Media Bytes: Binnington, Kartye, Perreault, and Fox
One insider is connecting the dots between St. Louis and the Rangers’ crease. Meanwhile, Gabe Perreault’s sophomore leap is turning heads.
Welcome back to Media Bytes, a weekly column from Blueshirt Banter. Every Sunday, we’ll help you start the week right with a quick catch-up on the latest stories and developments around the New York Rangers and the broader NHL media landscape.
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Blues Clues
1. Elliotte Friedman provided an update on Jordan Binnington's future this week on 32 Thoughts and began connecting the dots to New York in the process.
Friedman had previously floated Binnington as a potential trade candidate, given that he's in the final year of his contract and has seemingly lost the starting job with the St. Louis Blues to Joel Hofer.
"The thing that happens in these situations is when you are in the last year of your deal—and he's only played five games this year—if you're Binnington, it's not like your career is over," Friedman said. "He's 33 years old. When you're in this position, it hurts your chances for your best possible deal next year. From what I've heard, there hasn't been a lot of negotiation, if any so far."
In Friedman's view, Binnington isn't the type of player to "cause a problem," but he does want to play and could welcome a change of scenery with a club willing to give him a greater opportunity than he's getting in St. Louis.
"The Rangers [are] a team I think we're all looking at," Friedman continued. "Korpisalo won them a game beating Seattle [but] it's clear [New York is] trying to stretch this as long as they can to make this work and not walk themselves into a mistake. No move is better than a bad move."
Friedman went on to suggest that while there may be questions about Binnington's regular-season performance over the last few years, he believes the goaltender has a knack for rising to the occasion in "elevated situations" like the 4 Nations Face-Off and the Olympics.
"He still has an extremely high level," Friedman argued. "If I was a good team, I've seen the way he's played at those tournaments the last two years. I'm trusting him and I'm putting him in those games."
"I just think he's going to be a guy to watch over the next few months."
