily divide a room instead of, hey, even if we don’t agree, let’s all get pulling on this rope in the same direction type of leader, which is how you bring a room together. And I get what you’re saying there, too. And and maybe that’s a point for somebody like Vincent Troche to be the captain instead. Troche to me is the little bit safer pick than JT Miller as the next captain because I think Troche has stepped up as a leader for the most part. Although I would argue that he was part of that entire dumpster fire for the entirety of last season as well. He’s not blameless either. I mean there’s other guys I would blame for last year before Troche, but he’s not blameless. He was part of that as well. Um yeah, I mean look, you you could make a case for for Troche. JT Miller though. I mean, to me, he’s somebody that’s going to hold guys accountable, and accountability is something that was missing uh this last season in that Ranger locker room. We’ve got Matt Makuda here, and Matt says, “Coolie should get it.” And here’s an interesting one. Koulie should get it. Team is getting younger, and he is a big part of the next wave. He’s also the only player on the team I would trust to not make me want to turn off the TV whilst not being an alleged psycho like Miller. That’s that’s a great comment. Um, look, I mean, if you really, really, really want to be bold, you can make Will the next captain of this team. I don’t think the Rangers are ready to do that this off seasonason, but I’ve said before on here, assuming the Rangers make Will Culie a priority, and he did get the two-year extension, but assuming they eventually make locking him up long-term a priority, and he’s a Ranger for many, many years to come, which I believe he will be, um, I will be stunned if Koulie goes his entire Ranger tenure, if he gets another contract after his current one, I will be stunned if he goes his entire Ranger career without at least wearing a letter of some kind. This guy plays a hard-nosed, in-your-face brand of hockey. He does not back down from anybody out there. That was true of him from the second that he made his debut as a rookie. Remember a couple years ago when he came up for just uh I guess it was three seasons ago at this point. He was only up for four games, but he got into at least one fight. It might have been two fights. Uh he’s not going to back down and he’s got, you know, some edge to his game as well. Hard hitter, uh second in the NHL in hits this past season. Yeah. I mean, for my money, Kulie, that’s somebody that should be looked at as a leader. And when you Matt, when you talk about that new wave of Ranger players, I mean Koulie is kind of like the veteran in a group that includes Lafrrenier, that’s crazy, too. If I’m not mistaken, Will Coulie is actually older than Alexi Lafrrenier, which is tough to digest for a second, but I I believe that is actually true. But you look at that that younger group that’s coming along, uh could lead the group of Lafrenier, uh Gabe Perau, Brett Bard, Brennan Oman, guys like that like in that group right there. And obviously there’s a lot of uh there’s a lot riding on the development of all those players moving forward. But of that group there, I mean Koulie is like the grizzled veteran of that group, which is crazy to think about. I know Lafrrenier has played more games, but he’s also younger than Koulie if I’m not mistaken on that. So yeah, absolutely. I mean, if if you want to be bold, if Koulie’s chances would improve if the Raiders do not name a captain this season and then they go into next season and they have to name a captain, at that point, I think Kulie would at least be in the running. I I don’t think he’s really in the running this offseason, though, if they name a captain. Big Red says, “Assuming gets zero consideration, Miller is the best choice of a pretty bad bunch.” That’s the thing, too. Like, I’ve been making a case for JT Miller. There’s no perfect candidate right now to be the next captain of the New York Rangers. And you could say the same thing was true when it was going to come down to either Trouba or Miller or Mika. You could make cases for any of those guys, but none of them then, just like none of them now, really jumps off the page where you snap your fingers and go, “Yep, that’s the next captain of the New York Rangers.” don’t think that player really exists. Again, I’m not saying that there aren’t good choices. I’m not saying that there’s nobody on this roster that could do a good job as Ranger captain, but there isn’t that obvious slam dunk choice right now. That is definitely true. And then Frank says, “This team suffered from a serious lack of dasical attitude. JT is the best choice to correct that. I think Vincent Troch will support that move and take one of the A’s instead.” Yeah, I if I’m predicting like somebody to get a letter this upcoming season, it’s going to be Troch. Now, he could be the captain. I think more likely he’s an alternate captain. Um, but yeah, I I think JT Miller, this is the guy that’s going to keep you honest both through his personality and the way that he plays out there. Look at the jump, and we talked about this before, but look at the jump that Mika Zabanagad had last season preJT Miller trade versus after JT Miller trade. And Mika actually found his game a little bit and just played a better overall brand of hockey once he was on the line with JT Miller. That’s the same reason why I want those two together this upcoming season as well, which does limit your op your uh your options as far as thirdline center is concerned, but I don’t care. Ma needs to play with JT Miller so we get the good version of Mika and not the bad version of Mika for this upcoming season and beyond. But we can call it there. Um, just wanted to mention this is going to be the third and final episode of this week. I’m going to be away Wednesday through Sunday. Uh right now we are still only doing three episodes per week and that will continue until the start of September when we get back to five episodes per week. Uh definitely looking forward to that. But if anything big happens while I’m away, we’ll obviously discuss it first thing once I get back. We’ll have an episode on Monday for you guys. Uh definitely looking forward to all that. Also, if you have any Sam Rosen or Stefon Mateau stories, uh feel free to send them my way. Stefan Matau, obviously I’m referring to the game seven double overtime winner. You ever met Sam? you know, we’re continuing to uh to do our tribute to him throughout the entire off seasonason here. So, definitely feel free to share those stories as well. And fantasy hockey, if you played last year, email me, let me know you’re coming back this upcoming year. That’s all you have to do and you’re all you’re all set. I’ve heard back from some of you guys already. And if you did not play last year, but you would like to, then definitely email me or DM me sooner rather than later. We’ll save your spot in line in the event that we have people from last year who don’t come back for this upcoming season. But, yep, figure we can call it there. If you guys would like to get in touch with this podcast, please send an email to [email protected]. Once again, that is locked ongmail.com. Definitely give us a follow on Twitter as well, JHX7. Once again, JCHK17. And definitely subscribe to Locked on New York Rangers YouTube channel. Thanks again, guys. I will see you next time.

Mailbag! Connor McDavid to the New York Rangers? Fans buzz with excitement as rumors swirl around the NHL superstar. Is this the move that could finally bring Lord Stanley’s Cup back to the Big Apple?

Host Jon Chik analyzes the chances of McDavid donning the Rangers’ blue, weighing factors like contract negotiations and team competitiveness. The discussion shifts to recent roster shakeups, including the K’Andre Miller trade and Vladislav Gavrikov signing. Chik also tackles the burning question on every fan’s mind: Who will wear the coveted ‘C’ for the Blueshirts next season?

Tune in for expert insights on the Rangers’ offseason moves and their impact on the team’s Stanley Cup aspirations. Will the pieces finally fall into place for a deep playoff run?

Episode 1,365.

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