Bantering Points: 5/23/25

Here are today's news and links:

From Blueshirt Banter:

Joe Fortunato and Chip preview the upcoming free agency period, including a potential chase of John Tavares, in the latest episode of the Blueshirt Bandwidth podcast (BSB)

Jake DiBlasio examines what Igor Shesterkin needs to do to one day pass Henrik Lundqvist as the greatest goaltender in Rangers history (BSB)

Rangers News:

Mollie Walker reports that Michael Peca has left the Blueshirts to join the Chicago Blackhawks as an assistant coach on newly-hired Jeff Blashill's staff (NY Post)

Brian Abate points to Adam Edstrom and Brett Berard as a pair of bit players on the 2024-25 Rangers that could grow into bigger roles in the 2025-26 campaign (The Hockey Writers)

Remy Mastey heard from Mika Zibanejad about his mentality playing for Team Sweden at the IIHF World Championships after the rough season he endured in New York (The Hockey News)

Peter Baugh an$wer$ que$tion$ regarding any looming offer $heet potential, who the Blue$hirt$' next captain, and more (The Athletic)

Tom Urtz Jr. ponders whether Will Cuylle could be at risk of receiving an offer sheets (Blue Line Station)

Around the NHL:

The Carolina Hurricanes reached a new low in their bout of Eastern Conference Final futility, getting shut down by a 5-0 margin in Game 2 against the Florida Panthers to drop their 14th consecutive Eastern Conference Final game and trail 2-0 in the series as the scene shifts to Florida (TSN)

Nick Zaccardi recaps the quarterfinal round of the IIHF World Championships, a round that saw Team USA, Sweden, Denmark and and Switzerland advance to the semifinals (NBC Sports)

The Chicago Blackhawks hired former Detroit Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill as their new head coach (ESPN)