Here are today’s news and links:

Rangers News:

• Brett Cyrgalis highlights how Brendan Smith has gone from a typical free agent bust in New York to a dependable cog on New York’s blue line (NY Post)
• Cyrgalis also notes that Filip Chytil is approaching the ten game mark that will burn the first year of his entry level contract (NY Post)
• Colin Stephenson relayed word of the team’s latest line combinations from practice (Newsday)
• Dave Shapiro discussed Kevin Shattenkirk and his proficiency at getting his shot attempts to the net (Blue Seat Blogs)
• Shapiro also answered questions about the rebuild, the Rangers’ lack of offense, and more (Blue Seat Blogs)
• Frank Curto argues that, in spite of the team’s bottom five rankings in Corsi and Expected Goals against, the Rangers have successfully bought into David Quinn’s systems ^Jack’s Recommended Read of the Day^ (Elite Sports NY)
• David Bruce checks in on how Vitali Kravtsov’s KHL season is going (Blue Line Station)
• Michael Delasandro juxtaposes Neal Pionk with Tony DeAngelo (Blue Line Station)
• Michael Obernauer heard from Jimmy Vesey as the third-year forward attempts to keep things simple (Official Team Site)
• Media Availability: David Quinn,(8:49) Jimmy Vesey,(2:13) and Brady Skjei (1:59) (Official Team Site)/

Around the NHL:

• Three Swedish coaches from last year’s squad that earned silver medals at the World Junior Championships have won appeals reversing their multi-game bans from this year’s iteration of the tournament (NBC Sports)
• Former Nashville Predator Jordin Tootoo officially announced his retirement from the NHL following a 700+ game career (TSN)
• Mike Johnston reports that some executives around the league are questioning the value of RFA forward William Nylander (Sportsnet)/