1. Some Dylan McIlrath fallout to start. I’ve been privately thinking that once McIlrath got wind that he didn’t make the team last month and was waived some days ago, he asked for a trade. I can’t blame him personally for wanting out considering the logjam that we’ve been talking about on the NYR roster for quite some time. The second the Rangers dealt for Nick Holden spelled the end for McIlrath. Plain and simple.
2. From an asset management standpoint, this is really bad. Six years of time and effort into McIlrath’s growth, sticking with him through the broken kneecap, bringing in Jeff Beukeboom this season to supposedly help him along. A 10th overall pick flipped for a former NYR farmhand, who was moved two years ago to make room for Anthony Duclair. So essentially this trade is Duclair, McIlrath, John Moore, a 2016 first and 2015 2nd round for 1.5 years of Keith Yandle, Chris Summers, Steven Kampfer and a 2015 fourth round pick. Yikes.
3. With Trouba re-signing back in Winnipeg and Anaheim unwilling to deal a defenseman, it appears that this is your defensive group for the rest of the season. Skjei has put his poor preseason way behind him and has in my opinion, been the Rangers’ best defenseman so far this season. Staal and Girardi have been serviceable, which has been better than I could have imagined out of both of them heading into this season.
4. Lastly, as far as the Rangers start to the season goes, I would point folks to a column from Sportsnet.ca here, articulating just how the Rangers play within their new system and how all these chances are ending up in the back of the net. I haven’t gotten the inclination from watching the games that anyone has figured out how to slow the Rangers down so far and the play out of the team over the last week is due to heavy legs. The upcoming 3 day break before heading to western Canada seems like it’s badly needed throughout the lineup.
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