1. Igor Shesterkin is a fascinating goalkeeper for me. He is the highest paid goalkeeper in the world (deservedly so), but beyond that his only Vezina winhe hasn’t finished better than fourth in the voting, and failed to even get a vote last season. Some would consider that disappointing, but there was little to no heat around Shesterkin, even in a huge market like New York.
Games like Saturday’s Rangers winning are the reason. Sure, Shesterkin conceded four goals. Yes, at least one of them was a goal he should have stopped. But when push came to shove, Shesterkin was a beast.
Whatever accolades Shesterkin may or may not receive, he is the goalkeeper I would want in the net in an important situation.
2. Artemi Panarin had his best game of the season in yesterday’s Rangers win, further proving how much value he has on the trade market. There will almost certainly be no other players available to take over a game. Personally, it doesn’t matter if the Rangers are third in the Metro, are a wild card team or are out of the playoffs. For the good of this organization, they need to trade Panarin, and they need to do it right. The Rangers will miss him dearly, but this is not a championship team in its current state. That must be understood and accepted.
3. If the Rangers’ win yesterday doesn’t build momentum going forward, we’re sure this isn’t a team going anywhere. Saturday’s Rangers win is exactly the type of win that a good team uses as a spark. Which team will show up tonight in a very winnable game against a sluggish Nashville Predators team?
4. Brennan Othmann played less than five minutes in Saturday’s Rangers win. He is still goalless in his career. At this point, I just hope the Rangers can get a mid-round pick for him. He’s not an NHL player, and it’s honestly hard to see him out there. He’s not well. It’s disappointing to see, as the Rangers kept him at least one season too long, possibly even longer.
5. Gabe Perreault, on the other hand, quietly has three points from five games. Nothing groundbreaking, but worth noting for a young player on the Rangers. I hope he gets a legitimate extended run. He deserves it, and Rangers desperately need a goal that doesn’t come from their ‘big five’ forwards.
6. I’m a big believer in Rangers using this season to give the youngsters some experience and re-develop for the future, but players like Shesterkin make it difficult to do that. Owners want wins, GMs want wins, coaches and players want wins. As long as Shesterkin plays, it’s hard to lose many games. It will be fascinating for me to see how the Rangers handle the trade deadline. A legitimately bad team doesn’t come back and win like the Rangers won on Saturday. But a good team doesn’t lose games like this year.
#thoughts #Saturdays #Rangers #win