This episode of the Blueshirts Breakaway podcast focuses on the New York Rangers' late-season performance and off-season strategy. The hosts note the team's unexpected winning streak, highlighting contributions from players like Igor Shesterkin and Adam Fox. A central debate involves the potential trade of Alexis Lafrenière for Ottawa's Brady Tkachuk. One host argues that Lafrenière's improved play since the Artemi Panarin trade demonstrates he could be more valuable than Tkachuk in the coming years, contending that Tkachuk, while a strong physical presence, is not an elite game-changer. The conversation also addresses Adam Fox's contract situation, stressing that his decision to remain with the Rangers depends more on organizational respect and personal relationships than recent team success. Finally, the hosts assess the weakened Eastern Conference, suggesting the Rangers could be playoff-competitive next year without a major overhaul, though acquiring a player like Tkachuk without sacrificing Lafrenière would be ideal.
This episode of Bushra Breakways brought to you the fans. That's right, go to patreon.com/Blueshurtsbreakway today to access to our BSBOT episodes, our Discord ad free episodes, and more. You get to support the show you season around as we use. Somehow watch this crazy ranger team that continues to win. Today we have Lydia, a beat reporter from Fordham on the show to introduce herself to the ranger fan base. Also talk about the ranger locker room and the vibes. And there Greg and I talk about Lexi Laffraniera, Brady Kachukka, a bunch of other stuff. If you haven't listened to our BSBOT from last week, it has a lot of juice on it. So if you want to subscribe to the patreon and check that out there, please do. We do talk about potential trades for the off season. Somehow is one of our mortgages, you see the OTs in a long time. All right, without further ado, let's get to Mark Messier and we'll get to the show. Here we go. Hi everybody, it's Mark Messier. And you're listening to Blue Shirts Breakway, the number one ranger podcast. Hey, Bushman, Greg and fans welcome to another video. I am your host, Ryan Meenamere with my co-host, Greg Kaap and Gregory. The rangers are unstoppable. Sail. Are you yelling at me again or did your mic overmodulate again? Oh, that's what we might start again here one second. You got significantly louder. I just don't know if that was you. I think I was just, I think I was just yelling at you. Wow, okay. Hey, hi, how are you? Here we are again. You want to start over? Oh, fuck that shit. We're recording already. Let's just get to all it. All right, no two takes on this podcast. Thanks for everyone for joining. Okay, here's how this goes. The rangers have one almost every single game. There was a Will Kool-Eat Trick. There was a gay bro hat trick. Igor Shostirkin is playing really well. Turns out Adam Fox is really good. All the kids are fun. Get on. They're still somehow and forth. But boy, with four game left, they have a chance to overtake the Panthers and a couple other teams to pick Aetherknife. Cannot wait for this to happen. I say this on the interview. Would you later with Lydia who has a great job covering the rangers for four of them? I would be a such a loser, Greg. If I came on this show today and said, boy, it sucks that Will Kool-Eat Gaperot had had tricks. The Igor Shostirkin fought a devil's goalie, Markstrom, and beat his ass. I would be beyond a loser. But I do want to at least say something that does make me a loser right away. I don't know if I would trade a lot for an era for Brady Kajok. Here we go. Yep. But it's a different conversation. You're not doing it. Actually, let's have this serve as a question. Are you saying that because you think Alexa Lafernier is on the level of Brady Kajok? Or are you saying that because what's the motivation for saying that? I do think Lafernier for most of his career has been a soft player. Outside of when we made the Eastern Conference Finals run where I thought he was a rat, he has not been the motivated player that I wanted him to be. Just get that out of the way. Since Panarion has left, there has been a lot of renaissance of which I've tweeted about, of course. There's been a different sort of player, especially he's always had the five you five numbers and we've always laughed about him not playing on Powerplay 1. And I've talked to a lot of people around the league about Brady Kajok over the past week for obvious reasons. He went on a podcast that was his with no Ottawa Senator stuff in the background. He said it was about the Florida Panthers, but his dad, you know, took some shots, whatever. And he became a big story. It does seem like he's out of there in Ottawa. So he was a very hot topic among many people I speak to. When you look at Brady Kajok, the player, I think he's a very fascinating player in a couple of regards. Team America hero, Mike Sullivan talks him up in a huge way. He brings in energy. He brings a culture to your team despite the Ottawa Senator's never really winning anything. So let's see how that goes. Now he's been capped in there for a long time. But there's there's a lot of Brady Kajok hype. I think we both agree, right? I did a deep dive until a little bit of the data for Brady Kajok over the past couple days. I'm not an analytics guy. We've talked about this in the podcast a lot. I understand them to a good amount of an extent, but I'm not I don't live by that book. It's just not how I live my life. One thing I did find interesting was over the past four years, Brady Kajok is third in shots taken. He is just a guy that likes to shoot the puck. He said, one of the most opportunities to put up points. And he's never really, I know he's scored a lot of goals and had a lot of points. I get that. But with that ample amount of opportunity and being the guy in Ottawa, it's not like he's ever gone out and been an elite elite player. I'm not saying he's not very good. I think he's a good player who could change your team and would virtually change this top six for the Rangers. If you add him to a team that has a Lexi Laugh from the air, but I do think there's something I am such a loser for saying this and I I'm going to get creamed on this for in a while. I think I do think there's a version over the next three or four years where Alexi Laugh from here is the better of the two players. I think Alexi Laugh from here, this version of him can drive play more than him can actually be a better passer, can create more offense. He won't have the grit and the grind that Brady Kajok brings to a team. I understand that. But the more I look at what this summer is, the more it can't be Alexi Laugh from here for Brady Kajok, it has to be, it has to be both. And I don't know, I'm not trying to start like an internet calling radio war on our fake WFAN discord all this shit. Yeah, WBSB. Great idea, right. But I'm not trying to do that. But I the more I look at what this version of Laugh from areas, it's more of a compliment to how I think he's changed his game. Now, there's a couple of caveats with this, right? Which is these games don't fucking matter. He's playing against with no pressure. They've talked about playing the freedom. Adam Fox has given the quotes about, you know, we were mentally in our head. There's a lot that Alexi Laugh from here can show when the games don't matter. We'll learn a lot more about that next year. But I do think there's a world in an outcome where Alexi Laugh from here is the better and the better contract of the two players over the next two to three years. And that's just like, not I four weeks ago, I would have drove Laugh from here myself to get Brady Kajok. I would have I would have taken him the whole way. Wouldn't have been a problem. I do and I know I'm living a recent C bias world. I get that. It's not the long-term result. But the world without Panarin, which again, it's been really weird. It's been it's been a lot of winning for no reason. I do think Alexi Laugh from here is potentially a more valuable piece than Brady Kajok moving forward. Maybe I'm just arguing with myself here and like, there's no reason to even have that argument. But it's just something I've been thinking about. I think more valuable is a bridge too far. I think the point you're trying to make is Brady Kajok isn't enough better than Alexi Laugh from here to make it worth trading Laugh from here plus to acquire him. The upgrade isn't significant enough, right? That's only the core of what you're saying. I just think Brady Kajok gets a lot of shine for being a game breaker. And I'm not sure he's shine for being a Kajok. Yeah, he just I and I I don't want to paint myself as Antibray Dikajok. I'm happy to have Brady Kajok on this team thrilled. Actually, if he's on the Rangers for a low cost, I'm I'm I'm all there with you. I just think he's a very perfect third player on a good team and is the goal to be a good wild card team or is the goal to take your team and try and make a Stanley Cup one. That's that's sort of my question. Yeah, it's a question we've been asking philosophically for the past couple of weeks. If there was a scenario in which the Rangers can acquire Brady Kajok without having to try to like see Laugh for an year suddenly you're starting to make inroads into what this team could do and could look like moving forward because right now we how many times do we have to do this exercise. Right now the Rangers have four top six players. They have Laugh for an years. They've been a jet in Peru a very good high octane second line and they have JT Miller and what they are lacking and again, I am simply saying JT Miller not that I truly believe he could be a top six game breaker moving forward but his track record and he's going to be here anyway. He's going to be in your top six so play it accordingly. Can I say something about JT? I found really interesting. I mean, you can say whatever you want about JT Miller. That's that's true. That's true. It's my show. ESPN had the broadcasts over the weekend because they're the Rangers and they get they do number so ESPN wants them and I always find that the broadcast knows more than they let on. Like they have a lot of conversations with individuals that will tell them stuff. It's kind of like you get inside scoops into the Rangers because they're talking to Sullivan and other these players. And one thing I thought was really interesting. They brought up about JT Miller and I hadn't heard this him say this all year. So maybe you if you heard this somewhere and I didn't see it correct me if I'm wrong. They were like, you know, JT was talking to us and he likes to play center a lot more than wing. He feels like he's a much better center than he is a winger. Jesus, nah, he hasn't really played center this year for us and I kind of wonder. Physically compromised. I understand that. I kind of wonder if that was one of his ways to be like next year when I play center and also when basically Trochex not here and I'm playing center, I'm going to be a much better player. Like he's still on pace to be 60 point player which is crazy with with with the amount of games he plays. I have 50 points now. So maybe he's not going to get the 16th is next four. But let's say only four games left. How many games do you think he's playing? Well, they're winning. He missed the Chalca games this year. He could be out of 60 point base for all. Yeah, they're winning all four of these. That's for sure. And Adam Fox has had 51 points in his left 51 games. So it turns out he's a good player. So or a point for game. Someone asked me this today and it's going to be sicketing because I.
Well, we'll circle back to Laferniere and Kachaka problems, but now we're on a tangent. When I said the Fox or McAvoy stuff on OT, and that being something, unfortunately, that we might have to come to grips with at some point in time, this person DMed me and it's the realization that it's Fox Plus for McAvoy, which is just going to make all of us sick. Every single one of us. Yeah. If you want to take anything away from the winning that this team has done over the past couple of games, it's that, hey, Adam Fox actually can see a roadmap. Because I'm pushing back on that. Adam Fox, the roadmap is not unimportant. It'll be a factor. It is not the number one factor in whether he stays a New York Ranger or not. Like I hate to say it. People are going to have to apologize to Adam Fox. Name the people. Name them. Mike Sullivan and Chris Terrey among the chief too. Yeah. Look, it's a lot easier to work somewhere when you feel like you're liked. That's just the fact. The life. I don't care if you're a hockey player, a baseball player, a football player, building a construction trades member, a teacher, a news anchor. You enjoy your job a lot more. If you feel like the people around you respect you and care about you. And if they don't, you start doing math on, is this where I need to be? Is this where I should still be working? Can I be happier someplace else? The Rangers winning these games, they don't hurt the chances of Adam Fox staying. But they're the people who are like, oh, this is definitely going to help out in Fox. The fuck it will guys. This is this is this has to do a lot more with the Rangers win law striker. This has to with personal relationships. Okay. Like there has been a lot of fugacy that's happened this season in regards to Adam Fox. And some people have some mending to do. Now winning does cure all if the Rangers were in the Stanley Cup playoffs, Adam Fox would be a lot happier. That's for sure. And Adam Fox doesn't want to be stuck on a team that's going to be bad for multiple years. At the same time, Adam Fox wants to play somewhere where he feels like he's appreciated. And right now, not quite in New York. But it's going to be a fascinating summer. It's got a suck, dude. It's going to suck. Which might include Brady Kachak. Which rings his back. Your general point is the point that we've been trying to hammer for weeks now. It is not that Brady Kachak is a bad player. It's not that Brady Kachak is useless. It's not that we want to enjoy rooting for Brady Kachak. It really comes down to the fact that Brady Kachak is a really great garnish when you already have cooked the dinner when the meat is marinated when the plate is presented in order to take that dinner from a B plus to an A. That's Brady Kachak. The problem is the Rangers are trading Brady Kachak as the meat and potatoes. That's just not the player he is. You know how I know that's not the player he is? The Adelaide Senator suck. They are probably going to miss the playoffs this year. They're going to make it now because the Rangers keep doing them favors. That is true. No, but the flyers are something. Look, the flyers are the most successful loser team I've ever seen in my life. Twelve overtime losses. They have a worse record wins loss than the New Jersey Devils who are going to be the recording with money puck. The Rangers beat Detroit knocked them down to 15 percent and then Detroit lost a Minnesota as well. And then they also beat. Wow, we played yesterday and my brain is exploding. The capitals. Sorry about that. They are now down to 6.3 percent to make it. Whereas Ottawa has a 73 percent and the flyers have more than a coin flip, which is unbelievable. When we say that by the way, the islanders fired their coach. When we say the east is bad, this is what we're talking about. Kind of what we mean, man. Like the Rangers because here's the other thing. Yes, the Red Wings and the capitals should be more viable playoff teams this year than the New York Rangers. But honestly, if you look at their rosters up and down, the Rangers aren't worse than those teams. They played worse, but they aren't worse than those teams. When you start comparing the actual rosters, you're like, I think the Rangers are kind of, they can be good next year. They're good like as in, you know, win the division or make the Easter conference finals. But the outside of Carolina and Tampa Bay. And now I guess Buffalo Boston. I'm still kind of loop warm on Boston. I've given the state of the east. Boston will be one of the top four teams in the east next year. If you're, if you want me to say that, I'm not going to argue with you right now. What I can tell you is there's nobody else. There's no, I think the Rangers could be good next year. Not, not make it his conference. I was not going to Stanley Cup. Like I went a playoff round. I think they could do that to be more clear. It's not even that you think the Rangers are going to be good. It's that you think there's a viable option for the senators to be worse than the Rangers, for the devils to be worse than the Rangers, for the capitals to be worse than the Rangers. The center is because of the Sanderson and Brady Cuchuck. If they were like, we want out. If the Rangers stand pat, it is possible six other teams in the east. Just pull on it because that is the state of the east. You expect Pittsburgh to be this good again next year? I think Pittsburgh is going to continue to be pretty fine. It's good. No, well, not just that. I just like, don't you kind of just trust the infrastructure a little bit. So far, I want to see how the sale happens and see what happens there. We'll see. Sure. That would be important. I guess Montreal, you could say like, hey, a lot of deep young talent. Can you? So do they have already taken a leap by now? Caulfield is 50 goals. He's really good. Cool. Yeah, I'm kind of, I'm so, I'm so, I'm having a gold tending. I know, but I'm supposed to be moved by Sam Montenbo. You're not, I don't think. Yeah, I don't know. The French can anything. So probably like, yeah, man, he's, they're not here. They're not here. It's just what you look at the east. It's so horrific. And when, when you look at Brady Cuchuck to bring this back to him, it's not that I think he's bad or shitty or any of that. I don't, I think he's quite a good player. Obviously, and a lot of players, he's not a, he's not a player who takes you from outside to inside. He's a player that takes you. I'm already inside, but now I want to be great. He also just has a lot of usage. Gets all the power play time. Gets a lot of the top line minutes. I understand that some of this time on ice this year has not been that, but like when you are third in the league next to McKin and Cucharov in shots, and you're not producing the same amount of points by any means they are, it's very interesting to look at that. Like even if you have a lower amount of time on ice, then them, that means most of the time on ice, you're just shooting towards the net. Are you, are you calling Brady Cuchuck the tray young of the NHL? He is sort of high usage. Like there's, of course, he's going to get those points. Yeah. Of course he is. You've just ruined Fitz's day by doing this. I just hope you know that. Why is that a take? No, I, I think Fitz is going to hear this and have the realization that this is what you're saying. I did think I did tell him we were texting yesterday. We had to have you on at the end of the season. We have a lot of, we have a lot of takes. We got to air out. There's a lot of things we got to get out in the, the eco sphere here because, and again, I'm not, I don't want to paint myself as the anti Brady Cuchuck guy because I'm not that. I'm not. I just don't think he's a game breaker and I don't think it's wrong to think that. No, but, but I think there's a lot of people who do think like, oh, getting Brady on this team is going to change this forever. Whereas I don't, I don't really see that. Now, if JT Miller can help and, and Mike Sullivan, obviously, who coached him can help persuade him to come to New York for dirt cheap. Yeah, man. Like, you got it. Like the caps going up. I'm happy to sign like that extension in two years. Let's, let's roll. I will root for Brady Cuchuck being a mongrel on the ice and just absolutely, uh, fucking people up to be honest. I will get, I will get down for that. But I, I just can't, I can't see myself trading Lafranía or trying to do some crazy move, uh, move heaven and earth to get him here is what I'm saying. Yeah. I mean, if, if the trade is the Hurricanes pick Lafranía and Schneider, feels like you're giving up $140, $140 for the dollar. Yeah. I, I, it's, I think it's crazy because a couple weeks ago, I would have done it in a heartbeat. But that also, I mean, what, credit Lafranía, the fact that Lafranía, the fact that Lafranía has played well over the past two months has made this some more difficult conversation. Two months at, at the Olympic break, if I told you it would have caused you Lafranía or Schneider and the Hurricanes pick to get Brady Cuchuck, you were driven every of those available assets to the airport. Now, yeah, gotten them through customs yourself. I would have bought the UPS truck like I would have, or sorry, you all my apologies. Yeah. You know, the Lafranía or stuff's going to be interesting because now we're at a point where he's found a very comfortable role on this team, a role, by the way, that will be available to him next year, which is the most important part of the whole Lafranía conversation. We are not going to ask the Lex Lafranía to do anything differently than he's currently doing, which is playing with me because of Ben and Jed and Gapero, which is playing elevated minutes, which is playing critical top six minutes, which is getting power playtime. These are all like, we no longer have to worry about asking him to do something above his pay grade or something that he has not been asked to do in the path. He's going to be asked to do exactly this and he should be able to do it. He should hypothetically. But the fact of the matter is the New York Rangers are one significant gain breaking top six piece short and they are also as currently constructed, one other not unimportant top six piece short of having an actual full, useful, competitive, playoff worthy top six. They have four players right now.
top six and then it becomes a question. Alright, if Alexi Lafernier, if I can use him to get my elite game breaking piece, is that worth doing it? If I understand that I'm still leaving myself with two other top six vacancies, the lower leverage top six vacancies by including him in a trade for a game breaker. That's a decision. Christaire is going to have to make and I hope people realize I said, Christaire is going to have to make that decision. You're trusting a lot that this guy's going to get it right. Yeah, yeah, there's a little, hey, I got to create Christaire some credit drafted a hell of a bottom six here. There's a lot of bottom six players that I really enjoy. Again, these games don't matter. They haven't mattered a lot, but it's really nice to see you know, Soraka and Himalayan just fucking go out there and have a lot of fun. It's genuinely a good time both the games this week. It's been so long for us to just watch players who seem to be happy to play the game of Aki that you've forgotten what it looks like and you over evaluate what it is you're seeing. Yeah, it's just I think we talk about this in the interview. I'd be such a loser to say like it wasn't cool. They did so much like it's been it's been really fun. Now will they win all the rest of the four remaining games? Yeah, probably. Yeah, they'll do that. And will they pick seventh or eighth? Yeah, they'll probably do that too, but they won't pick a defenseman, so I guess you and I will be happy. You're right. Oh, I'm sending a voice message to my boss right now. That's fine. Voice message to your boss from the podcast. Yeah. That was also to the head of the Bricklayers you can hear in the origin. So we're gonna quickly delete that. Don't do that. That didn't happen. I'm gonna be firm on this record. If the Rangers are picking third, I still want them picking a forward. I don't care. The best player available to me this year means best forward available. I am not engaging in any conversation where someone is making a case for and this isn't me saying Chase Reed is a bad player or Verhoff is a bad player. I hope those guys have long successful NHL careers in fucking Toronto or fucking Winnipeg or whatever the hell they end up playing hockey. Shit, go to Jersey. I don't care. I need a forward. This team needs forwards. At some point you have to take a player in the position that you need most, right? This is to a certain extent the NFL draft where some teams pass on the best player available with a fucking need a quarterback. I am tired of draft and defenseman. I don't want to see a defenseman. I don't want to think of a defenseman. I don't want to ponder a defenseman and don't want him in my life. It's gonna be the angriest I've ever been on this podcast. And again, Chase Reed, become of the Rangers. Be a 80 point defenseman. Wonderful. Our top six blows. Like I'm just not doing it. I just can't handle it. I'd rather than who's this other Swedish kid. Yeah. Great. He sounds fun. Let's do that. I don't care if we overdraft. Scott Wheeler was on a vincere show when he was saying he has Vigo as the top center over Malhoetra. But great. A lot of teams believe Malhoetra is going to go in the top five. Because it's a Nippo baby. And you know what? He's my kind of Nippo baby. You know what? He's my kind of Nippo baby because his family is manny and he's a forward. So I'm all about it. Yep. He's projected currently on tank if on to go sixth. The Rangers currently pick fourth. And even if they get jumped twice, they could pick him at six. So fuck it. Pick him at four. I don't care. Well, that's what I'm saying. Like maybe it doesn't matter. Now if they do fall tonight, we got a brawl. Yeah. We got a brawl. Meer. Right. And I'll say here because it'll put pressure on Ryan if I say this Ryan. I heard contemplating a way for us to do a live stream of the draft. Yes. There will be there will be something we do where on draft night, we will host some type of watch party, even if it's a virtual watch party. Just so look, if there it's because here's the thing guys, if the Rangers drafted the fence, and that reaction needs to be recorded in history. I do need to at least say this before we get to our interview with Lydia. The Rangers do play the Florida Panthers next Monday. The Florida Panthers are all time tanking right now. All of their players are hurt and they've sat them down for the year. They do not give a fart. They are currently two points up on the Rangers. Everyone stay tuned. Everyone stay tuned on that one because if the Rangers win that one, and they likely will, they will jump the Panthers in the standings. That's very cool. So good times. They, but well, the Rangers also have a game in hand. So I guess I guess the Panthers could technically win one. We'll see how it goes. Here's the other thing guys. I recommend just doing what I do. I don't look at the standings. I don't care about the standings. Wherever the Rangers pick is where they'll pick, because that's supposed to be the purpose of the draft, the lottery anyway, right? I check in. Wherever the Rangers stand in the standings, it doesn't really matter. They'll pick where they pick. It's just a lot simpler and easier and more enjoyable, honestly, to go through my day than having to worry about what the flames do, what the black hawks do, or what the blues do, or what the devils do. I don't give a shit. I'll pick where I pick and I will be angry the second it's a defenseman. I will be furious. Well, all the only people that move up are the top two picks. Everyone else picks kind of where they pick or lower. That's it. Yeah. I will be furious if it's a defenseman. All right. Well, let's get to our interview with Lydia. We'll come back and answer some five-star questions. But first, a quick word from our sponsor, Tran, this is it. It was time to tell you about the presented ticket sponsor all season long of Blusher's Breakway. That's right. It is tick-pick, the final game at Madison Square Garden is the Rangers playing the Buffalo Sabers. This Wednesday with a Get in Price of $86. Thank you for going to the Garden all season long using tick-pick. And if you checked out using promo code Blusher, you could do it one last time. This Wednesday, April 8th versus the Buffalo Sabers. It is $86. To get in, a lot of great tickets still available. Tick-pick is the best app to use for all your ticketing needs. It's super easy. I use it all the time. I'm actually going to use it to go to a couple baseball games rather soon here. I'm going to see the meds and a couple weeks. Bottom on tick-pick. I'm not a meds fan, but I'll be there. It's tick-pick. You all you got to do is download the app. You could track the prices over time. It's super easy. You could see the best deals, the cheapest deals. It's been my best way to attend events. I've went to Russell Manionet over the past couple of years. But if you want to see the Rangers one final time this year, probably win the game versus the Buffalo Sabers. Use promo code Blusher to check out. Go to Madison Square Garden and we'll see you next season right there again. Well, download the tick-pick app today. You have Blusher to check out. We'll see you at the game. Hey, we're back with our first guest today. We have a Lydia Perner of WFUV Sports. Lydia, how are you? I'm very good. Happy to be on with you too. I think a lot of people probably know very little about the beat of the New York Rangers and who's actually on it. I think it's genuinely like people know Vince, people know Molly and Colin. Obviously, Peter's also on there. I'm probably missing somebody that I'm just very offensive. How did you get to the beat and tell us your story about getting to the Rangers? Yeah, so I mean, I pretty much, I'm from Massachusetts and so I knew my whole life. I wanted to move to New York because I was so sick of being surrounded by Boston fans, being a downhound New York sports fan. I want to play Kate to the fans right away. I ended up coming to Fordham and like any freshman, you walk around the club fair having no idea what's going on, joined anything that said sports in it. That's how I stumbled across WFUV, gotten and basically met these people that cover hockey. We have a hockey podcast there. And I showed up to Shadow and I pretty much just said what I knew and they were like, okay, wow, this girl's crazy. She knows a little too much stuff. Maybe if she had this much school knowledge about what she has as hockey, she'd be really good at school. But you know, joined the Rangers beat last year part time, did about 10 games and then got it full time this year, doing it full time next year. But basically, it's the opportunity that Fordham provides to have this full time beat. I don't think, I don't even know how we have it. I know we were talking about that. But yeah, I mean, that's kind of long story short, how I stumbled across the chase bridge and covering the Rangers. Incredible. You've come at an odd time, Lydia, to say the least. And since Ryan and I are completists, essentially anytime, look, Larry Brooks was nice enough to come on our podcast. Now we feel like we need to elevate some names when they pop in. You've been popping in, you've been watching the Rangers for a year. Obviously, you've been watching the Rangers for longer than that. You've been on the beat for a year. What is your experience as a junior at Fordham, also covering the team till for lack of a better term or the most accurate term, a team in turmoil? Yeah, I mean, well, good to start with Larry Brooks, first of all, because I was going to tell a story about this. Last year, I mean, going to that locker room for the first time, I'll tell you, I know people are hard on the New York B and the New York media, but when you step in there, it's not even the players that you're intimidated by. It's like, wow, you're surrounded by, you know, Molly Walker's and Larry Brooks, Johnny Lazarus is in show. I'm terrified of Johnny and Chris. That's for sure. I love those guys making shake. Yeah. And so it's and then to add on to the insult injury, the fact that the Rangers were terrible for the last couple of years. I mean, I covered the last win I covered before that Nashville went to start the season was the San Jose Sharks in 2024. So I probably did 10 games in between where it was just losses. And I guess you do learn more going into a losing locker room, but I'll tell you, I didn't ask, I didn't want to ask a single, a single question. It was, it was terrifying to me and why I bring up Larry Brooks. As I remember, do you guys remember the LA King's loss? It was a weakened game.
It was like a five to one that beating. I think Connor Mackey got in a fight. This was back in 2024 in December, but I go into that locker room and I see Larry having a one on one with Chris Criter. And I, for some reason, decided to be a good idea to go over and see what Chris Criter had to say 'cause Chris Criter wasn't available often. And I hear Larry go to Criter. Are you guys just mentally weak? And I was like, that's when I knew I was like, I am a sophomore in college. I should not be in here right now. And that was like, just shout out the late and great Larry Brooks because I mean, I don't think anyone else would be able to get away with that question. And you know what, Criter gave him an answer because that was the respect, but I was like, wow, okay, we're here and we're in this environment. But no, you learn quickly about how to handle the players. And I think just getting respect from other media members to it, it can be, it's easy in the sense if you know your stuff and if you're passionate about what you do and even if you ask a stupid question, whatever, but I just, it's been nice to be able to ask questions after losses and figure out how to sense out players there because then after wins, it's a breeze. And talk about these young guys coming in who have never talked to media before. There's some of the most fun chats and just good people to talk to. So yeah, but I'll tell you, Larry was something else. - We have so many Larry source you can't tell on this podcast, but I had a similar situation with him once where we were talking on the phone, he was mentoring me and I was like, how do I deal with the Rangers? And he said she was like, they can't control you, FM. (laughing) Love Larry forever. This season has been a weird roller coaster and maybe one of the weirdest sports seasons last year was kind of, we all knew, they quit, they kind of just laid down and were waiting for the season to be over. It was a strange time where the leadership of the President's trophy group at left, people were going out the door, true maleficiencies and crytor kinda, you know, all these things, right? Like all these things happen. - Oh, no, I know you're winding up for a question, but don't lie in front of, don't lie in front of Lydia. You're the guy who said you had Kool-Aid in the fridge in January. You didn't know shit brother. - I wanted. - You were right there hoping this team is gonna be able to do something last year. - You know what, Ryan, I was liking those Kool-Aid tweets. - Thank you, that I appreciate that. I appreciate the engagement. But I, you know, like it's Easter, so I think it's time to talk about faith and I had that at that time. I wanted to believe, you know, I was trying to become, I was trying to stay alive on a Sunday, get to the playoffs, didn't work. And unfortunately that team, we kinda know how they ended it. Sadden with a whisper and this summer they signed Gavrikov, they kinda come back and Mike Sullivan is now the coach. This season started off semi, like is this team okay? Is this system good? Then it got sad. JT Miller got hurt. Then they came back and they gave parole because they've been a judge. JT Miller came back, kinda got sad again. And now it's the vibes I think are the highest they've been all year. What can you tell me about like the roller coaster remotions throughout your year of covering the team? - Yeah, I think honestly, let's just starting with like Mike Sullivan. I think it took him a while to figure out what was right for the team. And it's funny, last night we were talking about the capitals game. I don't know if you guys remember the capitals lost from the beginning of the season where the Rangers played phenomenally defensively. But they got shut out. I was amidst that shut out streak to start the year at MSG. And then last night, put up eight ankles. I'm happy that Sullivan's kind of found some rhythm with lines because I do think, I mean people, you can say what you want about Mike Sullivan. I think this whole season he's been working hard to try and find the right combinations. But it's tough because they've been, hadn't been winning games. And then you go within the room. We were pretty much every game talking to guys like like Miller, Meika, Foxx was hurt for a bit. But when Foxx comes back, you know, he's talking to him and Trollcheck. And it was tough. Like we were all running out of questions. I know you guys know that they were running out of answers. And there's only so much to ask. And I mean, that's one of the things I was asked to is, how did I use change from going from a Rangers fan to a beat reporter? And I think I just answered that. I just grew more sympathetic to the players. I see the J2 Miller discourse online. And if I was a fan, I would think I would probably be right there in with you guys. Like, how is he not having answers for this? Like what's going on? But then you walk in and you see kind of just how dejected the locker room is. And you feel bad for these guys having to answer. But that's the job, right? Like you got to ask these questions too. So to get these young guys in and see the switch that they're having, it was a funny the other night. I think it was after that Black Hawk's game, where Forest View makes his debut. Grand gets the win. It's a chorus, chorus for a San Chogall. And all the young guys are available in the room. And they're pumping music in the workout room next to the locker room. And for some reason, Rangers PR decided to try and make JT Miller available. And Miller's sitting there kind of like in a funny way, kind of like a kid crying. Like, why do I have to be available? Let all the other guys talk. I'm available every game. And it was pretty funny. Nobody went up to him because we let him off for the night. But it's just that's what it's the range of emotions. And it's just it's good to see them having fun. And these guys that as you know, when you go into the room, you want to get good conversations with the players. My thing is I always go one-on-one with a player. I'm not usually on camera. I try not to go to where most of the people are, because I just don't think that's the benefit of, I guess, my access type of thing. Like, I don't have to write a story. Like some of these people do. I just have to release some quotes onto Twitter. So I'm usually going for a one-on-one. So it's not a lot nicer when you can get a guy like him and watch your Sakura and they're literally just pointing at each other and laughing. You got a good beat, right? A couple weeks ago, right? Like that you went like semi-viral with? Was that the mic getting it up? No, yeah. I remember I told-- I forget what I told. I told one of the Rangers beat while we were staying on Tableau-Crum. I'm like, I'm going to go in. I'm going to go ask Gabe two questions, boring questions he's not going to want to answer. And then I'm going to ask him if he speaks French with Lafernière. And that was-- And so I did that because Lafernière is really popular at game, but I was like, I'm going to get a one of them too. And it's stuff like that too, that when you follow the team, you get to know those behind-the-scenes storylines. Like, oh, Gabe speaks French. You can ask something like that and see what they say. And yeah, I have been Lafernière speak French on the ice, even when Mika's on the ice sometimes. So I thought that was a fun one. You brought up an interesting point that Ryan and I have talked about, but I think a lot of people overlook when-- look, it's Ryan and I do this every week. We are critical of someone. It's super easy for us because we don't expect these guys to ever talk to us, acknowledge us, or frankly, like us. And honestly, thrive in that situation. You, however, you realize at a young age-- and I feel like this is important for all young aspiring journalists to go through. It's that moment you realize that if you say something negative about someone, not only are they going to see it, you're going to have to ask them another question someday. So what is that like for you? From a perspective of it, it's not that-- you're not sanitizing your coverage, right? If someone plays poorly, you say that player plays poorly. But for you, how do you prepare yourself for going into a situation where St. J. T. Miller makes a huge gap at the end of the game? You simply say you made a huge gap at the end of the game. Is there a process you go through knowing, I'm going to have to talk to this fucking guy tomorrow. Is it going to be all right? Yeah, no, actually that's a really good question because I'm big into the compliment sandwich type of thing. So I'm like, all right, you're going to go in, you're going to ask one question that is kind of like an easier question. And then like, let's take the auto a game, for example, where they had 10 shots on goal. But it was nine shots on goal at the time. It was not. I'm going to count that one. So I'm like thinking, all right, let's just just go in with talking about Mika, first of all. That's a happy thoughts. And I was with JT1 on one. So I was like, all right, it's going to be a conversation here. So I was like, all right, let's start with something positive. So you start with the Mika. And then you get into the-- so what happened with the nine shots on goal? But at that point, you're already kind of in the flow with the player. You're in a conversation. They're trusting you. You're trusting them. So then you can kind of get that tougher question out. Obviously, you got to word it lighter. You can't be like, you guys had nine shots on goal. What the hell happened? Even though that's what we were all thinking. You didn't say you guys mentally weak out there? No, I wasn't thinking that one. But I'll keep that one in my back. I'll talk about it maybe from my very last game, all the full circle moment. But then you just finish with like, I always try and finish with one of those. All right, you got nine shots on goal tonight. What are you going to do next, game to make sure you don't get nine shots on goal? And it's funny. The first time-- I think the first time I talked to Vincent Trochek. Because again, this year, talking-- like I said, I didn't talk to players last year. Because I was so scared. I was so nervous. But this year, I was like, all right, look, nobody's going to hold my hand with this. I can either do it or I can just keep being-- scared. And I remember advice I got from my dad was he's like, just pretend you're a plumber. A plumber comes to your house and you're like, oh, how'd the job go? And I'm like, OK, I can do that. That's not a big deal. So I remember going up to Trochek and I asked him a question. He didn't give me the greatest answer in preseason. I was like, man, this guy hates me. And I was like, wow, OK. Well, I was because he wasn't made captain. That's a little sad. Yeah. That's why he was mad. Yeah. But they don't get mad. And you can't take things personally. And the players don't remember what you asked the next game. Maybe you do ask a worthwhile, bad question. So it's that type of thing. Just like you can't just go in and speak your mind. We all know that as much as we want to, you can't. But you can get-- you can ask him to delicate enough way. And you just got to get them talking. That's the first thing. Sometimes you might have to ask two or three BS questions that you don't really care the answer to to get-- Oh, wow, wow. The meanest. No BS. Come on. [LAUGHTER]
- Right, right, that's he sure is. - I did. - Jesus. You know, to be fair to you, you did ask the questions about nine shots, and then they did have a season high of 43 or something like that. - Yeah. - So credit to you. I do wanna come back circle back to the first question. You know, when the kids came up, and when I say the kids, I really mean Sorka and Emelish. Like what was the change like in the locker room in terms of like that guy just never stopped smiling. But it seems like they have, there's not a lot of fun on this team for a look a long time. Sort of like vets who were, have been to the top of the mountain or got close to it and then too close to get there. And I just feel like there wasn't, Greg and I, I don't know, four or five weeks ago, we're like, what's fun about this team? We're like Gabe Perot. It's like, oh, anything else. But now it feels like they have nine legitimate bottom sixers. And I don't think that's a great thing for the team, but a lot of these guys are out there trying their asses off. And I think Greg and I have said pretty exclusively, it would be cool to watch some guys that wanna try and we've gotten there. So what are they brought to the locker room, the kids? - Well, you know, it's funny. There was one game, I forget it was one of the losses. Both Miller and Sullivan mentioned the same exact word. They said, we've lost our swagger. And you know what, I think that's what the young guys have brought. They've brought and swagger back to the team. And when you're not in a playoffs, but the one thing you can do is try and have fun. And I think it also is, to me, it's been, I mean, how many times is season if we see in the Rangers just not focus on the small details? Like too many to count. But then you get these young guys coming up, essentially on a tryout. And the one thing you can do is a young player in the NHL or a guy trying to make the team is like, okay, when you're bored battle, put a little extra hustle and to, you know, chase after this puck, finishing your hits, just trying to get a sticks, sticks in late, like the small details. And then they add up. And then when you get these little energetic guys inserted throughout the lineup, because when you see, you know, Sakura before Sullivan switched broads and skins to Kora's Kora's on that line with Trojek and Koolie. So he's kind of providing juice there. We saw Perot provide juice to that first line. And then I mean, even a guy like Ty Cartier, kind of, I mean, elevating Miller and Sheerie because he's just a workhorse out there. And then you get that third or that fourth line with Hemlosh. And just it's just, there's, there's energy spread throughout the lineup. And I think when you're losing all these games, you're looking at yourself, but you're also looking at each other like, I don't understand what's not clicking. I don't understand what more as a team we could do. But then you kind of insert these guys. And it's like, okay, you know what? If, if, you know, Yarros put in a little extra into the his shift, I can, let me find a way to put a little extra into mine. And it's like, that's when that human instinct, human nature kicks in. It's like, you can't always get to 110% even if you try. But if you see someone next to you doing it, just naturally you're gonna, your body's gonna be able to do a bit more. And that's what these guys have brought. And like you mentioned, they don't stop smiling. I talked to Sakura the other day and I literally asked them, I was like, I said, how much fun are you having? And his answer is me and Yarros are having the time of our lives. And I didn't even ask about Hemlosh. But I was like, that's how awesome it was. Like that was just his like, his first thought is like, yeah, let me, let me talk about me and my buddy over there. And like I said, they've been, they've both been available with Pascal games. So they'll literally point to each other and look at each other and like, say things to each other in the post game. It's just, it's just fun to see the youth movement. And like we said, I mean, the Rangers are still missing a first line. These are, it's great to have these bottom nine guys. But just at the very minute, let these guys win games and see what can translate to next year. I think that's always interesting, right? Like you see these people come to new teams, go on stretches and then it doesn't really translate to next season. But I think these guys are just young and energetic and having fun. So at the very least they could bring that next season to me. Well, part of it is like the innocence of youth, right? It's a lot easier. It's a lot easier for someone under the age of 25 to hear, well, you have nothing to lose. So you might as well give it your all. Whereas Ryan and I are old decrepit human beings at this point in our life. And it's just natural if you're like over the age of 32 and you're not playing for anything. It's like, what the fuck am I doing here? I can just be in bed. I don't know. Yeah, well, that's what I was also getting worried about. Gabe Perot was because he got called up obviously and was through that really tough stretch of games. And then I think it was after maybe the Columbus game where they scored four goals. And that third period they still lose. But I was kind of like at least for you being a young guy, getting a taste of what this team can do. Like, you know, is that encouraging because I was getting worried? Like man, Perot was not even being taught how to win because they're just losing all these games. And like that's like that's one. He's playing well, but that's one way to take some confidence out of your top prospect. But at least now you got all these guys coming up and they're winning games and they're getting a taste of what it takes to win in the NHL. And like take these last two wins. These are two wins against the capitals and Red Wing's team that are fighting for their lives. Lydia Belkin asks for both of them. Like, they destroyed them. Yeah. And those teams are like, that's Alex Oveschkin. He's trying to have his Michael Jordan moment. I'm going to drag this team over the line. And you know, his goal tender let him down a little bit, but Gabe and, you know, Gouli literally had a hat trick. I mean, they destroyed the capitals all night long. Yeah. I mean, like, and again, these are to do that against teams that are literally like fighting for their lives. Like, I don't know. Is it just the Rangers power of friendship? Is it just that they're literally having fun? I don't know, but it was, I was like, you are kind of sitting here being like, where was this all season? But I do, I do think like the, it was probably they probably called all these guys up at the right time because if you call these guys up, these young guys up and it's like, all right, you're, we need your help to try and get into playoffs. That's a very different role than just we're out of playoffs, play your game, show us what you got type of thing. So the timing works out. Yeah. It's a completely different ask if you're asking kids to be the savior versus just asking kids to eat some minutes. Yeah. And that's why I felt bad for Gabe Perot there. Yeah. So Lydia, you've had a front row seat to what has been a very, I call it strange time where five weeks ago, it felt like the fan base as a whole had an understanding and a plan of what it would take this summer for the Rangers to be competent, competitive and fun again. Look, they've won some hockey games. That's always good. Young players are playing well. That's always good. And yet it feels like somehow in these five weeks where the Rangers are still one of the four worst teams in hockey, the narrative has begun to shift a little bit and it seems like some people are rethinking what the summer plan should be. What is your mindset going into this summer? What do you think the Rangers need to do? What do you think the Rangers should do? Where do you see the finish line? I'm probably going to give you the worst answer to this because I genuinely have no idea. That's where I sit. Because look, I think when you, who's the Rangers top guy that they could possibly part ways with? Vincent's row check. Vincent's row check to that locker room is just so important and they're not in a phase now where it's like you're worried about the locker room in the sense of like losing a guy like Barclay Goodrow literally destroys a locker room knocks you out of playoff. That type of thing. For me, Vincent's row check is like a teaching guys how to be a pro type of player. So that's why I'm like, is his value to the Rangers right now trying to be, I mean, he's still the heck of a player, but trying to be a good teammate and a leader for these guys more important than the potential return. Obviously, we need to see where they fall and the draft lottery winning all these games. Who knows where they're going to fall there, but I don't worry too much about the draft lottery right now. That's a problem for two weeks. But I don't know like, to me, it's just losing a guy like Vincent's row check. I don't know what the, we were talking like the trickle down effect for the team is there. It's not that these guys are going to in the sense like put their heads down and give up because like kind of happened with Barclay Goodrow. But I think it's just you lose a big voice in the room. You lose a fun guy, an energetic guy, a good leader. What does that do? But also, I don't know, it begs the question like, what is, what do you, the Rangers view, like a guy like Brain Schneider asked? I think there's a lot of teams that do teach Schneider, you know, as a player that's valuable, valuable asset. But now it seems like Sullivan's kind of finding these pairs on defense and what's the handling of Fortescue. To me, I do think it's good for Forrestue to get this NHL experience. I think it'll probably be more worthwhile for them to do something similar to Perot and start him year in Hartford and then have him, you know, get big minutes work his way up there, get a little bit stronger down there. But I think he's looked good these past few games. But what I, the one thing I do not want to see this team do, unless it's Brady Kachuk is just trade all these players for, I don't know, like an Alex Tuck because I think I've seen people do that. I just, they're not, they're not in a, they're not a one player away team right now. I think it's more of, you've got to see what you have starting next year. I just don't want them to overly panic in the summer and make all these big moves. But again, the New York Rangers, something's going to happen we probably don't expect. I, I don't know what that will be. I do think it Vincent Chowcheck is the one that really intrigues me what they're going to do with him now. I don't know about you guys. Seems like he's gone, in my opinion, but that's my two cents despite the leadership. I think that bridge is burned and Tuck is a free agent that we've talked about potentially giving $19 million over two years. We'll get to that this summer. To me, it's, I did the rant last week. And as it sucked to win, but also it's kind of nice. I, I'd be a loser if I said I came on this show and said, man, it's not cool to watch Igor Shasturken beat a devil's gun.
- Oh my God. - Or hey, it's not cool to say, will Kool-Aid and Gapro have had tricks of versus teams that want to make the playoffs? If I said, if I came on here today and said, "Man, I really hated watching that. I would be lying. I did like watching all those things and it's good for the culture." But I will tell you as a man who spends too much on tankathon.com and genuinely cares way too much about a prospect that probably will be ruined by the Rangers anyway. They are tied with Seattle Kraken and if they beat the Florida Panthers this week, boy, they will be tied with them. So it's a conflicting duality situation and I'm sure nobody in the locker room gives a shit about it. - Yeah, no. It's funny when we stand outside that locker room we're like, "Oh, bad day for the tank fans." But like you said, we just want to go, we just want to go into a happy locker room. There's been too many powdie sad days that it's just, at least let's just have some fun to finish the season. But then it brings up, where is this team? What is this team? What are the Rangers? Everything Sullivan learned to have that last night. He's like, we're trying to figure out who the Rangers are as an identity. Who knows? - Well, it's gonna have a lot of figuring out to do this summer. - Yeah. Any final questions for our dear guest? - I'll just say, I think the biggest difference between Lydia and myself, powdie locker room, that's my bread and butter. That's where I fucking cook. (laughing) - Like, unleash me in that room. I think that is when, every, honestly, I think that would be a great idea. If the Rangers are in a pissy mood, they just send me in. And I just go, all right, who's first? - Sorry. What do you wanna line up people that are gonna tell you? I don't know. Lydia, thanks for coming on. I appreciate you doing that. Anything you wanna plug on your end? - No, I just, I hope to one day see a conversation between Greg and JT Miller after-- (laughing) - Oh, God, that's a loss. (laughing) - Yeah, that would, yeah. - JT, this is an open forum, brother, you can come on with everyone. (laughing) - Yeah, we had Sean Avery on here once. - Yeah, it was interesting. - Did you, Greg wasn't there that time? - No, hold on, hold on. I have to, I have to tell this line carefully, but I'm gonna do it with the three of us. - Okay, sure. - His daughter seems like a lovely girl. I'm so happy she had the time of her life. Did you, did you see what her fucking name is, though? - Wait, hold on, no, what are we doing? (laughing) - He named his daughter Scotland. - Okay, C-O-T-T-L-Y-N. - Here's how this is gonna work. Lydia, thank you for coming on. We're gonna move to the five star question section. - I appreciate you, and we're not gonna keep you in charge of this conversation. Thank you for being a great beat rider and doing what you do. Where could people find you on Twitter or x.com, whatever it's called these days? - It's just L-Pernor. - Cool. People can find you there. We'll retweet some of yourselves so people can find you when we go from there. Thanks for coming on. - Thank you guys. - And we're back. Lydia, great interview. - I didn't like to talk about J-2 Miller's kid's name, 'cause that's just the dumbest name of it. - I have a daughter, not bringing anything into this. Like, whatever the ledge sun is somewhere, I can talk about this. - Whatever kid, I look, I try, I, my only advice with parenthesis, don't take anybody else's advice. That's what I always say. - I, I'm a firm believer on this. I think I've said this on the podcast before. I think in every delivery room, there needs to be a neutral third party. Someone not related to the family. - Look at consultants. - A consultant, a paid consultant. - Okay. - And that person needs to be in the room. And the parents, when they're asked, what do you wanna name your child? They say what the name is, and the consultant should just be allowed to react. However, they should react to that name. And I think they should get the verdict on whether that is the name or not. - I will say you need-- - I believe it's really good at this job. - Me? - Yeah, yeah. - I don't, I think, I, for some, I don't know. I think my emotions you get to involve. I think honestly, this, like the chaotic good, these are what lawyers should be hired to do. Like, what? - Yes, it's what lawyers are no nonsense people. Imagine our friend, Poki, in a delivery room, and a family is like, I would like to name my daughter, Scotland, and Poki just goes, "You're a fucking idiot." - No, Scotland, y'all, it's not that bad. - There's so many worse names. - Scott Lind, with a D, would be better than that combination of letters the millers landed on for their daughter. - I'm not, look, if anybody's a big game of throons fan out there, I'm not gonna shoot on you, but a lot of people named their kids Daenerys. I'm just gonna throw it out there, like, that's something people didn't do. - I mean, but at least there's, there's, you could be any, that's not bad. - There was a concept out there for that name. If you, honestly Ryan, I would have stood down if you said, Greg, how do you forget about Scotland of House Targaryen in season three of Game of Thrones? I would have been like, "Damn, deep co-entity." - You wouldn't name your son Brazil? - No, my son's being named Shay. Are you kidding me? - Like Dan's kid. - That's funny. - Yeah, because every Metfan names their first born after a Met, and to me, name it after the build it, Shay. - Yeah, no. - And it's a first of all name, works for either a boy or a girl. - Oh, I wanted to say this. I am going to a Met's game. I think the 25th, if you have a John Franco jersey, let me know. DM me on Twitter, I'll buy it off you. I'm gonna wear it to the game. - Why don't you just DM his daughter? - Ella's out there on the streets, man. - I don't, that's not for me. By the way, that name, great name. Good job, John. You figured it out, brother. - Not here to shit on parents, it's just not my thing. - You're not gonna be shitting on John Franco. - Yeah, well, she's not John Franco for all the reasons. Not his daughter, that's for sure. His daughter seems so fun. - She's very easy. - She loves hockey. - Seems like a great kid. I just wish the name was an idiotic. - I thought that was good PR for JT after her tough year. So he's doing a lot. - Hey, it was smart. Whoever thought of setting him to that game should get a raise. - No, he went to the women's game. I'll give him some credit in the Olympics situation there. So they were there. - Like I said, whoever thought of that idea, she get a raise. It's a good idea. - First question is from PJ Smith one. Vince M. can seemingly talk for hours without a guest. We're interacting with others. What's the longest either of you have hosted a solo episode? - I think there's a back to the New York group that I did like 25 minutes on the match. - Yeah, I can do probably like 30, 35 minutes, but around the 20-ish minute mark it becomes a little bit of a struggle. - You just start repeating yourself a little bit. - Well, this is what Bill Simmons has talked about a lot. Like I think he took a lot of inspiration from other people that do this on a daily basis where they just talk to themselves in circles. He's trying to get better at it and he did. But there are certain-- - Bill's on a heater right now. - Yeah, well, he's-- - Did you see him on Twitter this weekend? - Bro, it was amazing. The highlight of your career is getting mentioned by me. It's such a insane line. Trust me, I saw. I'm one of the biggest Simmons fanboys there is. And I feel like when Rassilla left, he was like, watch this bitch. I still got three point shots. And-- - I think he's doing better, honestly. - Yeah. - Because the Silla was holding him back. - It's crazy. Oh boy. I need that close to him and Zon. Catch me and listen to that podcast immediately. - So good. - Immediately. It's close to him and it's just all time. - So close to him and being team human error and not wanting robot arms is silly to me. - It was silly to me too. But I respect Chuck so much that I can't hate him too much for it. - Just to my new book. - Football? I have not, 'cause I don't read. - Unbelievable. - I respect Chuck so much, but I will not help his career. - No, he talks about that on his podcast to the people that listen to the podcast. It's very fun. - I'm just saying. - It's from Keith. This question is for Greg. Have you felt the first handful of games have gone, how do you feel they have gone without the producer, Demarsio? How do you say that? - Demarsico. - Demarsico. I've definitely noticed a few instances of reduced quality. - I'll be honest guys, as fun as it was to have a producer who loved movies and would enter, like intertwine criteria, criterion collection type images into a Metgame. If you think I'm watching the Metgame for a production quality, you don't understand why. - Yeah, it's more, actually more of a question for Ryan. - He's for Greg. - Yeah. - The artist lost on me because I, frankly, if it was just one camera and it was me just staring down the home plate, that'd be enough. I'm good. - Yeah, you're locked in. - You're absolutely locked in. I will say that there is some really bad broadcasts around the MLB as someone who's been washing way too much baseball, it's been horrific. This one's from Trade Everyone. Instead of good hangs this year, could you do a sort of bad hangs? Ryan might actually have a chance to win this up until a week or two ago, it's even more fitting with this roster. I would not win this either. I would not win. - You can't read the vibes quite the same. - You're very good at it. It's an unhinge talent from you. - Yeah. - This one just gives me a gift. Unfortunately, that was it. - That was it. This one just gives you mainly for Greg. Which Ranger is each item associated with Passover? Why about the egg, shakebone, charoset? I said that wrong. - The roasting. - Yeah, there you go. And bitter herb, et cetera. - Honestly, this Ranger Collection really not worth thinking about that hard. - Didn't think that you were gonna do it. - You wanna know what this Ranger Collection is? The youngest at every Passover Seder, they have to ask the four questions, why is this night different from every other night? And you just asked that question for different times and get four different answers. That's the 2025, 2026 New York Rangers. It's us asking the same question over and over again, and somehow landing on a different answer every week. - This is why you're good at bad eggs. This is why you just did it again. This is from our friend Mike. When does CBB?
Dr. Retire now that ABS deal with ABS. Is it before they have one of the retire? I don't want to retire. It's too good. ABS is too good. Another just slam dunk W for the MLB. Incredible stuff. Hate man for it, but he's got two big W's under his belt. He's the boss, so he gets some credit even though it probably wasn't his idea. Kyle Astler says, "What the fuck is a game seven? Why does Danny DeVito involved?" Game seven is Mark Messier's company. What does it do? I would love him to email me in sponsors as far as to find out. I would love to. I didn't know Danny DeVito was involved. I didn't know who was the product. Yeah. This from David, so Igor could beat up Rampy, right? Yes. No question. No question. Rampy really can't fight. He's big though. Really big. He is a very charismatic punching bag. I like Matt Rampy a lot, and I thought he was going to have a really interesting career at the beginning of the season until he had a useless fight with Ryan Reeves, which probably altered his career path for their fraternity. Yeah. Sucks. Yeah. Judge Dury Australia says, "Can't you room, Moji, of course?" "Did I see JT Norris smile on a fist bump line?" "What else do you think has made JT's smile this entire season?" "Uh, I've seen him do crowd surfing with a gold medal." "Seemed like he's pretty happy." "Yeah, it seemed like a good time." "Yeah, it seemed like he was having fun." "I can't speak to his groin." "But yeah." "Oh, you can't." "Oh, you know." "Oh no, well, he's an amazing groin." We talked about this. "Soon, incredible groin." "Don't comment on what he names his kid, but she'll talk about his groin." "I will talk about his groin, but I will not talk about his children." "The disrespectful." "I'm not talking about his children. I'm talking about the decision JT Miller made." "It's his decision, you're right, but I don't want to bring the kids into this. It's a big role of mine. I don't bring the kids in." "That's fine. That's fine." "But I will talk about his groin." "I will talk about his reproductive organs, but I will not talk about his children." "I'm talking about the end result of the organ." "Trujunji III." Assuming Fox does not want to resign. I guess this is where the end of his contract, right? He let us know to prior to the draft. Do you think it would be feasible for the Rangers to move on from him for a Matthew Robertson and Woodallis, Matthew Robertson? I think he just changed his name. "Jason." "And Woodallis want that." "That's not the case. Would you be the other Rangers taking a top defenseman in the draft?" I mean, yeah. If the solution was they traded, they had to trade Adam Fox and they had no leverage and they somehow got back Jason Robertson having no leverage, then yes, I would take Chase Reed at three hopefully and laugh away to the bank with that one, but that's just not happening. "I'd still probably take it forward, if I'm honest." Does the Mike Sullivan effect? Yeah. Adam Fox is so good. He's irreplaceable. He really is. "But again, if we're trading, if we're trading Adam Fox, I don't want to win now peace. Because if we're trading Adam Fox, we're also trading Egor Chesterke." Yes, it's both. It's not one. "All the futures, everybody's future. Any future you thought of, give me that." This is from my dog Farts. What player, if any, do you feel like you're on a small sample size hosh streak to the end of the season, through the Ryan Spooners or Brennan Smiths, if you will? I don't know if Gabe's on a hosh streak or if he's just like who he is. Cool. He's been 20 goals now, Patrick. Mike. You ever see that? I know we're kind of all the way out on WWE right now, rightfully so. It's been pretty awful, but there's this very famous interaction with Cody Rhodes and some random Twitter account where he says like, you're my favorite mid-carter to Cody Rhodes. He's like, "Hey, I'm not a mid-carter," or whatever. He's like, then he's like, you're my favorite. Cool, he's my favorite third-liner. He's just such a good third-liner. He's incredible. That's why I hope people pick up on us when we say that the Rangers are two players short in their top six. They've picked up on the context clue that at no point have we said, "Will Cool is in the top six?" No. We have it. And it would've been pretty steadfast on that. He has the thing. If Will Cool is your best player in the bottom six, I just think your team is so much better. Way, way, way better. Yeah. And also, there's been some conversation about Noah Laba the past couple of days I've noticed. Because I feel like people are over-inflating his rookie season performance. I don't think based on what we've seen from Noah Laba this year, we should be penciling him in as the New York Rangers Third Line Center next season. It seems like to be asking too much of Noah Laba. Even if the Rangers aren't competing next year, Noah Laba needs to establish himself more firmly in what he does well in the bottom six. Where I just, if you want to win a Stanley Cup, it's probably not with Noah Laba as your third best center. However, if he played all season next to Will Cool, I do think that would help Noah Laba significantly. Yeah. I think Noah Laba got banged up towards the end of the season too. And as probably been playing through it, from being honest. And you also, you know, you do the math. He was playing a lot with Connor Shearie to start the season when Connor Shearie wasn't scoring. Though Connor Shearie magically only six points off. Noah Laba's point total. Three goals in the last five. And Connor Shearie just gonna help this, help this tank, of course. What is it gonna feel like when that two-year extension hits? God. Trash. This is from our friend Jets Rangers one positive, positively scenario thinking. Gabe Meaka and Lapis legit top six. JT recovers and returns to an 80-ish point form. They need two. Maybe Cool, it can be a top six now. What we know they can't really trade for one without creating another top six hole when UFA misses list is met. But with all their calf face, could they make a sat kick play for an RFA like Robertson if he doesn't resign or a young high upside youth like Ventilli or Goche. I don't know. Connor Goche is getting traded like that seems like crazy. I'm also I don't think I'm I Fantilli is not the break the bank type of guy. Agreed. Yes, we lose a lot of picks in the draft route. Hasn't exactly worked out to date. You know, obviously he's doing an offer sheet here. So I just don't see many options. I'm trying to find ways to do it. You can get creative. Couple things. I think there's one thing I want to point out about Jason Robertson, which I don't think we've talked extensively on the show. He was left off team USA for a reason like people. Jason Robertson. Yes. Was it a good reason? He's a milk drinker and a. So I'm a defenseman. Yeah, I love Adam Fox, but Jason Robertson isn't exactly sought after the way Brady could chuck his around the league, whether that's stupid or not. He's not a player that has the personality that teams want to work with. It's just a little more reserved. He's a milk drinker. That's what he is. Now he does he score. Yeah, he scores a lot of goals and he's someone I'd love to have on the Rangers, but I just don't think one. I don't think he's leaving Dallas. I think he's going to resign. And I don't think that someone that Turing is going to prioritize getting the same thing. Like Sullivan was on the team. I don't see he goes out and gets Robertson. Cutter Gochie. It's a hard time thinking that ducks would ever let him go. Even if you even if you all for shade or no, I think they would just pay him. Like they have a cast base, right? They figured out. Also I just like brass tax it. Are you really doing two plus first round draft picks to get cutter coach? Yeah. Got it. Where this where this team is currently got 38 goals this year. I consider it. My might think about it. It's quite good. I know the ducks are also going to be in the playoffs, but probably because. Their division just garbage. So we have a question for Mr. Friday. Hey, guys, British fan here. I started following the Rangers were about 15 years ago as a distraction from watching Tottenham teams. Oh boy. Hey, British fan, by the way, big weekend for half of this podcast. Hey, you weekend for half of this black. I got a text that said, have you like pretty much about the Southampton thing? And I went, what? Unbelievable. Uh huh. May sitting not afraid. Here we go. Let's bring it. I hope you guys win. We have big fucking week. This week too. We play rexum tomorrow. It's a true. Uh playoff six pointer because we are. We have one game in hand. We're one point behind rexum for the final playoff spot. And then we have Bristol city with a no Darby County who was also in the playoff discussion on Saturday. So big, big fucking week for Southampton kind of need all six points. Yeah, Liverpool don't want to talk about it. So that's suck it. It's because birdsles of bitch. He's always been a bitch. He was a bitch the day he wanted out of Southampton. He's a curved firm bitch. Bitch, bitch, bitch, virtual van Dyke emphasis on virgin. That is right. Mr. Friday's going to love this. But I don't talk about his kids, bro. So unfortunately, he said unfortunately Todd does not work here right now. Uh yeah, well, you just heard a new coach. I heard that's gone. That's fun. Anyway, is this is is this their third or fourth coach of the fourth? It's the fourth. That's tough. It's five year deal though. You're a buckle up buddy. Uh anyway, so Mr. Friday says turn, turn for soccer coaches mean fucking nothing. You got a paint for five years. That's why I was a great European. I still find the format of American leagues unusual. I can't really think of many other sports or leagues happy to be corrected that use seven games to knock out serious instead of one off matches like the Olympics or two ties home and away. Even though ice hockey, the closest thing to champions football league, the CHL uses single game knockouts. Yeah, yeah, anyway, I also show going to get my head around the eight two games. Rather than a simple home and away format against every team, I understand reasons are largely financial rivalry, travel is a huge in a huge country, etc. I'm not sure it's the sport required it. How do you think North American format 82 games plus seven game series changes the way hockey is actually played in style? I find it hard to get excited about match 69 of 82 when there's a game every night for months. These matches are less important. I'm not sure hockey itself is fundamentally different enough to require for sports. If football matches a loss or a win a significant event, but hockey is forgettable, it's just another day in the office. We'll love your thoughts.
Honestly, unfortunately, this is such a cop-out answer, but I think it's true. I think you just need to be bored into this to really understand it. Because I hear what you're saying. And I agree that game 69 out of 82 is not necessarily the most exciting game you've ever seen in your life. But I'd like to point you towards game 7 of 162 that took place on Thursday for the New York Mets and the fucking civil war that broke out because of that shit. So if you're brought up in it, you get it and you can explain it to the next person. Look, I fucking love the European soccer model where everybody plays everybody twice, once at home and once away. Regular season title is the most important title and there are no playoffs with the exception of the promotion playoffs where even then it's just one game. So I hear it, I see it, I understand it. But there's a seven game series in the playoffs, guys. You just not that fucking more electric than that. Once upon a time, it used to be best in nine. If you want to go back to the early 1900s with baseball, we used to do this for longer, for no reason. So it's hard to explain. You kind of have to be there to understand it. You kind of have to be brought up in a society where you were not taught that other options were available to you. I know, it's magical, it's magical, breath. Yeah, I love the incident out of every single day and unfortunately it is part of it. I will say I would appreciate if hockey went down to like 70 games. I am on the Bill Simmons corner of there's too many games, but they're financially will not happen. Just amazing. I only think of this for non baseball sports. Even though in my head, I think 154 is a lot better number than 162. Still, 62 we figured it out. Let's just stick with it. I'm with you on baseball, but it's also like a less intense game. Sure. Then like a hockey or basketball where the cardio is insane. Well, listen, the Bristol city big bad hop is understanding that every game so fucking game seven. And we're playing like it. We're talking about your dynasty league team, of course. Yeah, right. Because it's the best team of the league. It's second best, right? No, well, by record, I'm talking FTP, baby. Okay, we're real data. You are what your record says you are, I believe, is the quote? But yes, your six and six. I'm still. It's the first time I've been 504 years. Thanks. Um, um, so anyway, uh, yeah, it's answering your question, Mr. Friday. I do think what Greg said is you do have to re-brow it up in it. That being said, I would respect if hockey and basketball went down to a lower amount of games. So the game seemed a little bit more, uh, entitled. But there is at least in hockey, like a culture that sometimes dumbly insists on people playing as hard as possible every single night. Whereas that's not the case in the NBA. This is from MIRN. Who do you have more confidence in right now? JT Miller taking a face off late in the tie game or any met batting with runner-in-discording position at any point in the game. Edit. When this was the last was I promise you Thursday. Edit post giant series. We have our answer now. My answer is Jared Young. Who might be my favorite man? DLU case is high chaps. Thank you. Can we quantify somehow sporting the Saturday where Liverpool is getting thoroughly abused at Manchester City. The Rangers went at home to a red wings of rune Ryan Tanks hope. And then South have the beats Arsenal and a four cup FA Cup final at Wembley. Apologies if I hadn't had time to consider a mess in the equation. How do we call that one on Saturday, by the way? Yes they did. Uh, it was a very big BSB day. You know, in a bad way for Ryan and a great way for Greg. That's all because at least Gabe got the hat trick, right? So you can't even, you can just agree with the W, but the way the W was accomplished is a good thing. I hope that I try and be at least some self aware. And I'm just, I'd be such a fucking loser if I came on this show this week and said this all sucks because it doesn't. There's a lot that's good. You go beat his ass dude. I can't, it's awesome. It's awesome. Uh, J.K.S. CEO says, oh, this is from, first one from David's. J.D. Fyte, J.D. Martinez fix Mark Vientos. Uh, yes. Let's wait a small sample size. It's been one week. Excuse you. I like Mark Vientos. It's just, you know, also to be fair, uh, I don't think J.D. Martinez has started working for the Metzia. But that is not as fun for the narrative. Probably Texan said hit ball. Got him. And Mark was like, oh my god. Eric, I should never said that. Never told me to hit the ball. This from J.K.S. CEO or the pirate series about trying to be a real team eventually. Seems like they're trying to signal they are. But are unsure how earnest their effort really is. Doesn't, I, I mean, first of all, credit to them. They're six and three. I think to start the year. They are. They just swept another team. Uh, um, they should because the pirates should understand that they're, their pitching is never going to be younger, better and less expensive. They're also never going to have ball screens ever again. And they did sign their young superstar to a long contract. So I have to give some credit on that. Yeah. My problem with the pirates is if they really wanted to go all in, they would have been more serious about Kyle Schwarber. They would have done more than just Ryan O'Hern and Brandon Lowe in the off season. They, first of all, they had to spend money because of, uh, baseball. If they want to go into this labor negotiation, the players union was ramping up to point at the Pittsburgh Pirates saying that sort of right there is the problem. And they would have been absolutely corrected by the way they still would be corrected. Um, if they wanted to go all in, they would have money talks, right? At the same time, the pirates, because they've been so bad for so long and so cheap for so long, they would have had to pay a 40% tax on all those good players, but they should have paid it because baseball is at the best spot it's ever been. They have a wonderful stadium. They have a fan base that just wants to room for a winner. They have Paul Schienz. They have Connor Griffin. Like now was the time if, if they offered bobe shed $60 million a year, would that have been a smart contract? No, should they have done it? Absolutely. You know why? Because everyone would have fucking loved it. I hope they're serious. Baseball is better. I saw this today. Do you know that today as recording 431? Oh, shit. I forgot to check my line. But 431 PM on a Monday. There are three teams in the American League over 500 and nine in the national league over 500. Yeah, it's a wild stat. Wow. That's crazy. Next question is for trade everyone. Why does Jared Young make me horny? Interesting. He is a very good looking man. It's for PJ Smith one. Which fan base would be the most intolerable once their team wins? The Leafs. The Leafs. It's the Leafs. It's the Leafs. It's probably the Leafs. It's not close. But I think in a five-way tie for second place is any Canadian team. Because all of Canadian media is going to they're going to claim that win as their own. By God, it's the fucking Leafs. It's the Leafs one followed by in a tie every other Canadian team. From PJ Smith says which fan base. Oh, no, no, that we heard that one. This from David. How much war should Joe Adele gain from that game? One. One for sure. I honestly, I think it's more than one. He's like saved the game three times. It was a one-nothing game. Yeah, it was a incredible game. Yeah, by the way, I had the Mariners money line in that game. I didn't need to know how the Mariners lost one. Nothing. I was completely content just understanding that I lost the bet. Finding out that Joe Adele robbed three-home runs. I didn't need it, Ryan. I would be not exaggerating if I said that was 20 minutes of my therapy this week. So fucking funny that I came up with. It was the first thing I said. I was just like, can you believe this shit? I'm not here to kick shame, but man. That's probably not the right term. How was your weekend? Not good, chief. Where do you want to start? This is for Brian. Who on the team could replace one-on-one with inside-out emotions? Soraka is Joy. Egor is anger, Fox is sadness. You keep saying Soraka. You know it's Sakura, right? I don't mind to that. I'm sorry. You have Mike Soraka on the brink. No, I don't. I don't. I don't have him on the brink. I promise. What about fear, discuss, anxiety, embarrassment? I look, Ryan, I'm not going to answer your full question of full. But I will say this. It was fucking hilarious. It's embarrassing embarrassment. It's really, really funny that ESPN tweeted out that sadness scored for the Rangers. I mean, you can't just get right about it. It's perfect. It's pretty great. Capit Crutch, can we talk about how the Rangers first goal scorer at the inside of the classic was sadness? Yes, we can. What was the over-under on goals for the season of sadness? It becomes a regular. We watched that. This all season. What are you talking about? They didn't do a lot of scoring. Luke Dolan says a question that I've been asking. Guys, is Connor Sherry the problem now? Yeah, dude. He scored three goals in the last five games. Oh, yeah. The Breggman says, "As soon we Fox the Egor stay and we somehow acquire another top six forward, is there anything change where you would assume to be comfortable to hold on to Trochec or at least till next deadline? Or does he need to be traded no matter what this off season, even if it's a lopsided trade we didn't expect?" Or like we expected, sorry. I think he's gone no matter what, Breggman. I think he should go no matter what. Because the assets you can even if, let's use it this way. Let's say the ranges are essentially just going to get the wild package from a different team. So a first round pick, a prospect you're underwhelmed by, but is one of the organization's better prospects and an additional depth piece. That's going to be what you get for Vincent Trochec. So the question is, are those pieces, can I use those pieces to get a player that I view as more impactful than Vincent Trochec? And I think the answer there is yes. Because that's another first round pick. I can dangle in a trade. I now have four in the next two draft periods, two this year, two next year. I have another prospect that bolsters my ability to potentially move a prospect of interest, not gave parole necessarily, but maybe a will-coolly in a trade, maybe a Lexi Lough from Yehr in a trade, if it gets me a different impact player, moving Vincent Trochec,
So Vincent Trocheck, the team that acquires him, that is a floor raising move, but the assets the Rangers bring in to then potentially replacement to Trocheck, equally a floor raising move where the quality of player you could get to fill a specific role in your lineup becomes easier to acquire that player because you have these additional assets you have for Vincent Trocheck, who at this point in his career at where the Rangers are in their re-tool process, the player no longer fits the puzzle. So give me the pieces. Give me the maneuverability to improve my roster in a different way. Yeah, I don't see a scenario where suddenly the Rangers win a couple games against teams who are fumbling over their own feet, becomes a viable solution for the New York Rangers. It just I don't see a couple more. And then we got to run Carbore and Moris as if we use conspiracy bill, NBA lottery mindset. Can we talk ourselves into the Rangers play down the stretch, having secure themselves the number one overall pick? Can we please? Uh, do we can't? I will tell you that there's never been a lottery one from the number four spot. Makes it the same where do. Yeah, we're due to win a lottery. It's been so long. It's been so long. Uh, some Johnny's acts. How the hell do we get to the point of the season where we're so conflicted as a fan base? Well, it started that way, Johnny. Uh, we've worked. We've always been this conflict. We're just now the way in where conflict is a little different. Each goal for and goal against is like a shot in your arm, but you get a sensation out of it because you're a masochist. Yeah, it is weird. It's like I was watching the games like Kelly at least. Oh, fuck. Say it's not a shot in your arm. If you're not watching, I'll tell you that much. Shiny every show for ass. I often tell my kids do the things today, your, oh, do the things today, your tomorrow self will thank you for. Do you think the October Rangers will benefit from this push over Brett, the lower draft pick they receive? I'll tell you this. Not a single player in that room gives a shit about what kid they're drafting. Don't care at all. So if you want to say that these, these guys are, this is really important for them. And if it helps them keep out in Fox, it's incredibly important. I'll say that. Uh, it's important for Adam Sakura, Yaroslav Himalosh. It's important for tie Cartier and Will Cooley. It's important for a share. It's, it's important for Connor Shiri because like he might get another job now. Um, but it's important for Dave Perot. Like you said, it's important for Alex Loughan year. Uh, is it important for the New York Rangers? Well, that comes down to the question of are these guys New York Rangers? I don't know. Not all of them will be probably. It's from Chazdee. Where are we at with the Ewing theory with Ben Aaron? I don't think this applies. I don't think so yet. The games haven't mattered yet. It has to happen. It's, it's so, it's a lot easier to win meaningless games. You play differently if you are playing for your playoff life than if you're just free of responsibility and free of expectations. You watched happen this weekend, man. A lot. Yeah. Like the Red Wings played tight, the capitals played tight. And the Rangers are like, I don't know. We don't give a fuck. We're going to be golfing. This is fun. Question is from Miller time or to get the fuck out, which is hilarious. Do you guys think the team performance is the latest convincing Fox. It wants to stay. I feel like all the questions we're asking are stuff we just answered. It's crazy. I feel like the positive vibes of good performance from Gabe and the other young players have to give them more hope for the future. I think it has to. Yeah. But again, that's, that's not the primary source of consternation, which is what we talked about earlier in this podcast. It's a Trinity of misery. Are we concerned all about Ben's hitting? Is yeah. I'm, look, I'm not, I'm not even a mess, man. Don't be concerned. He's going to be good. I look, you know what I'm concerned about? I'm worried the leagues are going to stop pitching the Jared Young. That's my number one concern. Guys, a fucking menace up there. What a quote April 6, 2026 put that shit on a fucking banner. This is the last question of David Davis. Well, Nancy Larry hangs them up. Will you get a bigger tribute than some former Rangers? If so, who and will there be a video? Oh God. I hope not. But it's going to happen, isn't it? I don't know if he will. A video. He'll get a video. A banner. I don't know. I mean, they got a banner for Harry Styles. Your mic just went up super high. I don't know why I didn't do anything. All right. Cool. That's from the show. You can follow us on Twitter and all around me. I have blue shirts break. We'll be back with David's speaker with BSBOT. Probably Thursday is there. There's a game on Wednesday. And we'll see you guys there. I love you guys. Bye.
Podcast Summary
Key Points:
The hosts discuss the New York Rangers' recent winning streak and the team's positive locker room atmosphere.
A significant debate centers on whether trading Alexis Lafrenière for Brady Tkachuk is worthwhile, with one host arguing Lafrenière's recent play shows he may have comparable or greater long-term value.
Concerns are raised about Adam Fox's future with the Rangers, emphasizing that his decision to stay hinges more on feeling appreciated than on the team's recent wins.
The analysis suggests Brady Tkachuk is a valuable complementary player who elevates a good team but is not a franchise-altering "game-breaker" who can single-handedly turn a team into a contender.
The overall state of the NHL's Eastern Conference is viewed as weak, creating a potential opening for the Rangers to be competitive next season even without a major trade.
Summary:
This episode of the Blueshirts Breakaway podcast focuses on the New York Rangers' late-season performance and off-season strategy. The hosts note the team's unexpected winning streak, highlighting contributions from players like Igor Shesterkin and Adam Fox. A central debate involves the potential trade of Alexis Lafrenière for Ottawa's Brady Tkachuk.
One host argues that Lafrenière's improved play since the Artemi Panarin trade demonstrates he could be more valuable than Tkachuk in the coming years, contending that Tkachuk, while a strong physical presence, is not an elite game-changer. The conversation also addresses Adam Fox's contract situation, stressing that his decision to remain with the Rangers depends more on organizational respect and personal relationships than recent team success. Finally, the hosts assess the weakened Eastern Conference, suggesting the Rangers could be playoff-competitive next year without a major overhaul, though acquiring a player like Tkachuk without sacrificing Lafrenière would be ideal.
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The hosts debated whether trading Lafrenière for Tkachuk is worthwhile, with one arguing that Lafrenière's recent play shows he might be more valuable long-term, while Tkachuk is seen as a great addition but not a game-changer alone.
There are concerns that Fox may consider leaving if he doesn't feel appreciated by the organization, as personal relationships and respect matter more to him than just winning games.
The Eastern Conference is described as weak, with many teams underperforming, giving the Rangers a chance to be competitive next season despite their current roster flaws.
JT Miller reportedly prefers playing center over wing, suggesting he might be more effective next season if moved to center, especially with potential roster changes.
They see Tkachuk as a valuable player who brings energy and culture, but not as a primary star who can single-handedly elevate a team to championship contention.
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