2018-19 NHL thread

The picks the Rangers got were conditional. The 2nd rounder becomes a first rounder if Dallas gets through two playoff series.

 

Kevin Hayes to Winnipeg is a done deal. The take is a first-round pick, Claude Lemieux's kid Brendan, and maybe a conditional pick in a few years. I hope the Rangers know what they are doing. They have basically procured a stack of lottery tickets, but their history with the draft isn't all that inspiring. However it works out, they are going to be a very young team of highly-regarded prospects within the next year or two.

BTW, that game against the Caps yesterday was entertaining as hell. What I loved was in the second period Ovechkin was going at it with Brady Skjei, trying to intimidate him, took a couple of runs at him, was chirping. I believe Skjei is getting a reputation as a soft player. That was why it was encouraging when Skjei, who hasn't had much of a scoring touch this season, scored at the end of the period to make it a one goal game. Then he scored the game-tying goal with the empty net to send it into OT. He had a great game. I don't mind that the Rangers lost. At this point, I hope they lose a lot for draft purposes. But after Zuccc was traded, it was nice to see them playing with a lot of emotion and spunk, rather than hanging their heads.

 

Adam McQuaid to Columbus for 4th and 7th round picks this year. The Rangers now have 10 picks in the draft, including 5 in the first 2 rounds. I am not sure they have enough of a core left to feel confident about anything. It's Zibanejad, Krieder and then some very good, but not great players. Then a ton of young players, who may or may not pan out. It's hard to tell about Filip Chytil yet. Lias Andersson has been a bit of a disappointment.

Not sure how I feel about things right now. If Vitali Kravtvov is ready next year, and maybe K'Andre Miller is ready, and they get Igor Shestyorkin over from Russia to get some time behind Lundqvist, they can see if there are some more pieces that are ready to build a new core.

 

I was hoping Simmonds would end up in DC. Oh well.

The Rangers will play a bunch of kids who want to prove they're NHL players so they'll play all out. How good they'll be? Well, we'll see. Henrik has to hate it, he has to know by the time they're good again he'll be done.

 

He is in a really crummy situation. Supposedly they went to him before the season and asked him if he wanted out, but he said he was in for the rebuild. He wanted the legacy of playing his whole career in NY. Plus, he has a nice life in NYC.

I am sure he has questioned that decision 1,000 times. Getting picks for their upcoming free agents was fine. At Zuccarello's age, the only reason it was a difficult decision was because how loved he is. But honestly, the elephant in the room is that ideally, they would have been able to ship Lundqvist off at the trade deadline, too. Who knows what kind of haul they could have gotten for him? By the time they are potentially good with all of the prospects they are stockpiling, he is going to be 105 years old. But he has a no trade clause, and if he doesn't want out. ... He'll be their best player. He has played really well this year (so has Georgiev). Between the two of them, they have been good for at least 5 or 6 wins, with all of the defensive lapses they have covered up on.

 

Tavares' return to Long Island last night was interesting. There was a lot of hype up to it, and they were booing pretty hard early on and during his tribute, but it was otherwise uneventful. The Islanders were way too much for Toronto. I am surprised at how good the Islanders are. They have some good players, but the sum is definitely better than the individual parts with that team. A lot of respect for Barry Trotz on how that team is performing.

 

The new arena near Belmont Park is supposed to be done in 2021. Until then, they are going to play part-time at the Nassau Coliseum. It's a smart move, although I suspect it will be ultimately futile. They are going to have to convince the base for that team, which is largely in Nassau and Suffolk County, that the drive to the Queens border is worth it. They might as well try to get them hooked and create a buzz while the arena is being built.

Thing is, I think I know the mentality there, and I think those people want to get on the Long Island parkways and have an easy drive to see that team. Tell them they have to go to Belmont (which actually isn't that much farther) and I suspect you may as well be telling them they have to drive to Mars. If I am right about this. ... the Coliseum is "the island," the new arena is going to be "the city."