ThirtyONE

I think it's going to become a tandem this season -- which, over the long haul, I don't believe in goalie "tandems" but it's fine for now.

It's funny, I watched every game throughout this period of time but to me it was like he just vanished. I was surprised to see he played for NYR for 4 seasons. PS. That team with Shannahan, Drury, Gomez, and Jagr was a great team. To lose to Buffalo that fucking year still haunts me.

This is exactly my point. He's not going to accept a 2-3 year deal, and therefore he's not a good option for us because we have 5 NHL centers already. Adding Hayes is purely an addition for next season and not beyond. We are building for beyond. I'll sign Kakko and Kravstov to 7 year deals when they're 26/27 assuming that they will be more than 50 point players.

I think when all is said and done, he'll stick around to be the backup to Shestorkin for one or two years before he retires.

I don't think Gudas is as good as you do, I guess. If Niskanen ends up playing big minutes for AV, his contract won't be as painful.

Let's be clear. He wasn't good at hockey. Luckily that doesn't have much to do with this job appointment.

I don't know if you can call it a "huge" win for anyone. I can't imagine either player having a big impact.

Can someone remind me what the hell happened to that dude? How did he go from a 30 goal rookie season to out of the league by 28?

Bad year last year cost him a bigger contract but that’s actually a very reasonable signing.

If Kevin Hayes wanted a 2-3 year deal, I'd consider it. But I'd imagine he's looking for 7 years. It just can't happen.

Sounds like he's one of those guys JD was looking to hire. A coach that follows the Rangers draftee from draft day until he comes to US to wear a Ranger sweater. I think it's a great hire. Thoughts and Prayers to AV in Philly though... :(

Whether or not the Rangers move up or down, there will be good players available in 20 range. Almost seems like you can't go wrong.

That's great. Good for him.

They tried to sign Reaves already and he chose Vegas instead.

But what is this supposed to mean? That Chytil won't get better over the next few years? Or are you only concerned about next season? I assume Hayes is looking for 5+ years which makes the latter seem awfully short sighted.

I've been waiting for someone to do a little research on this topic haha. I'll be very very curious to see who they bring in. it's a hugely important moment for the franchise.

Yep. Spot on here. "No more dead space" is what you're essentially saying. Each player should either have a future with this organization or be a part of building the future.

I'm into that. I'd love to not throw Kakko onto the top line and expect amazing things next season. Play him down the lineup with limited minutes and let him ease into the NHL if possible.

To be fair, I think that teammate was Vinny Letteri -- who probably deserved a punch in the head.

Is 50 point Kevin Hayes really the missing piece to the Stanley Cup puzzle? He hasn't been. As you said, he's a $7m third liner in 2 years. I sincerely hope the Rangers are not that short sighted. We shouldn't be moving young players into unnatural positions to accommodate Kevin Hayes -- who was relegated to the 4th line on a good team.

Zib, Strome, Chytil, Howden, Anderson. Why do we need a 6th center?

What is he even talking about? Nobody sits out while under contract.

Staal is infinitely more useful than Smith or Shattenkirk. ... I finally got a chance to read the article in full and it seems like Gorton was pretty straight forward about current roster players getting traded this summer. Something to the effect of "we have guys around the league that are pretty valuable" when talking about how much cap space there is ATM. To me that means Namestnikov, Vesey, Kreider, and maybe Fast are available. That's more of a list or warm bodies rather than hockey players, but I think if they can trim a few million here and there, the buyouts won't be as painful if/when they happen. What I see happening is they try to make some deals at the draft. If that falls through, they go into free agency with a plan. Depending on how that shakes out, they'll use the second buyout period to cut the dead weight before camp opens.

No thank you. Makes no sense to me. We have 5 centers looking for icetime. Potentially 6. And that's without Hayes in the mix. It's a fix for a short term problem.

Yikes. Kinda figured this would be the case though. I imagine, they'll have to include someone like Shattenkirk in a Kreider deal and take less back if that's something they're looking to do.