Larry Brooks

Luke Voit has another chance to make his Yankees case

Rangers can take lesson from Adam Pelech's new Islanders deal

A night of bad news was the same-old for new-look Yankees

Joey Gallo, Anthony Rizzo continue long Yankees tradition of lefty power

Kaapo Kakko may become key to Rangers winning Jack Eichel sweepstakes

The Mets were a feel-good story early on, weren’t they? Every next-man-up seemed to come through with an unexpected game-saving or game-winning feat, with one of those guys, by the name of Albert Almora Jr., even sacrificing his face by running smack into the wall like a latter-day Pete Reiser.

There was a smoke-and-mirrors aspect to it all and there was some magic in the air, certainly so when Jacob deGrom and the promise of history took the mound every sixth day … or 11th … or 16th … or, well you get the idea.

The fact is, the Mets were able to concoct a record good enough to take residency of first place for 90 consecutive days, beginning on May 8. But all things must pass. So, after dropping out of the lead Friday, then sliding to third place, they were 2 ¹/₂ games back entering Tuesday’s game at Citi Field against Washington. The game was suspended in the top of the second inning, after a 1:57 rain delay, with the Nationals on top, 3-1.

But even when riding high in May, June and the first half of July, nobody in management made the mistake of confusing this group with the 1986 Mets. That was even before the recent downturn, in which the club dropped four straight, seven of eight and nine of 11 largely because of offensive impotence. That’s life.

“Obviously there’s plenty of games left and we have a chance to still compete and win this division,” acting general manager Zack Scott said an hour or so before Carlos Carrasco’s first pitch Tuesday. “That said, we’ve played very mediocre baseball for most of the year.

“This recent stretch has been much worse than mediocre. We’d have taken mediocre at this point, but for this stretch it’s been unacceptably bad and we need to be better.”

Remember the Willie-or-Mickey-type debate a few years ago that revolved around who’d you rather have in right field: Aaron Judge or Michael Conforto? Well, no mas. Conforto, not that long ago the Mets organization’s shining jewel, has a .201/.331/.339 slash line on the cusp of free agency.

It’s kind of like Willie or Mickey has become Willie or Don Hahn?

It is not, of course, only Conforto whose numbers on the back of the baseball card seem counterfeit. Before going down to an oblique strain in mid-July, Francisco Lindor could have slid right into a starring role on the Netflix show “Imposters.”

One by one, the Mets have underachieved. One by one, the underachievers haven’t even been mediocre, and there’s that comparatively low bar again that too many players have been unable to surmount.

When the offense malfunctioned early, management fired hitting coach Chili Davis and his assistant, Tom Slater. But Scott does not hold their replacements, Hugh Quattlebaum and assistant Kevin Howard, responsible for the ongoing club-wide malaise. Maybe because they are this regime’s guys.

“The way I look at hitting coaches is that it’s about what they’re doing on a daily basis, how they’re working,” the acting GM said. “The team of hitting coaches has to be able to identify and evaluate what’s not working for a player and what makes a player tick and what puts him on track to be the best version of himself.

“That work has been going on, I’m satisfied with the level of work that’s been going on. It’s a no-stone-uncovered type of approach. That work is good and I’m satisfied with that. It’s definitely better than what I was seeing early on, when it was clear that we needed to make a change.”

That’s all well and good, but the change was made more than three months ago and the Mets are still not hitting.

“At some point, though,” Scott acknowledged, “you have to have results.”

Translation: It’s on the players.

Lindor is out, Javier Baez is out with some sort of lower back or hip thing, Conforto missed a fair amount of time with a hamstring problem, Jeff McNeil missed more than a month with a hamstring issue, Carrasco missed most of the year with a torn hamstring and Luis Guillorme is on the IL with a hamstring strain. MLB has been hit with a crushing wave of injuries this season, so it is unfair to suggest that Queens is the epicenter of an epidemic, but Scott absolved his medical staff — “the performance team” — of responsibility.

“Most of the time, I’ll be honest, it’s compliance issues,” the acting GM said. “It’s actually following the plan because these are all individuals and control their own bodies and sometimes they are not as compliant as they should be.”

Translation: It’s on the players.

The season is not entirely lost. Yes, the Mets have 13 straight against the Dodgers and Giants when this three-game series with the Nationals ends, but that will be followed by 14 straight against Washington and Miami.

“We’re not going to panic,” Scott said. “It’s baseball, and being in the game for a long time, there’s always a chance.”

Oh, to be mediocre again.

This story originally appeared on: NyPost - Author:Larry Brooks

Larry Brooks

A night of bad news was the same-old for new-look Yankees

Joey Gallo, Anthony Rizzo continue long Yankees tradition of lefty power

Kaapo Kakko may become key to Rangers winning Jack Eichel sweepstakes

Rangers' Jack Eichel interest hangs over Filip Chytil signing

Rangers' Chris Drury should not panic in Jack Eichel trade talks

Perhaps lost in the analysis of why Adam Pelech would sign an eight-year deal with an average annual value of $5.875 million with the Islanders while just two years away from unrestricted free agency in an offseason in which inferior, albeit more productive, defensemen, such as Zach Werenski and Darnell Nurse, have scaled the $9 million-per bar, is this simple truth:

That is what players with winning organizations do.

With the burden of constructing and maintaining a Stanley Cup contender falling as much on the players as on management and ownership under the NHL’s perverse hard-cap system, that is exactly what the Islanders’ left side shutdown defenseman did on Friday.

Traditional statistics still rule in arbitration, so it is true Pelech might not have had the strongest case given that he was the only one of 19 defensemen with more than 1,000 minutes played to record 14 or fewer points, with four goals and 10 assists. So he might have made less the next two years. But, barring injury, he surely would have struck for a bonanza on the open market.

Instead, Pelech, who will turn 27 on Aug. 16, opted for security. Just as importantly, he opted to remain on the Island while doing his part to give general manager Lou Lamoriello his best chance of turning this contending team into a championship one before the cap tears it asunder.

This is an example of what happens when a winning culture becomes ingrained within an organization. The state-tax issue aside, players take less to play for the Lightning. They volunteer to do that.

Brad Marchand chose to take less to stay in Boston by signing an eight-year extension worth $6.125 million per in September 2016 rather than opting to hit the open market the following July, when he could have named his price. Multiple players, beginning with Martin Brodeur, chose to take less to play for the championship-era Devils when Lamoriello’s budget acted as a cap. We know about Sidney Crosby, who has been fine with being scandalously underpaid throughout his tenure in Pittsburgh.

At some point, this is going to become necessary for the Rangers, though there is a slightly different dynamic for them because management habitually has made free-agent signees and trade acquisitions its highest-paid players. It is extremely difficult to ask accomplished homegrown guys to take less, when more is given to guys based on what they have achieved for other teams.

By the way, do you realize that the Blueshirts have never given more than a two-year bridge deal to a forward coming off entry-level? Two years for Ryan Callahan, Derek Stepan, Brandon Dubinsky, Chris Kreider, Artem Anisimov and Filip Chytil; one year for J.T. Miller and Mats Zuccarello (who played on three successive one-year deals out of entry level).

Adam Fox, the homegrown Norris Trophy winner and a year away from restricted free agency coming off entry level, could surely live as well and provide as well for generations of future No. 23s for $9 million per season as the $10.5 million he might be able to command. But why would Fox have this obligation when the Rangers gave Jacob Trouba $8 million per year in order to get him to sign after acquiring him from Winnipeg two years ago? Trouba didn’t settle for less. So Fox has that burden?

Artemi Panarin came to the Rangers for less than he was offered by the Islanders, that is surely true, but he pressed for $11,643,857 per as a free agent out of Columbus when the Rangers tried to hold the line at $11 million per. Panarin has been worth the price of admission, don’t get me wrong, but why would Mika Zibanejad be expected to accommodate management now and take less?

The fact is, if the Rangers and general manager Chris Drury — three months on the job — are going to be able to navigate the cap and mold a contender out of the raw materials left behind, someone is going to have to break the chain. A player is going to have to willingly take a smaller piece of the pie so that there is enough to go around for his neighbors.

That’s what athletes in winning organizations with winning cultures do.

The Devils are collecting nicer pieces of talent, with Tomas Tatar joining Dougie Hamilton as potential jump-starters and Jonathan Bernier enlisted to take the burden off MacKenzie Blackwood in net the way that Corey Crawford was meant to last year until the veteran retired before the season began.

But, and this is just a question, does anyone outside New Jersey ownership and management honestly believe Lindy Ruff is the coach who will take the Devils to the next level, which in this case is simply making the playoffs?

So if COVID-19 outbreaks persist into the autumn, won’t the NHL have to maintain taxi squads for a second year in order to ensure clubs have enough players to play in case of a rash of game-day positive tests?

First Brady Skjei in a trade, then Jesper Fast as a free agent last year and both Derek Stepan and Brendan Smith this year.

That means the Candy Canes of Carolina somehow have twice as many players who played for the Rangers in the 2017 playoffs than the Blueshirts themselves, who present only Zibanejad and Kreider as holdovers.

And of course with Tony DeAngelo on board as well, this kind of brings to mind Neil Smith’s famous line when the-then GM was asked why he was adding so many ex-Oilers to the Rangers’ early-1990s roster: “What do you want me to do, trade for Sharks?”

This just in: Jack Eichel has hired Aaron Rodgers as his agent.

This story originally appeared on: NyPost - Author:Larry Brooks

Larry Brooks

Joey Gallo, Anthony Rizzo continue long Yankees tradition of lefty power

Kaapo Kakko may become key to Rangers winning Jack Eichel sweepstakes

Rangers' Jack Eichel interest hangs over Filip Chytil signing

Rangers' Chris Drury should not panic in Jack Eichel trade talks

Rangers' Mika Zibanejad-Jack Eichel conundrum could get awkward

All the energy and all of the momentum the Yankees generated with their headline act leading to the trade deadline and their weekend sweep of the Marlins in Miami, well, they went pffft into The Bronx night Monday.

That was a pretty quick end to the Era of Good Baseball, no?

It’s not as if the marquee additions of Anthony Rizzo and Joey Gallo from the Cubs and Rangers, respectively, had no impact at all on this night at the Stadium. Oh, no. Because the simple truth is that without the lefties, the Yankees might have been shut out, if not no-hit by the Orioles.

Instead, the Yankees managed one run, courtesy of Rizzo’s foul sacrifice fly down the left-field line in the fifth inning and cobbled together two hits, the first a leadoff double by Gallo in the sixth after they’d been denied over the first five by Baltimore right-hander Jorge Lopez, who entered the game with a 6.19 ERA and had allowed 118 hits in 96 innings.

It was so much of the same-old, same-old for the new-look Yankees and their lineup, in which Gleyber Torres batted eighth for the first time in more than two years — since July 21, 2019. It was the air going out of the balloon, 7-1 the other way to a Baltimore team that entered the game 30 games under .500 at 37-67.

Oh, and with the news that Gerrit Cole has tested positive for COVID-19, this turned into a night to remember for all the wrong reasons. Folks can look it up on IMDB, but there once was a movie about the Titanic called “A Night to Remember.”

Every night is not going to be a referendum on these trades that will withstand scrutiny from here to the end of the line. But this one night provided a four-inning referendum on another deadline import, lefthander Andrew Heaney, who was acquired from the Angels on Friday and who served up four solo home runs within a six-batter stretch bridging the third and fourth innings before departing the mound to a hail of jeers.

“Usually I say solo homers don’t beat you,” said Heaney, who entered the game with an alarmingly high 31.1 percent flyball rate. “But when you give up four of them in four innings, that’s probably going to do it.”

This probably isn’t what the Yankees or general manager Brian Cashman had in mind when contemplating the addition of lefty power to the lineup. Oh boy, not at all.

The night began with hope and with Rizzo, No. 48, and Gallo, No. 13, profiles in pinstripes and fitting the historical pinstripe profile as lefty power hitters. There were some deep drives in batting practice. There were the cheers when the lineup was announced.

There was the Roll Call in which Gallo (“Joey Gallo…Joey Gallo”) acknowledged the bleacher creatures with a raised glove from left field and Rizzo (“Rizzo … Rizzo”) did the same from his first base spot.

Then, splat.

“I think they’re excited to put on the pinstripes and play here at Yankee Stadium but unfortunately we were kind of held down and the Orioles took it to us tonight in every way,” manager Aaron Boone said following the defeat. “So you know, it spoils that homecoming a little bit.

“But we have an opportunity to come out and hopefully get after it [on Tuesday] and put this one behind us but it does spoil it a little bit when I know guys were really excited to make that debut and be here at Yankee Stadium.”

The Yankees’ championship pedigree has been supported by left-handed power taking advantage of the short porch in right field through all of the Stadium’s incarnations. And even if this is neither your grandfather’s nor your father’s Yankee Stadium, with the porch 296-feet away and Death Valley in left center 457-feet from the plate, there is value in stacking lefties in pinstripes.

But lefty power was an afterthought in constructing this team. The Yankees entered the game with the second-fewest lefty at-bats in the majors, their total exceeding only Toronto’s, and the third-fewest homers from lefties.

Blasphemy in The Bronx.

But the additions of Rizzo and Gallo should, well, right that wrong. The lineup should have more pop. Boone should have more options even as the manager will have to make a lineup card without Gio Urshela, who was placed retroactively on the injured list. The Yankees, who had won five of six, 10 of 14 and 15 of 22 before this debacle, should be more formidable leaning left.

The splash at the deadline was emblematic of the Yankees Way. Big names were available and Cashman went out and got them.

“We’re the Yankees,” Aaron Judge said. “That’s what we do.”

They were the Yankees on Monday, all right, but they did the things the 2021 Yankees had been doing before the deadline.

This story originally appeared on: NyPost - Author:Larry Brooks

Larry Brooks

Rangers' Jack Eichel interest hangs over Filip Chytil signing

Rangers' Chris Drury should not panic in Jack Eichel trade talks

Rangers' Mika Zibanejad-Jack Eichel conundrum could get awkward

Devils pursuing Dougie Hamilton with unique free agency pitch

Pavel Buchnevich trade was painful move Rangers' plan demanded

As the Jack Eichel Saga descends into scorched earth territory, with the center’s agents releasing a statement calling out the Buffalo organization while general manager Kevyn Adams attempts to pretend leverage is on his side, it occurs that the Sabres could come out of this whole if they are willing to retain 50 percent of the center’s cap hit in a trade.

Because if Eichel is only going to count at $5 million against the cap the remaining five years of his contract, then the Rangers would be in position to extend Mika Zibanejad in the $9 million range and present a powerhouse one-two punch down the middle for the foreseeable future.

There would still be a squeeze figuring that between $15 million and $16 million would have to be set aside for Igor Shesterkin and Adam Fox, but the Rangers should be able to maneuver through it.

And if general manager Chris Drury is confident he will be able to reach such an agreement with Zibanejad, that’s when he and the Rangers would have license to include Kaapo Kakko as the blue-chip centerpiece of an offer for Eichel, which might include either Filip Chytil or Vitaly Kravtsov, as well as Zac Jones or Matt Robertson or a first-rounder.

Our latest information is that Vegas, though strenuously cap-strapped, remains serious about making a deal for Eichel. Indeed, even while adding a net $3.3 million to the cap in acquiring Evgenii Dadonov from the Senators in exchange for Nick Holden, Golden Knights GM Kelly McCrimmon may have been preparing to send multiple assets the other way.

But if the Rangers offer Kakko, two years removed from being not only the consensus second-overall pick in the draft, but also the unanimously rated top-two player on the board, that could be the clincher. Indeed, it should be the clincher.

If Kakko-plus isn’t enough to seal the deal, then Drury can walk away from the fakir Adams without looking back.

If there were a reason for the Blueshirts to extend Ryan Reaves’ over-35 contract for another year through 2022-23 at $1.75 million other than to entice No. 75 to accept their trade for him and to report to New York, it utterly escapes me.

We can probably look forward to Colin Campbell “warning” the Rangers before the season opener in Washington, am I right?

So now we know there is a Columbus-tax attached to the price the Blue Jackets must pay in order to keep their prime athletes in town the way there has been one for decades in Edmonton, that existed on the Island BLL (Before Lou Lamoriello) and also pertains to New Jersey.

That’s the lesson to take away from the six-year extension, worth an annual cap hit of $9,583,333, 24-year-old defenseman Zach Werenski agreed to this week.

That number is out of whack league-wide, though probably not so much after the Blackhawks gave Seth Jones an eight-year extension worth an average of $9.5 million per, but it wasn’t the Jackets’ job to weigh how Werenski’s contract would impact future arbitration cases and Group II contracts.

It was critical for the franchise’s credibility not to allow another headline act to flee. If it took a few shekels more, if that were the tax, then the Jackets were obligated to pay it.

There’s the tax in Columbus and there is no-tax Tampa Bay, which attracts veteran free agents simply by waving a wand, with Corey Perry and Zach Bogosian the latest to make the pilgrimage.

The Lightning deserve an immense amount of credit for constructing this double-dipping Stanley Cup championship team, which is poised to make a legit run at becoming the first team to three-peat since the Islanders nearly four decades ago.

It is a first-class, well-run operation that has done a brilliant job identifying talent and adding difference-makers (through the draft and via trades) who were not necessarily headline talents with marquee names. The team is expertly coached, as well.

And with the free agent tote board ringing up $952,221,625 in contract commitments through Friday, per CapFriendly, perhaps it is too late to issue the reminder that neither of the Lightning’s repeat championship teams included a big-time free-agent signing.

But, in the telling of all the organization’s attributes, it is intellectually dishonest not to cite the lack of state tax as an advantage Lightning ownership and management have been able to exploit in constructing the team.

Now the Maple Leafs are trying to convince folks that they are equipped to win the Cup with a Petr Mrazek-Jack Campbell tandem in nets?

Or are they trying to convince themselves?

Free-agent day malpractice by Joe Sakic and his group in Colorado, which couldn’t or wouldn’t come up with the $5.91 million per that incumbent goaltender Philipp Grubauer received on six-year free agent agreement with Seattle, and consequently were forced to sacrifice highly regarded prospect Conor Timmins, a first-rounder and a conditional third to acquire Darcy Kuemper from Arizona to fill the vacancy in nets.

What, $22.5 million over five years wouldn’t have been enough to entice middle-sixer Brandon Saad to sign with St. Louis, so the Blues had to toss in a full no-trade clause to get the 28-year-old winger to sign on the dotted line?

Linus Ullmark, the 28-year-netminder who fled Buffalo to sign a four-year free agent deal at an AAV of $5 million per with the Bruins, is a good one, but it sure feels as if Tuukka Rask’s absence in Boston is going to make the heart grow fonder for the Finn.

In recognition of Reaves (No. 75), ranking the Rangers with numbers in the seventies on their backs: 1. Phil Esposito (77); 2. Brady Skjei (76); 3. K’Andre Miller (79); 4. Michael Rupp (71); 5. Filip Chytil (72). Honorable Mention: Mackenzie Skapski (70); Mention: Tony DeAngelo (77).

Finally, it appears the Islanders are about to announce the Parise deal … the one in which J.P. Parise came to the team from the North Stars in exchange for Ernie Hicke and Doug Rombough, that is.

This story originally appeared on: NyPost - Author:Larry Brooks

Three years and an administration later, the Rangers got their man. General manager Chris Drury sent a 2022 third-round pick to the desert outpost Thursday in exchange for the enforcer, who will turn 35 in January.

If the message had not been sent clearly enough by the additions of Barclay Goodrow, Sammy Blais, Patrik Nemeth and Jarred Tinordi, it was surely amplified to a max decibel level by this move. The message from the front office on behalf of the Rangers organization is this: Don’t Mess With Us.

Reaves, who has one year to go on his contract, for a $1.75 million cap hit, did his best work in Vegas with incoming Rangers head coach Gerard Gallant behind the Golden Knights’ bench. He can be an intimidating straight-line forechecking force, though his minutes probably will be limited. The 6-foot-1, 225-pound winger posted five points (1-4) in 37 games last season, with 27 PIM while incurring three fighting majors in 9:56 of ice time per game.

For better or worse (and probably a dose of both), he is one of the true surviving NHL enforcers, with 71 fighting majors in 686 career games. His presence — an unmistakable one and at times, theatrical — will serve to add a layer of protection and security around the young, developing athletes who at times were prey last season.

But Reaves is also known for crossing the line and delivering cheap shots against defenseless opponents. He was suspended for two games in the second round of this year’s playoff against Colorado after receiving a Game 1 match penalty for roughing Ryan Graves while he was down and defenseless. That came one game after he incredibly avoided a suspension for driving Ryan Suter into the goalpost from behind in Game 7 of the opening round.

The Rangers will no longer be able to lift their noses in the air and sniff with a sense of moral superiority when a Tom Wilson comes around, just as the Capitals winger will for the season opener in the Washington octagon Oct. 13.

But that’s OK. They will live with that.

This story originally appeared on: NyPost - Author:Larry Brooks

Nemeth, who went to the Avalanche from the Red Wings as a rental in the days prior to the trade deadline, is another one of those hard-to-play-against guys whom general manager Chris Drury has targeted since taking command on May 5.

The deal would likely be for two or three years, worth between $2.25-$2.75 million per season. The Avalanche have given permission to Nemeth to speak to other teams in advance of the opening of the market.

A veteran of 366 NHL games, the 6-foot-3, 228-pound Nemeth is a big-bodied lefty who plays a simple, stabilizing game, is strong is in own end and will protect the front of the net. He can be a nasty one, blocks shots, has a good stick, can make the first pass and not coincidentally at all, should be a stabilizing influence on his projected third-pair partner and fellow Swede, Nils Lundkvist.

It will be important for the Rangers to make Lundkvist — who turns 21 on Wednesday — as comfortable as possible on and off the ice in his transition to the NHL and North America. That is something, quite frankly, on which the previous regime whiffed when Kaapo Kakko joined the club out of Finland two years ago.

The addition of Nemeth, who can move up and down the blue line ladder as directed by head coach Gerard Gallant and should be a prime penalty killer, likely means that young Zac Jones will get necessary time to gestate with the AHL Wolf Pack (if he is not dealt this summer) after having played 10 games for the Blueshirts last season directly out of UMass. It also should slow the rush of 20-year-old lefty Matt Robertson.  

There are exceptions to the rule, of course, but defensemen generally benefit from an apprenticeship in the American League. The Islanders’ Formidable Three of Adam Pelech, Ryan Pulock and Scott Mayfield, who excel at not allowing opponents to get to the front, played a combined 491 games in the AHL, none with fewer than 101 contests with Bridgeport. That axiom should apply to Jones, Robertson and righty Braden Schneider, who will turn 20 during training camp.

The Blueshirts should enter camp, then, with the redoubtable Batman-and-Robin pair of Ryan Lindgren and Norris winner Adam Fox at the top followed by the K’Andre Miller-Jacob Trouba tandem and Nemeth-Lundqvist on defense.  

Nemeth, a second-round, 41st-overall selection of Dallas in 2010, was paired primarily with either Conor Timmins or Ryan Graves while getting 15:46 per in Colorado’s playoff run that ended with a second-round, six-game defeat to Vegas. The Swede was credited with 87 blocked shots in 52 regular-season matches.

The Rangers are believed to be still searching for a veteran with size-and-strength attributes to assume the role as seventh defenseman after the club decided to move on from impending free agent Brendan Smith.

This story originally appeared on: NyPost - Author:Larry Brooks

Larry Brooks

Devils pursuing Dougie Hamilton with unique free agency pitch

Pavel Buchnevich trade was painful move Rangers' plan demanded

Barclay Goodrow signing was easy part of tricky Rangers makeover

Rangers mishandling Ryan McDonagh trade has been Lightning boon

Gary Bettman couldn't be more right about playoff expansion, Olympics

The priority for Chris Drury as Rangers general manager comes out of his first entry draft, days away from the opening of the free agent market, is clear, if not simple.

And that is not merely to address the critical matter of Mika Zibanejad’s contract status as No. 93 prepares to enter his walk year, but to resolve it one way or the other. Then, and only then, can Drury train his focus on Jack Eichel, because the one thing we know is: The Blueshirts cannot accommodate both in this flat-cap environment. There isn’t enough creative bookkeeping in the world that would allow for that.

We can report that there have been preliminary discussions between Drury and Zibanejad’s agent, Monir Kalgoum, who happens to be the center’s brother. Our best information at this point is that Zibanejad is seeking a deal that would be at least commensurate with the one under which Eichel is operating in Buffalo. That would entail a commitment of $10 million per year.

The money is one thing. But equally important is term. Zibanejad is going to turn 29 next April. The Rangers are believed to want to hold the contract to five or six years. The player is believed to be asking for seven or eight years. But why wouldn’t he after the Blueshirts signed Chris Kreider to a seven-year deal that began at age 29?

It might be different if Zibanejad were coming off 2019-20, when he thundered through the second half of the season to establish himself, no questions asked, as one of the elite players in the world. He not only scored, he dominated. He went to the tough areas. He won battles. He engaged. He thrived against the Islanders and Caps. He was in the middle of everything and emerged as perhaps the club’s MVP in a year in which Artemi Panarin was a Hart Trophy finalist.

But that’s not the case. We know that Zibanejad was physically and psychologically diminished for at least the first half of the year after the Swede contracted COVID-19 shortly before the opening of training camp. But even after No. 93 regained his equilibrium and his game in mid-March, it wasn’t the same.

Zibanejad went on a goal-scoring spree — he is one of the league’s true snipers — with 17 in his final 25 games, but he was a perimeter player for the most part who appeared averse to contact. Was he protecting himself in the aftermath of his recovery from the virus? Did effects linger? I can’t say, but I do know he was different than not only the previous year but from 2018-19, as well.

And perhaps more telling were his splits, even over the final 25 games in which he recorded 11 goals and 22 points in 12 games against the Flyers, Devils and Sabres while posting six goals and eight points in 13 games against the Islanders, Bruins, Caps and Penguins (with two goals coming in the final period of the final game of the year in Boston).

Does that make Zibanejad a bad person? No. Does that make him a bad player? No. But it is certainly something to consider when weighing whether he is a $70 million player.

Everyone is familiar with the complications attached to Eichel, so there is no need to belabor them here. But health aside, Eichel’s eight-year, $80 million contract would expire at age 30 while a hypothetical Zibanejad seven-year deal would expire at age 35. All $10 millions are not necessarily created equal.

Of course, the cost of Eichel would be compounded by the assets sacrificed in order to obtain the still 24-year-old from the Sabres. Hypothetically, it’s $10 million per plus the value of a package including, say, Vitaly Kravtsov, Zac Jones, Filip Chytil and a first-rounder. So this would not be an apples-to-apples equation as calculated by Drury.

The general manager will make that call, but Zibanejad is in control owning a no-move clause. If the Rangers don’t agree to his terms, the Swede can simply play out the season to free agency. What would that look like if the team has Eichel? What about the chemistry in the room? Awkward.

My sense is that the Rangers would prefer extending Zibanejad rather than acquiring Eichel. But the price has to be right. And if talks with Zibanejad break down, leverage in trade negotiations goes to the Sabres, who don’t seem to be in any hurry at all to finalize the Eichel Saga.

Free agency starts on Wednesday, Drury is looking to add more toughness and role players to the bottom-six mix and he is seeking a physical left defenseman with size. But those tasks are secondary. Resolving the Zibanejad matter is Priority One.

This story originally appeared on: NyPost - Author:Larry Brooks

Larry Brooks

Pavel Buchnevich trade was painful move Rangers' plan demanded

Barclay Goodrow signing was easy part of tricky Rangers makeover

Rangers mishandling Ryan McDonagh trade has been Lightning boon

Gary Bettman couldn't be more right about playoff expansion, Olympics

Rangers will have to lose players to make offseason noise

Back in the day, before there was a salary cap and free agency began a tick after midnight on July 1 rather than a tick after noon, clubs would send representatives out on the road to present prospective targets with trinkets and perhaps professionally produced promotional DVDs in the dead of the night as part of the recruiting process.

Well, at least the big-market teams would. The Rangers, for instance, would have a gift bag ready for candidates that typically would include a crystal apple from Tiffany. That was part of the pitch.

Those days are gone forever. Inducements are forbidden in the hard cap era. No more baubles. No more DVDs featuring local celebrities imploring a favored free agent to come to their city.

But as this year’s free-agent market is set to open on Wednesday, the Devils have found a different way. Slap Shots has learned that the team has sent an email to agents extolling the virtues of playing for the organization and in New Jersey. Who needs breakfast at Tiffany’s?

“Jersey is an incredible place to play and live. Players who come here quickly realize all that the state has to offer,” general manager Tom Fitzgerald writes. “We are close to major cities, beautiful beaches, fine dining and a myriad of entertainment options. We are also home to many welcoming communities. In fact, many Devils’ families were built and grown right here in the Garden State.

“I have a distinct vision of the culture we are building here and what we look for in players. I expect them to be committed to who we are and what we are, to compete day-in and day-out, regardless of skill level, and to be accountable to teammates, coaches, and most importantly, themselves. We will challenge our team to strive for excellence because I know we are on our way there.”

The email includes a link to a dedicated site meant to be shared with prospective free agents that features ownership, the organization (“FIRST CLASS ORGANIZATION”), the staff, the fans and the community.

“It is our collective responsibility in New Jersey to build us back to a level of greatness, and I feel we are way on our way there,” Fitzgerald writes in closing. “Let us build our new legacy — together.”

That and somewhere around $63 million might entice Dougie Hamilton to sign on with a Devils team that is overflowing with young guys who are not yet ready for prime time but is still searching for a foundation that will support the growth of the Hughes Bros., Ty Smith, young veteran Nico Hischier and the like.

We’re told that there might be mutual interest between the Devils and Hamilton, who previously had been linked to the Kraken. That interest could come in the form of a seven-year deal worth an average of $9 million per. The contract would essentially replace P.K. Subban’s when No. 76’s deal expires at the end of the season. It would also create a splash.

The Devils have missed the playoffs eight of the past nine years. New Jersey is not regarded as a destination spot. When players craft no-trade lists, the Devils are often on it. When expensive players around the league want out, they rarely ask to come to the Devils. So Fitzgerald has done a lot of shopping in the discount lane.

I don’t believe this is a New Jersey thing. Players took less money to stay during the Era of Excellence that produced three Stanley Cups in nine years from 1995-2003. I think it’s a franchise thing. I think it is a perception thing. It reminds me of the Mets before they got Keith Hernandez in 1983. It reminds me of the Islanders before Lou Lamoriello hung his shingle in Nassau County.

Can an email help change the perception? At least it costs less than a Tiffany crystal apple.

Seth Jones had told the Blue Jackets he would only consider signing an extension with either Dallas or Chicago, Slap Shots has learned, so that’s where Columbus focused its efforts on trading the latest player to ask out of Columbus.

(Have you thought about an email, JD?)

When the Stars dropped out, the Jackets then sent the defenseman to the Blackhawks for a bounty that included Adam Boqvist (perhaps at least an equally effective player), a flip of 2021 first-rounders that elevated the Jackets 20 spots in the order, plus a first-rounder and second-rounder. If Chicago understood its leverage, then GM Stan Bowman surely didn’t use it.

Then, to compound the folly, the Blackhawks gave Jones a mind-boggling eight-year deal worth an average value of $9.5 million despite a rather steady decline that included a bottoming-out 2020-21. Good luck on that.

So Cale Makar’s six-year second contract worth $9 million per that he signed with the Avalanche on Saturday sets the bar for Adam Fox. It was always going to be that way. The question is whether the Norris is the cherry on top that pushes Fox to an average of $9.25 million or above for the same six-year term that would kick in for 2022-23?

The Flyers, they must see something in Risto Ristolainen that kind of escapes everyone else, no?

Maybe Arizona is hoping to retroactively win the Auston Matthews lottery, is that possibly it?

Finally, here’s one with which we can leave you.

Gerry Johansson, the agent for Luke Prokop, was driving along the other night when he received a call from someone outside of the hockey world asking for the cell number of the 19-year-old Predators prospect who on Monday became the first active player under an NHL contract to publicly come out as gay.

The agent gave the caller the young man’s digits.

And when Prokop next heard the ring, the man on the other end of the line was Elton John.

This story originally appeared on: NyPost - Author:Larry Brooks

Larry Brooks

Barclay Goodrow signing was easy part of tricky Rangers makeover

Rangers mishandling Ryan McDonagh trade has been Lightning boon

Gary Bettman couldn't be more right about playoff expansion, Olympics

Rangers will have to lose players to make offseason noise

Rangers look into Jack Eichel's condition in preliminary Sabres talks

Right off the top, let’s stipulate that the optics of trading your first-line right winger for a bottom-six guy and a second-round draft pick is not going to make for an easy sell. It’s just not, regardless of the mitigating factors surrounding it.

So the Rangers’ Chris Drury will take heat for his first player-for-player trade as an NHL general manager, in which he sent Pavel Buchnevich to the Blues for Sammy Blais and a 2022 second-round pick on Friday in the hours before the opening round of the draft. There is no question about that.

It is fair to say that Buchnevich last season became the player the Rangers had been waiting for since he first arrived in New York in September 2016. He played with grit, was diligent without the puck, developed into a superior penalty killer and for the most part lost the not-at-all charming woe-is-me body language that had become a trademark his younger years.

But just when No. 89 was about to say hello to fame and fortune, it became time to say good-bye, and through no fault of his own. Arbitration eligible and one year away from unrestricted free agency, Buchnevich was (and is) likely to command between $5.5 million and $6.5 million per on his next multiyear deal. Facing an onrushing cap crisis two years down the road, the Rangers could not accommodate that kind of number.

But perhaps equally important in the equation is that the Rangers were simply too unbalanced, too homogeneous, too top-heavy without the necessary bottom-six ingredients to win battles, to grind down the opposition, to emerge with two points when the top six was smothered. The previous regime collected a collection of talents. Yes, of course there is a place for that.

But there is no place for, say, nine similar talents who can’t assume traditional third- and fourth-line roles. This was not former coach David Quinn’s fault, but there were almost always guys out of place in the lineup because there was no defined spot for them. There was no real distinction between the second line’s duties and the third line’s responsibilities. The fourth line was essentially a repository for leftovers or guys being taught lessons.

That is going to change. It won’t be that way under this administration or under incoming head coach Gerard Gallant. The Rangers will have enough firepower up front and on the power play, but they will also present a formidable bottom six who strap on their hardhats, go to work and provide a different dimension. They will be tougher to play against. At least that’s the plan.

That is the genesis of the acquisition and long-term signing of Barclay Goodrow. That is the genesis of this deal for Blais, a 6-foot-2, 205-pound, 25-year-old who plays a grinding, physical, north-south game, will drop the gloves when the time is right, and can make a play or two. He recorded 28 points (14-14) in 76 games over the past two seasons while getting an average of 12:20 of ice time a night playing a fair amount on a line with Ryan O’Reilly. Among players with 70 or more games the last two years, Blais is fourth in hits per 60 minutes.

And Blais, just like Goodrow, has a ring, though Goodrow, the former Lightning winger, surely played a larger role in Tampa Bay’s repeat 2020 and 2021 titles than Blais did for the 2019 Blues. Still, there now is Stanley Cup pedigree in the room that had been missing. That item on the résumé is important to Drury.

Exchanging Buchnevich for Blais opens a top-six spot on the right side. As I suggested in this space Friday, the construction of the third line as a checking unit means that the Blueshirts won’t stack Artemi Panarin, Chris Kreider and Alexis Lafreniere on the left. So one, most likely Lafreniere, will move to the right to fill the vacancy created by Buchnevich’s exit.

There is still much work to be done. The Jack Eichel Saga hangs over the offseason. So does the organizational deficit down the middle that was not addressed in Round One of the draft, when the Rangers tapped winger Brennan Othmann as the 16th selection, rather than a pair of highly regarded centers on the board.

The Rangers still must add Black-and-Blueshirts to the bottom-six mix. And there is a need for a left defenseman with size and a physical presence. There is ample cap space with which to address those areas with the free-agent market opening Wednesday. I wonder, does Zdeno Chara still fit the profile?

The Buchnevich deal is worthy of debate. The Rangers appear to have given a lot more than they received. That means they are blessed, correct? The return may seem light, but this was a targeted acquisition. The necessary transformation is under way. That’s not an optic. That’s reality.

This story originally appeared on: NyPost - Author:Larry Brooks

Murphy, who worked as an assistant for Gallant with the Blue Jackets for parts of three seasons from 2003-04 into 2006-07, will handle the defense, as he did temporarily during the season when then-head coach David Quinn and his staff were sidelined under the league’s COVID-protocol.

The 54-year-old also handled the defense on an interim basis during the 2020 summer camp and qualifying round after Lindy Ruff left his post as a Blueshirts assistant to accept the head coaching job in New Jersey.

Murphy — who has also been an assistant for the Panthers and Flyers, the two teams with whom he spent the majority of his 14-year NHL career — replaces Jacques Martin, dismissed following the season.

The 61-year-old Kelly, who has served as an assistant on Gallant’s staff in Florida and Vegas (and in the QMJHL and, most recently, for Team Canada’s championship run in the recent World Championships), will act as the club’s eye-in-sky for two periods before joining the club behind the bench for the third period. Kelly is replacing Greg Brown.

The Rangers are still seeking a third assistant coach to in effect replace David Oliver, who was in charge of the forwards and power-play unit.

In addition, general manger Chris Drury and Hartford head coach Kris Knoblauch are conducting a search for an assistant to replace Murphy with the Wolf Pack.

This story originally appeared on: NyPost - Author:Larry Brooks

Sources have indicated that the Blueshirts are not expected to officially cut ties with the exiled defenseman until after the Seattle expansion draft is conducted on July 21. That would leave a six-day period until the first buyout window closes on July 27.

DeAngelo, who went through waivers and was assigned to the taxi squad for the duration of the season following that Jan. 30 post-game Rumble in the Tunnel with Alex Georgiev, has one year remaining on his contract for $5.3 million and a $4.8 million cap charge.

A one-third buyout of the 25-year-old would carry a $383,333 dead cap charge for 2021-22 and an $833,333 penalty for the following season.

The buyout window opened on Friday, but the Rangers gain no advantage by getting on with the deed sooner rather than later. Indeed, keeping DeAngelo on the roster gives Drury flexibility prior to drafting his team’s protected list that must be submitted to the league on July 17.

According to regulations, teams must expose at least one defenseman under contract for next year who played at least 27 games last year or a sum of at least 54 matches the last two seasons.

With Jacob Trouba and Ryan Lindgren sure to be protected; Adam Fox, K’Andre Miller and Zac Jones exempt; and Libor Hajek currently a restricted free agent without a contract for next season, DeAngelo and Anthony Bitetto are the only Blueshirt defensemen to meet the exposure requirement.

Though the likelihood of a trade involving Bitetto before the protected list is due would seem slim indeed, Drury does maintain the option to do so by keeping DeAngelo on the roster.

This story originally appeared on: NyPost - Author:Larry Brooks

Larry Brooks

Rangers look into Jack Eichel's condition in preliminary Sabres talks

Weaknesses Islanders must fix to become Stanley Cup champs

Islanders face enormous task of going from contender to champion

Ranking Islanders' most memorable Game 7s

This Islanders team will live on forever no matter what

Regarding the Rangers, the first non-playoff team in NHL history to produce a Norris Trophy winner:

1. Of course Phillip Danault would look mighty good wearing the Blueshirt next season, so would Blake Coleman and so would Barclay Goodrow. There is not much question about that.

The three impending free agents currently playing in the final — Danault for Montreal, Coleman and Goodrow for Tampa Bay — would all bolster the grit and grind ingredients that the Rangers lack. They would all fit.

But GM Chris Drury will have to clear out space to add any one of them. I’m not talking about cap space. I’m referring to space in the lineup that does not currently exist. Where are these hypothetical additions going, where are they playing, whose spot would be taken?

That is the curiosity with the Rangers. Here’s a team that hasn’t made the playoffs in four years and there are no openings. I guess it’s because of all the prospects needing to play, but it’s kind of a comical situation.

The team needs to bulk up and reinvent itself under incoming coach Gerard Gallant, but it won’t be possible unless and until Drury does a similar kind of housecleaning with the playing personnel as he has affected with the front office.

I left out Zach Hyman as a pending free agent who would make an impact with the Rangers even though he could and should be a prime candidate under alternate circumstances. Do you know why?

Because he is a left wing, that’s why. It doesn’t matter who the left wing is and what qualities he would add, there is no room for him on a team that lines up with Artemi Panarin, Chris Kreider and Alexis Lafreniere on that side. What’s that you say? By bumping one to the right?

OK, then pretty much forget about Vitali Kravtsov having a top-nine spot with incumbents Pavel Buchnevich and Kaapo Kakko in place and in line for top-six roles. Plus, is anyone clamoring for a rerun of Lafreniere or Kreider on the wrong side?

Danault as third-line center? Fine by me if the contract makes sense, but what happens to Filip Chytil? Or you’re just figuring that the Czech will be gone before he celebrates his 22nd birthday in early September?

And now explain to me where there is an opening for Morgan Barron unless it is on the fourth line, either in the middle or on the wing.

Yes, Gallant said in his introductory press briefing last week that he is not a fan of playing kids on the fourth line, as if any coach is. But where is there a spot for Barron in the top nine?

Drury needs to be in the import and export business, just like Art Vandelay. The GM won’t be able to add players without subtracting. And that is why two-for-one’s or three-for-one’s makes sense for the Rangers. Because they cannot address their deficiencies without moving out incumbents.

2. Baseball front offices figured this out maybe 15 years ago. When a player with a large contract is traded, the money factors into the return. Or it most certainly should. That’s why it would be insane for any team to meet Buffalo GM Kevyn Adams’ outlandish demands in return for Jack Eichel.

Taking the annual $10 million hit for the next five years in a flat cap era constitutes an element of the trade. If Buffalo is willing to eat 50 percent of it, then the return would become more expensive. For $10 million a year, maybe one high-quality roster player, a prospect and a No. 1. For $5 million, another asset would be added to the mix.

3. I am not arguing or suggesting that David Quinn should have been brought back for a fourth year behind the bench. There would have been too much baggage to carry forward into next season. A new voice was needed.

But the remarkable ascension of Adam Fox from a guy competing for a roster spot as a rookie in 2019-20 to being selected the league’s best defenseman for 2020-21 as a sophomore should be a reminder that players did develop and improve playing for Quinn.

Those who proclaim that Fox was a finished product when he arrived are spouting nonsense. They are ignorant, willfully so or not.

Quinn constructed the Ryan Lindgren-Fox pair. Both improved. Both thrived under increased responsibility. Pavel Buchnevich improved under Quinn. Mika Zibanejad had the best year of his career playing for Quinn. So did Panarin. So did Ryan Strome. K’Andre Miller made the all-rookie team playing for Quinn.

That is worth remembering.

This story originally appeared on: NyPost - Author:Larry Brooks

Larry Brooks

Weaknesses Islanders must fix to become Stanley Cup champs

Islanders face enormous task of going from contender to champion

Ranking Islanders' most memorable Game 7s

This Islanders team will live on forever no matter what

The one thing from Gerard Gallant's Rangers intro that didn't make sense

The Rangers have displayed increased interest in scoping out Jack Eichel’s medical condition and have had preliminary talks with the Sabres regarding his availability, The Post has been told by several sources – but it is unclear whether general manager Chris Drury is simply performing due diligence or is seriously interested in dealing for the Sabres’ disenchanted center.

The Blueshirts have been linked to Eichel since last summer, when then-GM Jeff Gorton had pre-draft discussions with his Buffalo counterpart Kevyn Adams. The talks are believed to have broken down when Gorton refused to part with the first-overall selection that became Alexis Lafreniere.  

Eichel, who has been diagnosed with a herniated disk in his neck, is just coming off 12 weeks of rest and rehab as prescribed by the Sabres team physicians. The next step is unclear, but the 24-year-old center may be in line for surgery to replace the disk with an artificial one. That type of surgery is typically followed by a recovery period of up to three months.

We’re told that the Sabres have not yet granted permission for inquiring clubs to gain access to Eichel’s medical records. That would be expected to accompany latter-stage trade discussions.

Per sources, the Sabres are asking for at least four pieces that would be equivalent of first-rounders in exchange for Eichel, who left the lineup for good following his 21st game of the season on March 7, and has five years remaining on his contract that comes with an annual $10 million cap charge.

The Wild, Ducks, Kings and Blue Jackets are believed to have indicated interest in Eichel. They won’t be alone as the summer progresses. It does not, however, seem realistic for the Sabres to acquire that kind of bounty unless they are willing to take significant money back in the deal from the acquiring team that will bear all of the risk relating to Eichel’s health.

The Rangers probably have the cap space to accommodate Eichel for this season without being forced into major reconstruction. But acquiring Eichel would almost certainly mean an exit following the season by incumbent first-line center Mika Zibanejad, who has a full no-move clause and is one year away from unrestricted free agency.  

Drury can officially begin negotiations on an extension with Zibanejad on July 28, this year’s equivalent of the traditional July 1 free-agent date. If talks go nowhere, perhaps Zibanejad would be amenable to accepting a trade to a club that would be willing to grant him a long-term extension at his price and term. But perhaps not.

Fact is, Zibanejad, who probably will be able to command a longer, more lucrative deal on the open market than by remaining in New York, is in complete control of this process.

If Drury knows he won’t be able to retain Zibanejad, then the GM will be in need of a first-line center beginning with 2022-23. The likelihood of Florida’s Aleksandar Barkov hitting the open market next summer seems slim. So acquiring Eichel might represent a proactive strike to fill the vacancy that would be created by an eventual Zibanejad defection.

Prior to last year’s ruined season in which he had 18 points (2-16) in 21 games, Eichel recorded 137 goals, 200 assists and 337 points in 354 games through his first five years, averaging .39 goals per game, .56 assists per and .95 points per. Over the last three years, including his COVID-impacted 2020-21, Zibanejad has registered 95 goals, 104 assists and 199 points in 195 games, averaging .49 GPG, .53 APG and 1.02 PPG.

Character and leadership issues have been raised around Eichel, who has spent his career following his 2015 door-prize, second-overall selection behind Connor McDavid with the most dysfunctional franchise in the league. Drury is certainly examining those issues.

If the Rangers were to formally enter the Eichel Derby, one would presume that Ryan Strome, with one year left on his deal at a $4.5 million cap hit prior to unrestricted free agency, would be part of the mix going the other way.

Then figure a mix of prospects that would likely come from a pool featuring, but not necessarily limited to, Vitali Kravtsov, Zac Jones and Nils Lundkvist, plus at least one upcoming first-rounder. The Sabres might demand/ask for Kaapo Kakko and/or K’Andre Miller, but that would seem to represent a non-starter.

Again, it is unclear whether and to what degree Drury and the Rangers are invested in Eichel. But they are asking questions.      

This story originally appeared on: NyPost - Author:Larry Brooks

Larry Brooks

Ranking Islanders' most memorable Game 7s

This Islanders team will live on forever no matter what

The one thing from Gerard Gallant's Rangers intro that didn't make sense

Mat Barzal's antics put unrecognizable Islanders in bad spot

Trading for Cal Clutterbuck helped build Islanders' identity

They took the semifinals and the defending champs to the limit, to Game 7, to the final frenzied minute, in which the Islanders swarmed around and in front of Andrei Vasilevskiy’s net, desperately looking for the puck and the bounce that could extend their magic carpet ride into one more overtime.

But the puck never came, neither did the bounce, nor did the goal. For the second straight season, a loss in the semifinals. For the second straight season, a loss to the Lightning. For the second straight year, heartache on the Island.

It was 1-0 in this Game 7, perhaps the cruelest score of all, which was manufactured in the cruelest way imaginable. Because it was a Yanni Gourde shorthanded goal in the second minute of the second period that did the Islanders dirty, Tampa Bay exploiting their one significant weakness.

That weakness? The Islanders’ power play, which went 1-for-17 in the series and thus finished the seven-game joust no more than even for its 24:15 of work. It always finds you, doesn’t it?

Of course, the Islanders should be proud of themselves. Of course this was an admirable team that squeezed just about everything it had out of the tube. The Islanders left it all on the ice, and when they left the handshake line after being on the wrong side of it again, they were emotionally spent, perhaps even temporarily destroyed.

“It sucks getting back to this point and falling short again,” said a tearful 24-year-old Mathew Barzal, who made note of veterans such as Josh Bailey and Andy Greene in describing his pain. “You know, I’ve got a few more years, but you want to win for those guys and it hurts seeing those guys in the locker room. That’s how close we are.”

The unity, the single-minded purpose, the structure, the commitment to the logo on the front of the jersey and not the nameplate on the back, the work ethic, these are attributes with which the Islanders of Lou Lamoriello and Barry Trotz are saturated. In this era, as in any era, those go far.

But those qualities — plus superb goaltending from Semyon Varlamov — could not get the Islanders to the Stanley Cup Final. They could not propel them all the way.

Over the past two years, the Islanders have won playoff rounds against four teams. They defeated the Capitals and Flyers last year under the bubble in Toronto. They defeated the Penguins and Bruins this spring.

But they could not get by the Lightning.

Six games last year.

Seven games this year.

Same difference.

Another run by the Islanders, who had last reached the NHL’s final four in consecutive years in 1983 and 1984. Another run that fell short, for the second time in two years going down to the outfit that has become the Islanders’ white whale.

Herb Brooks’ Smurfs of the early 1980s could not get through the dynastic Islanders. The original Jets of the mid-to-late 1980s could not get through the dynastic Oilers. These Islanders cannot get through the championship Lightning.

And this is where the Islanders’ struggles to score goals becomes determinative. They can beat lesser teams and they can score against lesser goaltenders. But against the Lightning — the champs who will begin their defense of the crown against Montreal starting on Monday — their lack of genuine finishers and elite playmakers finish them.

The Islanders could only cobble together 15 shots at even-strength in this one. There was only one Barzal late, No. 13 on the ice for 4:55 of the final 6:43. There were two shots from Nelson, two from Anthony Beauvillier, one from Bailey, none from Jordan Eberle, none from Jean-Gabriel Pageau.

The teams have hooked up 13 times in the postseason the past two years. The Islanders have scored three or more goals just three times. They went 3-0 in those games. But they were limited to two goals or fewer in the other 10 games, winning just two of them.

“We’re built a little differently, they’ve obviously got some elite goal-scorers, we were missing Anders Lee in this and I think he would have been a huge factor in this series around the net and all,” Trotz said, referring to the captain and first-line winger who went down for the count with a knee injury in March. “They’ve got all the pieces, frankly, an all-star goalie, a deep defense.

“They’re a fantastic team and Coop [Jon Cooper] does a great job coaching them. That’s why they’re Stanley Cup champions. You need a break here and there to get by this team. But we’re chipping away at it.”

The Islanders are not urchins anymore. This is no longer the NHL’s Shipwreck Franchise. But there is work to be done to end the Stanley Cup drought that has reached 38 years. Trotz and the Islanders still must bridge the biggest gap in sports.

From contenders to champions.

And the Tampa Bay Lightning will still be in the way.

This story originally appeared on: NyPost - Author:Larry Brooks

Larry Brooks

This Islanders team will live on forever no matter what

The one thing from Gerard Gallant's Rangers intro that didn't make sense

Mat Barzal's antics put unrecognizable Islanders in bad spot

Trading for Cal Clutterbuck helped build Islanders' identity

There's never been anything like Ryan Pulock's miraculous Islanders stop

All Games 7 are created equal. The winner advances or wins the championship. The loser is eliminated.

But these ultimate showdowns are not all equally as memorable. And probably not equally as significant despite the same reward for winning and the same consequence for losing. A Game 7 first-round defeat in a year with few expectations does not equate to losing the ultimate showdown as a championship favorite.

For instance, losing to Washington in the 2015 first round while amassing all of 11 shots was not tantamount to losing to Toronto in the 1978 quarterfinals on Lanny McDonald’s semi-breakaway in overtime a couple of weeks after the Islanders clinched their first division championship and expected to go to the finals.

Friday night’s Game 7 against Tampa Bay was for the right to advance to the Stanley Cup Final. So this one will be remembered as significant. How memorable would depend on how the game unfolded.

Ranking the most memorable five Games 7 in Islanders history:

5. May 13, 1975, lost Game 7 of the semifinals, 4-1 to the Flyers at the Spectrum

After having become the second team in NHL history to overcome a 3-0 deficit in a best-of-seven by winning at Pittsburgh in Game 7 of their quarterfinal series, the Islanders were, incredibly, on the verge of doing it again.

For after the defending champion Flyers took a 3-0 lead, the Islanders roared back by winning the next three to set up a winner-take-all showdown at the Spectrum.

The Flyers had come upon a supposed good-luck charm in Kate Smith, whose rendition of “God Bless America” was played before the club’s most important games. For this game, Smith appeared live, accompanied by an organ on the ice.

While reveling in the standing ovation she received from the crowd, Smith was greeted, first by Islanders captain Eddie Westfall, who presented her with flowers, and then by the entire team. For a few moments, it seemed as if the Islanders had stolen the Flyers’ thunder.

But just 19 seconds into the match, Gary Dornhoefer blew one by Chico Resch and the Flyers rolled from there to prevent the Islanders from making history twice within a few weeks.

4. April 29, 1978, lost Game 7 of the quarterfinals, 2-1 to the Maple Leafs in overtime at the Coliseum

This was the series in which the Islanders, who had entered as huge favorites and had won the first two games, were bullied by Toronto as designed by head coach Roger Neilson and ultimately went down on McDonald’s score at 4:13 of OT.

3. May 14, 1993, won Game 7 of the Patrick Division finals, defeating the Penguins 2-1 in overtime

This was as shocking a series result as it gets. The Penguins, two-time defending champions, had finished the season with an 18-game unbeaten streak (17-0-1), tying the final game of the year after establishing an NHL record with a 17-game winning streak. The record they broke had belonged to the Islanders, who had won 15 straight in 1981-82.

Moreover, the Islanders were without their best player, Pierre Turgeon, who had suffered a shoulder injury on the Game 6 clinching goal on a check from behind by his stalker, Dale Hunter. But that did not deter the Islanders, who had stayed alive with a 7-5 victory in Game 6 at the Coliseum.

The Islanders had a 3-1 lead midway through the third period in the match, in which Kevin Stevens had suffered an early first-period grievous facial injury. But Ron Francis scored at 16:13 before Rick Tocchet tied it at 19:00. The Penguins seemed primed.

Until, that is, David Volek converted a two-on-one feed from Ray Ferraro to beat Tom Barrasso from the right dot at 5:16 of overtime to KO the champs and send his team to the conference finals, which they lost in five games to Montreal.

2. April 18-19, 1987, won Game 7 of the opening round, defeating the Capitals 3-2 at Landover, Md., when Pat LaFontaine beat Bob Mason from 45 feet at 8:47 of the fourth overtime

This obviously is the most historic of the Islanders’ Game 7s because it stands as the longest Game 7 in NHL playoff history.

In the game known as the Easter Epic because it ended at 1:58 a.m. on Easter, Kelly Hrudey made 73 saves while Mason made 54. The Islanders overcame a 3-1 series deficit to win it. The Islanders rallied in the next round from 3-1 down to force a Game 7 against the Flyers, but were routed 5-1.

1. April 26, 1975, won Game 7 of the quarterfinals against the Penguins in Pittsburgh, 1-0

This is the one that established the legend and put the Islanders on the national map. Westfall scored at 14:32 of the third period against Gary Inness, while Resch kissed the goalposts while recording the shutout as the Islanders recreated the history recorded by the Leafs 33 years earlier.

This story originally appeared on: NyPost - Author:Larry Brooks

Larry Brooks

Mat Barzal's antics put unrecognizable Islanders in bad spot

Trading for Cal Clutterbuck helped build Islanders' identity

There's never been anything like Ryan Pulock's miraculous Islanders stop

Blackhawks enter the Jack Eichel trade sweepstakes

Referee helps doom Islanders with phantom Adam Pelech penalty

Regarding the Chris Drury-Gerard Gallant Rangers:

1. The one thing that I don’t quite get from Gallant’s introductory press conference on Tuesday was when the incoming coach cited the Rangers’ next-game response to Tom Wilson as evidence of the team’s leadership, toughness and ability to compete against the league’s brawniest teams.

Yes it was admirable that the Blueshirts didn’t shrivel and turn tail 48 hours later, but I interpreted their reaction as completely disconnected from hockey and that did nothing to address the club’s lack of players with the smash-mouth mentality that is required for success in this NHL playoff era.

We’ve been over this before. The Rangers don’t need to add third- and fourth-line enforcers to act as a deterrent to the Wilson’s of the world because that animal doesn’t even exist. No one questions the Bruins’ team toughness, but that did not deter Wilson from running Brandon Carlo from behind. The guy is an equal opportunity menace.

The Rangers need a change at the top of the lineup, and if not a change in personnel, then a change in attitude. But probably a change in personnel, too.

They need top-sixers who consistently get to the inside rather than play on the perimeter, who have more to offer than sheer skill, and who will take as much pride in scoring from the dirty areas of the ice as in creating a highlight reel of pretty goals.

2. The Blueshirts have not had a Stanley Cup winner on the roster since Adam McQuaid in 2018-19. They have not had a prominent Cup winner in the lineup since Dan Boyle in 2015-16. They have not had a Cup winner who created a positive influence both in the room and on the ice since Marty St. Louis in 2014-15.

Bulking up on leadership should be as much a priority for president-general manager Drury as bulking up on the ice. Naming a captain must be a priority for this club that has gone without one since Ryan McDonagh was swept out in the Deadline Purge of 2018.

“I think if we can continue moving that forward, a big piece of that for me would be getting a captain,” said Drury, who captained the Rangers and Sabres after winning the Cup with the 2000-01 Avalanche. “For me it’s a priority, but at the end of the day it’s got to be the right person.

“I’m not interested in just giving it to somebody to say we have a captain, but I think we have a lot of leaders in our room and leaders that have taken big steps the last couple of years including the second half of last season.

“So I’m looking forward to talking to Gerard further about that after we talked about it a little bit during the interview process,” the GM said. “I’ll see how it shakes out this summer and then in training camp.”

The last regime of which Drury was a part but did not have decision-making power obviously did not believe that either Mika Zibanejad or Chris Kreider, the two most logical candidates, had the necessities. It is doubtful that Drury would now reverse that call.

The leading in-house contenders are Jacob Trouba, whose leadership qualities were extolled throughout the year by then-coach David Quinn, and Ryan Lindgren.

But the concept of trading for a captain should not be ignored.

3. It may be ancillary benefit, and perhaps not one even considered by Drury when he reached the decision to dismiss Quinn following the season, but the players no longer will have the crutch of blaming “a college coach” for their deficiencies.

“As far as David, I just think it was time for a new voice, a new coach and new leadership in the room,” Drury said. “I’m very confident that Gerard is the person for that job.

“At the start of this process I was looking to find a coach with a proven track record of success at several levels. I think he captures the room whatever room he walks into. At the end of the day I think he is the perfect fit for what we’re trying to accomplish as an organization.”  

4. Drury, whose next tasks will be to complete the coaching staff and fill out the front office, player personnel and scouting departments, was careful to say that he does not believe there is a “mandate” to make the playoffs. He instead said it was “a goal and a hope.”

Maybe the GM was attempting to allay irrational fears that arose in the wake of the firings of president John Davidson and GM Jeff Gorton that there would be another round of dismissals if the team fails to qualify for the playoffs for what would be the fifth straight season.

Maybe he was attempting to assuage those who think that there’d be pressure from the owner’s suite to trade, say, a Kaapo Kakko for a Pat Maroon at next season’s deadline if the playoffs are in reach.

But rest assured that the slow-walk has ended. Next year won’t be about how young the Rangers are. It will be about where they are in the standings.        

This story originally appeared on: NyPost - Author:Larry Brooks

“I want us to be the hardest working team in the league. I want us to compete hard, to battle hard, to make teams say, ‘You know what, that team works hard and competes for 60 minutes,’” Gallant said Tuesday morning during his introductory press briefing. “We can do a lot of good things. We can be skilled, we can be talented, but if the work doesn’t come first, all the skill and talent doesn’t get you too far down the road.

“You start at 7 o’clock, you start at 7 o’clock. You’ve got 82 games to play, you get ready for every one. I want to make sure we work hard every night and compete every night.”

There is skill and there is talent, some of it exceptional. Tampa Bay long had exceptional skill and talent but did not win anything until the Lightning became a much harder team to play against. They did that by acquiring players with size, stiffness and sandpaper.   

President-general manager Chris Drury shared a split screen with his coach during the virtual event. It will be his responsibility to remake the Rangers in the image of teams that have had success in the postseason, not only this year, but through this era of playoff hockey in which brawn has become at least equally important as skill.

“It’s hard to watch these playoffs and not notice the physicality, the energy, the effort and the intensity it takes to win and succeed,” Drury said. “We’re certainly going to need to play that way to have success in the regular season and the playoffs.

“We’re always looking at ways to improve the lineup and add different pieces just like every team in the league, and every team in the league is watching these playoffs. We all want harder players to play against and we’re no different.”

Gallant is 57 years old. He had success in Florida, taking the woebegone Puddy Tats to the playoffs, and then success in Vegas, taking the first-year Golden Knights to the Cup final. But he was kicked to the curb 22 games into his third year in Florida and then gone 49 games into his third season in Vegas.

“I still have a hard time going back and looking at it and saying, ‘Why did I get fired?’” Gallant said. “I think I did a great job for both those organizations [but] things happen, it’s out of my hands.

“I come to the rink every day with a smile on my face, I’ve got a great job, great opportunities and you work hard and do the best that you can. When you get fired, I try to move on as quick as possible. I’m not going to live in the past, I’m going to move forward and look forward to my next opportunity with the Rangers.”

Gallant’s teams play four-line, puck-pressure hockey with emphasis on an aggressive forecheck and neutral-zone forecheck with a defensive posture meant to produce turnovers and trigger transition counter-attacks.

“I hate talking about the past but when I was in Vegas we went to training camp with a plan, put our systems in place and we expected everybody to play a 200-foot game with everybody good defensively and everybody good offensively,” the coach said. “Everybody has to have a role on your hockey team.

“It’s not going to take 15 guys to win, it’s going to take 23 players on the roster to win games every night. I try to make every player important to our hockey team, everybody has a role to play and the expectation is, ‘Do your role, play your role and we’ll win hockey games.’”

The Panthers, in particular, had a core of exceptional young talents featuring Aleksandar Barkov, Aaron Ekblad and Jonathan Huberdeau. The Rangers are loaded with young and precocious talent including 2020 first-overall Alexis Lafreniere and 2019 second-overall Kaapo Kakko.

“You give [young players] the opportunity and hopefully they take the opportunity and ice time they get and excel with it,” Gallant said. “I don’t think young players can sit on the fourth line and get a lot out of that.

“You’ve got to give them the opportunity to play. We know we’ve got some very talented young hockey players who are going to get every opportunity to play but they have got to fit into our program. They’ve got to make sure they’re playing every night and are deserving of ice time.

“It’s a fine line for coaches,” said the coach. “You want to develop players but you also want to win every night. That’s where we’re at right now so we’re going to try to win a hockey game and hope that those young players are going to be part of our team winning hockey games every night.”      

This story originally appeared on: NyPost - Author:Larry Brooks

Larry Brooks

Trading for Cal Clutterbuck helped build Islanders' identity

There's never been anything like Ryan Pulock's miraculous Islanders stop

Blackhawks enter the Jack Eichel trade sweepstakes

Referee helps doom Islanders with phantom Adam Pelech penalty

Islanders have go-to duo in Adam Pelech-Ryan Pulock pair

The guys wearing white were unrecognizable. They were wearing the Islanders logo on their chests, but come on, those uniforms must have been purchased at a costume store running a Buy One, Get 20 sale.

For this Monday night in Tampa, the Islanders were imposters, unable to compete in any facet of the game, overrun in all three zones by the Lightning in an 8-0 Game 5 defeat that stands as the most lopsided in franchise playoff history and leaves the club on the brink of extinction going into Wednesday’s Game 6 at the Coliseum.

“It was one of those nights where we couldn’t do anything right,” head coach Barry Trotz said following the fiasco. “If this result doesn’t motivate us, then I’m not sure what will. We’ve just got to man up.”

But it may be even worse than that, difficult as that might be to process. Because though the effects of this drubbing would not necessarily carry over into Wednesday under ordinary circumstances, the Islanders are going to have to wait for a decision from the Department of Player Safety regarding the availability of Mat Barzal for the team’s first potential elimination game of 2021.

And there is not a soul in the world who would want to be at the mercy of the decision-making process of VP George Parros and his band of consultants under any circumstance, let alone while on the precipice of doom.

But that is where the Islanders stand. That is where Barzal brought his team by losing his cool at the second-period buzzer following a giveaway on the power play by getting a major penalty and game misconduct for cross-checking Jan Rutta to the ice with what appeared to be the side of the head after No. 13 first responded to their engagement with a cross-check to the defenseman’s left shoulder.

Barzal was furious and momentarily tried to wrestle his way out of the grasp of linesmen Kiel Murchison, who grabbed him immediately following the incident as players milled about. Rutta stayed down for some time, attended to by the Tampa Bay trainer, as the play was reviewed before standing as a major. The defenseman did not return to the match, but who would be surprised if that was a Jon Cooper ploy to influence the NHL?

The league’s discipline system is not only broken, but arbitrary. It would be a travesty if Barzal is suspended off this type of confrontational play that is commonplace and often draws nothing more than a minor, if not a double minor. Or sometimes even nothing, if you’ve seen what miscreants have gotten away with throughout the tournament. But there is just no way to know for sure.

And even if Barzal is not suspended, there is no defense for the Islanders’ most dynamic player putting himself and his team in such jeopardy by losing his composure as we all ponder the vagaries of the NHL’s justice system.

“I was disappointed because it wasn’t going well and he just sort of dug it a little deeper for the guys,” Trotz said. “The biggest concern you have as a coach when you do something like that is that guys have to block shots and you lose another guy because they are battling through it.

“So yeah, I am disappointed in his decision there.”

Barzal has as little defense for his actions as the Islanders had throughout this humiliation in which they never got in on the forecheck, were beaten on the few battles they were able to create, surrendered a wave of odd-man rushes, had issues on their own breakout and gave the Lightning four power plays in the second period after allowing one apiece in Games 3 and 4.

It was 1-0 after 45 seconds, 3-0 by the end of the first period in which the Islanders surrendered eight high-danger chances after having allowed eight, seven, six and eight, respectively, in Games 1 through 4. It was 6-0 by the end of the second with Ilya Sorokin having relieved Semyon Varlamov after the starter allowed three goals on 16 shots in 15:27. Backtracking to the start of the third period of Game 4, Tampa Bay has outscored the Islanders 10-0.

This was as bad as it gets. Except there is the chance, as irrational as it would be, that it could get worse. Trotz said he was unaware of any communication between the league and the organization regarding supplemental discipline but that proves nothing.

So now the Islanders wait on Parros as they prepare for the biggest game of their 2021 lives.

It’s not what you want.

This story originally appeared on: NyPost - Author:Larry Brooks

Larry Brooks

Blackhawks enter the Jack Eichel trade sweepstakes

Referee helps doom Islanders with phantom Adam Pelech penalty

Islanders have go-to duo in Adam Pelech-Ryan Pulock pair

Islanders facing daunting task you had to see coming

Gerard Gallant is ideal choice to solve star issue that haunted Rangers

Bob Nystrom scored in overtime at the Coliseum and so did Ken Morrow. Mike Bossy once struck twice late in the third period to get his 50-in-50. Bryan Trottier had a five-goal night. There was Double Chili. John Tonelli scored late in a Game 5 against the Penguins and then again in overtime to save it all. The Dynasty did victory laps at Nassau Coliseum in three of their four Stanley Cup victories.

But there had never been anything like this at the Old Barn.

I’d venture to say there has never been anything like this, anywhere.

Hockey, ladies and gentlemen.

Playoff hockey.

There were seconds remaining in Saturday’s pulsating Game 4 of the Stanley Cup semifinals. The Islanders were desperately attempting to preserve a 3-2 lead over the Lightning, the teams were five-on-five with Tampa Bay’s goaltender pulled while shorthanded, killing a penalty.

The game had been frantic from the start, the Islanders scoring three times within a second-period span of 12:27 to take a 3-0 lead, the Lightning scoring twice within the first 6:43 of the third, and there we were.

The Islanders played keepaway on their power play, going into a four-corners prevent offense. Finally, the puck came out. Finally, the puck was deep in the Islanders zone. Finally, Nikita Kucherov found Ryan McDonagh all alone in the left circle.

There were about four seconds to go.

Brock Nelson took a desperate lunge at McDonagh, who is having himself a great, throwback series as if it were 2014 and he were wearing Rangers Blue. McDonagh pulled a Denis Savard, eluding Nelson with a spin-o-rama. Netminder Semyon Varlamov charged out. The net was empty behind him.

McDonagh sent a backhander toward that empty net. There was about a second left. Time stood still. The deafening roar of the crowd crawled into every spectator’s throat and was swallowed up in fearful anticipation. The game was about to be tied. The game was about to go into overtime.

And then … and then … the game was over.

The game was over because Ryan Pulock, materializing out of nowhere like a superhero, somehow came across the crease and got his right glove on the puck before it could cross the goal line and then managed to swat it aside where it harmlessly spun. The Islanders pounded and surrounded No. 6 with glee and celebrated as if there were no tomorrow.

But of course, there are at least two more tomorrows coming for the Islanders, now 2-2 in the series with Game 5 set for Monday night in Tampa. And there is at least one more tomorrow for the Old Barn, which will host Game 6 on Wednesday.

History meeting the present. History becoming history of its own.

“I think everybody’s breath was kind of taken away when that puck was coming,” said Mathew Barzal, who had scored the 2-0 goal and was watching from the bench. “I thought they … I thought it was going in and then just a miraculous play by Poolie, so I’m not going to be forgetting that one.”

A Miracle on Ice.

“McDonagh made a heck of a play with the spin-o-rama, the net was open and I just tried to make myself big and take it away and I was able to [make the play],” Pulock said. “You hear the sound of the clock going and the boys jump on you. It’s a good feeling.”

Understatement, anyone?

“It’s playoffs. Nothing should surprise anybody, really,” said head coach Barry Trotz, whose Islanders played with verve, confidence and to their Identity in building the 3-0 lead and then settled back in after the Lightning closed to 3-2. “That’s the great thing about our game.

“We can bring you out of your seats right ’til the last minute. What a save by Poolie. That will be remembered.”

Trotz, who stands 5-foot-9, couldn’t see the madness to his right that was unfolding. So the coach looked up at the scoreboard video screen.

“Everyone was standing up and I don’t know if you’ve noticed but I’m not that tall,” he said. “I tried to take a peek up at the scoreboard real quick and all I saw was Nellie sliding, McDonagh turned, Varly came out to challenge and it looked like it was going in the net.

“Then obviously Poolie came through and slid across and saved the day for us.”

The coach then made a little joke.

“I would never it was never in doubt,” he said.

The final moment overshadowed what had been a fantastic game. This had pace. This had tempo. This would have been a classic befitting the Barn and its heritage, regardless.

But then came the final second. Then came history. More history at the Coliseum.

I’ve never seen anything like it.

This story originally appeared on: NyPost - Author:Larry Brooks

Larry Brooks

Referee helps doom Islanders with phantom Adam Pelech penalty

Islanders have go-to duo in Adam Pelech-Ryan Pulock pair

Islanders facing daunting task you had to see coming

Gerard Gallant is ideal choice to solve star issue that haunted Rangers

Inside the Rangers' monumental hiring of Gerard Gallant

In addition to the usual suspects including the Ducks, Flyers, Wild, Kings and perhaps the Rangers, there is a previously undisclosed entrant in the Hunt for Jack Eichel.

For Slapshots has learned that the Blackhawks have taken a ticket at the deli counter in communicating their interest in the 24-year-old center, who is in the midst of divorce proceedings with the Sabres while possibly facing a tricky surgery to repair a herniated disk.

In order to succeed in the quest, Chicago’s offer would have to feature Kirby Dach, the 20-year-old center who was drafted third overall in 2019, recorded 23 points (8-15) in his rookie season and then played only 18 games last year after he suffered a wrist injury in a pre-World Juniors tournament game.

Of course there would have to be more to it. The Blackhawks own the 11th overall selection in the upcoming July 23 draft. That likely would also have to be thrown into the mix.    

 Jonathan Toews, who missed last season with an unidentified medical issue, may be able to return next season (when does a season become “this one” and as opposed to “next one,” I’ve never quite figured that one out?) for his age 33 season.

That is pure speculation, though, as a news blackout on the Chicago captain’s health and status has been in effect since the late December statement announcing that he would be out indefinitely.     

The Blackhawks have qualified for the playoffs only once the last four years, through their 2020 bubble qualifying round victory, and have not advanced to the second round since their 2015 Cup victory.

They are also believed to be interested in Seth Jones, the Blue Jackets’ latest would-be asylum-seeker. A deal for the defenseman would also have to feature Dach. Alternatively, Chicago is expected to investigate signing impending free agent Dougie Hamilton, who may leave the Candy Canes to take his talents to the Kraken.

We were told toward the end of the week that the Seattle GM Ron Francis had decided to hire Rick Tocchet as coach after going far down the line with David Quinn, but there is nothing official at the moment.

 It is understood that Cole Caufield has played a sum of 22 NHL games, 10 in the regular season and another dozen in the playoffs. But when is the last time that everyone knew, just knew, that a draft’s 15th-overall selection, was going to make it big time?

Maybe 1977, when the Islanders selected Mike Bossy at that spot?

Of course, in referring to that selection, “everyone” would mean “everyone except Claude Ruel.”

 For it was the Montreal director of player personnel who relentlessly disparaged Bossy’s ability and inclination to check and play defense to the extent that the Canadiens passed on the Quebecer, instead snapping up winger Mark Napier at 10th overall.

Napier did score 40 goals twice and 35 goals once, but, please. Ruel’s misjudgment helped to short-circuit one dynasty while enabling another.

So, ranking the NHL’s top 15th-overall draft selections: 1. Bossy, Islanders, 197 ; 2. Joe Sakic, Nordiques, 1987; 3. Al MacInnis, Flames, 1981; 4. Erik Karlsson, Senators, 2008; 5. Alex Kovalev, Rangers, 1991. Honorable Mention: Ryan Pulock, Islanders, 2013.

Dishonorable Mention: Robert Nilsson, Islanders, 2003 (after whom Zach Parise, Ryan Getzlaf, Brent Burns, Ryan Kesler and Mike Richards were among the next nine selections).     

Yep, 2003. Also known around these parts as The Hugh Jessiman Draft.

Listen, this is not to belabor the point, and Jessiman did suffer a serious ankle injury early in his junior year after being selected 12th overall by the Rangers that didn’t at all help the big winger.

But if you could have added any one of the aforementioned selections (or Dustin Brown or Brent Seabrook, who went 13, 14 that year) to the 2011-12 Black-and-Blueshirts, you’re likely looking at a Stanley Cup champion.   

It is kind of amusing, yes, that in a sport where the core tenant is accountability, not a soul is ever held accountable on Sixth Avenue for the state of utter disrepair that defines NHL on-ice officiating?

Apparently the league standard is the same as the one as we’ve seen applied every night. Which means there is none.

So Connor McDavid won the NHLPA polling of over 500 players as, “The one player at any position you would want on your team if you need to win one game,” with nearly 37-percent of the vote, ahead of Sidney Crosby’s 23-percent.

Does anyone else find that a bit incongruent with the fact that McDavid and the Oilers did not win a single game in the playoffs this year?

But beyond that, if you have one game to win, are you not taking the best goaltender in the league?

Players sometimes don’t know all that much more than the rest of us.

Yes, I recognize that I was mocked for being obsessive, but maybe now it has become apparent why I spent much of the preceding two or three years prodding the Rangers to trade for Josh Anderson.  

 Finally, Adam Fox and Ryan McDonagh are each 21 years old.

 Who are you taking?

This story originally appeared on: NyPost - Author:Larry Brooks