Here are today’s news and links:

Rangers News:

• Mark Herrmann discusses how even in the midst of a “down” season, Henrik Lundqvist is still a major contributor to the success the Rangers have achieved this season (Newsday)
• Sam Prevot examines whether or not the Carolina Hurricanes would make sensible trading partners for New York (Blue Line Station)
• Nicholas Zararis ponders when a decision to rebuild becomes a more long-term, inescapable cycle of mediocrity (Blue Line Station)
• Dave Shapiro recapped the Hartford Wolfpack’s 7-4 defeat against the Springfield Thunderbirds from Wednesday (Blue Seat Blogs)
• Greg Kaplan describes the one situation where he’d be in favor of trading Chris Kreider (Blueshirts Breakaway)
• Gordie Clark relayed his thoughts on the performance of Nils Lundkvist and Nico Gross at the World Junior Championships (1:04 video via Official Team Site)/

Around the NHL:

• Adam Gretz reminisced on some notable events from the All-Star games of the past, including on-ice fights and a Mike Keenan-fueled trade out of town (NBC Sports)
• Elliotte Friedman authors another edition of 31 Thoughts (Sportsnet)
• Frank Seravalli discusses how another season of the Edmonton Oilers missing the playoffs will pave the way for a discussion about Connor McDavid’s claim to MVP (TSN)/