Bantering Points: 3/15/17

Here are today's news and links:

Rangers News:

• Brett Cyrgalis discusses how barring a catastrophe, the Rangers are set to cross over into the Atlantic Division side of the playoff bracket (NY Post)
• Sean Hartnett believes that New York's playoff fate is still up in the air, and Antti Raanta will have a lot to say about it (CBS)
• Justin Tasch believes that the team's road dominance lends itself to earning the first Wild Card spot becoming an advantage (NY Daily News)
• Josh Khalfin breaks down why trading draft picks to the Vegas Golden Knights to try and influence who they select in the expansion draft isn't a smart idea (Blue Seat Blogs)
• Dave Shapiro offers his thoughts on the prospect New York crossing into the Atlantic Division for the playoffs (Blue Seat Blogs)
• Brandon Cohen lists five of his thoughts from the Rangers' first 70 games (Blue Line Station)
• David Bruce lists five reasons New York isn't a contender (Blue Line Station)
• Alexandra Russo lists five players who will determine how far the Rangers go in this year's playoffs (Blue Line Station)/

Around the NHL:

• Elliotte Friedman authors another edition of 30 Thoughts (Sportsnet)
• Pierre LeBrun argues that the league should obligate teams to make it's list of protected players public (TSN)
• Greg Wyshynski reports that one of the greatest hot take artists of our generation is taking his talents elsewhere, as Ottawa Senators forward Bobby Ryan has deleted his Twitter account (Puck Daddy)
• Alex Novet examines what truly makes a contender by looking at the strong and weak links of hockey teams (Hockey Graphs)/