First Period:
Second Period:
- Vincent Trocheck (26) (Shorthanded) Assists: J.T. Miller (48)
Third Period:
- Chris Kreider (22) Assists: Mika Zibanejad (42), Will Cuylle (25)
- Mika Zibanejad (19) Assists: K’Andre Miller (20)
- Mika Zibanejad (20) Assists: Chris Kreider (8)
Three Stars:
- 3: Chris Kreider
- 2: Mika Zibanejad
- 1: Sam Rosen
Stats:
Adam Rotter:
- And thus ends a miserable, frustrating season for the Rangers. At least they won for Sam Rosen in his last game.
- The big question now is who besides Sam had his final game with the Rangers.
- The main focus is obviously on Peter Laviolette and his staff. I think Laviolette will ultimately take the fall and lose his job for this season and, at least, Phil Housley will join him. It’s not all on Laviolette for how this season went, but with only one more year left on his deal it seems like the right time to go in a new direction. It’s that or he comes into next season as a lame duck and with the specter of him being on the hot seat and potentially losing his job after every game. He was the right coach for the team when he was hired and last season was great, but there was so much that went wrong this season and he couldn’t push the right buttons to get things back on track.
- I’m expecting Mika Zibanejad to be back. Unless Chris Drury tells him that he’s going to be a fourth liner for the rest of his time with the Rangers, I don’t think he’ll waive his no-move clause. I like the idea of him going into next season as a winger and hopefully that will bring back some of his game.
- I can’t say the same for Chris Kreider. He does have some no-trade protection and has battled injuries all season so I don’t know how much trade value he has, but his cap space would seem to be more valuable than taking the chance that he’ll bounce back to 30-goal Chris Kreider next season. I’m not sure you can rule out a buyout, but I think a trade would be the preferred route.
- While I think moves will be made, there is a world where a coaching change is the big move and that a lot of what the roster is now, especially at forward, comes back next season.. JT Miller will have a full season and Brennan Othmann, Gabriel Perreault and Brett Berard should all be regulars.
- I’m not sure what the story today about Artemi Panarin and MSG settling a sexual abuse case will have on how the organization views him long-term or whether he wants to stay past next season. He can be extended on July 1 and considering that this was something that happened last season, was settled over the summer and he never seemed to face any discipline at any point from the team or the league, that it will likely be a hockey decision above anything else.
- I think that ultimately K’Andre Miller will get re-signed. I’ve gone back and forth on it so much, but I think that ultimately it’s better to continue to invest in someone that you know and who still has such high potential rather than overpay for a free agent that likely isn’t better than Miller.
- I think that the Rangers will keep their pick if it stays where it is at #11 and definitely keep it if it ends up in the top-3.. They could draft someone or use it to acquire an impact player and they have until 48-hours before the draft to decide. The real interesting thing, which I don’t think they can actually do, would be to give Pittsburgh the pick in exchange for Mike Sullivan becoming the Rangers coach. You can’t actually trade for coaches, but that would be the way to give the pick away and still get something in return.
- Next up is the draft lottery in a couple of weeks, then the buyout window, the draft, free agency and training camp and the preseason in September.