Leafs’ Legacy on The Line

Posted on May 16, 2025 by Derek

In just over a couple of hours, a big game will be played in Sunrise, Florida. The Panthers look to close out the Maple Leafs in the second round of the postseason. After falling behind two games to none, they’ve won three in a row to put the Leafs on the brink of elimination.

When the puck is dropped later tonight, the Leafs’ legacy will be on the line. After blowing a 2-0 series lead, they look to keep their Stanley Cup hopes alive in Game 6 of the Atlantic Division Final. The biggest question is how they will respond to the 6-1 humiliation that prompted a couple of disgusted Leafs fans to throw jerseys on the ice at Scotiabank Arena the other night.

The pivotal Game 5 was so uncompetitive that little used veteran Matt Murray replaced Joseph Woll following a goal from A.J. Greer that made it 5-0 with over 13 minutes left in the third period. The Leafs were so bad that the Panthers got contributions from other unlikely sources. Dmitry Kulikov, Jesper Boqvist, and Niko Mikkola all scored during a lopsided second period that led to the Leafs being booed off the ice.

It got even worse when Greer was allowed to put in a rebound as the Leafs just watched. Sam Bennett added further insult to injury by scoring a power-play goal to make it 6-0. Bennett has been public enemy number one after getting away with an elbow on starting goalie Anthony Stolarz back in the first period of Game 1. Stolarz has been out since with a suspected concussion. He also took a hard shot off the mask earlier in the game. Whether or not that caused the injury isn’t fully known. Bennett’s undetected elbow didn’t help matters. Even if he claimed wasn’t deliberate with Stolarz being a former teammate.

After he took over in net, Woll’s been good enough for the Leafs to win the hard-fought series. In the 2-0 loss in Game 4, he was superb making 35 saves on 37 shots to give his team a chance. The issue was the lack of offense, with both Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner being blanketed by a stingy Panthers defense that’s led by the trio of Aaron Ekblad, Gustav Forsling, and Seth Jones.

Matthews and Marner Must Deliver

It’s no secret that neither Matthews nor Marner have played well enough for the Leafs against the Panthers. If they’re to go into Florida and save their season, that must change starting tonight. Both Matthews and Marner must deliver in a pressure packed spot for the Leafs.

For whatever reason, Matthews has never scored a goal in the second round during his career. It’s just the second time that this Leafs core has advanced past the first round. The 27-year-old Leafs captain has struggled to produce in the series. Matthews enters Game 6 with only three assists in the second round. Despite leading them in shots (20), he hasn’t been able to finish. Even if something’s hindering him, he must have an impact on the biggest game for the franchise in quite some time.

Marner must rebound from an atrocious Game 5. With his team already trailing 2-0, he didn’t absorb a check and threw away a lazy backhanded pass into the neutral zone that led directly to Reinhart feeding a cutting Boqvist, who easily beat Marner to the net to make it 3-0. Normally a responsible two-way forward, Marner made two critical mistakes on the play, which drew the ire of Leafs Nation.

After starting well enough with all four of his points in the first three games, Marner has been held scoreless with only one shot over the last two. So much of what the big line does is due to his skating and creativity. When he’s engaged, the 28-year-old right wing is one of the game’s most dynamic players. His 75 assists and 102 points paced the team during the regular season. They need the best version of Marner to be successful.

Nylander and Rielly Leading the Way

Unlike Matthews and Marner, both William Nylander and Morgan Rielly have led the way for the Leafs. Their leading goal scorer during the season, Nylander has continued to produce with his three goals and three assists for six points pacing the Leafs in the second round. If there’s a big play to be made in tonight’s game, expect Nylander to be heard from.

Rielly has been right behind him. A good postseason performer, the offensive defenseman has posted two goals and two assists from the back end. He frequently jumps up on the rush and gets involved. While he hasn’t had the best defensive series, Rielly remains a good bet to score for the Leafs to send the series back to Toronto on Sunday.

Pacioretty’s Experience A Factor

When they signed him out of training camp, the Leafs were hoping that Max Pacioretty could supply some offensive support. The 36-year-old veteran has done better than expected. His goal and four assists give him five points in the series, which trails only Nylander.

Pacioretty has mostly played with Nylander and John Tavares on the second line. A hardnosed player who gets the jersey dirty, his experience has been a factor. With it being one of the final shots for him to be on a winner, Pacioretty will leave it all out on the ice tonight.

Tavares Needs to be Better

When he gave up the captaincy for Matthews, it was an unselfish move from Tavares. He’s been a good Leaf since signing with them seven years ago. A star player who flies under the radar due to all the attention Matthews and Marner receive, this could be his final game as a Maple Leaf.

So far in the second round, Tavares has a pair of goals which he got in a tough 5-4 overtime loss in Game 3. He hasn’t done anything else. When he decided to leave the Islanders for Toronto, it was with the hopes of leading his childhood team to its first Stanley Cup since 1967. A future Hall of Famer, here’s a chance for Tavares to show why he returned home. He’s never played in a bigger game.

Leafs Must Solve Bobrovsky Puzzle

If they’re to win tonight and force a deciding seventh game, the Leafs must solve Sergei Bobrovsky. Following a tough start to the series, in which he allowed 13 goals on 81 shots, he’s returned to form by only giving up one goal on 55 shots over the last two games. In fact, it took until there was 1:06 left for Nick Robertson to beat him to end his bid for a second consecutive shutout.

The Leafs didn’t start well in Game 5. Instead, they allowed the more confident Panthers to carry the play. Bobrovsky only faced six shots in the first period on May 14. Florida outshot Toronto 13-6, with Ekblad scoring the only goal to put the Leafs behind. Similar to Game 4, they chased the game, which played right into the Panthers’ hands.

A better start is required for the Leafs to have success on the road. If they can get to Bobrovsky early enough, then their fans who made the trip should be heard from throughout the game.

Leafs Flashback

It’s been 23 years since the Maple Leafs made a trip to the Conference Finals. Ironically, they came back from a 3-2 deficit to beat the Senators in the second round the last time it happened. That team went into Ottawa and came back to defeat the Senators 4-3 to win Game 6 on May 12, 2002. Led by a pair of goals from Game 6 hero Alexander Mogilny, the Leafs shut out the Senators 3-0 on May 14, 2002.

In another irony, the Hurricanes are waiting in the Eastern Conference Finals. When the Leafs last went that far, they were eliminated by the Hurricanes in six games that year. If they were somehow able to come back and beat the defending champion Panthers, it would set up a rematch 23 years later.

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Devils’ offseason begins with GM admitting changes are needed and coach calling their season average

Posted on May 8, 2025 by hasan4978

If you want to have a single takeaway from the 40-minute joint presser with GM Tom Fitzgerald and coach Sheldon Keefe, it’s that both are on the same page that this year while it wasn’t a disaster – also wasn’t satisfactory either. While the GM admitted that clearly the roster wasn’t good enough to win a Cup because they went out in five games in the first round, the coach was also closer to drilling down on my feelings when he said basically ‘we finished 16th out of 32 teams which is average, we don’t want to settle for being average’.

I was at least glad the question was asked why did things get worse right after Christmas, and Keefe gave the expected corporate answer of that being something we have to drill down on and look into. I do wonder why it took nearly a full two weeks after the playoffs for us to finally hear from both the GM and the coach when there was always going to be very little in terms of substantial news out of it. Besides the injury news – which I’ll get to in a moment – the most noteworthy tidbit was Fitz all but admitting that 2023 second-rounder Lenni Hameenaho was likely to be playing in North America next year.

Perhaps he’ll be part of the answer to the depth up front issue that clearly plagued the team this year even before the late-season injury to Jack Hughes, the Finnish winger put up twenty goals and fifty-one points in 58 games for his Finnish pro team this year and he’s obviously our most promising forward prospect at this point along with the recently signed Arseny Gritsyuk, a 2019 fifth-rounder only coming overseas for his first North American season next year after putting up seventeen goals and forty-four points in 51 games for his KHL team, a season just concluded a few weeks ago. Not sure if those two and/or retaining the likes of Cody Glass and Daniel Sprong will be enough to address the depth issue but it’s at least a hopeful start.

Injury-wise, no matter how bad you expect things to be after a full NHL season plus playoffs, they always wind up being worse than you fear with the latest examples being the revelations that Simon Nemec never truly healed from his offseason shoulder issue last year, and Jesper Bratt also had a shoulder procedure done. With Nemec, you wonder what this organization is thinking sometimes when it comes to player management…it’s one thing when you have guys playing through injuries while in the NHL lineup but why not have a surgery once he started the season off poorly and was demoted?

Never mind the injuries we already knew about, which were bad enough in addition to the confirmation that Johnny Kovacevic (knee surgery) wouldn’t be ready for camp which is four months away. In happier news, it does seem like Brendan Dillon’s neck injury shouldn’t be an issue by the beginning of camp. While neither Hughes brother met the media after the season for seemingly obvious reasons – injury rehab being the stated excuse, but I’m also sure nobody was sorry that they avoided the inevitable Quinn questions after Jim Rutherford’s silly comments this offseason – at least it seems like both should also be ready for camp.

How well the two Hughes we currently have will be able to stay healthy – given that both have had multiple shoulder problems already – is a severe question, but one that’s also kind of hard to really address. Clearly both will need to stay healthy for this team to make deep playoff runs in the future. Right now, it feels like this was just a wasted year with a wide-open Eastern Conference with the talented but mercurial Leafs seemingly the best bet to go to the Finals over a banged up Panther team and two decidedly mediocre Metro clubs.

I’ve thought about doing a deep dive on this team but it really won’t be anything I haven’t said in the majority of these blogs from December on. We need more from our forward group in the playoffs – while Nico Hischier clearly showed up and was the best player for the Devils, the Devils’ other top players either weren’t around, or just didn’t play like it enough during the Canes series and really going back to the 2023 playoffs as well. Maybe it wouldn’t have mattered this year with the Devils’ other issues, but they’ll need more from guys from Bratt (who was possibly inhibited by the deteriorating shoulder), Timo Meier and obviously good health from both Hughes brothers. Obviously we need to improve the depth up front at all levels of the organization.

They obviously need more consistent goaltending from Jacob Markstrom, who’s still under contract through next year and they have to make a decision on his backup given that Jake Allen is a UFA. Will next year finally be the one they entrust the backup role to one of the younger goalies like Nico Daws, or will they just re-sign Allen or another stopgap and essentially render Daws (who I believe is waiver-eligible next year) trade bait? Defensively don’t expect many changes there unless we do flip Dougie Hamilton, who’s got a comprehensive NTC, but even with him the transition game from the blueline needs to improve.

There aren’t seemingly many avenues to address this deficiency with the amount of defensemen – Hamilton, Kovacevic, Brett Pesce and Jonas Siegenthaler – signed to long term deals, not even including Luke, who hopefully will sign long-term soon himself. Dillon is also signed for the next two years, so there isn’t even really an open spot to retain playoff revelation Brian Dumoulin at the moment. If a change is made, it should be to open up a spot for Nemec somehow, after his return to last year’s form in the playoffs. Nemec alone might help the transition game but probably not enough, another change might need to come but again it’s hard to see where that comes from at the moment.

Fitz definitely has his work cut out for him…at least I didn’t have to pay attention to the NHL Draft Lottery this year, a lottery the Islanders somehow won but one without a clear standout player it would seem. Oh well, the time’s well past to hope for draft picks to be anything other than supplemental players and trade depth. We had a fast, speedy team two years ago and a slow, grittier team this year but we need to recalibrate and have some elements of both in the lineup. And also do a deep dive medically why this group seems to have so many doggone shoulder injuries.

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An Epic Conclusion to Memorable First Round for Stars and Jets

Posted on May 5, 2025 by Derek

On consecutive nights this past weekend, an epic first round concluded with a pair of memorable deciding Game 7’s that’ll be fondly remembered by both the Stars and Jets.

It was on Saturday night that the Stars and Avalanche squared off to determine who would advance to the second round. They’re still talking about the third period in hockey circles 48 hours later for plenty of reasons.

Mikko Rantanen put on a heroic performance to lead the Stars back from a two-goal deficit to stun the Avalanche with four unanswered goals to win 4-2 at a noisy American Airlines Center in Dallas. Following a Nathan MacKinnon tally 31 seconds into the third period that put the Stars behind by two, Rantanen took over the game by delivering a hat trick and assist to shock his former team.

It was earlier this year that Rantanen was dealt by the Avalanche to the Hurricanes for a package that included Martin Necas and Jack Drury. After deciding against signing long-term with the Hurricanes, Rantanen was traded to the Stars on Mar. 7 for Logan Stankoven, a pair of conditional first round picks and third round picks. After reaching a contract extension with the Stars, Rantanen suddenly played on a close division rival. Little did anyone know that he would wind up facing his former teammates who he helped win a Stanley Cup with in 2022.

With the Stars trailing the Avalanche 2-0, Rantanen started the comeback when he ripped a perfect wrist shot past Mackenzie Blackwood to cut the deficit in half with 12:11 remaining in the third period. The Avalanche still led by a goal and were on a power play, but Cale Makar took down Roope Hintz negate it.

Following a brief four-on-four, Rantanen turned on the after burners to tie the game. Taking a pass from Thomas Harley, he exploded into the Colorado zone and went by Ryan Lindgren before having his wrap-around deflect off the skate of Sam Girard to tie the score with 6:14 left. At that point, Rantanen’s two goals were already a clutch performance with his team facing playoff extinction. What happened next was even more startling.

Drury was called for holding Tyler Seguin with only 4:13 remaining. Back on the man-advantage, it took the Stars just 17 seconds to grab the lead. Rantanen started the play with a good pass down low for Matt Duchene, who then dished across for Wyatt Johnston, who scored the go-ahead goal from a tough angle to suddenly give the Stars a 3-2 lead with 2:56 left in regulation.

It was a stunning turn of events. With the Avalanche on a six-on-five, they were unable to force overtime. Instead, Esa Lindell and Seguin combined to clear the puck out of the zone ahead for Rantanen, who completed the third period hat trick into an open net with three seconds remaining as hats flew on the ice.

Rantanen’s three goals and assist over a 12:08 span flipped the script to send the Stars into the second round while eliminating the Avalanche. Even more remarkable, he recorded 11 points over the final three games for the most points ever recorded in Games 5-7 in a single playoff series in NHL history.

When asked about the handshakes with his former teammate by ESPN’s Emily Kaplan, he was very complementary and respectful. He has a lot of close friendships with the Avalanche, including captain Gabriel Landeskog, who came back from missing the last three regular seasons in the first round. They had a nice exchange during the traditional handshakes.

When asked specifically about it being Rantanen who scored the big goals including the hat trick that finished off his team, Landeskog pointedly said, “I could care less who it is.” His frustration was understandable. The Avalanche rented Brock Nelson from the Islanders. He finished with no goals and four assists. They also traded for Lindgren, who had three assists and a plus-five rating in the seven-game defeat. Necas finished with a goal and four helpers in the loss.

Jets Stun Blues Late in Regulation to Win in Double Overtime

If you thought what happened in Dallas was incredible, then what the Jets did on Sunday night was even more unbelievable. The Jets stunned the Blues late in regulation by scoring twice in the last two minutes with Connor Hellebuyck pulled for an extra attacker – leading to an improbable 4-3 win in double overtime to advance to the second round.

Hellebuyck had been front and center due to being pulled in all three Jets’ defeats at St. Louis. A great goalie who doesn’t have the best track record in the postseason, he gave up 16 goals on 66 shots on the road in the back and forth first round series against the Blues. There was even some discussion from people in the media who wondered if the Jets would be better off benching Hellebuyck in favor of backup Eric Comrie for Game 7. It was a ridiculous suggestion due to how much Hellebuyck has meant to the Jets this season. He’s the biggest reason that they won the Presidents’ Trophy. Hellebuyck is up for both the Hart and Vezina, with the latter he’ll win with ease for the third time in his career.

A bad start put the Jets behind early. Jordan Kyrou tapped in a Colton Parayko feed into an open net to give the Blues a 1-0 lead just 70 seconds into Game 7 in Winnipeg. Hellebuyck had no chance on that one. However, he allowed Mathieu Joseph to beat him unscreened to put the Jets in a two-goal hole to stun the home crowd. In fact, the Blues controlled the first period by outshooting the Jets 7-3.

On the power play halfway through the contest, Cole Perfetti got one back by neatly tipping in a Kyle Connor shot pass to make it 2-1. It wouldn’t be the last time Perfetti would be heard from.

Following Perfetti’s power-play tally, it was the Blues who responded with some more aggressive play in the Winnipeg zone. They were more dangerous and had the better of the puck possession. A costly mistake late in the period nearly derailed the Jets’ comeback hopes. Nik Ehlers couldn’t handle a tough pass in the neutral zone, leading to a turnover that the Blues quickly turned into a goal that put them ahead 3-1 with under 35 seconds remaining in the second period.

Nathan Walker picked up the loose puck and found Radek Faksa open for a shot that beat Hellebuyck upstairs to restore a two-goal lead. It was a save Hellebuyck needed to make to bail his team out. He didn’t come out and challenge. Complicating matters, Ehlers took a tripping minor with 30 seconds left to put the Blues on the power play. However, they were unable to capitalize at the start of the third period. That would prove pivotal.

With the Blues opting to sit back and protect a two-goal lead, they allowed the Jets to get some momentum. For most of the third, Jordan Binnington was making the big saves to keep the Jets at bay. Despite that, a very supportive crowd continued to chant, “Go Jets Go, Go Jets Go!!!” as it came down to crunch time.

Finally having to lift Hellebuyck for an extra attacker, the Jets got the big break they needed. On a Neal Pionk pass down low for Vladislav Namestnikov, he had his shot bank off Ryan Suter’s stick and in to make it a one-goal game with 1:56 left. Urged on by the Canada Life Centre fans, the Jets found a way to tie it in the waning seconds.

Jets coach Scott Arniel wisely decided not to pull Hellebuyck for a six-on-five at center ice following the Namestnikov goal. That proved to be the right decision due to the Blues having early puck possession. Hellebuyck finally came off when the Jets had the puck. The Blues had two opportunities to end it. Robert Thomas sent a shot wide for an icing. With approximately 45 seconds left, Pavel Buchnevich iced the puck. He could’ve skated it out. By icing it instead, that proved costly.

On what can best be described as a broken play full of chaos and desperation, an Adam Lowry backhand pass came back to Ehlers with time winding down. After fanning on his attempt, he sent the puck across for Connor, who made a brilliant shot pass for Perfetti to tip in with 1.6 seconds left, sending the arena into bedlam. Here’s how it looked and sounded in Winnipeg.

Astonishingly, the Jets scored twice with Hellebuyck on the bench in the final two minutes to force sudden death.

In the first overtime, they had 11 shots to the Blues’ four. Binnington made some big saves. On the flip side, the Blues had some close calls including a Gabe Vilardi giveaway that led to a goalpost. The top line with Thomas, Kyrou, and Buchnevich was dangerous in extras. But they were unable to connect due to some diligent backchecking from the Jets. The Blues pinched their defensemen, with Parayko missing wide.

Hellebuyck settled in and made a couple of crucial stops on Blues’ chances. He looked more relaxed. Both goalies were sharp in overtime. Binnington made a diving pad save to deny a bid. He was superb finishing with 43 saves, including 18 in sudden death. Unfortunately, it was a cruel fate for the gold medal-winning netminder of 4-Nations.

On what was the best Jets’ sustained pressure of the second overtime, they had the Blues pinned in on a great shift. Connor moved the puck over for workhorse Pionk, who played a game-high 46:15 due to Josh Morrissey exiting the game back in the first period due to an upper-body injury on a big hit. At the point, Pionk fired a wrist shot that changed direction off Blues forward Oskar Sundqvist, with the puck also deflecting off Lowry in front for the dramatic winner in double overtime at 96:10.

It was madness in Winnipeg as they celebrated one of the biggest wins in franchise history. For the first time in five years, they advanced to the second round. The Jets will take on the Stars in an exciting matchup.

Both teams have overcome injuries to reach this point. The Stars defeated the Avalanche without leading scorer Jason Robertson or top defenseman Miro Heiskanen. Both are expected back for the second round. The Jets battled through without top center Mark Scheifele and Morrissey. Scheifele missed the final two games of the first round. Along with Morrissey, his status is uncertain for the next round.

Panthers and Leafs Kick Off Second Round

The second round begins tonight with the Maple Leafs hosting the Panthers. It should be quite a battle between two excellent teams.

The Leafs have home ice due to winning the Atlantic Division. They’ll try to dethrone the defending champion Panthers, who looked all the way back in a five-game first round win over the Lightning. It promises to be a back and forth series.

On Tuesday night, the Capitals and Hurricanes get going in the Metropolitan Division Final. Out West, it’s the Golden Knights hosting the Oilers.

The Stars and Jets doesn’t start until Wednesday night.

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Rangers Name Sullivan 38th Coach in Franchise History

Posted on May 2, 2025 by Derek

A day after ESPN’s Emily Kaplan broke the story, the Rangers made it official by naming Mike Sullivan the new head coach. He becomes the 38th coach in franchise history.

A former assistant who served under John Tortorella, Sullivan returns to the organization a decade later as the leading man in charge. His greatest success came with the Penguins who he guided to back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017. After getting eliminated by the Capitals in the second round of the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Pens never made it out of the first round again. That included blowing a 3-1 series lead to the Rangers in 2022.

Despite having future Hall of Famers Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, Sullivan couldn’t get the Pens back to the postseason the past three years. Even though Crosby continues to defy logic by playing at a high level, the Pens have been in decline over that period. Malkin and Kris Letang aren’t the same players anymore. Neither is Erik Karlsson, who can still produce offensively but isn’t good defensively.

When Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas decided to part ways with Sullivan, it was the end of an era. After taking over for Mike Johnston and becoming the sixth coach in NHL history to be hired during mid-season and win the Stanley Cup, Sullivan lasted a decade in the Steel City. In 753 games as Penguins coach, he went 409-255-89 for a .602 win percentage, with two Stanley Cups and seven playoff appearances. Well respected by his peers including Crosby, who he has a strong relationship with, Sullivan moves on to a new challenge in the Big Apple.

Drury Gets His Guy

When Peter Laviolette was relieved of his duties following two seasons, it was no secret that Sullivan was at the top of Chris Drury’s list. Once he became available, the Rangers team president and general manager got his guy in quick fashion.

In a press release, Drury extolled the virtues of what made Sullivan the best choice for the job. “Mike Sullivan has established himself as one of the premier coaches in the NHL.

“Given his numerous accomplishments throughout his coaching career – including two Stanley Cups and leading USA at the international level, Mike brings a championship-level presence behind the bench. I’ve gotten to know Mike very well over the years, including as teammates at the 1997 World Championships, when he coached me as a player in New York and through our shared time working together with USA hockey.

As we began this process and Mike became an available option for us to speak with, it was immediately clear that he was the best coach to lead our team.”

It would seem that Drury wasn’t interested in anyone else. He could’ve waited for the Lightning season to end and see if assistant Jeff Halpern was available. The Lightning were eliminated by the Panthers on Wednesday night. Rather than find out about Halpern or any other top assistants who could be ready, Drury had to have Sullivan. At least he was their first choice.

Summer Plans

Sullivan will take over a team that’s coming off one of its worst seasons in recent memory. The Rangers went from winning the Presidents’ Trophy to failing to qualify for the postseason – dropping from a league best 114 points to 85 in one colossal failure.

Given the nature of breakup day, there’s no way it’ll be the same roster when they break training camp in September. The good news is that’s a long way off. Maybe some of the players can book tee times with the Devils now that they’re on summer vacation. All kidding aside, neither team can be satisified with how their seasons went.

While the Rangers and Devils watch from a nice location on a beach, the Hurricanes and Capitals will be doing battle to see which team advances to the Eastern Conference Finals. If you followed the first round, there’s only one way to root. Here’s hoping Tom Wilson sends noted diver Sebastian Aho overboard. It would be nice to see Alex Ovechkin make another run at the Cup. Since breaking Wayne Gretzky’s goal scoring record, he’s shown no signs of slowing down.

The winner between the Hurricanes and Caps will take on the winner of the Panthers and Maple Leafs. The Western Conference is all but decided except for one matchup. The Avalanche and Stars will meet in a deciding Game 7 on Saturday night. The Jets look to put away the Blues in Game 6 later tonight. The Golden Knights will meet the Oilers in the second round. I should’ve known better than to pick the Kings. Their coach really cost them big-time in that first round meltdown with that ridiculous coach’s challenge in Game 3. That swung the whole series.

Parssinen Extended Two Years

In a little business, aside from hiring Sullivan, the Rangers announced a two-year extension for Juuso Parssinen. Set to become a restricted free agent, he re-signed for a $1.25 million cap hit through 2027.

Originally acquired from the Avalanche as part of the Ryan Lindgren deal on Mar. 1, Parssinen recorded two goals and three assists for five points in 11 games with the Rangers. We’ll see if the 24-year-old center can find a home in New York City. He’s best suited in a checking role.

Moving Forward

Unlike the last time they replaced a coach, which was Gerard Gallant following a seven-game first round ouster to the Devils, the Rangers have moved forward very quickly.

What can another experienced coach with a championship pedigree accomplish with the roster? We know it won’t be entirely intact. Both Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad could be moving pieces this off-season. Kreider doesn’t hold all the chips like Zibanejad, who indicated that he wants to be here. He has a full no-movement clause. On the other hand, Kreider can be moved to any team that isn’t on his 16-team no-trade list.

For now, a lot will remain the same. The real drama won’t unfold until around the NHL Draft and July 1.

No Torts

Despite some reports indicating that Tortorella might also be rejoining the organization, that turned out not to be true. Indeed, there will be no Torts when Sullivan takes over behind the bench. Despite them having close ties, he won’t be part of Sullivan’s coaching staff.

Personally, I’d like to see Tortorella move upstairs for an organization. He’s a bright mind who knows the game inside out. If that doesn’t pan out, we could see Tortorella back on camera. He certainly doesn’t lack personality. His gig with ESPN was entertaining. What about a shot in the dark? Imagine Torts on MSG between periods. They’d never go for it.

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Micheletti Announces Retirement From Broadcast Booth

Posted on May 1, 2025 by Derek

Exactly two weeks after Sam Rosen broadcasted his final game for the New York Rangers on MSG Networks, partner Joe Micheletti announced his retirement from the broadcast booth.

After 19 seasons teaming up with Rosen to do Rangers games, Micheletti has decided to call it a career. Before getting the chance to work with Rosen, Micheletti also provided color commentary for the Islanders telecasts from 1998 through 2006. He originally worked with the legendary Howie Rose, who remains an iconic voice for his memorable call of Stephane Matteau’s winning goal against the Devils in double overtime of Game 7 of the 1993-94 Eastern Conference Finals. Rose still calls Mets games on the radio.

Prior to joining MSG Networks, Micheletti worked for the Blues as their radio analyst for two years when he broke into the industry in 1985. After serving as a Blues assistant coach for three seasons, he returned to the booth for the Minnesota North Stars in 1991-92. He then returned to the Blues where he served as a TV analyst from 1992-98. When he joined Fox Sports Net New York in 1998, it started a journey that would last the remainder of his career in the New York area.

After winning two national championships with the University of Minnesota in 1974 and 1976, Micheletti spent three seasons in the NHL as a defenseman for both the Blues and Colorado Rockies. After retiring, he became a fixture up in the booth. He also served as a reporter for the NHL On Fox.

Now 70, he decided now is the right time to call it quits. In many aspects, it feels fitting. A lighthearted and knowledgable person, he was more critical of the Rangers this past season. Like most fans, he saw the writing on the wall with the team’s performance. He remained an entertaining listen who worked well with Rosen, who himself always kept things light. In what turned out to be the final season of their outstanding careers, their patience was tested. It sure came out during games.

Kenny Albert Waiting in The Wings

As we’ve known for some quite some time, Kenny Albert is waiting in the wings to take over on the TV side for Rosen. The radio voice of the Rangers has the same winning personality as his predecessor. Albert currently is the lead voice of the NHL On TNT, which has the Stanley Cup Finals in June.

The question is who’ll replace Micheletti upstairs with Albert. The obvious candidates are Dave Maloney, and Brian Boyle. Maloney has worked well with Albert on the radio side for two decades. Boyle did well in his first season analyzing games on MSG. He brings a lot of knowledge and experience. His heavy criticism of the Rangers and most specificially Mika Zibanejad was loud and clear on the most recent Up In The BlueSeats podcast. Boyle would be a good choice if they decide to keep Maloney on the radio with replacement Don LaGreca.

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Devils’ season ends once again in Raleigh, fittingly in excruciating fashion

Posted on April 30, 2025 by hasan4978

Never has such an inevitable result been more annoying, other than I suppose the 2008 playoffs where we lost in five games to a Ranger team we couldn’t even beat in open play during eight games of the regular season that year. Yes, we lost in five games to Carolina which was exactly what I predicted before the series – but the way three of these last four games played out was just an organization that gets off on trolling us doing it once again in epic fashion. All of these last four games were there for the taking to be honest, sure you can say ‘if we had a healthy lineup’ or ‘if Fitz hadn’t done such a pathetic job in maintaining depth up front’ but those are far from the only reasons Devil fans are going to be plagued with a severe case of what-ifs this offseason.

I would like nothing more than to write ‘only’ a season postmortem and just be done with it at this point, but Game 5 was so ridiculous you have to talk about it. Even if I didn’t actually start watching it until almost all the goals were scored last night. I did have a rec league event I was going to go to at 9 PM (which wound up getting canceled) that was a convenient excuse for me to avoid the start of Game 5. With the reports that both Brett Pesce and Jonas Siegenthaler were doubtful for the game, I started wondering about the viability of having an emergency backup defenseman (EBUD), the way all teams are required to have an emergency backup goalie (EBUG). I figured this team was done after the way they flatlined in Game 4 with the game available for the taking, and maybe we would all have been better off if Game 5 was the housing a lot of us expected.

What transpired was actually far worse.

When I got the updates of the Devils going up 1-2-3 to nothing in the first period inside the first ten minutes I was mystified. It all of a sudden looked like the Devils got yet another second wind with their backs to the wall the way they did in Game 3. But to be up three inside of ten minutes at Raleigh? That smelled like a Canes no-show (or us taking advantage of their young backup goalie, if not both) and apparently Jordan Staal said as much after the first period. On our first goal, Dawson Mercer did what few forwards have done in this series – go to the front of the net and tip a goal past Pyotr Kochetkov. It was almost fitting Mercer had his moment of resembling a top-line hockey player while I wasn’t watching given what happened later, but I digress.

A suddenly fired up Timo Meier doubled the Devils’ lead at 5:31 with a hard wrister down low, and then egged on the booing crowd (obviously the homers there want to blame him for being checked into Freddie Andersen, injuring their starter) by asking for more. Love that you’re finally engaged after that crap call woke you up in Game 4 buddy, but this is what we’ve seen too little of from you the last three years. Speaking of waking up, after being a complete net negative in the first four games, ex-Cane Stefan Noesen finally woke up and scored an ‘almost’ power play goal, going to the front and tipping another past Kochetkov just as our man advantage expired. It would be the closest we would get to a power play goal all series, but it was still good enough to give us a 3-0 lead.

At that point I made a huge mistake and texted my friend I was suddenly looking for what time Friday’s game would start and he lectured me. Why do I do these things lol…I mean this is Carolina, Troll HC. Not that I thought the game was literally over after ten minutes, but I at least wanted to start preparing for the possibility I’d be going back to the Prudential Center Friday and was hoping the start time wouldn’t be too late. Our undermanned defense had played well through the balance of the series and Jacob Markstrom couldn’t have a second straight clunker of a game in a row, right? Right?!

My last update before I started driving to Dover was when the game was 3-0 but we’d been supposedly game managed into a lousy penalty call, ergo had to kill a penalty to start the second period. I didn’t see it but can’t really doubt it at this point, the Canes have always had ‘favored son’ status in the NHL and I don’t really get it. It’s one thing when you’re trying to establish a market down there, but that market’s already been established and it’s not like they have a lot of marquee players that’ll sell ratings points in the second round of the playoffs. Maybe it was just a bad call for the sake of making a bad call but it sounds like there were more than one in the middle part of the game.

Anyway I didn’t have the radio on or look at any updates at all, so I half gasped when I finally arrived and saw the score was 4-3 Devils and Carolina had scored the next three goals with the game still in the middle of the second period. And then further rolled my eyes when one of my other friends (who has a two-year old daughter) texted me 4-4, I’m going to bed now. At that point I was thankful I’d stayed away from watching the game and just wanted the season to end. Because let’s be honest, even if the series had gone into Game 6 or Game 7 then the trolls in Carolina would have just found a way to annoy us as much as possible, like Lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown.

From reading stuff online after my event was canceled and I got home in time for the slog that was the latter part of the third period and OT, it quickly became obvious Jacob Markstrom was a main culprit in the Devils’ second period meltdown. Once I saw the highlights, I knew why. Maybe goal #1 wasn’t the worst in the world to allow, but you’d like better puck control/recognition on the initial Logan Stankoven shot that Taylor Hall found on the goalline and tapped it in just as the Canes’ PP was ending. Goal #2 however was completely inexcusable by any metric – a weak wraparound attempt by Jackson Blake that turned the Canes’ spasm into a surge and completely flipped momentum.

From then on, it was like a boulder rolling downhill. Evidently coach Sheldon Keefe had that same fear, using his timeout to try to stem the tide. Unfortunately, it didn’t work and Andrei Svechnikov tied the game with a wrister through traffic at 5:40 of the period. Three goals on three shots, sorry – not good enough for a guy who’s supposed to be one of our strengths, especially after the way he stunk in Game 3. Had I been watching I would have been aghast why Keefe didn’t pull him for Jake Allen. I mean Pete DeBoer actually did this with Martin Brodeur in the playoffs when Marty was in the midst of melting down during Game 3 against Florida. And like 2012 with Johan Hedberg, we had a vet goalie on the bench. But what’s the point of having a vet goalie on the bench if you’re not even going to go to him when the starter sinks two games in a row? I saw at 4-4 he hadn’t been pulled yet and was shocked.

You have to say that decision (or non-decision) ‘worked’ in asmuch as Markstrom played well after that point, but unlike some I really don’t give him any credit for playing well when the horse was out of the barn. Not when the team is a corpse by then and you are one of the biggest reasons why. Shockingly the Devils actually did re-take the lead after blowing the three-goal edge in near record time, with Nico Hischier finding an open area in the slot and beating Kochetkov for his fourth goal of the series. Not-so-shockingly we gave it right back, with an assist from the refs handing the Canes a 5-on-3 with a dubious call and Sebastian Aho predictably scored to tie the game again. This all happened in barely over eleven minutes of real game action.

Ironically when I did get home after finding my event was canceled and was resigned to watching the end of the Devils’ season there was no more action through the end of regulation, or the first OT. Well there was action all right but it was completely tilted toward our defensive end of the ice. All told, Carolina outshot us 34-12 after the second period, including 19-4 in the two OT’s. And after each Markstrom save that kept our corpse alive, I only got madder that he couldn’t make simple stops earlier in the game and we wouldn’t even be in this fix. We would have already been planning for Game 6 with three days’ rest for a tired group of skaters clearly running on empty now.

My only hope for the second OT was they’d find yet another second wind and the Canes would start to tire from their relentless pressure. And the Nico line did have a good first shift of OT, but then we were torpedoed again due to utter stupidity from an expected source – Mercer, whose inexcusable double major on a high sticking basically sealed the expected result on a silver platter. I figured the goal would come either within five seconds of the power play starting, or within it ending for maximum troll effect. It was closer to the latter as the Devils actually killed off the first part of the major, but inexorably Aho would score the winner ending one of the most joyless ‘good’ seasons I’ve ever experienced as a fan.

Maybe I’ll do a proper season recap/postmortem once cleanout day happens, or breakup day, whatever it’s called when every player and exec gives their final season interviews as the team cleans out its lockers. Normally I avoid this stuff like the plague but I am kind of anxious to hear about the extent of some of these injuries with rumors all over the place about Luke Hughes having surgery and Brendan Dillon potentially having an even more serious injury than that. Without grading individual players (that might come later) it has to be said for the most part this team deserves credit for responding to adversity in this series. Ironically, it’s prosperity they didn’t handle too well throughout the series – caving in with the Game 2 lead, losing a two-goal lead in Game 3, failing to capitalize on momentum in Game 4 and well we just went through the worst of them all.

Still, if Game 3 was a credit to the team and you can’t really fault their effort in this series, you do wonder why they can’t show this fight more consistently? Even the MSG postgame pointed out how different the record was up until late December and after it. Why was our supposedly stable veteran goalie so up and down this season and this series? Not that Allen was great down the stretch either, and he’s one of many decisions Tom Fitzgerald has after the season as he’s a free agent and the Devils have younger goalies who could potentially be Markstrom’s backup next year.

On the one hand I don’t envy Fitz since this is a pivotal offseason, on the other he’s trying to clean up messes he for the large part made, specifically the lack of center depth and general forward depth as well as the lack of mobility + transition on the blueline. You would have liked to see more from the non-Nico forwards in this series but you can’t really ask for AHL scrubs and over-the-hill vets to do more. If I felt like I had famous last words last night with my ill-fated text, so did Fitz himself when he said either before the season or early in the season that scoring wasn’t an issue. Scoring was absolutely an issue considering the team was 19th in goalscoring (fewest of any playoff team outside of the Wild) and much of that was even before Jack Hughes’ injury.

For now though, I’m just tired of this team – tired of the excuses for an underachieving group the last two years or of watching over the hill/underachieving players and tired of having to contend with such an unrealistic spate of injuries on the blueline that if it happened in a video game I’d be adjusting sliders! Most of all, I’m just tired of losing to this organization which gets off trolling on us. Even with our issues, most of these games were there for the taking so clearly a healthy Devils team would have had a good shot at winning the series – provided the overhyped goalie didn’t still sink them anyway.

Aside from a few guys like Nico, Pesce and even Brian Dumoulin who was a revelation in this series (albeit one who’s UFA this offseason, one of Fitz’s many big decisions), I’m just tired and frustrated with almost everyone else in a Devils uniform or a suit upstairs for different reasons. Like I said, I may have a postmortem in a couple days once breakup day happens or maybe it’ll be more of a postmortem/offseason preview closer to the start of the draft/FA. If there’s anything particularly noteworthy coming out of breakup day it’ll perhaps be the former, if not it’ll likely be see you in a couple months for the latter.

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Devils revert back to form early in Game 4, run out of gas late in a 5-2 loss

Posted on April 28, 2025 by hasan4978

Fifty-two seconds…that’s all it took for all the good vibes of Game 3 and the fans’ energy in the pregame to evaporate. Fifty-two lousy seconds for Carolina to dominate us on the first shift, for Dougie Hamilton to make a critical mistake with a failed clearance keeping him and Jonas Siegenthaler on the ice for a longer shift and for the Devils to never recover the puck until Andrei Svechnikov’s seeing eye shot was fished out of the net, stunning everyone with a quick 1-0 lead before you could sit down with your beer stick at the arena (not that I did this, but those things are cute I have to admit haha).

If any first shift ever set a tone for a game, it was that shift yesterday. Both in showing that Carolina was more ready to play yesterday than they were in Game 3, and in showing that we were again going to have a flat start, not exactly uncommon with this group but just more inexcusable under the circumstances. Sure, I had the fear that we’d run out of energy after that adrenaline-filled OT win the other night, but I didn’t expect the team to actually come out as if they were satisfied with winning one game in the series and shooting our load.

That apathy from both team and crowd carried over through the first period, with Jacob Markstrom giving up a clunker of a short-side goal to Jaccob Slavin following a brutal Stefan Noesen turnover, showing we weren’t going to get any help from ‘Marky’ either yesterday. From 1-20 on the roster, that first period was as poor an effort as anything the Devils showed us in a brutal second half but for the first time in a while, it was a bit disappointing coming just after a heroic effort on Friday. Getting a grand total of three shots in the first period is just not going to cut it, I don’t care if Carolina had Freddy Andersen in net or Freddy Krueger. By the time an ice-cold Svechnikov got his second of the game with a tip in on a power play (of course) early in the second period, I was actually planning an early exit. For all the world this looked like Game 4 two years ago where the Canes responded to a bleh effort 2-0 up by running us out of the building, while this Game 4 looked like a fitting coda for a disappointing team.

Of course the Devils being the Devils, it wasn’t bad enough just to lose – they had to throw in a big tease on top of it that only served to annoy me even more over the start of the game. Even as Nico Hischier scored his third goal of the series to cut the deficit to 3-1, I figured we would give up more goals anyway and be unlikely to score the 4 or more we’d need to win the game. Then came a sequence that could have turned the game if we had more of an offensive attack, a sequence that started when ironically Svechnikov made his one misstep of the game by pushing Timo Meier into Andersen, injuring his starting goaltender for the rest of the game at least.

While the refs enraged the building by calling a five-minute major on Timo, eventually the call was overturned upon review as Toronto did its job thankfully. Making all the supposed criticism of Timo not getting a penalty during the intermission even more annoying. I was at the game so I didn’t hear it but memo to the studio…a penalty was called and was overturned after video showed Timo didn’t initiate contact with Andersen. Perhaps he went a step too far into the crease before that, but it’s very rare these days to call goaltender interference unless the skater actually initiates contact, which didn’t happen here.

Anyhow, not only did the play take out Carolina’s starting goalie but also fired up Timo, who almost immediately scored on his next shift, albeit with his worst shot of the series, a turnaround wrister from the boards that somehow went in past Pyotr Kochetkov to cut the deficit to one, and end all my talk about leaving early to join my friends for an impromptu game night (planned after I’d already decided to take the train from South Orange to save money on the inflated parking prices at the arena).

At this point, we had the momentum and the crowd back. Unfortunately what we didn’t have…was the talent or the legs to keep the pressure on Carolina’s shaky young goaltender, who only had to make fourteen saves in just over thirty-five minutes, many of them not very hard shots at all. Still, the Devils were hanging by a thread in the game through the second and much of the third period…until Markstrom gave up his second clunker of the night, starting off his own turnover and ending with an unscreened trickler through him as he completed his hero to zero arc in two nights. Svechnikov sealing matters with a hat trick goal was a fitting coda to a disappointing game, if not the entire second half of the season.

On the plus side, at least I made it for the last hour of my friends’ game night, despite wasting an hour after the game waiting for the next train back to South Orange (I hadn’t really cared about that possibility when it didn’t seem like I was going anywhere else after the game anyway). From that standpoint at least the night wasn’t a total loss.

As far as the team goes, of course there’s still at least one more game to be played. And as much as I can’t stand Carolina and want to see us put one over on them, I know that’s not really going to happen at this point – even with how underwhelming they look, our problems on and off the ice are just so pronounced at this point part of me just feels like let’s just get put out of our misery here and not have to bother with going to another game Friday which will likely be another letdown even if they somehow find a way to win tomorrow in a building they’re 1-13 in their last fourteen playoff games.

While Friday’s game to quote my arena friend ‘was a nice reward for us fans for suffering through the difficult second half of the season’, yesterday’s game was a reminder of both just how difficult the second half was and how unlikely a revival is now without any of our three injured defensemen (or Jack Hughes) coming back anytime soon it would seem.

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Devils’ dramatic 3-2 OT win over Carolina provides a reprieve and ray of hope

Posted on April 26, 2025 by hasan4978

As someone who’s been down on this team for months and really the better part of two years, I have to agree with the coach here…last night was nothing short of a heroic display of grit and determination at home. Not just because the Devils finally ground out a 3-2 win in double OT but because of the circumstances surrounding the game – while we did get some unexpectedly good news with a surprise return of Jonas Siegenthaler for Game 3, it was also pretty well timed considering we were already going to be short Brendan Dillon and Luke Hughes on the blueline after their respective Game 2 injuries, then on top of that lost Jonathan Kovacevic at some point late in the first period last night to an undisclosed injury, he wouldn’t return so the Devils played with five defensemen for more than three full periods last night.

Playing shorthanded with essentially three top six defensemen out of the lineup and another one who was supposed to be on a shift count with a lack of conditioning, things looked bleak even after we came out on the front foot in the first period and Nico Hischier scored the opening goal, seemingly willing the puck past Frederik Andersen to get the sellout crowd back out of their seats waving the towels.

A moment about the crowd and the atmosphere, while I definitely think there were…tense moments at times, for the most part everyone stayed in the game and stayed around even as the game got extended deep into the night. I also think the team or media department – I never really know who to credit with stuff like this – did a good job with the intro video. While the music wasn’t quite as goosebump inducing as the 2012 video, the rest of it was well done and the small lights around the arena to add ambiance certainly helped as well.

My exact comment to a friend via text – ‘we can’t waste this intro on a two and done’ meaning us being done after two home games. Which is what I feared before last night (and could very well still happen). Back to the point though…the atmosphere was as electric as you’d expect with a Friday night playoff game, in spite of the peril of being down 2-0 with major injuries throughout the lineup. Aside from Siegenthaler, who heroically played twenty-seven minutes last night in his first game back with only a couple of interference penalties to critique, showing his rust with timing. I do kind of wish they’d put him in the starting lineup for a little extra juice during intros but I get it, maybe they were worried he could get too excited.

Although we were ahead after the first period, the aforementioned Kovacevic injury dampened my mood a bit when my friend told me he was out, and my exact text back was great, we have basically 4.5 defensemen with Siegs ostensibly on a shift count and one of them is (Simon) Nemec who sucks. Yes, I’m telling on myself a bit here – to be fair to myself, I didn’t think he started off too well in Game 3 with a couple of early turnovers either but to Nemec’s credit he did settle in, perhaps taking a regular shift and knowing he couldn’t get the hook upped his confidence level a bit with dramatic results at the end.

Back to the game though, things looked as bad as I feared they could get the first twelve minutes of the second period with Carolina making their expected push, but thankfully Jacob Markstrom was up to the task yet again, along with some well-timed shotblocking by Brian Dumoulin and Brett Pesce. Dumoulin actually wound up leading the team with 36:24 played, and finished with a +2 to boot. Of course everyone on the Devils was either a plus something or even – but I’ll get to why later. Pesce put in another determined game with 32:30 and credited with six blocks (Dumoulin just behind him with five). Again to their credit, the Devils settled in and kept the score unchanged through the second intermission.

While I don’t always follow the advanced stats and think they’re accurate, if you look at Markstrom’s numbers, they pretty well match with the eye test so far this series. Still, I didn’t think one goal would cut it unless Markstrom literally had a 35-40 save game. We were going to need a second one, one that should have been scored by Timo Meier (and I thought had been scored but waved off due to a whistle after a long netmouth scramble, it wasn’t until I saw the replay that I realized to my disbelief it was actually saved).

I can’t even feel sorry for him at this point, dude just hasn’t done one thing right this series really although he also doesn’t get any breaks when it comes to the refs either. From the headbutt by Brent Burns in Game 2 that got missed to being tripped in the third period on a play that was similar to a call on Dougie Hamilton in the first that wasn’t called for him in the third it seems like the refs are just as down on Timo as Devils fans are! At least the refs didn’t decide the game last night though, and actually showed some balls giving Carolina two OT penalties when I was rolling my eyes at the people around me demanding penalties in OT thinking the refs would never call crap at this point.

If Timo couldn’t get the Devils a much-needed insurance goal, Dawson Mercer did early in the third. Unlike the Timo miss, this was a goal I actually couldn’t see go in the net, I just saw the puck at the side of the net after the play was over and was puzzled we were celebrating (now seeing the replay I understand why), but hey I’ll take it!

Even a negative nancy like me felt at a certain point we had it at 2-0 with the way the team was playing five-on-five. It was really one of the best games I’ve seen at five-on-five all season, which is saying something given the circumstances. I was feeling good right up until Siegenthaler’s interference penalty at 5:05 put us on the PK, without one of our main PK defensemen. The results were predictable with a quick one-two by Sebastian Aho and Seth Jarvis through the middle of the Devils’ defense (Hamilton and Pesce) setting up the latter to score and then it was fingernail-biting time again. That shift and a delay-of-game penalty several minutes later were the only missteps from Pesce in an otherwise brilliant game, unfortunately the latter also proved costly as our compromised PK was again unable to shut down their 26th ranked PP. This time it only took ten seconds and Markstrom even made the first save on this sequence before Aho scored the tying goal.

Now I was annoyed…not the least of which was the now likelihood of OT where both me and my arena friend feared their healthy lineup would eventually grind us down. Of course, we did get to OT but only after another heroic save by Markstrom at the end of regulation which could very well have been another ‘Hurricane playoff moment’ at the end of a regulation game.

Apparently, the Devils got the memo about coming out fast, but much to my surprise they kept coming throughout the entire OT period and it was Carolina who looked the more tired team (perhaps due to not having the desperation factor we did). As I told my friend in the first intermission, we were great for sixteen minutes of the period, it’s just the four we were on the power play that we sucked. Yes, the power play of doom, which seems to know only one way to play, pass around the perimeter and look for the perfect play even without two of their key cogs on the PP. You would think at some point we would just dumb it down a bit, try to just get shots on net, traffic in front and all the other hockey cliches you want to use. Carolina’s league-leading PK has caught on to our too-fancy style and snuffed out our once-mighty PP to an alarming level in this series barely allowing a shot on each OT power play we shockingly got.

Despite our hideous special teams, we were still one shot away from winning it. While I wasn’t sure we could keep up our pace from the first OT by this point a strange thing happened…I was actually starting to both enjoy the actual game itself, and revel in the length of it. Admittedly, my original plan before the game was to leave if the game went past the first OT since I hadn’t slept well lately and didn’t really want any part of a no-sleep night for a series that was hanging on a wing and prayer in terms of actually staying competitive. Last night’s effort pretty much compelled me to stick it out though, not to mention the realization that I hadn’t actually sat through a multi-OT game since the team played at the Meadowlands when Jamie Langenbrunner beat Ottawa in a series where that wound up being our only win. I vaguely remember not wanting to go to Game 5 when we were down 3-1 in that series because I wanted that game to be the last one I was at in East Rutherford.

Fortunately everyone’s best efforts – team and fans – got rewarded last night thanks to an unlikely hero, the aforementioned Nemec who channeled Scott Niedermayer with practically an end-to-end rush through the Canes’ defense for a stunning goal.

Also give credit to Justin Dowling whose turnover just before that sequence led to the Devils getting the puck, and the 21-year old who’s been under fire from within and without did the rest, finally reminding us of the promise he seemed to show last year while the team as a whole reminded us last night of why we’ve had such high expectations of both this franchise’s present and future. Things in the present still seem cloudy at best, but for one night at least it was fun to be a Devils fan again. Sort of like a standalone episode in a series – the unexpected feel-good story in an otherwise serious drama show. I’m still not expecting to win the series or even be close, but at least I got home in enough time to get seven hours’ sleep and I’ll be at tomorrow’s game now. And if we ever win that one, well…

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Boyle rips into Zibanejad on Up In The Blue Seats

Posted on April 24, 2025 by Derek

In the world of podcasts, there’s a pretty good one that’s hosted by Rangers beat writer Mollie Walker of the NY Post. Up In The Blue Seats also features NY Post hockey columnist Larry Brooks and former Ranger Brian Boyle.

A couple of days following breakup day on what was one of the most agonizing seasons in recent memory, the trio discussed what went wrong. In particular, Boyle didn’t hold back, criticizing the team and ripping into Mika Zibanejad. A member of the Black and Blueshirts, which was coined by Brooks to describe the hardnosed approach those teams took last decade, Boyle pulled no punches in going after the softest Rangers roster in quite some time.

In response to Brooks asserting that it was the most sensitive group he’s ever been around, Boyle interjected: “They continually got exposed from the start of the season on. And to Larry’s point, this is a soft hockey team. And that’s not what you want to be called. It’s the worst thing you could say.

“And to further Larry’s other point, there’s zero personality on the team. They just botted it up. … You can’t be so hypersensitive that if you make a mistake, you don’t address it. Like, get harder. Physically, mentally, everything.”

Boyle then called out Zibanejad for his lethargic play during an uninspired first half that saw him struggle psychologically. He admitted that all of the noise became a distraction. While that was true, he didn’t come close to giving the kind of consistent effort that was required of him. Instead, he looked lost. His lack of production really hurt the team.

“And if this is the way they want to go and we need more communication with management, I don’t know what Glen Sather’s doing ever,” he pointedly said while raising his voice.

“Coach, tell me what to do and then I’ll try to go do that. You want to give me more stuff? What we’re going to do with the salary cap for next year. Or how we are going to trade this guy and bring this guy up? That’s not your job. Your job is to play center ice and score goals and be a power play guy and you’re a leader. You wear a letter on this team.

It doesn’t matter what management is doing. You can’t worry about that. Worry about your teammates and that’s it. What the coach is telling you to do. And that is it. That’s all you can worry about because it’s hard enough.”

Brooks also summed up how most fans felt watching them. “It was the least enjoyable team that I ever covered. This team just turtled and went into the fetal position whenever any adversity struck. It’s the most sensitive group I’ve been around. Those were the 2024-25 Rangers.”

To catch the full episode, watch it on YouTube below. They went over how bad this team was for an hour. That’s a lot more time than they were worth. Kudos to Walker, Brooks, and Boyle for all the hard work they put in. Unlike the team, they didn’t mail it in.

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Pressure is on Drury following contract extension

Posted on April 23, 2025 by Derek

Can the NHL go a couple of days without the Rangers making headlines? At this rate, I wouldn’t bet on it. Two days after breakup day following a disappointing season without making the playoffs, they’re in the news again.

Earlier today, the Rangers announced that they’d signed team president and general manager Chris Drury to a multiyear contract extension. If there were any hopeful fans who actually thought he’d be gone, they probably also believe in the tooth fairy.

It’s no secret that Drury has a close relationship with Garden CEO James Dolan. Dolan, who oversaw the firing of coach Peter Laviolette, still thinks that Drury is the best person for the job. So, he got some job security. Now, it’s on Drury to get the hiring of a new coach right and overhaul a roster that became stale.

“I am pleased that Chris will continue to lead the Rangers hockey operations in his role as President and General Manager,” Dolain said in a press release. “Over his tenure, Chris has shown passion for the Rangers, relentless work ethic, and a tireless pursuit of excellence. While we are all disappointed in what transpired this past season, I am confident in his ability to guide this organization to success.”

Right now, the Rangers are a laughingstock. Other fans of rivals are making jokes at their expense. Even across the Hudson when the Devils find themselves in a 2-0 series deficit to the Hurricanes, some of their fans can’t contain their excitement for what’s going on at 33rd and 7th. Unless they find some offense in time for Game 3, they’ll be joining our team on the golf course soon.

Be that as it may, the calendar hasn’t even changed to May yet. Drury has his work cut out for him. The Rangers went from a league-leading 114 points to 85 in one year, subtracting captain Jacob Trouba, alternate captain Barclay Goodrow, former number two pick Kaapo Kakko, and key defenseman Ryan Lindgren. Only Goodrow changed locations before the season, with Drury making a prearranged waiver deal with the Sharks to claim him last summer. Jimmy Vesey also went with Lindgren in the roster purge that did little to improve the team. Even the key addition of J.T. Miller wasn’t enough to get them into the postseason.

While Drury is still in Dolan’s good graces, all this does is up the ante. Nobody is satisfied with the season they just had. Dolan lost a lot of gate revenue, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise for season ticket holders. They were set to raise the ticket prices again despite how underwhelming the team was. The cost for each round of the playoffs was absurd. At least, loyal fans saved money this time. Had they somehow squeaked in, the Rangers would’ve had no shot against the Caps in the first round. At least the Canadiens can compete. If Game 1 was any indication, that could be a closer series than first thought.

What lies ahead is finding the right coach who can get whoever’s left on the roster to buy into becoming a much tougher team. It’ll be the third coaching hire of Drury’s tenure running the organization. The two-year plan they’ve been on isn’t sustainable. The team’s lack of consistency further explains how they went from two appearances in the Conference Finals to getting good coaches dismissed in record time.

The onus is on Drury to get it right this time. That’ll include some tough decisions on restricted free agent K’Andre Miller, and well-respected veterans Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider. The latter two could wind up getting moved. If he’s looking to free up enough room to make an impact move that can improve the roster, Drury will have to have a long sit down with Zibanejad, who holds a full no-movement clause on a contract that pays him an $8.5 million cap hit. He didn’t suffer from any injuries like Kreider, who clearly was a shadow of the player who averaged over 37 goals the past two seasons before dropping down to 22 goals in 68 games.

There are more decisions to make, with Will Cuylle due to a significant raise from his entry-level contract. Forwards Adam Edstrom, Matt Rempe, Arthur Kaliyev, and Juuso Parssinen are all restricted free agents. Defensemen Zac Jones and Matthew Robertson are as well.

Whatever transpires this summer, it won’t mean a thing until we see how the Rangers perform next season. There will be a lot more pressure on both the GM and the players. It should be an interesting off-season.

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