Today on the site was really a day about the future of the New York Rangers from a couple of different angles. The morning in, “Derek Stepan Looks To Prove He Belongs On Top” looked at how tomorrow Stepan is getting another chance to be on the Rangers top line in his second real opportunity to prove that he belongs there. For my money he showed enough in his first go round that he never should have been separated in the first place but there is always the issue of Tortorella and his panic to change things up meeting his love for giving Erik Christensen more chances. We will see how long Stepan has the opportunity and I looked at how long I believe he should be there.
In continuing about the future I looked at the idea of the trade rumors that have surrounded the Rangers over the past few weeks and undoubtedly will until the deadline. In New York Rangers Position Best Trade Is No Trade Is The Best Trade I went through my thoughts on how close or far away the Rangers are from being a legitimate contender, how to this point they have not really proven anything and unless the prudent action is to stay the course. To me the two keys to that decision are Derek Stepan and Artem Anisimov and I looked at how I would use them the rest of the year to better understand what moves the Rangers should or should not make.
Finally in the future watch I turned my attention to the AHL where the best Rangers prospects down there have really improved their play except for Grachev. Whale Watching: The Kids Are Alright...Are Zuccarello or any of the others NHL ready I looked at the play of each of the main prospects on the club and gave an assessment as to how far away each was. There have been calls for Zuccarello to be called up and I give my take on the validity of those calls at the moment.
To end the day I took a look at tomorrow’s rematch with Ottawa Senators asking Will The Rangers show up and looking at all the other changes Tortorella has made to the lineup.
