Bantering Points: 11/3/16

Rangers news:

• Larry Brooks highlights what makes this Rangers team the real deal, while also providing an expansion draft forecast (NY Post)
• Brett Cyrgalis sees how Ryan McDonagh's start to the season is something the Rangers haven't seen since the days of Brian Leetch (NY Post)
• Steve Zipay thinks that Brady Skjei has bounced back from his rough training camp, and his finding his groove in the NHL (Newsday)
• John Williams reminds us that the Rangers' excellent forward depth has largely masked their sub-par defense corps (Blue Line Station)
• Kevin Baumer believes the Rangers summer re-tooling has elevated them back into a top-tier contender (Blue Seat Blogs)
• Monica McAlister reports that the Rangers and Calle Andersson have agreed to mutually terminate his contract (with Anaheim and Mason Raymond doing the same) (Today's Slapshot)
• Ken Campbell releases his power rankings, with the Rangers coming in at 5th (The Hockey News)
• Kevin Hayes chats with NHL Now and discusses his hot start (3:21 Video Via Official Team Site)
• Alumni Interviews: Paul Mara (1:46) and P.J. Stock (4:04) (Official Team Site)

Around the NHL:

• Kevin Allen points out five peculiar stats that won't last through the end of the season (USA Today)
• Luke Fox evaluates the 22 players eligible to slide on their Entry Level Contracts, and determines their chances of sticking around beyond nine games (Sportsnet)
• Greg Wyshynski saw that Capitals prospect Madison Bowey posted an Instagram video of himself smoking something, before deleting it later in the day (Puck Daddy)
• Garret Hohl presents his argument for why plus-minus should no longer be a recorded stat (Hockey Graphs)