Bantering Points: 1/9/17

With New York's bye week fully under way, there won't be much in the way of Rangers news for the next couple of days. But with 28 other teams in action (Toronto is also enjoying their bye week right now) throughout the week, there will be plenty of hockey going on to get your fix. If not, there's always other news going on in the sports world that we'd all love to read about to keep us entertained, if you catch my drift. Here's today's news and links:

Rangers News:

• Justin Tasch discusses how the Rangers have entered their bye week with reasons for optimism (NY Daily News)
• Mark Herrmann doesn't think New York was in need of a bye week, but understands that the team appreciates any extra rest (Newsday)
• Tom Urtz Jr. points out that the team will use their week off as a time to recharge and regroup for the second half of the season (Blueshirt Bulletin)
• Jay Travers believes that Alain Vigneault learned a crucial lesson before the team's bye week (Elite Sports NY)
• Brandon Cohen breaks down why this year's Rangers team is different from last season's squad (Blue Line Station)
• Garrett Gartino examines possible trade destinations for Kevin Klein (Blue Line Station)
• John Williams debates whether Alain Vigneault or John Tortorella will go down as a better Rangers' coach (Blue Line Station)
• Dave Shapiro reports that Nicklas Jensen has been demoted to the Hartford Wolfpack (Blue Seat Blogs)
• He hails from the some hometown as Dan Girardi and Daniel Paille, and played nine games for the Rangers. Yesterday's player in the picture was.....Andre Deveaux (Wikipedia)/

Around the NHL:

• Mike Brophy chatted with Chris Pronger about how he sees his current position as a stepping stone to become a general manager (The Hockey News)
• Josh Cooper relays word that the Dallas Stars team plane had to make an emergency landing after smoke emerged from the cockpit (Puck Daddy)
• Adam Gretz says that Chicago Blackhawks forward Ryan Hartman recorded one of the oddest hat tricks in league history last night against the Nashville Predators (NBC Sports)/

Do you know who the Ranger in the picture is?