Bantering Points: 1/27/17
News and notes for Friday, January 27th, 2017
As the rest of the league played their final games before heading off into the All-Star break, the New York Rangers got a head start on their's, and have begun making their way back to wherever they'll be spending the next couple of days before returning to the ice on Tuesday against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Here are today's news and links:
Rangers News:
- Larry Brooks writes about the Rangers identity transformation, and how it's well ahead of schedule (NY Post)
- Brooks also believes that Rick Nash is primed to break out following the All-Star break (NY Post)
- Brett Cyrgalis points out how New York's power play continues it's cold streak in spite of adjustments from Alain Vigneault (NY Post)
- Steve Zipay discusses how Ryan McDonagh has grown into his role as the Blueshirts 27th Captain (Newsday)
- Justin Tasch relays word from Henrik Lundqvist that the Rangers don't need to change much to be successful during the stretch run (NY Daily News)
- Tom Urtz Jr. delivers the Game Score from Wednesday night's meeting with the Philadelphia Flyers (Blueshirt Bulletin)
- Dave Shapiro offers his thoughts on Bob McKenzie's report that New York are unwilling to reshape the core of their team in order to address the defensive issues (Blue Seat Blogs)
- John Williams draws up a blueprint to revamp the Rangers' defense corps (Blue Line Station)/
Around the NHL:
- The Blue Line Station staff offer their thoughts on how to improve the NHL (Blue Line Station)
- Adam Gretz reports that Columbus Blue Jackets head coach John Tortorella will be unable to attend the festivities at All-Star Weekend due to a family emergency (NBC Sports)
- Andrew Berkshire takes a gander at his Excel files and determines the Western Conference's Analytics All-Star Team (Sportsnet)
- Ryan McKenna sees that the Tampa Bay Lightning sent defenseman Nikita Nesterov to the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for defenseman Jonathan Racine and a 2017 6th Round Pick (Sportsnet)
- Gary Lawless hears that the NHL's owners are still against sending their players to South Korea for th 2018 Winter Olympics (TSN)/
