Here are today’s news and links:

Rangers News:

• Highlights: NSH 5, NYR 2 (4:56 video via NHL.com)
• Game Recap: Karma hit the Rangers in a big way last night, as David Quinn’s squad dominated the shot battle, but couldn’t solve a hot goaltender en route to a loss (CBS)
• Brett Cyrgalis hears that in spite of having plenty of legitimate excuses for last night’s result, the Blueshirts opted against going down that route in the wake of defeat (NY Post)
• Colin Stephenson notes that Kaapo Kakko was demoted to the 4th line as of last night’s contest (Newsday)
• Michael Shapiro reports that Joe Beningo and Evan Roberts have been tapped to replace Mike Francesa in the afternoon drive slot on WFAN (Sports Illustrated)
• Steve Paulus previews the salary cap crunch Jeff Gorton will need to navigate once the summer of 2020 arrives (Blue Line Station)
• Dominick Renna argues that a return to the playoffs are anything but a pipe dream for these Rangers (Elite Sports NY)
• Frank Curto writes that in spite of having a decent road trip through the west, a lack of scoring depth prevented it from being a great one (Elite Sports NY)
• Tom Castro believes the organization can’t afford to make a bad move involving Alexandar Georgiev (The Hockey Writers)
• David Eckert relays the latest update on goaltending prospect Tyler Wall (College Hockey News)
• Prospect Report: Matthew Robertson, Lauri Pajuniemi, and Nils Lundkvist have been named the three stars of the week among Blueshirts’ prospects (Official Team Site)/

Around the NHL:

• The Arizona Coyotes acquired forwards Taylor Hall and Blake Speers from the New Jersey Devils in exchange for a package of future assets including two draft picks and three prospects (Five For Howling)
• Philadelphia Flyers’ forward Joel Farabee has been suspended three games for hitting Winnipeg Jets’ forward Mathieu Perreault (Sportsnet)
• Adam Gretz reports that Chicago Blackhawks’ assistant coach Marc Crawford will return to the team’s bench on January 2nd, 2020 following an investigation into his past behavior (NBC Sports)
• The Los Angeles Kings placed forward Ilya Kovalchuk on unconditional waivers for purposes of contract termination (TSN)
• Jared Clinton ponders whether or not Minnesota Wild forward Eric Staal is one of the most underrated players of this generation (The Hockey News)/