Bantering Points: 1/12/17

As the New York Rangers enjoy the final day of their bye week, decision time is coming quickly, as the team inches closer to full health, roster moves will need to be made in order to make room for Rick Nash, Pavel Buchnevich, and Mika Zibanejad. Here are today's news and links:

Rangers News:

• Larry Brooks details the merits of finishing in the first Wild Card position by the time the regular season concludes (NY Post)
• Sean Hartnett believes that New York could use a major splash at the trade deadline to provide a late-season spark for a playoff run (CBS)
• Dave Shapiro offers his opinion on Marek Hrivik and whether he has earned the right so maintain an NHL roster spot (Blue Seat Blogs)
• Kevin Baumer released his report cards for the Rangers' goaltenders and front office staff through one half of the season (Blue Seat Blogs)
• David Bruce pens an excellent piece on the Ryan Gropp debacle, and how New York has (predictably) gone on to rue the decision to trade sacrifice Hagelin to move up and select the disappointing power forward (Blue Line Station)
• Timothy Haggerty names the top five Rangers draft picks since 2000 (Blue Line Station)
• John Williams goes behind the scenes and gets an exclusive look at how Adam Clendening's second goal was credited to Michael Grabner (Blue Line Station)/

Around the NHL:

• Jason Brough reports that the National Hockey League has confirmed that the 2017 All-Star game in Los Angeles will return to the 3-on-3 format used last season in Nashville (NBC Sports)
• Sean McIndoe lists five ideas the NHL should steal from the NFL (The Hockey News)
• Sean Leahy saw that Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin broke the 1,000 point barrier last night, recording two goals in Washington's 5-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins (Puck Daddy)
• Mark Spector breaks down how last summer's Adam Larsson trade has changed the league's trade market (Sportsnet)/

Do you know who the Ranger in the picture is?