Podcast Ombudsman Report for Blueshirt Bandwidth Ep. 67

Welcome back to the Blueshirt Bandwidth Podcast Ombudsman Report. Each week, Charlie Vidal will listen to the latest episode of the podcast and correct the record on anything Joe and Eric get wrong. If you aren't already, you can listen and subscribe to the podcast here.

Episode 67

This was declared the Boo Nieves episode rather than the Benoit Pouliot episode. Nieves played in only 76 games for the Rangers across four seasons from 2016 through 2020, which was his only NHL action. Although only one of Pouliot’s 12 NHL seasons was spent with the Rangers, he played in 80 regular season and 25(!) postseason games during the 2013-14 season.

Like most Rangers legends, Benoit Pouliot would go on to sign a contract that would eventually be bought out. Fortunately, it was the Edmonton Oilers who had the pleasure of buying him out of the final two years of his five year deal. His NHL career lasted only one more season in Buffalo, meaning that he wasn’t even in the NHL in the final season of that contract. That contract was offered by then Oilers GM and Rangers legend Craig MacTavish:

Buzz Killington

Eric referenced “Buzz Killington” at the beginning of the episode, a recurring bit within Family Guy. Just like Family Guy, we’ll drop in a gratuitous cut scene here:

Individual Games

Eric and Joe said that based on the overall tone and direction of the season, we don’t have to talk about individual games. That's probably good, because on Wednesday night the Rangers somehow drilled right through rock bottom, falling behind 6-0 to the Ottawa Senators midway through the second period before "storming back" (kind of) to lose 8-4, a final scoreline that somehow doesn’t do justice to how poorly the Rangers played:

Vincent Trocheck Stick Throwing

During the Jan. 8 loss to the Buffalo Sabres, Vincent Trocheck grabbed Josh Norris’s stick and threw it into the corner while the Sabres went on the attack at the other end of the ice. Trocheck being badly out of position and getting back to the bench late for a line change allowed the Sabres to score, and Trocheck was subsequently given an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

Unlike Jacob Trouba’s helmet throw two years ago which propelled a middling Rangers team back into a playoff spot, absolutely nothing positive has come from Trocheck’s stick throw.

Kraken Loss

After the loss to the Seattle Kraken, J.T. Miller offered “I don’t know. I’m sorry,” when Vince Mercogliano asked him what changed after the first period, which saw the Rangers get out to a 2-0 lead. The Rangers, of course, went on to blow that 2-0 lead and lose 4-2.

J.T. Miller History

When discussing J.T. Miller’s career path, Joe said that he was a “petulant little bitch” in New York who was then shipped out to Tampa Bay before being sent by them to Vancouver and then finally sent back to the Rangers.

While Miller’s trade last season back to the Rangers was in part due to a falling out with star teammate Elias Pettersson (the center, not the defenseman), his two previous trades were more hockey/cap related decisions rather than a result of his character or attitude in the dressing room. In 2018, Miller was traded to the Tampa Bay Lighting as part of a package with Ryan McDonagh because the Rangers didn’t see him as worth extending after the first Letter went out. The Lightning then traded Miller to Vancouver the next summer because they wanted to save their cap space for Braydon Point, which was probably the right move.

Editors note: It was Eric who made these comments, not Joe. Enjoy it, Joe.

J.T. Miller Trade

Joe was adamant that he would press the button and undo the J.T. Miller. This question was discussed on the Nov. 27 (Scott Morrow) episode of Bandwidth. The discussion begins at the 57 minute mark, when Joe says “I’d absolutely hit the button and undo it,” so that the Rangers could have the cap space instead.

Eric cops out and asks the listeners for their opinion.

Is Bill Guerin an Idiot?

BigBlue66 brought up plus/minus to compare J.T. Miller and Vincent Trocheck, who have been selected for Team USA, to Jason Robertson and Alex DeBrincat, who have not been selected. Using JFresh’s advanced metrics, we can see that Robertson and DeBrincat are much better players and it’s inexcusable to select Trocheck and an injured Miller over them:

Marchand Not Suspended

On Dec. 30, Brad Marchand was given a 2 minute roughing penalty in overtime for a controversial hit to the head of Montreal Canadiens defenseman Mike Matheson. Marchand was not suspended, possibly because the league didn’t want to take one of the Florida Panthers star players out of the Winter Classic:

Devils Goaltending

Martin Brodeur was tapped to fix the New Jersey Devils goaltending before this season, and Jacob Markstrom has since imploded. Per EvolvingHockey’s WAR metric, he was the eighth best goalie in 2023-24 and the 32nd best goalie in 2024-25. While not otherworldly, he was solidly above replacement level and a competent NHL starter at the very least. This year he has plummeted to being the eighth worst goalie in hockey, being more than a full win below replacement level.

(Also of note: Canada is possibly going to start the worst goalie in hockey in the 2026 Milan Olympics.)

All that being said, Jacob Markstrom is a 36 year old with a career .907 save percentage. It isn’t shocking for a middling goalie who’s that old to regress the way that Markstrom has this season:

The Rangers Futility

Eric ponders, “Are the Rangers one of those sad sack franchises that bad things happen to?”

Yes.

Ombudsman Report

Joe said that we would have some fun with the Ombudsman Report prior to diving into the Rangers.

This report is not supposed to be fun. This is mandatory hockey knowledge and Rangers lore.

Eric’s Drinking Problem

Throughout the episode, Eric mentioned the “A man may take to drink because he feels himself to be a failure, and then fail all the more completely because he drinks” quote from George Orwell.

This quote actually is a great description of Eric’s life.