1. Had to take some time off for personal reasons from writing every day but to be honest, I have quite a bit of angst towards a fair chunk of the fan base regarding the “Lundqvist situation”. This is no different from 2013 when Cam Talbot took over for a few games when Lundqvist when his game dropped to Earth. Or when Hank was out with the neck injury in 2015 and how Talbot played in his absence then. Yes, there were some positioning issues for a couple games just before Lundqvist was shown the bench but nothing that would indicate that his overall play was deteriorating.
There is also the issue that the Rangers are playing much better overall in the last four games in front of Raanta than they did in the last four games (and slightly beyond that) in front of Lundqvist. This is the stone cold definition of a coincidence. Hockey is not an individual sport in the sense that basketball and baseball are. Just because Lundqvist doesn’t have a Cup doesn’t make him any less of an elite goalie. Some of the ridiculousness that I’ve heard and read over the last 10 days almost makes me wish the Rangers trade Lundqvist so he would be more appreciated by another fan base over this one. You don’t know what you truly have until it’s gone.
2. I also believe that AV’s past with Vancouver is playing a role in this as well. Most of us remember the soap opera that was created by AV and Canucks management 4-5 years ago with Roberto Luongo and Cory Schneider as the 1A/1B. It’s pretty easy to look back and think that the same thing could be occuring here. Like Schneider then, there is a belief out there that Raanta could very well be a starting goaltender for Vegas Golden Knights (trademark pending) when they begin operations in the fall. Can you picture Hank and Raanta doing forementioned TSN skit that Luongo and Schneider did during AV’s final season in Vancouver? I can’t.
3. The Rangers have done about as well as you could ask for out of them with no Nash, Zibanejad, Buchnevich and Lundqvist to an extent. Especially with the other teams in the division running this well…
The top 5 in the Metro are combined 20-2-0 over last 9 days. Both losses by the Rangers (Isles, Chicago)
— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) December 14, 2016
The Rangers are hitting the road later today when they take off for Dallas and they could have Nash back for that game tomorrow if not Saturday night in Nashville.
4. Anxious for the Rangers to become more involved in outdoor games? You could be in luck. According to Elliotte Friedman, West Point could be a destination for the Rangers (as a visiting team) next season depending on whether or not the NHL goes to South Korea for the Olympics, which could affect the amount of outdoor games the NHL puts on for next season. I think it would be a good spot for the NHL to use one of their cornerstone franchises to promote their new shiny team in Las Vegas at a prestigious military academy. Makes sense to me.
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