Bantering Points: 12/31/16

The Rangers find themselves in Colorado, where the good guys prevailed as recently as two weeks ago, as they'll take on John Mitchell and the Avalanche at 8:00 tonight. After defeating the Arizona Coyotes Thursday night, New York will finish it's road trip against the NHL's cellar dwellers later today before heading home for the new year. Here are today's news and links:

Rangers News:

• Brett Cyrgalis details how Nick Holden has come as advertised after getting a recommendation from former Avalanche goaltender and head coach Patrick Roy (NY Post)
• Game Preview: Colorado looks to end it's struggles on home ice as they welcome New York into the Pepsi Center (CBS)
• Cat Silverman chatted with Antti Raanta about his techniques in goal that have lead to his rise as one of the top backup goaltenders in the NHL (In Goal Magazine)
• Justin Rutherford dicusses the frustrations that come with reserving judgement on the team's play recently (Blue Seat Blogs)
• Steven Loffredo names three potential trade targets for the Rangers in order to add a "spark plug" into the bottom 6 (The Hockey Writers)
• Justin Starr makes the case as to why Ryan McDonagh should be named to the Metropolitan Division All-Star team for the second year in a row (Blue Line Station)
• Alexnadra Russo points out how the rash of injuries suffered by New York has been a challenge to overcome, even in spite of the team's forward depth (Blue Line Station)
• He appeared in 47 games as a New York Ranger during the 05-06 season before being shipped out to San Jose for a 3rd Round Pick. Yesterday's player in the picture as.....Ville Nieminen (Wikipedia)/

Around the NHL:

• Adam Gretz reports that due to the uncertainty surrounding participation on the 2018 Olympics, the NHL has begun preparations for two schedules; one without an Olympic break built in, and one with a break (NBC Sports)
• Jared Clinton relays word that the New York Islanders finally solved their goaltending dilemma, as they waived Jaroslav Halak in order to keep Thomas Greiss and the 25 Year Old Jean Francois-Berube, who has 11 NHL games played, in full time roles (The Hockey News)
• Frank Seravalli, Dylan Larkin, and Jeff Blashill reminisce on the 2014 Winter Classic ahead of the Red Wings and Maple Leafs clash in the 2017 Centennial Classic (TSN)
• Josh Cooper saw that the Finnish World Junior team will become the first defending champion to face relegation, as a Swiss victory over Denmark pushed the Finns into the relegation round (Puck Daddy)
• Jonathan Willis breaks down why top four defenseman are easier to acquire than they usually seem. This article probably wouldn't be out of place in either section of notes (Sportsnet)/

Do you know who the Ranger in the picture is?