Battle Of Hudson covers the Rangers and Devils, who's intense rivalry heated up in the 90's. With fresh faces added, they battle for supremacy in NYC and NJ..
When we last discussed the Rangers, they lost in overtime to the Mammoth on Monday to remain at 46 points, which dropped them to seventh in the Metropolitan Division. It’s still where they are as they return to home ice with the resurgent Sabres visiting Madison Square Garden later tonight.
The game three days ago proved to be costly with Rangers’ stars Igor Shesterkin (left leg) and Adam Fox (lower-body) suffering injuries that will keep them out of action for a while. Shesterkin was hurt on a play in the first period when he fell awkwardly due to minimal contact with Mammoth forward J.J. Peterka with seven minutes left. He had to be helped off the ice.
Fox must’ve gotten banged up at some point later on because he played over 23 minutes before missing the first two shifts of overtime. Without him, the Rangers gave up the winner to Jordan Spence on a nice backdoor feed from Nick Schmaltz. On Tuesday, Fox was again placed on the long-term injured reserve, which means he must miss at least the next 10 games. That same day, Shesterkin was put on the injured reserve.
The Rangers recalled 30-year-old journeyman goalie Spencer Martin and defense prospect Scott Morrow from Hartford. Martin will serve as the backup for tonight’s game behind Jonathan Quick, who’ll get most of the workload until further notice. It should be a lot for the 39-year-old future Hall of Famer to handle. Especially given the current state of the roster, which will be without their best defenseman for probably the rest of the month.
Out of the 10 games they’ll play, six will come against teams they’re battling with in the Eastern Conference. The Sabres enter play with 48 points in 41 games, which is three less than the Rangers. Due to winning 11 of their last 12, Buffalo trails Pittsburgh by a point for the second wild card. The Pens are in action against the Devils, who have been a train wreck lately. They’re tied in points with the Rangers but have played one fewer game. For them to actually give themselves a realistic chance at the postseason, the Rangers have to start winning consistently. They only have 13 regulation wins, which are the second least in the East.
After the Sabres, they visit the Bruins for a Saturday matinee on ABC. During the upcoming stretch, they’ll play Boston twice, Ottawa, Philadelphia, and then have a home-and-home with the Islanders, who currently sit in second behind Carolina. If Fox only misses 10 games, he would be eligible to come off the LTIR on Jan. 29 for the home part of the back-to-back against their bitter rival.
Right now, that’s a long way off. There are lot of games that’ll be played between now and then. There are four games out of conference with the Kraken visiting MSG on Jan. 12. After they visit the Flyers on Jan. 17, they’ll head to the Pacific Coast to face Anaheim, Los Angeles, and San Jose between Jan. 19-23.
Miller Returns to Lineup
After missing seven games due to an upper-body injury he sustained on Dec. 20 against the Flyers, J.T. Miller returns to the lineup.
The Rangers only won twice (2-3-2) without him. Those two wins came in games when they scored at least three goals or more in blowouts over the Caps and Panthers. For an offensively challenged team, they do pretty well when they get three or better, with a 17-2-1 record. Five of the 17 wins came in overtime or a shootout.
When asked by Vince Mercogliano of The Athletic about why he prefers to use Miller on the wing instead of at center, Rangers head coach Mike Sullivan indicated that he likes having different options on faceoffs while also feeling that he and Vincent Trocheck have chemistry.
With Laba still out, I asked Sullivan why prefers Miller on the wing vs. using him, Zibanejad and Trocheck down the middle. He said he believes JT is "capable in both positions," but he likes the chemistry he's shown with Trocheck + having the lefty-righty faceoff options on the…
If they went more conventional due to Noah Laba being out, a top three of Mika Zibanejad, Miller, and Trocheck would make them much stronger down the middle. Instead, they’re using Justin Dowling as one center while Sam Carrick takes his usual place between Anton Blidh and Matt Rempe.
Considering how thin they are after the top two lines, it doesn’t make much sense. Neither does having Gabe Perreault penciled in with Dowling and Taylor Raddysh. What kind of offense will he be able to create playing about a dozen minutes with less skilled players? Will Cuylle has been ice cold, and is much better suited to play on a checking line with Trocheck.
Morrow should be back in over Urho Vaakanainen, who stayed on late with the extras. It never made sense to play Vaakanainen over Matthew Robertson in the last game. The third pair will probably have Robertson and Morrow back together. Hopefully, they don’t get pinned in their end against the dangerous Sabres, who are a quick transition team.
Zac Jones Won’t Face Rangers
Zac Jones will not be in the Sabres lineup tonight, per Lindy Ruff.
Former Ranger Zac Jones was recalled by the Sabres yesterday. However, he won’t get the chance to face the team that selected him in the third round in 2019. In 115 NHL games, Jones had four goals and 24 assists for 28 points and a minus-10 rating while playing parts of four years in Manhattan.
Jones leads Rochester in scoring with 30 points (2-28-30) this season. That’s a dozen more than leading Wolf Pack scorer Trey Fix-Wolansky (10-8-18). Speaking to how anemic the Hartford offense is, Perreault’s 17 points are still the second most.
Centennial Theme Features Fan Favorites
Faceoff could be delayed due to it being another Centennial night. The Rangers will honor fan favorites prior to the game. Adam Graves will definitely be one of the players featured. That should be fun.
The Rangers have only won once in their centennial jerseys.
If there’s one word to describe the Devils’ catastrophic 9-0 loss to the Islanders, it would be humiliation. They were embarrassed by the Islanders in a rivalry game on ESPN Plus. Imagine if it had been featured on the NHL on TNT. Good thing the higher ups selected the Maple Leafs and Panthers.
A couple of days removed from fans mercifully booing Luke Hughes every time he touched the puck in a 3-1 home loss to the Hurricanes due to two own goals by the struggling third-year defenseman, the Devils hit rock bottom in what was the worst shutout loss in nearly 40 years. The 9-0 defeat was the second time in franchise history they were held without a goal by such a wide margin.
9-0 Islanders. This is the worst Devils shutout loss since March 31, 1986, a 9-0 loss at the Rangers. These are the only two times in team history they lost by 9+ goals and were shut out.
A team featuring Jesper Bratt, Nico Hischier, and Jack Hughes somehow managed to match what the 1985-86 Devils did in a 9-0 loss at the Rangers on Mar. 31, 1986. At least there were some fights in the third period of that game. Instead of showing a backbone, they didn’t take a single penalty last night.
In fact, it was the Devils that drew the only three penalties. Fittingly, they went 0-for-3 on the power play. How bad was their performance? Only one player avoided being caught on for an Islanders goal. Rookie Arseny Grityuk is the answer to that trivia question. The rest of the 17 skaters all finished with minus ratings.
Astonishingly, they gave up all nine goals at five-on-five. Despite outshooting the Islanders 44-24, the Devils never beat Ilya Sorokin, who stopped 36 of the shots at even strength, with the other eight while shorthanded.
It was a night to forget for Jacob Markstrom, who remained in for all nine goals on 24 shots. How bad was he? Markstrom allowed goals on two of the first three shots he faced. By the time Anthony Duclair beat him for the second time on an identical shot, that made it three goals on five shots to put the Devils in a 3-0 hole before 14 minutes were played.
By the time Duclair completed his natural hat trick just 3:29 into the second period, it was painfully obvious where the game was headed. Even after Simon Holmstrom padded the Islanders’ lead to five, Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe never signaled for Jake Allen to come on for Markstrom.
With team president and general manager Tom Fitzgerald in attendance along with ownership, it was a clear message being sent from Keefe to management. It was Fitzgerald’s bright idea to extend an injury prone veteran goalie for two more years.
Despite a recent revival, Markstrom’s been one of the worst starters in the NHL. His 3.48 goals-against-average is tied with Sam Montembeault for the highest GAA among starters. The difference is that the Canadiens have played two other goalies, including top prospect Jacob Fowler to help Montembeault get a reset.
Unlike Markstrom, Allen’s been the much better netminder. In 21 starts, he has a 2.55 GAA and .913 save percentage with his 11 wins leading the Devils. By comparison, Markstrom has a lowly .878 save percentage with 10 wins in the same amount of starts with each appearing in 22 games.
The odd part is that they have Nico Daws down in Utica playing in the American Hockey League. Although he isn’t considered the goalie of the future, the 25-year-old Daws has performed well when called upon. In 2024-25, he went 3-1-0 with a 1.60 GAA and .939 save percentage. In his only start this season back on Oct. 22, he made 30 saves on 31 shots in a win over the Wild. Considering how poorly Markstrom’s played, there isn’t a good enough reason for the Devils to bring Daws up and go with three goalies.
Part of the problem is that due to all the contracts Fitzgerald gave out which included no-movement clauses for many players on the roster, including the declining Hamilton and the immovable Ondrej Palat, who has two goals and six assists in 43 games this season. Keefe still plays Palat in the top nine, and has used him on the top line with Hughes. A puzzling decision when despite giving an honest effort, the 34-year-old veteran is done. When the season concludes, he’ll be bought out with a year left on his contract.
As for Hamilton, he reportedly turned down waving his NMC with Fitzgerald looking to clear space to acquire Quinn Hughes. Instead, the Canucks traded him to the Wild, who had no such trouble fitting him in without having to play musical chairs. Hughes was so impressed with what Wild GM Bill Guerin did that he had the memorable quote praising Guerin for ‘sacking up.’ Since they traded for him, the Wild are 8-2-3. In 12 games since joining Minnesota, Hughes has a goal and 11 assists for a dozen points with a plus-6 rating while averaging over 27 minutes a night.
Undoubtedly, Fitzgerald’s plan was to bring in the elder Hughes to team him up with younger brothers Jack and Luke. Quinn had expressed a desire to one day play with them. However, that now seems unrealistic due to him going to a better team that feels they can compete now. He isn’t eligible to sign a contract extension until July 1. If he does decide that he likes playing in St. Paul, then the Devils’ dream of having all three Hughes’ brothers will go up in smoke.
In a related post, Battle Of Hudson’s Hasan referenced the quick extension Fitzgerald rewarded defenseman Johnathan Kovacevic with. A good first half from Kovacevic allowed him to sign on for another five years with a $4 million cap hit. However, he struggled in the second half and then had off-season knee surgery that has kept him out of action this season. Before last season, he only played two full seasons with the Canadiens.
Despite having 2022 second overall pick Simon Nemec behind both Hamilton and Brett Pesce, Fitzgerald made the risky move due to Nemec struggling in his second year. To the surprise of only the Devils, the 21-year-old Nemec became their best offensive weapon from the blue line with his seven goals and 18 points leading them before a lower-body injury sidelined him. He was particularly clutch scoring twice in overtime to help the Devils to big wins, highlighted by his first NHL hat trick versus the Blackhawks on Nov. 13.
What if Fitzgerald had waited before giving Kovacevic the long-term contract for half a season? It never made any sense to begin with. When it comes to the roster he’s built, not a lot does.
Since Jack returned from finger surgery on Dec. 21, he hasn’t been the same player. After scoring in the first period against the Sabres that night, Hughes hasn’t scored another goal. In fact, he only has three points (all assists) over his last seven games. He set up a pair in a 4-1 win over the Mammoth on Jan. 3. That was the Devils’ second straight win following a third period rally to come back and beat the Blue Jackets on New Year’s Eve. They’ve been outscored 12-1 over the last six periods.
It doesn’t matter how bad the goaltending is when they don’t finish consistently. Aside from a two-goal performance in an overtime loss to the Caps on Dec. 27, Bratt has two goals since Nov. 6. More of a playmaker than finisher, his point production is down. Outside of a pair of two-point outings since Christmas, he’s gone without one in eight of the last 10 games. A better player than what he’s shown with 33 points and minus-11 rating in 43 games, the 27-year-old Bratt needs to get going.
Hischier has 32 points (12-20-32) thus far with an uncharacteristic minus-6 rating. Normally a dependable two-way center who’s considered one of the best defensive forwards, the Devils captain must turn it around. A player that doesn’t make excuses, he told the media that he expects the team to respond well to Tuesday night’s onesided loss.
If there’s a real problem with the roster, it’s that the only player outside of Hughes capable of putting up goals is the inconsistent Timo Meier. A streaky scorer, he’s yet to reach 30 goals since being acquired from the Sharks in 2022-23. Meier’s tied with Hischier for the team lead with 12 goals. His five power-play tallies pace the team. For a player making close to $9 million through 2031, they need more production from the 29-year-old veteran.
Dawson Mercer is tied with Hughes for second in goals (11). A versatile forward who’s taken more faceoffs since Jack returned, the 24-year-old Mercer is a solid player that kills penalties well. On a deeper team, he’s probably better suited for the third line. But he’s put up 11 goals and 15 assists for 26 points, which places him third in team scoring behind Hischier and Bratt. He had more success earlier in the season before Hughes’ incident at a Chicago steakhouse. At the time, the Devils were 12-4-1 before things went off the rails.
Aside from solid third line forwards Connor Brown and Cody Glass, there’s not much secondary help. In his rookie year, Gritsyuk has shown flashes of a promising young player capable of contributing more than the eight goals and 10 helpers he has. Keefe has started to use him more in an expanded top six role. A strong skater with a good shot, the 24-year-old can make things happen during shifts. They have to hope that Gritsyuk can find the back of the net with more regularity.
Paul Cotter is a high energy player who provides physicality. Despite being a good skater, he only has five goals. Cotter will become a restricted free agent following the season.
Fitzgerald gambled on Stefan Noesen and to a lesser extend Evgenii Dadonov to provide more scoring help. After putting up a career-high 22 goals last season, Noesen hasn’t come close to duplicating it. He hasn’t been the same since having groin surgery in the off-season, which caused him to miss the start of the season. He’s been useless with only three goals in 37 games while taking bad penalties. Dadonov has only played in five games due to injuries with the latest being a wrist issue that landed him on long-term injured reserve Dec. 11. At least he’s only signed for a year at $1 million AAV with mostly performance bonuses.
Somehow, a rising team that looked like it could seriously challenge three years ago has become a complete mess. Lindy Ruff was the fall guy in 2023-24 with Travis Green replacing him before winding up in Ottawa. Meanwhile, Ruff went back to Buffalo where it all started. Somehow, he has the Sabres playing much better with them having won 11 of 12 to vault past the Devils in the standings.
Now, it’s Keefe who’s dealing with the same core that quit on Ruff. Don’t forget that they nearly blew the playoffs last year before getting eliminated by the Hurricanes in the first round. At least they found their way in without Jack. They were no match for their nemesis on Tobacco Road.
What’s the plan moving forward? With so little room on the cap ($787,500) thanks to Fitzgerald’s mismanagement, it doesn’t look like he can make any significant upgrades for a playoff push. However, everything remains right in front of the Devils due to the parity in the East. Even with 46 points and 15 regulation wins, they still have time to turn it around. With 39 games remaining, all it would require is more of a consistent effort from an underachieving group that looks disinterested. They sure don’t play enough defense or manage the puck well. Turnovers and bad coverages hasn’t helped.
Keefe prefers his teams to play more of a two-way game. He was very critical in his postgame about the breakdowns that led to too many Islanders goals. Even if you hate Markstrom, he had played better coming in, which Keefe referenced.
The Devils will next face the Penguins, who have won five in a row to move into the second wild card. They’re only three points up on the Devils, who desperately need a win. We’ll see what they’re made of.
It’s a New Year. But apparently, it’s the same script for the Rangers when they play at MSG.
Three days after putting together a convincing win over the Panthers at the Winter Classic in Miami, the Rangers dropped another game at home by losing to the Mammoth 3-2 in overtime on Monday night.
Aside from wins over the Canadiens and Flyers in mid-December, they’ve lost five of their last seven home games. They’re now 5-10-4 at MSG, continuing a disturbing trend in a perplexing season that’s seen them play much better on the road with a 15-8-2 record.
Worse than that is the current lineup. Playing without Noah Laba, the bottom six included Justin Dowling and Anton Blidh, who replaced Brett Berard after one game. Icing AHL players at this point of the season is an indictment on the lack of depth, which Chris Drury is responsible for. In a twisted irony, he got an endorsement from Garden CEO James Dolan during a public appearance on The Carton Show yesterday.
James Dolan "absolutely" still believes in Chris Drury to build the Rangers into a winner: pic.twitter.com/ywwjSZInMQ
“He and Mike Sullivan are installing a new culture into that club and that does not happen overnight. I’m being patient.” Mollie Walker of The NY Post.
That culture includes an experienced coach who’s shown no confidence in most of the Rangers’ younger players. What’s the point of recalling Berard if he’s not going to play consistently? How is a 35-year-old veteran [Dowling] the replacement for Laba on the third line? The trio of Blidh, Sam Carrick, and Matt Rempe received more minutes than Dowling, who played a team-low 7:18. Sullivan used Jonny Brodzinski and Taylor Raddysh more regularly.
If you still have faith in Drury to reconstruct a dull roster that he put together, you have to be naive. 2023-24 feels like 10 years ago when in actuality, it was two years ago. It was his doing to dismantle a Presidents’ Trophy winner that reached the Eastern Conference Final into a much worse product that fans are spending more money on to see the Rangers lose.
There isn’t much to say about a roster that’s played more games than anyone else in the division. Like most teams playing the condensed schedule due to the Olympics, they have players out. After being cleared for contact, J.T. Miller is getting closer to returning. Adam Edstrom remains out with another injury for the second straight year. Even though he’s a role player, Edstrom is missed due to his size and speed.
If Miller is activated off the injured reserve for Thursday against the Sabres, it would be a big help to a very thin roster that’s too reliant on three to four established players. If they don’t contribute on the score sheet, there’s little hope of the Rangers being successful. That aside, they’re now closer to the bottom of the standings due to their inconsistency.
In the loss to the Mammoth, they were largely outplayed at even strength by a younger and faster opponent. If not for Adam Fox revitalizing the power play, they would’ve been shut out by Karel Vejmelka, who isn’t even close to an upper echelon starter.
The Rangers were on their heels for most of a scoreless period that was mostly controlled by the Mammoth. It was due to their speed and aggressive play attacking the net that led to Igor Shesterkin getting hurt at the 13-minute mark. After he kicked out a Dylan Guenther shot, Shesterkin tried to avoid J.J. Peterka, who was searching for the rebound. There was very little contact, but when he fell backward, Shesterkin landed wrong on his right leg and was in a lot of pain.
After he was helped off the ice, Shesterkin was replaced by Jonathan Quick. To his credit, he came in cold and stopped Peterka on an odd man rush. It looks like he’ll be playing a lot more with the Rangers putting Shesterkin on the IR due to the right leg injury he sustained. They can term it lower-body, but that’s dishonest and insults fans’ intelligence. Hopefully, it isn’t the worst-case scenario.
UPDATE: Igor Shesterkin (lower body) will not return tonight.
With Shesterkin out for the foreseeable future, the team sent back Berard (again) and called up Spencer Martin. Martin was signed as insurance due to the organization not trusting Dylan Garand. What else is new? They are afraid to start him. Other teams wouldn’t hesitate to give a prospect a spot start to see what they’re capable of.
At least the Rangers showed some life in a more inspired second period. Buoyed by a power play that went 2-for-2, Alexis Lafreniere tipped home a Mika Zibanejad pass to give him four points in the last two games. He’s been playing better lately. For Lafreniere, it’s all about producing consistently. We’ll see if he can put together a stronger second half.
A turnover from Artemi Panarin allowed Guenther to come in and put in his own rebound to tie the score.
But with the Mammoth taking two penalties to put the Rangers on a full two-minute 5-on-3, Vincent Trocheck redirected a Panarin shot for the second power-play goal of the period. Zibanejad added a secondary assist for his second helper.
In a lackluster third, Michael Carcone blew right around Urho Vaakanainen to get the equalizer. Vaakanainen was back in the lineup for Matthew Robertson, who played close to 22 minutes on Jan. 2. The decision to play Vaakanainen for the first time since Dec. 21 was a head scratcher. He doesn’t defend well enough or finish checks. At the very least, Robertson would’ve taken the body on Carcone.
Quick made a few good stops to take it to overtime. He didn’t have much chance on the winner scored by Sean Durzi, who was left alone to tip in a Nick Schmaltz feed at 1:06.
There isn’t much else to say. The Mammoth were too fast and swept the season series. Aside from the power play connecting twice, the only other cause for excitement was Quick standing up for himself after Daniil But banged into him for goalie interference two minutes into the second.
Why should Quick have more intensity than most of the roster? Rempe can’t fight due to the surgery he had on his thumb. Carrick is the only player who ever makes it his business to do anything.
Not only is this team unexciting to watch, but they’ve made fans apathetic. In many ways, due to the roster Drury constructed, there isn’t a cause for excitement when they play. It’s eerily similar to what’s going on across the Hudson, which Hasan detailed in his post earlier today.
As I was finishing this up, Fox has another injury. He was placed on LTIR again. This time, it’s the ridiculous LBI term they love to use. If this team hadn’t been toast before, they sure are now. There is no reason to even tune in anymore.
I guess all of the complaints over Fox being passed over for Team USA can end. It’s sad that he’s become injury prone because he’s an elite player. What a bummer.
Word is #NYR Igor Shesterkin (lower-body) is going on IR. Adam Fox is also going back on LTIR and will be reevaluated when he is eligible to come off.
When it rains, it pours. Scott Morrow was recalled to take Fox’s place on the roster.
The Rangers could wind up being the worst team in the East. At the moment, that dubious distinction belongs to the Blue Jackets, who have three less points (43) in three fewer games. Both Toronto and Ottawa enter play with 45 in 41 games.
If they fall apart in January, there’s only one thing left for Drury to do.
When I made my last post in the preseason about stepping away, I wasn’t sure if I was retiring or just going on a semi-scaled back version of posting. Long story short, I just wasn’t having fun writing about this team anymore and ranting about them semi-regularly had gone past being therapeutic and into masochism. I was tempted to post when the Devils had their eight-game winning streak early in the season but I just couldn’t bring myself to fully trust this franchise and they’ve shown why since then, going 14-17-2 in their last thirty-three games which honestly looks better than it’s been in actuality.
So why post now? Succinct version: It feels like we’re at a literal DEFCON 1 moment as a franchise here.
I’ve often used the old Wargames clip as a barometer for when crisis was at its highest in a given season, but what’s happened lately goes beyond even just another season going down the drain. This could well be a fork in the road moment for a franchise that needs to take a long hard look in the mirror and ask uncomfortable questions of themselves and the people around them, unfortunately I’m not sure if they have the stomach to do so. Before I even get to Luke Hughes and the disaster that was last night (see above for the abridged version), a quick recap of the first half if you will.
We started the season just the way we ended 2024-25 – losing a sloppy game in Carolina, but unlike last year the Devils responded from that setback and won their next eight games with a lot of them coming against tough teams. I’m shocked looking back on that now that we managed to beat teams like Tampa, Colorado, both of last year’s Cup finalists, etc…but things did actually look good at that point, much as they looked good for the first half of last season before the roof fell in. However, it didn’t take that long for the roof to start caving in on this season as they lost three of four games on a West Coast trip and have gone up and down like a medical chart since, although the downs have been more frequent and more time-consuming than the upward swings.
You also wouldn’t think it to look at things now, but the Devils actually won nine of their first ten home games with an OT loss being the only blemish at Prudential Center early in the season. Losing four straight at home in late November-early December put an abrupt end to our good form in front of the paying customers though, and started the clock ticking on the fans’ patience with the team that already had started to struggle on the road even before that point. Incredibly, they’ve gone 2-8-1 in New Jersey since starting the season 9-0-1 at home.
There are a million games and things I could point to from the first half that have been annoying – getting pumped twice by the Flyers inside of eight days, the home game against Tampa when Jacob Markstrom hit his nadir, giving up three goals inside the first several minutes and finally causing Sheldon Keefe to give him a deserved early hook, losing their heads against Columbus when the Blue Jackets started cheap shotting guys and blowing an early 2-0 lead when the Devils forgot to play hockey, etc etc
If I went back through all the lows of the first half I’d be here all night though. Honestly, while I’ve compared last season to 2009-10 when the Devils also had a great first half followed by a poor second half and anticlimactic early playoff exit, I never dreamed I would be comparing this season to the start of 2010-11, but at times it’s felt like we’re just a more talented, better coached version of the John MacLean-led disaster class given that most of our best players have stopped remembering how to score goals, like that team.
Not that I’m giving Keefe a pass for what’s happened the last calendar year by saying we’re better coached than 2010, on the contrary. He’s got his hands all over this mess now, between the scoring drought and with his utter lack of holding anyone not named Simon Nemec accountable for anything. At best, he’s a puppet for hapless GM Tom Fitzgerald, whose definition of a team being a family usually includes backing away from even the public appearance of tough love. When guys do the same things over and over again and don’t get punished, you wonder why players start to go through the motions and/or stay stuck in bad habits. It took two years for Fitz to finally get mad enough to call out Dawson Mercer in the end-of-season breakup meeting last year, at least he’s had a better year this year than the last couple although he’s certainly not been the force he was three years ago.
As awful as things have been on the ice, they’ve been even more dreadful off the ice starting with Fitz’s idiotic two-year extension for Markstrom, hurrying to double down on a guy who’d been playing poorly for the better part of an entire calendar year (thankfully he’s finally put together a string of at least decent games in a row after his save percentage was like .860 forever), culminating with the aforementioned disaster against Tampa at home where he was jeered off the ice.
Even with his recent improvement, you can’t really trust the guy long-term to A) stay healthy, and B) re-find his game immediately after coming back from injury-related absences and now we have to walk that tightrope for another 2.5 seasons. Forget about ever giving Nico Daws a chance or any other young goalie for that matter, we can’t have that. There were even rumors of poor Nico mulling a KHL offer, before turning it down.
Even that’s become trivial now given what was to follow, much of it centering around the Hughes clan (and that’s even before getting to last night). Luke’s preseason holdout set him back the way Mercer’s did last year though to be honest, it’s not like he was playing all that great at the end of last season either. Still, he held out before he got his $9 million a year and then has been dreadful for large chunks of this season. Do I think he got his money and stopped caring, no – clearly he does if you saw that reaction of him on the bench earlier in the season after missing a goal needing to get calmed down by big brother Jack…but he also still has a maturity issue that isn’t helped by the fact the organization clearly caters to both brothers. I’ll get to that more later.
Speaking of Jack…in a lot of ways the most annoying thing from the first half of the season came when he somehow sliced open his finger at a team dinner. Not knowing the details (I’m not sure if I buy the team’s state media version of it just being an unfortunate accident without alcohol or roughhousing involved), and even if you want to give Jack the benefit of the doubt, the fact is he has missed time in multiple seasons now. And he can no longer clap back at reporters like he did earlier in the season when he was questioned about his recent injury record. Sure, a guy checking him into the boards is one thing a la Jack Eichel last year but he did this one to himself, and the team’s downturn largely coincided with his exiting the lineup…not that it’s been helped by his return since though.
Oh and let’s not forget the saga over the Hughes brother that isn’t even here…the Quinn trade rumors finally came to a head in mid-December when the Wild (in Quinn’s words) ‘sacked up’ and traded for him, conveniently right before we were set to play the Canucks at home in what could have been an awkward situation for everyone involved.
What’s annoying isn’t even so much that we didn’t get him, it’s that we couldn’t even entertain the notion of getting him because Fitz had made a cap mess so deep he couldn’t possibly beg his way out of it. This goes back in part to his hair-trigger panic signing of Jonathan Kovacevic last year after he had a good first half of the season, and Nemec had a poor first half coming off of injury. Since then, Kovacevic’s play dipped in the second half, he got injured and is now just about ready to come off the injured list, further complicating an already messy cap situation. Even if you wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt on signing Kovacevic, it’s not ideal to have so many defensemen already making big money with Luke’s extension imminent, and part of why Fitz’s panicked, reactionary GM’ing has led to him being up against a wall now.
It also came out in the wake of the failed Quinn trade, that Fitz had asked at least one player to waive his no-trade and was rebuffed. Reading between the lines (i.e. him not denying it when directly asked about it), it seems that player was Dougie Hamilton – who’s also the highest paid defenseman on the team with Luke. Do I blame Hamilton for nixing a trade, no I do not…what I do blame him for is dude, if you want to be here then at least give effort. He’s spent much of the first half of the season floating and committing penalties, without the dynamic offensive gifts of the past that might have at least canceled out some of that. Dougie’s situation might be the closest parallel to 2010-11 I can make, since it’s eerily reminiscent of Jamie Langenbrunner being asked to waive a no-trade, then skating around the first half of the season in who cares mode. At least act like you want to be here, or do us all a favor and waive for a team that wants you. Just being in who cares mode, ole’ing the greatest goalscorer in history is just embarrassing and doesn’t help anyone.
Of course it would be Dougie that was asked to waive his NTC because Ondrej Palat’s production for his money has been so bad basically from the minute he signed his deal that it’s not even worth it to try to attach a pick to get rid of him IF he even waived his own NMC, he’ll likely be a buyout at the end of this season with one year left on his deal and a spectacularly bad free agent signing, with not even one good season among the four he’s played here. At least he’s tried, I’ll say that much for him but given the fact he was lauded for veteran leadership, I haven’t exactly seen that at all from him here given how disappointing this franchise has been for the better part of three years now.
He’s just another guy who doesn’t rock the boat and get in people’s faces, we have too many of them here including the captain and head coach. Which is why it stands out when someone actually does, like Jack in the Capitals game – the same one as that Ovechkin goal above – when he called the team out after giving up a last-second goal in the first period…only to have a careless turnover in front of his own net, leading to a three on the goalie goal less than twenty minutes later. At least he tried, but holy heck what a way to self-own. It took one of the newest Devils – Connor Brown – to lay into the team after a typically deadass two periods at Columbus on New Year’s Eve, that finally seemed to wake them up in a three-goal explosion in the third period, followed by an impressive win (at home no less!) against Utah on Saturday where for a hot moment it seemed as if maybe we were a game away from getting back on track here…too bad it was against the dreaded Canes.
Now we can get to last night and the impetus for this post (well actually two nights ago now by the time I finish this since I’ve already gone over midnight and will now finish the rest of this off tomorrow morning)…
First things first, no I wasn’t in the building for the Canes game – it’s been hard to get motivated to even watch this team anymore, much less go to the games. My only attended games all of December were two fiascoes I’ve already alluded to, the 8-4 loss to Tampa Bay with Markstrom hitting rock bottom and a 4-3 OT loss to the Caps where basically every goal was caused by someone’s catastrophic mistake. If it wasn’t Jack giving up a 3-on-0 or Dougie watching Ovechkin shoot the puck by him it was Jonas Siegenthaler committing the cardinal sin of trying to play the puck in the last five seconds of a period rather than just eating it at the boards, turning it over as the Caps scored a goal with less than a second remaining. Fittingly, the game ended in OT on a Luke mistake when he tried to force the puck to Paul Cotter, who was covered and wound up springing the breakout the other way that proved decisive.
Even that wasn’t as mind-numbingly stupid as what he pulled Sunday night though. I didn’t have any inkling what happened until I saw this Tweet from Kristy Flannery alluding to it:
The fans in attendance here are voicing their displeasure every time #NJDevils Luke Hughes touches the puck. It's been a rough night for the 22-year-old.
Shocked that our fans actually targeted anyone much less a popular kid, I immediately had to suss out what happened on a message board and when I heard Luke had scored TWO own goals, I was like…really? Did he get drunk with holiday cheer or something? I was expecting maybe he deflected one in and had one bounce off him but the actual highlights were far worse. Now you can’t help but think in this age if there’s going to be a FanDuel burner account investigation, the second one in particular was actually that bad. Technically it might not have been an own goal but he more or less did hand it to Taylor Hall (ironically) on a silver platter, skating basically from the blueline to the front of his own net while Hall trailed him like a shark, then pounced to finish off the goal.
Going from 1-0 up to 2-1 down entirely because of Luke’s cavalier carelessness – eventually becoming a 3-1 loss – seemed to be the final straw that made the crowd snap and boo him the rest of the night every time he touched the puck. Oh, it’s been building…the crowd finally turning on Markstrom against Tampa was a tell, and certainly in the Caps game you could feel it when the team was booed off the ice after a first period that wasn’t even that bad, but Siegenthaler’s bonehead play ruined it for everyone. I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen a Devils skater (non-goalie) targeted for wrath of the crowd though, certainly not to this degree. Even Ilya Kovalchuk in 2010 – yikes, another 2010 comparison – wasn’t getting it quite this bad, it was almost comical when they had Happy Thanksgiving messages on the jumbotron and Kovalchuk was booed there.
While I didn’t get the annoyance of seeing these plays in live time, or the totality of the defeat, I did have my eyes firmly rolling at the reaction afterward where the coach, players and team personnel put more effort into backing Luke off the ice than they’ve done for a lot of actual games in recent weeks.
Nico Hischier speaking on a day he wasn’t scheduled to just to offer Luke support was portrayed as some grand gesture on Twitter, in some ways that’s a perfect encapsulation of the problems around here. Nico is a nice kid and to be fair that’s something you should do as a captain for a teammate, but also maybe things don’t even get to this point if Nico and others had come down on Luke beforehand – not like Sunday’s the first time he’s played poorly and made lazy, braindead mistakes, they were just the most obvious examples for all to see. Perhaps if the team tried to self-police the garbage they’ve been putting out on the ice, the crowd wouldn’t have been compelled to do it themselves on Sunday.
Do I think the crowd went too far? Yes, I do agree with Mike Rupp and others when they say booing the first shift was fine, after that it just became counterproductive. I’m pretty sure I would have done just that if I was there (booed only the first shift), but why was Luke even still out there shift after shift in the first place? That’s where if you actually had a strong coach, Luke would be sitting down at least through intermission but Keefe, like the rest of this organization is too soft to really go after the golden boy players. And Keefe even mocked the suggestion in the postgame that he should have benched Luke, like really dude? I know your roster is limited – despite being mostly healthy now – but sometimes you have to make a point for the greater good, and sometimes a kid just needs to reset. You could argue for either of those to have been the case, and that’s all the more why not benching Luke for even a single shift was arguably just as annoying as his braindead mistakes.
To a degree I do feel like the crowd was over the top harsh on Luke – which included dumb bronx cheers when he tried to skate through the entire Carolina defense and got put on his backside – because he conveniently put the target on his back in front of everyone and inadvertently took a bullet for the whole organization, not like he’s the only one who’s been a disappointment (far from it) although the fact he held out getting a new contract when we have cap issues doesn’t help either. At this point I feel like the GM is the one who should be getting the fans’ ire for causing and putting a lot of this mess together, hopefully he’ll get his soon enough.
I don’t feel bad for Luke in any case, maybe this was the kick in the ass he needed and wasn’t ever going to get from a pathetically soft locker room. Just the audacity of him saying he’s played pretty good hockey this year shows that there’s been no critical feedback at all until Sunday when the fans did it for the staff and the team. Not that anyone else gets it from the team either other than maybe a kid like Nemec, he’d have been sent to Siberia if he pulled what Luke did last night. We know they won’t do crap about Douglas’s floating nonsense – he just keeps leading the blueline in icetime night after night.
Things must change on and off the ice, and in a hurry before changes are eventually forced on them. Firing another coach and/or finally banishing some underperforming players won’t fix the root issue of there being a lack of in-house discipline. This team’s fast on pace to miss the playoffs for a second time in three years after 2022-23 was supposed to be a signal of the Devils becoming the next great force in the league. While I’m down on Keefe right now clearly it’s not just a coach problem at this point – heck, look at Lindy Ruff in Buffalo, they can’t lose a game since they canned their rubbish GM and enforced some form of accountability for years of losing. Maybe he wasn’t ever the problem here after all.
Does make you wonder what would happen if we also canned our own rubbish GM (and actually replaced him with an outsider, not just another in-house promotion)…
The Rangers appear to have lost Igor Shesterkin to a serious injury. During the first period against the Mammoth, Shesterkin was accidentally run into by J.J. Peterka, who was searching for a rebound following a save on Dylan Guenther.
After Peterka banged into Shesterkin and knocked him over inside his crease, he was in a lot of pain while lying flat on his back. The injury occurred with seven minutes remaining in the period.
Igor Shesterkin needed help getting off the ice after an innocent looking play 🤕 pic.twitter.com/cEAW85xKSn
Rangers trainers immediately came out to tend to him. Noticeably limping off while being helped to the locker room, Shesterkin couldn’t put any weight on his right leg.
Igor Shesterkin needed help getting off the ice after an innocent looking play 🤕 pic.twitter.com/cEAW85xKSn
Jonathan Quick immediately replaced the injured Shesterkin in the net. Before he exited the game, Shesterkin made nine saves in a scoreless period. Quick came on in relief and stopped all three shots.
When the game concludes, we’ll learn more about the right leg injury Shesterkin suffered. If it’s as bad as it looked, he could be lost for the remainder of the season.
The 30-year-old netminder entered the game with a 17-12-4 record, a 2.47 goals-against-average, .912 save percentage, and one shutout.
In what’s been a disappointing season, how many people had Mike Zibanejad on their bingo card in last night’s Winter Classic? Playing for the sixth time in an outdoor game, the Rangers made it a perfect six-for-six by going into loanDepot park and defeating the Panthers 5-1 in Miami before a capacity crowd of 36,153.
Zibanejad put on a memorable performance by becoming the first player to ever score a Winter Classic hat trick while setting an outdoor record with five points to highlight the Rangers’ win. It came after being officially named to Team Sweden for his first Olympics.
By factoring in on every goal including the shorthanded empty netter that put an exclamation point on the victory, Zibanejad became the third player to win the Cocoa Cup that was presented by Darren Pang in the NHL on TNT presentation. When asked about it, a smiling Zibanejad had few words to say other than thanking the fans who came out to support the NHL’s signature event.
It really was all about the Winter Classic MVP. Zibanejad broke open a scoreless tie by burying an Alexis Lafreniere feed for a power-play goal that came with 4:51 remaining in the first period. On a play Artemi Panarin started through the neutral zone, he passed across for Lafreniere who made a perfect pass that Zibanejad buried to tie him with Camille Henry and former teammate Chris Kreider for the most power-play goals (116) in franchise history.
Over a minute later, the same three players combined on another goal. This time, it was Panarin who got his team-leading 15th goal from Zibanejad and Lafreniere. After Zibanejad passed him the puck, Panarin skated into open ice up top before firing a wrist shot that went through a maze of players past Sergei Bobrovsky to make it 2-0. The shot looked to change direction off a Panther stick.
Before a minute was played in the second period, Zibanejad was at it again when he finished off another Lafreniere pass for his second of the game. This time, the play was created by a diving Vincent Trocheck, who managed to still move the puck ahead for Lafreniere into the zone. That created a two-on-one with Lafreniere able to slide the puck by Niko Mikkola for an easy Zibanejad finish that put the Rangers ahead 3-0 at 58 seconds.
Shortly after, Vladislav Gavrikov was called for a dubious hooking minor on Evan Rodriguez. The TNT replay clearly showed that it was a stick lift from Gavrikov. Despite the penalty, the Rangers were able to kill it off. In fact, special teams played a pivotal role in their success with the penalty kill limiting the Panthers to one power-play goal in six opportunities. Conversely, the Rangers went 2-for-3 on the man-advantage.
Despite the Panthers holding a 25-12 edge in shots, it took until the third period for them to break through on Igor Shesterkin. With Jonny Brodzinski off for tripping Mackie Samoskevich, Sam Reinhart connected on the power play to score his team-leading 23rd for Florida at 2:20. That cut the Rangers’ lead to two with still plenty of time left.
For most of the first part of the period, the Panthers spent a lot of time in the Rangers’ end on the forecheck. However, they were unable to draw any closer thanks to Shesterkin, who had one of his best games of the season by turning away 36 of 37 shots. He played extremely well by making some key stops when his team needed it most.
With Matthew Robertson in the box for a delay of game, the Panthers had a lot of setup time, but they were unable to get any shots through due to the shot blocking of Gavrikov. He had a couple with one even going off his helmet and out of play. Gavrikov finished with a game high five blocks. As a team, the Rangers blocked 27, including four from Braden Schneider and three piece from Adam Fox and Brodzinski. Gabe Perreault also had a pair of blocks.
The Rangers finally stemmed the tide thanks to some hard work from the fourth line. A strong shift from the trio of Sam Carrick, Brett Berard, and Matt Rempe led to Uvis Balinskis hooking Rempe to put the Rangers on the power play, which they made the most out of.
On some more superb passing that was started by Zibanejad, Trocheck got the puck into the slot for Panarin, who beat Bobrovsky for the second time with a high shot to make it 4-1 with 7:35 left. The goal took the wind out of the Panthers’ sails.
They thought they made it 4-2 on a power play. However, the refs made the right call by ruling that Reinhart kicked in a loose puck, which was quickly confirmed on video review. With the Panthers lifting Bobrovsky for a six-on-four, Zibanejad completed his hat trick by firing the puck down into the open net with 1:28 remaining.
That gave him an outdoor record five points.
Dowling Makes Season Debut
With an upper-body injury to Noah Laba, Justin Dowling was recalled from the Hartford Wolf Pack. He made his season debut for the Rangers by logging 7:05 in 12 shifts while playing on the third line.
Berard Returns
Due to the Rangers placing Conor Sheary on long-term injured reserve, they brought back Berard. He had recently been sent down to Hartford following the return of Fox. However, that changed due to the injuries.
In his return, Berard took 11 shifts (7:27) while playing with Carrick and Rempe on the fourth line.
Jones Leaves Early for Cats
It was a brief stay for Seth Jones in the Winter Classic. The Team USA selection took a puck to the face, which forced him to leave the game early for the Cats.
Despite getting checked out and returning to the clubhouse, Jones didn’t play the remainder of the game. He was probably kept out for precautionary reasons.
Big Four Lead The Way in Victory
All of the scoring for the Rangers came from four players. While Zibanejad got most of the accolades for his hat trick and five point effort, Panarin chipped in with two goals and an assist, and Lafreniere recorded three assists. Trocheck added two helpers.
The Big Four combined for 13 points (5-8-13) in the victory.
Mammoth On Tap
The Rangers will now have the weekend off. When they return to action on Monday, they’ll face the Mammoth at Madison Square Garden.
Utah is in the metropolitan area for their three games against the locals. After beating the Islanders 7-2 on New Year’s Day, they’re visiting the Devils this afternoon. They’ll complete their tour of the Big Apple on Monday against the Rangers.
It took Team USA a little longer to finally announce their Olympic roster. If there’s a word to describe it, disappointing comes to mind. A year ago, they lost to Canada in the championship at 4-Nations.
Unlike a tournament that consisted of four countries, including Finland and Sweden, the Winter Games features 10 teams from Feb. 6-22. They’ll be joined by Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Latvia, Slovakia, and Switzerland. Contrary to popular belief, the Olympics won’t just be about USA and Canada. While most of the focus is on the classic North American rivals, it isn’t a guarantee that they’ll play each other for gold.
Someone might want to relay that message to USA Hockey general manager Bill Guerin. A fine GM for the Minnesota Wild who landed Quinn Hughes to make a significant upgrade to his NHL team, a few of Guerin’s roster choices were baffling. That included the omission of Rangers defenseman Adam Fox. One of the game’s best players at his position, he wasn’t good enough to crack Team USA’s blue line that consists of eight defensemen.
Team USA boss Bill Guerin said Adam Fox’s roster omission wasn’t based on any one specific play… namely the play that won Canada a 4 Nations championship last year 👀 pic.twitter.com/3LLNGB41N8
While it’s true that Fox struggled at 4-Nations, he didn’t look fully recovered from the knee injury he suffered in 2023-24. During that season, a knee-on-knee collision with Sebastian Aho on Nov. 2 caused him to miss 10 games. In Game 4 of the first round, Fox re-injured his right knee when Nick Jensen banged into it to cause a mild MCL strain. He played through the injury during the Rangers’ run to the Eastern Conference Final. However, he wasn’t as effective, finishing with eight assists in the playoffs.
Last season, he still didn’t look comfortable. Fox was noticeably slower and more exposed defensively. He also missed eight games last season due to a different issue. He wasn’t as consistent, but he still led all Rangers’ defensemen with 61 points (10-51-61). He took a lot of criticism for his performance, which was the least of the team’s issues for why they failed to qualify for the postseason.
Following a long summer, the 27-year-old has looked like a different player this season. Before he suffered an upper-body injury due to a Brandon Hagel check on Nov. 29, which forced him to be placed on long-term injured reserve and miss 14 games, Fox was on fire with 26 points in the Rangers’ first 27 games. He was right there with Cale Makar as one of the league’s best defensemen who was vying for the Norris. Without him, the Rangers struggled mightily on the power play, going 5-for-33. In particular, the number one unit had a difficult time manufacturing anything, with a five-forward unit failing miserably by giving up three shorthanded goals.
In his return to the lineup on Dec. 31, Fox showed no ill effects by scoring a power-play goal on a one-timer and setting up another goal in a 6-3 loss to the Capitals. Unlike last season, he’s moving much better while being a point-per-game player with 28 points (4-24-28) in 28 games. One of the most productive while playing in every critical situation for a team that doesn’t have anyone close to him who can produce at a high level, Fox is one of four defensemen who’s averaging a point-per-game. The other three are Makar (45 points in 39 games), Zach Werenski (40 in 35 GP), and Lane Hutson (40 in 40 GP), who was another notable snub by Guerin.
The easy selections were Hughes, Werenski, Charlie McAvoy, and Jake Sanderson. All four were a big part of last year’s 4-Nations roster which included Fox, and Jaccob Slavin. Seth Jones was added to this year’s team. Although he’s not Fox, Jones is more of a shutdown defenseman who can skate and play physical. He’ll likely be part of a matchup pair in the Olympics.
More questionable are the inclusions of Brock Faber and Noah Hanifin. While each represented our country last year, neither are better players than Fox. They’re good players who aren’t as accomplished as Fox, who won the Norris in his second year in the league (2020-21). He also was the runner-up in 2022-23 behind Erik Karlsson, who won the award due to putting up 101 points on the lowly Sharks despite a minus-26 rating.
The 23-year-old Faber is an up and coming defenseman who plays for the Wild on the top pair with Hughes. At 4-Nations, he teamed up with Slavin, replacing Fox, who was moved down to play with Hanifin. In his third season, Faber has 21 points (8-13-21) and a +9 rating in 41 games while averaging 24:29.
Hanifin has two goals and 12 assists for 14 points with a minus-7 rating in 28 contests for the Golden Knights. Unlike Fox, who’s five-foot-eleven and 185 pounds, Hanifin brings more size, going six-foot-three and 206 pounds. Faber is six-foot-one and 200 pounds.
Aside from Hughes, who’s only five-foot-ten, the rest of the U.S. blue line are all over six feet. It appears that size was a deciding factor for Guerin. Rangers team president and general manager Chris Drury, who along with coach Mike Sullivan pushed for Fox to make the roster. Drury serves on Team USA as one of three assistant GM’s while Sullivan is the head coach. Talk about a conflict of interests.
Hutson Also Snubbed
As mentioned above, Fox wasn’t the only player who was snubbed. Hutson didn’t make the Olympic roster, either.
An outstanding defenseman who’s only in his second season, the 21-year-old Hutson is tied for second with Caufield on the Canadiens in scoring. He won the Calder as the league’s top rookie in 2024-25 by posting six goals and 60 assists for 66 points to beat out Dustin Wolf and Macklin Celebrini.
One of the game’s brightest young stars, he’s continued to prove that he belongs in the conversation for the Norris. Despite being small in stature (5-9, 162), Hutson has made a significant difference for the Canadiens, who sit third in the Atlantic Division with 50 points. Without his contributions at both even strength and on the power play, the Habs would be much lower in the standings.
It was on the strength of Hutson along with Caufield, Nick Suzuki, and Juraj Slafkovsky that Montreal surprised many by making the playoffs last season. They’re positioned well to qualify again for the second straight year.
Not only did they omit Hutson, Caufield was passed over too. One of the game’s best finishers, the 25-year-old Canadiens right wing has blossomed into a consistent point producer while teamed with Suzuki, who was chosen by Canada. He isn’t only scoring goals, with his 20 markers pacing Montreal, but he’s also setting them up with 20 helpers.
It’s another case of a small player getting the short end of the stick by Guerin. Caufield more than makes up for his five-foot-eight, 175-pound frame with his explosive speed and lethal wrist shot. He’s also proven to have a knack for scoring in the clutch late in games that the Habs are trailing. That could’ve come in handy in the single-game elimination Olympic format.
Robertson’s Absence A Head Scratcher
If ever a player deserves to play for Team USA, it’s Jason Robertson. A terrific player who’s been lighting the lamp regularly for the Stars, it’s absurd that Guerin didn’t select him.
No American player has more points than Robertson so far this season. He’s got 24 goals and 24 assists for 48 points. That’s one more than Matt Boldy and two better than Kyle Connor, who are both mainstays on the American roster.
For reasons only known to Guerin, that wasn’t good enough for Robertson to make the squad. Like Caufield, he wasn’t chosen last year, either. They’re only two of the best finishers. Robertson makes players around him better. On a very talented roster that includes Wyatt Johnston (Canada) and Mikko Rantanen (Finland), he’s second on the Stars in scoring. His play has been brilliant for almost two months, putting up 21 goals and 14 assists totaling 35 points since Nov. 11.
While there are plenty of players who can put the puck in the net, it almost feels like Robertson’s exclusion has to do with him playing for a rival team in the Central Division. The Stars play the Wild two more times on the schedule. You better believe Mar. 21 and Apr. 9 will be circled on the calendar.
Grit Over Skill Preferred
If there’s a takeaway from the 25-man USA roster, it’s the preference of grit over skill. That helps explain why Fox’s teammates, J.T. Miller and Vincent Trocheck made it.
By taking Trocheck and Miller, who both haven’t had great seasons, Guerin is hoping that they can help slow down Canada, who will enter the Olympics as the heavy favorite to take home gold. Brock Nelson also returns from the 4-Nations to play a similar checking role like last year.
The big question is whether or not Guerin’s selections can get it done. It’s been 46 years since a bunch of college kids pulled off the Miracle by upsetting Russia and then coming back to defeat Finland to win Olympic gold under coach Herb Brooks at Lake Placid, NY.
Team USA has been close to winning before. They took the silver medal at Salt Lake City and in Vancouver. Both times, it was Canada that prevented them from breaking the gold medal drought. In 2010, Sidney Crosby scored the golden goal in overtime to win in an exciting final.
Keller and Thompson Make It
It isn’t all bad for Team USA. Both Clayton Keller and Tage Thompson made the roster. Each are deserving of getting the chance to play on the world’s biggest stage.
Keller is tied for the lead in scoring with 36 points on the Mammoth. A great skater and playmaking forward, he has 13 goals and 23 assists on a young roster that features Dylan Guenther, J.J. Peterka, Nick Schmaltz, and the injured Logan Cooley.
Thompson remains the leading man on the Sabres with his 20 goals and 37 points tops on the league’s hottest team. The Sabres have won 10 consecutive games to pull into a wild card spot. Thompson is a big reason for the Sabres’ resurgence. He’s scored over 40 goals in two of the last three seasons. It looks like he’s on track for a third 40-goal year in Western New York.
Goalies Remain The Same
While there were some changes in personnel with Fox and former teammate Chris Kreider being subtracted, Team USA will go with the same three goalies.
Connor Hellebuyck has had an injury riddled season for the underachieving Winnipeg Jets, who astonishingly fell to last overall in the standings last night. He was the unquestioned American starter at the 4-Nations Tournament. Although he’s never had the best track record in big games, Hellebuyck stepped it up in the semifinals and final last year.
Jake Oettinger and Jeremy Swayman are the other options if Hellebuyck falters.
In over a month, we’ll see if Guerin made the right choices.
It will not be a Happy New Year for the Rangers. Well, at least it won’t tonight on New Year’s Eve when they celebrate after touching down in Miami to prepare for the Panthers in Friday’s Winter Classic.
On what was a promising start with Adam Fox returning to the lineup after missing 14 straight games due to a likely shoulder separation sustained on Nov. 29, they lost a tough one to the Caps 6-3 this afternoon. It was their third straight defeat, with two coming in regulation. They fell to 19-8-5 to remain at 43 points with already 42 games played. Any postseason aspirations they have will be an uphill battle in the second half of the season.
Realistically speaking, they don’t look like a playoff team. The only reason the Rangers and Devils are hanging around is due to all the parity in a weak conference that lacks a dominant team. Injuries to key stars have limited the Lightning and Panthers, who are still without Matthew Tkachuk leading into the big game against the Rangers on Friday. Might that change in two days? Only the Panthers know. Regardless, they’ve played themselves back into the wild card and are two points behind the Lightning.
With the Rangers now winless in three straight (0-2-1), they’ve been passed in the standings by the Sabres and Penguins. The Devils can still pass them tonight if they get at least a point against the Blue Jackets.
In a first period mostly controlled by the Caps, Anthony Beauvillier opened the scoring when he buried a Ryan Leonard backhand feed past Jonathan Quick. In 37 games versus the Rangers, Beauvillier has now scored 15 times. He has two goals in three meetings this season. He’s always killed the Rangers. So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that he was a factor in the game.
In a low intensity period where they’d been held to four shots, the Rangers were able to tie it thanks to Vincent Trocheck, who redirected a Panarin shot past Charlie Lindgren at 19:20. A Fox drop pass allowed Panarin to send a long shot towards the net that Trocheck deflected in for his ninth. Alexis Lafreniere was also parked in front on the play. Trocheck has three goals over his last four.
The second period was much different thanks to Tom Wilson. The Caps’ leading goalscorer heated things up when he caught Noah Laba leaning with a clean hit that injured the rookie center. While play continued, Connor McMichael then fed Wilson in front for the go-ahead goal at 7:33. Laba didn’t return following the upper-body injury he suffered. Mike Sullivan didn’t provide an update on Laba or Conor Sheary, who also left the game after the second period. They’ll be re-evaluated.
When it comes to Wilson, he hits hard and most of the time, it’s clean. Once a dirty player, he’s become a premier power forward. After he decked Laba, who stayed down, Will Borgen battled with Wilson during the shift. Eventually, Borgen and Braden Schneider got exposed on a three-on-two that was started by Rasmus Sandin. Once he moved the puck for McMichael, he drew Schneider, who went down and allowed the easy centering feed for an easy Wilson finish.
Schneider didn’t make the right decision. However, no forward came back to help both defensemen. Sheary sent Wilson down after the goal, which easily could’ve been a penalty. Why Sheary continues to play is puzzling. Sullivan prefers defensive-minded forwards. Sheary has nine points in 37 games.
Once Laba was hurt, the Rangers had to respond to the Wilson hit. Even if it wasn’t dirty, he had to answer for it. Sure enough, the always willing Sam Carrick stepped up and challenged him two minutes later. Of course, Carrick gave up a lot in size and weight class. But as usual, he proved why nobody has more heart or guts on this team than him. He didn’t allow Wilson to get free and nail him with a clean right.
Somehow, the refs gave Carrick an instigator for the scrap. If there’s a rule that needs more clarification, it’s the instigator. If one combatant drops the gloves first and starts throwing before the other does, that’s fine. In this case, it was a bad call that put the Caps on the power play. They made the most of it with Justin Sourdif able to steer in an Alex Ovechkin pass in the crease for a 3-1 lead.
The Rangers came back with a power-play goal of their own. On what was some excellent passing, Panarin moved the puck up for Mika Zibanejad, who then passed cross for a Fox one-timer that went top shelf to cut the deficit to one. It was nice to see Fox wind up with a slap shot and pick the corner. A rarity for him. In his return, he finished with a goal and assist.
In the third, they were down to 10 forwards. Sullivan went with three lines. He settled on Zibanejad with Panarin and Will Cuylle. Trocheck played with Lafreniere and Gabe Perreault, who came very close to tying it. Carrick was with Brodzinski and Taylor Raddysh. Matt Rempe stayed on the bench due to Sullivan looking for offense. He also double shifted his best players.
For the first half of the period, it was mostly the Rangers pressing for the equalizer. The best line was the one that included Perreault, who had a strong showing. He found chemistry with Lafreniere and Trocheck, with the trio very effective during their shifts. Lafreniere nearly had Perreault for the tying goal, but Lindgren made the critical save.
The Caps turned the tables when they took advantage of a favorable matchup. Going up against the Carrick unit and third pair, Sandin was able to win a board battle with Carson Soucy. He then centered in front for Aliaksei Protas, who got free of a Matthew Robertson check to make it 4-2.
Following the backbreaking goal, the Rangers ran out of gas. Wilson scored his second of the game on a nifty McMichael backhand pass from behind the net to make it 5-2. With it out of reach, Perreault picked up an assist on a Schneider goal that went shortside on Lindgren to make it 5-3 with 1:44 remaining.
With Quick off for an extra attacker, a set play led to Sourdif scoring into an open net to seal the deal.
If there was a frustating part, it’s that the Caps didn’t play well. They were susceptible defensively as they’ve been lately. However, they had more healthy bodies and did what they had to to get the win.
On what turned out to be a disappointing result for the Rangers in a 6-3 defeat to the Caps, there was a big positive that came out of the game. After a month away due to suffering a separated shoulder on a Brandon Hagel hit on Nov. 29, Adam Fox finally was activated off long-term injured reserve. He missed 14 games due to the upper-body injury.
With Fox finally back, the Rangers assigned Scott Morrow to the Hartford Wolf Pack. In his return, he had a goal and assist to pick up right where he left off. With the Rangers trailing the Caps late in the first period, Fox helped set up Vincent Trocheck’s tying goal. The secondary assist extended his point streak to seven (1-11-12) games dating back to Nov. 20.
After the Rangers fell behind 3-1, they went on the power play. It was there that Fox was badly missed. Right away, he made a difference by taking a Mika Zibanejad pass and blasting a slap shot past Charlie Lindgren for a power-play goal that pulled the Rangers within one.
The goal was his fourth of the season and second on the power play. Although he blew an assignment on a Caps goal, Fox looked good for his first game back after being out the past four weeks. Reunited with defense partner Vladislav Gavrikov, who played a game-high 24:07, Fox logged 21:13 in 27 shifts while finishing with two points to hike his season total to 28 (4-24-28) in 28 games.
When Fox was gone, the Rangers’ power play struggled badly by going 5-for-33 (15.1 percent). In particular, the number one unit had its issues. Coach Mike Sullivan tried a five-forward unit that had no success and gave up two shorthanded goals without the goalie being pulled. He also used Morrow as the quarterback. Unfortunately, he had a giveaway that led to another shorthanded goal during that stretch. In the recent 3-2 overtime loss at the Hurricanes, Gavrikov scored on the power play with the top unit.
Overall, the Blueshirts started the day tied with the Jets for 13th on the man-advantage (19.8). Four of the six shorthanded goals allowed came over the last month without Fox. They’re tied with the Sharks for the most shorthanded goals allowed this season.
In converting on their only opportunity on Fox’s one-timer off a play set up from both Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin, they’re hoping that he can provide more consistency to a unit that needs it. An outstanding offensive player who is superb at reading the play from the point, Fox is a terrific passer who can find open teammates. He also is adept at shooting for deflections. One of the best quarterbacks in the league, the 27-year-old has nine power-play points.
For the Rangers, the most important takeaway is that Fox looked healthy. He skated well and didn’t show any lingering signs. With over a month left before the Olympics, he’ll be crucial if they want to stay in the playoff race.
In related news, he won’t be part of Team USA. They still haven’t made an official announcement on the Olympic roster. However, all indications are that Fox will not represent USA. It’s been reported that they’re taking Seth Jones as one of the eight defensemen.
Adam Fox did not make the U.S. Olympic team. Heard New York Rangers personnel involved with Team USA – GM Chris Drury, coach Mike Sullivan, assistant David Quinn – all pushed very hard for Fox, but they understood the decision especially given depth USA has on D.
In a world where Fox is still one of the game’s elite blue liners, it’s absurd that he won’t make a roster that’ll be coached by Sullivan, who has seen firsthand how vital he is. Then again, Wild general manager Bill Guerin is the one who makes the selections that’ll also likely exclude Jason Robertson and Lane Hutson. Assuming they fall short in their bid to break a 46-year gold medal drought in Italy, the blame will fall directly on Guerin.
At the very least, Fox will get more time to rest. I can’t imagine he didn’t anticipate getting to represent his country like he had last year at 4-Nations. Unlike 2025, he’s moving much better. It isn’t so much a criticism on skilled players such as Quinn Hughes, Zach Werenski, and Jake Sanderson. It’s puzzling that they couldn’t find a spot for Fox in their top eight. Then again, it doesn’t sound like they strongly considered Hutson, who’s already one of the best offensive defensemen in the sport.
While most of the American roster has been leaked by multiple sources, with Jones, Clayton Keller, and Tage Thompson all making the cut, Hockey Canada revealed its roster earlier this afternoon on TSN.
Make it official! Canada’s men’s Olympic hockey team officially unveiled for Milano-Cortina.
Celebrini and Horvat make it — team led by Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid at the Olympics for the first time together.
Like USA, Canada had some oversights as well. They could’ve chosen Sam Bennett over Anthony Cirelli and Wyatt Johnston over Brayden Point. Jakob Chychrun probably deserved to make the back end.
Regardless, the Canadians are loaded and will be heavy favorites in Milano Cortina.
It was another frustrating loss for the Rangers. Two days after getting shut out by the Islanders, they fell in overtime to the Hurricanes. The Hurricanes came back from a goal down in the third period to pull it out 3-2 on Jackson Blake’s power-play goal with 12 seconds left in overtime.
Continuing to play without Adam Fox and J.T. Miller, the Rangers twice held a one-goal lead against the Hurricanes who before the game announced that Pyotr Kochetkov will have surgery for a lower-body injury that will likely end his season. Even without key stars Seth Jarvis and Jaccob Slavin, they’ve managed to remain in first place in the Metropolitan Division. They were without four regulars including Shayne Gostisbehere.
K’Andre Miller returned from an injury to face his former team for the first time this season. He was traded to Carolina in the off-season for a package that included defenseman Scott Morrow along with 2026 first and second round draft picks. Right now, it’s advantage Hurricanes. Miller entered the game with two goals and 11 assists in 29 games. Of course, he contributed with a secondary assist in nearly 23 minutes for the Hurricanes in the win.
The Rangers have basically been running out the same lineup. For reasons only known to Mike Sullivan, he decided to have Conor Sheary play in place of Brennan Othmann, who may as well not even exist. He’s been treated with kid gloves by the latest recycled coach who like his predecessors prefers veterans over young players. At this point, they’ve tanked Othmann’s value completely. He probably can’t wait to move on. To think that he’s a Chris Drury first round pick.
Of course, Sullivan kept Mika Zibanejad between Artemi Panarin and Alexis Lafreniere, who’s the most snake bit player in recent memory. Lafreniere entered the match with eight goals in 40 games. He again couldn’t convert on a pair of great scoring chances. Brandon Bussi kept him off the game sheet with a couple of strong denials.
After scoring a career-high 28 while playing with Panarin and Vincent Trocheck in 2023-24, Lafreniere only has 25 goals over his last 123 regular season games. It’s mind-numbing how bad he is at finishing when he’s had the benefit of playing mostly with Panarin. Not too long ago, he scored eight goals in the Rangers’ run to the Conference Finals. Along with Trocheck, he was one of their best forwards against the Panthers. Ever since, things have fallen apart.
Over a year since signing the contract extension with a $7.45 million cap hit, it might be time to move on for both sides. His no-trade clause doesn’t kick in until July 2027. Would the Rangers consider swapping Lafreniere for Quenton Byfield ($6.25 million AAV), who’s been equally disappointing since re-signing with the Kings? It’s hard to believe that they were once the first and second picks in the 2020 NHL Draft. At the halfway mark, Lafreniere has a disappointing 20 points and minus-8 rating. Byfield came in Monday night with 21 points and a +1 rating in 36 games.
At this point, it’s just something to ponder. Lafreniere’s failure hasn’t helped an offensively challenged team succeed. He isn’t alone in that department. Although he’s played much better than last season, Zibanejad still doesn’t produce consistently at even strength. Of his 29 points, 16 have come at even strength. However, he’s scored only four goals with seven coming on the power play and one shorthanded. Lafreniere entered with 18 even strength points, which remarkably ranks second behind Panarin, who added an assist to his team-leading 30 even strength points.
Trocheck has continued to play with rookie Gabe Perreault and Will Cuylle, who sometimes moves down to the third line to work with Noah Laba. The issue for Sullivan is that the combinations aren’t working. Trocheck doesn’t have chemistry with Perreault, who should be tried with Zibanejad. Sullivan has kept force feeding Lafreniere and Panarin with Zibanejad. But how good have they really been since being put together? They work better with Trocheck, who’s able to create space for both and drive to the net. My suggestion would be flipping the centers when the Rangers visit the struggling Capitals on New Year’s Eve.
Despite Vladislav Gavrikov scoring his career best seventh goal of the season on the power play that was set up by Panarin and Trocheck, the Rangers didn’t play well. The Hurricanes took over most of the play in the first period. That eventually led to Sebastian Aho evening the score on a five-on-three. With Jonny Brodzinski already off for tripping, Braden Schneider took an undisciplined delay of game to hand the Canes a two-man advantage that even their anemic power play converted on.
Schneider is yet another first round flop. Once dubbed “Baby Trouba” by teammates, he’s never blossomed into the defenseman the organization thought he could become. Instead, he’s too mistake prone due to butchering passes, and has been on for way too may goals against since being elevated to the top pair with Gavrikov. Schneider is a restricted free agent following the season. Whether or not he’s a Ranger remains to be seen. Although flawed, Schneider plays hard and is a good penalty killer. A right defenseman who’s capable of playing a more defined role, he could draw interest before the Mar. 6 trade deadline.
If there was one story coming out of Raleigh, it was the Rangers’ inability to bury their chances. That included a couple of 2-on-1’s with Bussi making a big stop on Laba, who came in with speed, but couldn’t finish.
Blake on Bussi's stellar saves: "That's just who Bus is. He's done that all year for us. So many big saves too. Like breakaways, 2-on-1s and all these saves. I honestly don't know how he does it. Confidence is big to have in your goalie, all of our goalies, but especially when… https://t.co/wKt3feKls4
The 27-year-old Bussi has become a folkhero for Carolina. Before this year, he’d never played in the NHL. The former Western Michigan University product spent parts of three seasons in the American Hockey League playing for the Providence Bruins. On Oct. 5, the Hurricanes picked him up off waivers from the Panthers. Little did they know that he’d become their number one goalie due to injuries to Kochetkov and Frederik Andersen. Bussi finished with 17 saves in improving to an astonishing 13-1-1 in 15 games.
Brandon Bussi is now 13-1-1 in his first 15 NHL appearances.
"He's been great. He keeps giving us a chance to win hockey games. That's all you can ask from a goalie. It's been a great ride… He's been really calm and collected in the big moments," Sebastian Aho said post-game. pic.twitter.com/3eiut7hBHa
With the game still tied in the second period, some hard work from the fourth line led to Brodzinski getting his fourth at exactly 13:00. On a good zone entry from Brodzinski, Matt Rempe passed the puck up top for a Matthew Robertson shot that was double deflected. Sam Carrick tipped the puck over to Brodzinski, who made it 2-1. It was a great play by all four players.
In the third period, the Hurricanes pressed for the equalizer. They finally got it when Jordan Martinook had a Jalen Chatfield shot bank in off his skate past Igor Shesterkin with 10:49 remaining. A Schneider turner allowed Miller to keep the puck in and set up the tying goal.
Despite some great stops in regulation, Shesterkin had no chance on the goal. It was another tough night for him. He made 31 saves and predictably came out on the losing side. He must want to pull his hair out the way the team plays in front of him.
Neither side showed any interest in attempting to get it done in regulation. It’s become a bad trend in the NHL with teams continuing to play for the free point. But sure. The game’s never been better. What a joke.
The three on three was no better. It consisted of the same resets and over skating that’s become all too common. It wasn’t until Robertson was forced to take down Taylor Hall that the Hurricanes got the only opportunity they needed to win the game. What Robertson was doing out in that situation I’ll never know.
For the most part, the three-man penalty killing unit of Trocheck, Gavrikov, and Schneider was getting it done. Carolina kept trying to make the perfect play over to Andrei Svechnikov. Eventually, the Rangers took a timeout to put that same trio out. For the longest time, it looked like the game was headed to a shootout. Instead, Nik Ehlers fed Aho, who was able to fire a shot pass for Blake to redirect home for the winner.
At least it saved us the aggravation of seeing another shootout. There’s not much else to say about this team. They’re not any good. When Panarin is going, he can carry them to victories. Fox sounds like he’s targeting Jan. 2 versus the Panthers in the Winter Classic. If he can return, maybe they can send down Morrow, who doesn’t look like an NHL player. He makes too many poor reads and struggles when there’s any sign of trouble. Already 23, I can see why Carolina parted with him.
At least they got a first and second back. Does anyone actually trust the scouts to hit on a late first round pick? Exactly.
hasan4978
Derek
Battle Of Hudson 
You must be logged in to post a comment.