Today’s daily recap will be a little different because it will not just be links to all the days stories since there is a “fresh” one at the end of the day and I will just put it in here. Over the past couple weeks there has been a lot of talk about the New York Rangers and the Columbus Blue Jackets hooking up for a trade with the talk that the Rangers inquired on Fedor Tyutin following his scratch and the Blue Jackets doing the same when Michael Del Zotto was sat for a game. I have gone through both rumors with my thoughts on what potential packages might look like for them to get done, but there is fuel added to the fire tonight as the Eric Smith of Fox Sports Ohio sent along the following tweet:
The scouts in the house for the #CBJ vs #Flames tonight are the #Penguins #LAKings & the #NYRangers. Let the rumors start about the Rangers
There is always the possibility that the Rangers or either of the other two teams could be scouting the Flames as well since there has been a lot of talk of the Flames making changes, but let us focus on the Rangers and Blue Jackets once again. The Rangers interest in Tyutin has been at least to some extent established with their inquiry into his availability. The Blue Jackets are known to be in the market for a defender with offensive potential and while their inquiry was about Del Zotto one has to wonder if the Rangers are pushing Gilroy instead. Gilroy is clearly the odd man out here and would certainly be a candidate for trade and while he would meet the offensive potential requirement he probably does not have enough value for Columbus to make that move.
I know the next two names every Rangers fan is going to throw out there to help seal the deal are Frolov and White, but stop before you even start as Columbus does not want another hope you can fix him Russian winger and White is less than useless. One possibility that springs to mind though could be Erik Christensen though inconsistent as he is there is talent there and he has shown it slightly more often of late. The need for another center is not great in Columbus as they have Brassard, Vermette and Pahlsson, but Christensen could move to the wing. Do not know how interested Columbus would be in EC with his inconsistent history or if Tortorella and Sather with their affinity for giving him chances would part with him.
Personally with the Rangers faceoff disaster I am starting to wonder if part of the intrigue to Columbus is their depth on the dot that maybe Pahlsson is the move Sather really wants to make as he would be a great weapon for defensive draws instead of making Drury take the majority of them and his 51.9% success rate would clearly lead the Rangers among anyone qualified with enough draws taken. The problem with Pahlsson is he has another year on his deal at 2.65 million which is steep for a guy who is mainly a face-off specialist.
In the end there could be a lot of moving parts to any sort of Columbus deal and nothing can happen until the roster freeze is over but the longer this deal goes on in terms of speculation the more nervous I get about simply because I do not see a natural fit for either side in what gets dealt. The Rangers are in a place where the youngsters are maturing, while at different rates, and as uplifting as the overall play is and last week in particular they still are not a contender this year so to sacrifice young players currently here, upper prospects, picks, or dollars down the road would be a mistake in my opinion.
Tell me who you think could be involved because your guess is certainly as good as mine.
In terms of the normal recap this morning’s article was on Brandon Dubinsky and the two distinctly different forms his offense has taken in the two sections of the season thus far. I looked at the differential in production from the first twenty games against the last 15 and causes for the differential. The purposed was to try and determine if Dubinsky is now top line quality or just the same inconsistent scorer he has been the last few seasons with a more consistent all-around game. The reality for me is the skill is improving and he has the potential to be a top line guy as he showed early in the year, but there is one thing standing in the way of that happening. The problem is no one can fix that problem except Dubinsky himself. Find out what I believe that problem is inside.
This afternoon I put up the announcement that the NHL Network would be showing all of the Team USA WJC games starting this Sunday as they go for a repeat gold. Also inside is a schedule of when the Team USA squad which boasts Rangers prospects Chris Kreider and Ryan Bourque will be playing in the tournament in Buffalo, so check out when you can catch the Rangers prospects in action.
