Here are today’s news and links:

Rangers News:

• Larry Brooks notes that Chris Kreider picked a bad time to start going through the motions, and the Rangers will remember this when contract negotiations pick up (NY Post)
• Colin Stephenson caught up with Brett Howden after in the wake of ending his 35 game goal scoring drought (Newsday)
• Pat Keogh examines a worst case scenario for the Rangers as they attempt to build an NHL-caliber defense corps (Blue Seat Blogs)
• Nicholas Zararis laments the unexpected end of Libor Hajek’s first professional season (Blue Line Station)
• Andrew Steele-Davis breaks down why Ryan Strome could be much more than roster filler during the Blueshirts’ rebuild (Blue Line Station)
• Jack Loennecker muses that New York’s offensive struggles have been amplified since trading away Kevin Hayes and Mats Zuccarello (Elite Sports NY)
• Dominick Renna relays word that K’Andre Miller has been named a finalist for the Big 10’s Freshman of the Year (Elite Sports NY)
• Michael Obernauer heard from Howden as he attempts to re-discover as game after his extended injury absence (Official Team Site)
• Media Availability: Brett Howden (1:55) (Official Team Site)/

Around the NHL:

• Kristen Shilton reports that after investigating an incident from Monday night’s Maple Leafs-Lightning game, the league found that defenseman Morgan Rielly did not utter a homophobic slur (TSN)
• Adam Gretz points out that with their 3-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues, the Arizona Coyotes have moved into the second Wild Card slot in the Western Conference playoff race (NBC Sports)
• Mark Spector hears that as the Winnipeg Jets get set to make consecutive playoff appearances for the first time in franchise history, the team isn’t worried that they appear weaker than they were one year ago (Sportsnet)/