Here are today’s news and links:

Rangers News:

• Greg Joyce notes that Brendan Smith’s strong effort against the Islanders helped Rangers’ fans forget about what they might’ve lost in Brady Skjei (NY Post)
• Joyce also relays word from David Quin in defense of the hit Jacob Trouba threw that Michael Dal Colle took the brunt of (NY Post)
• Anthony Rieber hears that with a trip into the Bell Centre on tap for tonight, memories of the team’s early season comeback win in Montreal have been at the forefront of everyone’s mind (Newsday)
• Vincent Mercogliano examines New York’s long term salary cap outlook (LoHud)
• Steve Paulus previews the Seattle expansion draft and how the Rangers may handle it (Blue Line Station)
• Tom Castro highlights the Skjei deal is an example of the success of the Blueshirts’ rebuild (The Hockey Writers)
• Sean Treppedi offers his take on the Skjei trade (Empire Writes Back)
• Media Availability: David Quinn (9:02) and Brendan Lemieux (2:13) (Official Team Site)/

Around the NHL:

• St. Louis Blues defenseman Jay Bouwmeester will miss the remainder of the season in the wake of the cardiac episode he had on February 11th (NHL.com)
• Ken Campbell writes about the David Ayres’ emergency backup situation and what it means for both the Carolina Hurricanes and the NHL as a whole (The Hockey News)
• Former Nashville Predators’ head coach Peter Laviolette has been named the head coach of Team USA at the 2020 IIHF World Championships (NBC Sports)
• Elliotte Friedman authors another edition of 31 Thoughts (Sportsnet)/