Rangers Come Back Again in Montreal!

Another amazing win in the annals of the 2019-2020 Rangers. Through the first two periods the Ranger were on the corrupt end of a 50s -70s Montreal Ref Job.  And with two minutes left in the second they were trailing 2-0. Then Adam Fox made an incredible pass to Phil Di Giuseppe who potted his first Ranger.  Lindgren had the second assist. Then, to start the third, the Rangers came out flying, forechecking and making us proud.  Mika scored his 30th from Panarin and Gauthier.  Then Fox scored his 7th, the game winning goal, from Lindgren and Strome. Then Strome scored his 17th from Tony D and Panarin.  And finally, Strome scored an empty netter from Stall and Georgiev.

Georgiev was pretty fantastic tonight. The first goal he allowed went in off of Fox's skate.  The second was a breakaway. But nothing else went in and he even got an assist.

That was the Rangers 9th straight road win, for a new Ranger Record. Strome had his first 3 point night in awhile, and Lindgren and Fox are becoming very impactful. This was sort of unexpected and thus a total blast!

Giants Release Ogletree and Martin

As expected the Giants have released Alec Ogletree and and Kareem Martin. This creates another big chunk of cap space and the Giants are expecting to keep cutting.  It will be interesting if there are any performance cuts to go along with the cap driven cuts, now that Coach Judge and his staff have reviewed the game tapes.

On another Giant note. Football writers are being intentionally obtuse about Joe Judge's no names policy. Yesterday, they tried to jimmy up click bait by opining that they might not be committed to Daniel Jones. Really? All of the candidates they interviewed liked Daniel Jones. Judge was one of them.  So his no names policy is real and he's trying to install a meritocracy. That's fine. Btw, many of us still remember a just hired Jim Fassel opine that, "I don't think Dave Brown is a good quarterback, I think Dave Brown is a GREAT quarterback."

Rangers Beat Isles in OT

This game was like a throwback to the '70s as the Rangers overcame a buzzsaw that was the Islanders, out on the Island, in OT. Mika Zibanejad scored just 28 seconds into the extra frame - from Panarin - of course.  But this really was a throwback, though I don't think either fan base is as familiar with the other team's roster as we used to be, but wow. The Rangers now have 72 points, and now have won a franchise record 8 in a row on the road.

The Islanders came out flying in the first but Panarin scored the only goal, from Lindgren and DeAngelo. In the second, McKegg of all folks, redirected a Lemieux shot, for the second goal as Adam Fox had another assist. Unfortunately, Pageau scored - like he always seems to do against us.  That made it 2-1 after 2.

In the third period, Howden redirected a shot from Smith for the third goal.  Lindgre had the secondary assist.

Then in the last six minutes the Isles got 2 to tie it - one in an extended 6-5 segment where the Rangers just couldn't get a clear.

But, OT was a beauty and Panarin and Mika Zibanejad did it again!

Severino to Have TJS

The doctors have checked him out and Luis Severino will have Tommy John Surgery.  This is a bit of a tragedy and he'll be gone for the next 16-20 months. Brutal. The guys who are back from TJS, like Jordan Montgomery will really have to step up. Rings of Harmony around Luis.

Giants Stuff

The Giants are still at the combine and today both Joe Judge and Dave Gettleman did media.  Judge kept sounding like he did at his intro conference, and added a few interesting points that should inform Giant decisions going forward.  First he said that they would not try to recreate and of the teams of his past or the coaching staff's pasts - just the 2020 Giants.  Second, he said that he was not interested in hiring veterans to mentor younger players and that the coaches would do all the teaching.  So, no more Jonathan Stewarts or Alex Tanney's.  Phew. He also said that he was most pleased with the fact that the roster is young and moldable. The more you listen to him, the more you realize he has convictions rather than beliefs.

Gettleman, for his part seems to have done some self appraisal and come up with some idea of how to better present himself with the media, and how to look for talent rather than "just character" in free agency. He admitted that in the past he had given out deals to just character guys.

Giants Hire Amos Jones

The Giants are at the Combine where it was learned that Joe Judge has indeed hired his old boss Amos Jones as an advisor and to help him with game management.  Jones has coached all over the roster during his long and interesting career, so he'll give Judge yet another interesting and probably wise perspective.

In other news, the Giant have dismissed two of their  long time amateur scouts, Ryan Jones and Donnie Etheridge who had been there for 20 and 19 years respectively.  So, Fassel era hires. Unsure if it had to do with the new grading system,  the new coaches, staff evolution or something they did.  They'll need to be replaced.

Breaking: Rangers Trade Skjei

The Rangers have just traded LHD Brady Skjei to Carolina for Carolina's first round pick.  This is amazing. I'm posting a picture of Trouba because when Trouba was acquired it seemed like he might re-ignite Skjei. Instead, it seemed like Trouba's game had fallen off. Aside from the Trouba issue, this move clears 5.25 M in cap space and will probably make it possible or the Rangers to keep Tony D, if they are so inclined. Getting a first back is incredible.

Rangers Update

Breaking News in two parts:

First, the Rangers announced that Igor Shesterkin and Pavel Buchnevich were in a car crash in Brooklyn last night.  Igor was driving and has a cracked rib. Pavel was shaken up and is day to day.  Air bags were deployed. Rings of harmony around a quick recovery for Igor and Pavel.

Second: Chris Kreider has signed a 7 year, 6.5M extension. This is great news as that looks like a hometown discount and Kreids was sure to get more in free agency. But some guys are just Rangers, and that's what Kreider is. Thought might make him Captain, too. but the leadership group they have seems to be serving well as is.

They'll have to make some trades to get the cap in shape, but these were the announcements at John Davidson's press conference.

More to come.

Rangers Win Again

The Rangers just won a tough one, and at the moment are at 70 points and just 3 points out of the second wild card.  Monday is the deadline and they don't have to play again until Tuesday. We'll see what the team looks like Tuesday. They'll either sign or trade Kreider, and if they sign him they could be trading guys like Fast, Strome, Tony D, Skjei, Georgiev or Hank.They can't go forward as cap constructed so something has to give here.

This Week on the Blog

Alright, the Yanks started their pre-season schedule, the Giants kept getting ready for he combine, the Rangers started looking like a playoff team, and the Knicks still haven't introduced Leon Rose. So let's take a look at what could be coming next.

Yankees: the Yanks already have injury problems this year and they didn't get back on the field till today. The most serious case seems to e Sevy and they won't know his prognosis till about mid-week.   Judge has hit off a tee for each of the past two days, and Paxton can start his throwing program in 7-10 days.  Hopefully, this will all be behind them by May.  The upside is that they will get a good look at the next men up in the rotation while Paxton and Sevy are out. More games this week,

Giants: It looks like Brett Bielema missed out on another college head coaching job, so, for the time being, he'll stay the Giants OLB coach.  The Combine starts this week, and the Giants are sending all of their coaches and scouts. We'll see how they do the interviews. Plus, they should have some great during and after the event over at Giants.com and the app. Blueprint was excellent.

Rangers: The NHL trade deadline is Monday, but the Rangers are RED HOT and are winning again early tonight. If they weren't so capped up they might even be buyers on Monday.  It is sort of feeling like they can't trade Kreider and still make the playoffs.  He's been a monster over the past 32 games and if they can, they have to extend him. They'll have to make some other trades though, because of the cap situation, but Kreider they should extend. Callahan and McDonagh were both captains when they were traded but neither were as important as Kreider is to this mix of kids young vets and vets. We'll see what they can do.They have to be smart.

Knicks: The Knicks might introduce Rose this week. His first official act should be to instruct Miller to play the kids. Miller is trying to win save his job, but he's not doing the kids any favors and player development does require players playing. We'll see what happens. They are rumored to be locked on Lamelo Ball. Hopefully, Rose is finally an executive who will be able to get what he wants instead of chasing rainbows like so many Knick FO's have done.

So there we are.  Having the Yanks back, the Giants at the combine, and the Rangers make a move or several, are all exciting. We'll see about the Knicks.  Have a great one.

Yanks Shut Down Severino

Today, the Yanks shutdown Luis Severino after he felt forearm discomfort last night and this morning. His recent MRI's have been clean, but they're going to get another one, and see if something changed or whether it's just soreness. Cross your fingers.

UPDATE: There's a asymptomatic loose body in his right elbow and they're not sure what's going on till they look again.

Rangers Win and Trade for a Goalie

Rangers beat the Blackhawks, then the Rangers trade for 28 year old Jean Francois Berube from the Flyers for future considerations.  This might be and AHL only trade as JFB has been in the minors, and could be a favorite of Coach Knoblauch whom the Rangers hired away from the Flyers. Hope it doesn't mean a Georgiev trade is in the offing.

Rangers Swap D Joey Keane for RW Julien Gauthier

So, the Rangers have made their first move and it's a swap of great skaters. We talked about Joey Keane the other day, but Julien Gauthier is a similarly explosive skater, but a power forward. Let's hope this mean they are trading Kreider, because, he too is an explosive power forward.  Gauthier is 22 and plays on the right side, where Kreids has played on the left side. Gauthier was the 21st overall pick 4 years after growing up in the Q.  He may have better hands than Kreids does as he's been a force in the AHL.  He's apparently heading to Hartford, for now.

UPDATE: He's not going down to the AHL but staying up with the Rangers.  They've given him #12.

This Week on the Blog

Alright, the Yanks reported, the Giants stood pat, the Rangers kept winning and the Knicks were on there all-star break. So let's take a look at what could be up for this week.

Yankees: The Yanks opened camp with a lot of excitement and too many questions about the cheating Astros, who, unquestionably, cheated them out of 28 and 29. That said, the Yanks were pretty funny about it, and have been about everything and there seems to be an upbeat esprit de core already. Their Spring games seem to start next Saturday against the Blue Jays in Tampa. So let's just hope for health and player development.

Giants: The  Giants may have interviewed Amos Jones for an unspecified coaching gig this past week. Jones and Judge go way back, so perhaps something can be done. The Combine is still 8 days away and the Giants should get their comp picks before it starts. They're expected to get a third rounder and two extra 7ths, bringing their total number of picks to 11. I trade back in round 1 could yield 2 more. What could be advantageous about adding a bunch of college coaches could be the player intel they picked up last year or over the past few. Not only might they have coached and coached against some of the draft eligible players - they may have recruited them. So, especially this year, and the team gets reorganized, they might really benefit from adding even more picks and and picking some ringers.

Rangers: Adam Fox is excellent. And Lindgren is tough as hell and also damn good.  And over this season Fox and Lindgren, who are both still 21, have become the keys to the Rangers defense, which has ticked up lately. The D seems to play better with Shesterkin in goal - not that they play any harder, it's just that his puck handling let's them play with greater structure. Shesty's missed the last two games with an ankle, but Georgiev, who hadn't been playing has ably won the last two. Georgiev is also good with the puck and after looking rusty but winning in his first start, we was excellent in his second. The trade deadline is 8 days off and here's hoping they can get together with Kreider on something.  There are other players that can be moved who aren't as essential to the physical identity of the Rangers.

Knicks: The Knicks have been off - for decades.  But this week, the All Star events gave them a break to re-set. Miller is a pretty good coach and, thus far it can mostly be seen on Defense. The Knicks aren't great shooters, and whomever is the shooting coach, should be canned.  In the mean time, RJ Barrett was dominant in the rookie game and neither Knox nor Mitchell Robinson were in the rising stars game. Robinson was an egregious oversight. He's rare. In other Knicks news, the Knicks still haven't introduced Leon Rose, and the hope here is that he's already putting together a great staff and great player development team. Let's hope that his divorce from CAA isn't taking up all of his time and he's already at work,

So there it is,  the Yanks are getting ready to start their spring schedule. The Giants are getting ready for the Combine. The Rangers have some decisions to make. And the Knicks should start playing the kids more and introduce Rose once the All Star break ends. Hope everyone makes good decisions this week.

Rangers Recall Joey Keane

After an impressive comeback victory in Minny last night, the Rangers have called up Joey Keane, a great skating righty defense man. Keane was an AHL all-star this season, and his improvement over the last year has been pretty impressive.  When once seen as a 4th or 5th D, he could be more than that now. The timing of this is interesting, as it will probably give the Rangers a nice look at him before the deadline, which is now just 10 games away.  If they are going to trade Tony DeAngelo, it will be nice for them to know whether or not Keane can cover the loss.  He seems to be better at the D part of the job.

Yankees: Pitchers and Catchers Report!

So today, the Yanks opened up the Big League side and welcomed their pitchers and catchers.  Gerritt Cole has taken his first bullpen and thus thrown his first Yankee pitch, 11 years and 8 months after they drafted him. And Gary Sanchez just said, pursuant to the Astro buzzer issue and Altuve that if he had hit a homer to take the Yanks to the series, he would have let his teammates tear his pants off.  Anyway, they are BACK!

Shesterkin is the Deal

Igor Shesterkin  moved to 6-1 after beating Winnipeg in Winnipeg for his first road win. The final score was 4-1, and again the only goal he gave up was another pinball shot off of his own teammates. He seems as hard to score on as a young Lundqvist but with great stick skills to get help the offense.  Hank didn't have that. It's sort of like the difference between Eli and Daniel Jones. Jones can run it, otherwise - pretty similar. But Shesty's passes are really helping.  He also limits rebounds a lot better that Hank ever did. So, if it turns out he's Hank Plus, the Rangers are set for a long time.  It's would be good to keep Georgiev, who is also good with the puck.

Igor's 24 and his overall record between leagues 102 and 25. That's from the start of the 2016 season. Right now his 2.18 GAA is third in the league and his .941 save percentage leads the league.  And his 238 saves are a Ranger record through 7 games.  He's also the first goalie in NHL history to have 3 40 save games in his his first seven. How do you say "machine" in Russian?

This Week on the Blog

Alright, this was the last week of pure offseason for the Yanks. The Giants introduced their new staff.  The Knicks fired David Mills, hired Leon Rose and World Wide Wes and traded Marcus Morris. The Rangers had a non appearance last night and their only consistent winner is Shesty. Let's take a look at what's coming up.

Yankees: Pitchers and catchers report Thursday! Of course a bunch of them are already there, but have probably been working on the minor league side. the whole thing opens Thursday. As ST progresses we'll see what the new pitching program and coach look like, as well as a big competition for that 5th spot, and maybe the 4th and 5th spot. They're back!

Giants: The Giants finally got their coaching staff together, and it's not only more impressive than the last two, it maybe be their most impressive staff since 1990. They've put plenty of experience around their rookie head coach, and that sure worked in LA. So we'll see what happens.  This week we could see the start of player cuts, as Judge mentioned that the coaches have completed their roster review.  Btw, there is some great Giants content on Giants.com and the Giants app.  There could be a lot of cuts.

Rangers: There are a little more than 2 weeks to the trade deadline, and the Rangers are still a little amorphous. They've taken no consistent shape coming out of the all start break and last night pulled one of their occasional no shows.  It's puzzling, that this team has not been able to find a consistent structure that would give them wins.  They now have one down in the AHL, but they are so inconsistent at the NHL level that they might as well keep selling as the 2020 Draft Class is supposed to be spectacular.

Knicks: The Knicks have won three games in a row and are currently down 2 at halftime of their latest game. That's fine. What's important now is that Leon Rose complete his separation from CAA, and then make a Joe Judgian effort to put together an amazing staff, including finding a great GM and coach.  But not just those two, the Knicks need player development people, better scouts, better assistants, better everything.  So that, more than the rest of the games, is what will be most interesting to watch as the season progresses. Also, the games, because RJ is back. And if there are buyouts, Ziggy could be, too.

So there it is.  Lots's of team construction stuff. Hope you all construct great weeks for yourselves.

Knicks Trade Marcus Morris

The Knicks didn't do much at the deadline - other than fire one president and hire another - on the trade front the moved Marcus Morris and his expiring contract to the Clippers for expiring Moe Harkless and the Clippers 2020 first round pick. So the Knicks now have 7 first round picks over the next 4 drafts.  Not bad. They didn't trade any of the kids, nor did they trade any of the other expiring contracts, so they'll just create big space again in July. Not a home run, but a solid move. They're kicking the can down the road, while adding another first round pick.

UPDATE: Apparently, the Knicks have also gained the right to swap positions with the Clippers in the 2021 draft as well as a Detroit 2021 second rounder and the rights to Issuf Sanon.

Knicks Have also Hired World Wide Wes

William Wesley aka World Wide Wes, is well known confidante of what seems like most basketball players. He's also tight with John Calipari, who he may now try to bring in to coach the Knicks.  Uncertain what his title is, but he's worked with Rose forever.

Knicks Name Leon Rose as New Prez

The Knicks appear to have moved quickly in finding a new President. Leon Rose is one of the CAA power brokers who've been more or less running the NBA for the past 20 years or so. He's been the agent for LeBron James and Karl Anthony Towns. He's also a lawyer hails from Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Of course, back in the early 70's Cherry Hill was the smallest town with a pro team: the WHA'a Cherry Hill Knights.  He'll be 60 next year and obviously, he's got a this season and next to show what he can do, because if he can't the Knicks will just throw a fortune as Masai Ujiri, without having to send any bounty because he becomes available after next season. At which point Rose will have proved he's the goods or will have been dispatched back to CAA.

Yanks: Paxton Out Till June?

It's been learned that James Paxton had minor back surgery today and he could be back by mid June.  This may be why they hung onto Happ.  It is, also somewhat devastating to our hopes of a quick start.  But toward that end, Aaron Judge, Gleyber Torres, Gary Sanchez and a bunch of others have been down in Tampa for weeks or, in some cases, days. Pitcher and catchers aren't supposed to report till next week, so this looks like urgency.

The Giants Finally Announce The First Judge Staff

Alright, after a long and detailed process of interview and hirings, the Giants unveiled Joe Judge's first staff today.  And it's a really nice and interesting mix of talent and experience. Judge is 38 and his staff ranges in age from  Defensive Quality Control Coach Mike Treier who is 29 to RB Coach Burton Burns who is 67.  So, Judge really was looking at the individuals and really didn't put limits on his search. That's great.

Another interesting aspect of the staff is the breadth of experience of all of the coaches.  On both offense and defense, the Giants have guys who have coached various positions and in a few cases been NFL or NCAA head coaches. He said he wasn't looking to hire head coaches, but they must have been most impressive, so again, he didn't pre-judge anyone and was open to only the most impressive. Which to him, seems to mean, the toughest and best teachers. He also put a heavy emphasis on communication and player empathy. That's modern.

What's more, with their varied experiences many of the coaches can serve as backstops to other coaches in case of defections or removals.

The only one of the 20 coaches we didn't previously discuss is Bobby Blick, the Offensive Quality Control Coach.  He's 35 and if the name seems familiar it's because he is one of 6 holdovers from previous staffs.

Daniel Jones Leads the way to Duke

Just as Eli Manning did before him, Daniel Jones has lead a group of his teammates including Darius Slayton and Sterling Shepard back to Duke to practice. This is a big and responsible action for a 22 year old, especially considering that actual Team Practice time has been severely curtailed through the last few CBA's. What's more, the new coaching staff can't even start coaching players until their first mini-camp. During Shurmur's first year, they took the extra training camp in the week leading up to the draft. We'll see if they do that again.

Breaking: The Knicks Have Fired Steve Mills!

The Knicks have fired Steve Mills. This is fantastic news. He was the idiot who brought back Hardaway Jr at such a terrible price, that he then had to trade Kristaps Porzingis to get rid of Hardaway's contract. They should not have let Steve Mills make another trade, and now he can't.

He's also the guy who believed he was the destination for big time free agents, while not realizing he, and his complete lack of team building acumen was a big deterrent.

This is a great day for the Knicks.

UPDATE: Perry has been promoted. So, the current nightmare might not be over.

Giants Hire Stephen Brown

So, the Giants have not necessarily finished up their hiring season.  Today we have learned that Stephen Brown, a Jason Garrett assistant at Dallas, is joining the staff. He was run game coordinator at Dallas for 4 years.  It's unclear if he'll be that with the Giants who've never had one so far. Maybe he is, though. It does appear that Joe Judge is being just as thorough as he was reputed to be, and neither Brown, nor Colombo, both Garrett Coaches, seems to have just been rubber stamped on Garrett's say so.  Brown had previously been at Buffalo, and before that with Syracuse.  Brown got his start as a student asssistant for Phil Fulmer at Tennessee.

This Week on the Blog

The Yanks did nothing, the Giants kept hiring coaches, the Rangers were undefeated and the Knicks just won a game.  Let's take a look at what could be on the horizon for this coming week.

Yankees: The Yanks have been very quiet and that's usually when they are up to something. Somehow, Vegas as them at 3-1 to acquire Nolan Arenado. Not sure where Vegas got that, but there was a report that the Yanks were getting serious about it and that's probably what changed the odds in Vegas. Not sure if adding another contract without offset (like they got in the Stanton deal and the original ARod deal) will help them lock up Judge and Sanchez when the time comes, which would be soon, if they're smart.  We'll see.

Giants: The Giants might be able to finally announce their entire coaching staff this week. In the meantime, there's some evidence that the new coaches have reached out to the players.  Saquon Barkley reportedly met with his new position coach,  Burton Burns, and it wasn't just getting to know each other talk. Burns immediately started coaching up what film had told him were Saquon's
weaknesses, and not praising him for his amazingness.  Hopefully, that's what's happening with all of the new coaches and all the players on what seems to be a not only talent bereft roster, but an underachieving group at that. The Shurmur coaching staff might have been the problem.  If they were, that should become apparent by camp.

Rangers: The Rangers completed a two game sweep against the Redwings. So they're undefeated in the second half. What's more, Henrik Lundqvist got the start tonight and logged his first shutout since 2017. It was his first start in 3 weeks, so maybe they should wait another 3 before trying him again.  Chris Kreider took Mika's knee to the head in the second period tonight and didn't return.  That's scary as he's been great lately and scouts have been watching him. There are 11 or 12 games till the deadline.

Knicks: The Knicks have blown a lot of leads lately, but not tonight. Actually, they let a big lead slip away, but they held on and came away with a W. It's mysterious that Trier, who was impressive last year, and Brazdeikis aren't getting any run.  Even with RJ Barrett still sidelined.  Just strange. Morris and Randle both had big games, and hopefully the Knicks can trade both. We'll see.

So there it is,  he Yanks may be up to something.  The Giants are hiring guys but not announcing it, the Rangers are on a mini-roll, and the Knicks are the Knicks.  Have a great one,