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00:00:02what's up everyone and welcome back to another episode of up in the blue seats your favorite
00:00:08rangers podcast from the new york post it's molly walker and former ranger brian boyle as always
00:00:13game number 76 of 82 tonight against the canadians seven total games left in the 2025-26
00:00:22regular season can you believe it's almost over because i can't been a year it's been a year
00:00:30yeah it has hasn't it there's lots to talk about for a lot of it and now it's kind of
00:00:35like
00:00:36well we still got lots to talk about it's just i didn't think we'd be here yeah i didn't think
00:00:41different things that's okay we've got a really fun episode for you guys today we've gotten all
00:00:46your questions comments concerns and we're going to address as many as we can later in the episode
00:00:51but first a quick recap on the week rangers have a little three-game win streak at home going
00:00:58their longest at msg this season and honestly it was the longest when it reached two which is kind
00:01:04of crazy to think about before these can you believe that before these three those first two
00:01:10they had not won back-to-back games at home this season so that doesn't tell you the state of
00:01:17everything they're already down we don't we don't have to kick them yeah we're already but arguably
00:01:22the best thing to happen in a game for the rangers all season happened on tuesday against the devils
00:01:28an absolute epic goalie fight between igor schisterkin and jacob markstrom i mean brian what was going
00:01:35through your mind when you watch that go down um it's cheaper than therapy you know sometimes
00:01:47look it is i can't i don't know what it's like just to play especially as a veteran
00:01:54group there's enough veteran guys there with deals that are extended beyond this season i don't know what
00:02:00it's like to have that situation where you're just kind of stuck you're not playing for the playoffs
00:02:05thankfully um i would assume i would probably handle it similarly uh it's kind of awesome it's kind of
00:02:14sick uh i love it i love when melees happen and there's like the still shot photo of dougie hamilton
00:02:23and vince trocek just like living for it i mean yeah it's theater it's entertainment it's it's all
00:02:32those games this year where they couldn't score a goal and it was you know i'm obviously my eyes
00:02:39looking at the game are different than a lot of the fans because i'm like this is good structure and
00:02:43defense and good transit they just couldn't put it in the net people are like we want goals
00:02:47just spent 350 on ticket i want a goal um fair you know i think you got your money's worth
00:02:54in that game oh yeah and the hudson river rivalry and markstrom is a big dude he has got long
00:03:00arms he's
00:03:016'6 and igor is is russian and he just he was just throwing bombs yeah he's throwing bombs love
00:03:12it
00:03:12yeah goalie fights are weird all that gear like i don't know how you yeah i saw someone pointed out
00:03:19that the calmness with which igor took off his gloves was just you knew that he was about to unleash
00:03:27a whole year's worth of frustration that he's had playing behind these guys so i think we saw i mean
00:03:33us
00:03:34in the press box i mean i stood up immediately and was like no way no way no way i
00:03:40saw markstrom
00:03:42coming down and he was so great after the win uh igor i mean i mean he thanked his boxing
00:03:47coach
00:03:48uh said he thought the first fight would be with sorokin and he'll have to wait for him
00:03:53um you mentioned how big markstrom is well so did igor he said the what was going through his mind
00:03:59when he was skating down the ice was how huge he is is the way that he described it and
00:04:04in milan i
00:04:05also just you know interviewing him uh after practices and games and stuff he is a towering
00:04:11towering man um so igor really held his own and as i uh i wrote in my article that if
00:04:19uh a hand were
00:04:20to be raised in true mma style it would have been shesterkins and then gavrikov in the post-game
00:04:27broadway hat picture had igor's hand up like this in the picture uh so it was a lot of fun
00:04:33i mean the whole locker room was fired up by jt especially you saw jt go after you were
00:04:39and just smacking him on the chest uh i think that the whole room uh needed something like that not
00:04:46only just in a regular game this season but at home i think it meant a lot for them to
00:04:52really put
00:04:52it on a show like that to the fans which they haven't really been able to do much this season
00:04:58but i mean the fact that this was the third goalie fight in the league this season after there hadn't
00:05:04been one since what 2020 i mean i i just weren't they like they kept breaking them up because i
00:05:14remember
00:05:14flower was like flower was like in the media being like i need a goalie fight like i've you know
00:05:21i've done all these other things i have to have a fight and he tried like several times try to
00:05:26fight
00:05:26binnington he's tried to fight a bunch of different guys and the refs always came in and we're like no
00:05:33and there's like there's audio of mark andre flurry being like come on come on just let me do it
00:05:37once i
00:05:38just wanted to and they're like we can't we can't so there must have been something brought down and
00:05:42then i think realized maybe the backlash or the the reaction that they get i it's it's unbelievable
00:05:48like the the vassy coming down and switching to lefts or being a lefty and who is that swayman
00:05:56yep yeah he he knocks out swayman swayman's like i did not know that he was a lefty i do
00:06:02now
00:06:02uh it's but it no one leaves nobody gets up and leaves and look it's not it's not fun a
00:06:13lot of times
00:06:14it's not fun to fight like when you're done the fight you're the adrenaline and the emotion that
00:06:19comes out of you is because like there's a certain survivor mode in there especially when you're
00:06:24locked in and you know if you turn the wrong way you could get cleaned out and you could be
00:06:30waking up
00:06:30somewhere else other than in your gear on the ice there's scary parts to it for sure and that's i
00:06:37think
00:06:39mma and the ufc as far as i know is making a lot of money i think the game isn't
00:06:46is the nhl right now
00:06:47is is the most entertaining it's it's ever been because it's on the ups coverage for sure what
00:06:55molly does every you know you're finding different ways i'm serious like but the fighting still has to
00:07:01be there it doesn't have to be the centerpiece it doesn't have to be the main course but
00:07:06those organic like melees between two teams that had high aspirations and it's just not gone right
00:07:12for them to just air it out at msg it was unbelievable it was unbelievable yeah no 100 i mean
00:07:20that was
00:07:20going to be my next question for you honestly you just already answered it but it is so good for
00:07:25the
00:07:25game um obviously the department of player safety has been in the news a lot recently and you know
00:07:33with all the headshots and things like that there still needs to be something done in that realm i
00:07:38think but and but fighting and the national hockey league is what makes it different from every other
00:07:46sport i think it is an x factor for it and it just is an entertainment value and you know
00:07:52that's what
00:07:53the league is here to do is sell tickets and you know broadcast games and and that's a huge part
00:07:59of
00:07:59it and getting eyeballs on the sport and two goalies underneath all that padding getting so angry
00:08:06that they're gonna skate the length of the ice just to get in on the action i mean it's it's
00:08:12always
00:08:12gonna sell tickets no matter what for sure i mean for sure and and look again it is it's not
00:08:19what it
00:08:19used to be and thank god because i came into yeah i remember being like i would play two minutes
00:08:25a game
00:08:25in the preseason i played every preseason game in la and i'm like what is what did i do wrong
00:08:31in 2007 i'm like and the coach never really told me and he's like you have to go and fight
00:08:36someone
00:08:37and look i had almost i think 50 pro fights and i was not a fighter but you had to
00:08:45fight more in
00:08:46american league you had to fight more my fights were quick because the only fights i did well in in
00:08:51terms
00:08:51of what you would see on a scorecard were ones i was pissed off really really angry and bobby or
00:08:57told me he's like don't fight unless you're mad well there were times i had to because that's what
00:09:00the coaches were saying you have to go and and it wasn't for any reason it was because we were
00:09:05down
00:09:05two goals i didn't understand do something yeah i'll go run someone and then i want to get the puck
00:09:10and try to change the momentum that way it wasn't i wasn't allowed to look at anyone in high school
00:09:15or college never mind fight them i've been tossed in a second but it's it's when you need to level
00:09:23the playing field i think it's a great tool i think guys like and we've seen and unfortunately he got
00:09:29hurt but like sam carrick and in buffalo he was immediately embraced by his teammates and look
00:09:34what buffalo's doing he got hurt in his last fight which looked scary and i hope he's okay i don't
00:09:39want
00:09:39to see anybody get hurt i certainly don't like seeing guys get knocked out but the thing that i think
00:09:44you should come down on the most is like the aj greer hit on zary yeah i get people are
00:09:49upset with
00:09:50gudas i think gudas got what he was what he deserved that's fine when we're talking player safety the hit
00:09:57from behind like four feet away from the boards should be like you should set the standard then
00:10:04like three games i learned that when i was seven years old we started hitting at seven and you like
00:10:10you see numbers you don't hit them you can get paralyzed like what are we doing so that stuff
00:10:16like if you're gonna look at a guy right in his eyes and you're gonna throw fists till somebody
00:10:20goes down and then you're gonna stop and just have respect for that guy and he has respect for you
00:10:25that's so unique yeah and like i've talked i've trained in the summer with a lot of the patriots
00:10:29guys there's baseball guys in there and the football and they're all asking like how are you guys
00:10:32allowed to do this yeah i honestly think it's the understanding and respect you have
00:10:37even though you hate that guy for a minute there's a respect there and the hits from behind
00:10:43is where that respect goes out the window and that you need to crack down on that definitely
00:10:49definitely and you can't talk about the fighting phenom without the player safety aspect of it
00:10:55and they're definitely i mean i mean we could go on and on but we have more that we need
00:11:00to get into
00:11:01you know that's more ranger centric but yeah it's it's definitely a part of the game that needs a
00:11:07little bit of an overhaul especially when you got guys like conor mcdavid coming out and expressing
00:11:12his feelings and displeasure with it you know you got to pay attention to that conor mcdavid doesn't
00:11:19open his mouth for no reason you know like he's been such a great spokesperson for the game
00:11:24the entire time he's been in the league so i was kind of surprised to see uh paros push back
00:11:31as much
00:11:31as he did when he spoke to the media about everything it's really hard i've talked to
00:11:36george a lot about different things and his and other things that come into it and he has a whole
00:11:41team and i really really like george and he's a really really smart guy um there's like lawyering
00:11:48and there's appeal stuff there's a number of different things where it's basically like a court case
00:11:53and if you go after all of it you might lose on one thing and it might blow up your
00:11:57case so
00:11:58there's different things that you know and maybe to mcdavid's credit like okay just explain that to
00:12:05us all of that right understand it and you know that's there's the transparency needs to be a little
00:12:11bit better for sure and i know they they sat down with elliot friedman recently about i think it was
00:12:16about two different goalie interference calls i don't even know that i don't yeah yeah they yeah
00:12:23the yeah that was more that was not uh department of player safety that was more rules but just the
00:12:29transparency i think would be you know much appreciated but for sure anyway maybe maybe an
00:12:35off-season special for us because clearly we can go on on that but um we have to acknowledge uh
00:12:41what
00:12:41we've seen from the kids lately a few big milestones dylan garand first nhl win drew portescue debut and
00:12:48first point adam sakura debut and first goal um but i think the guy that just demands attention
00:12:55here is sakura for for so many reasons just a relentless motor on this kid only knows how to
00:13:02play at 110 each and every shift constant on the four check finishes his checks just like a little
00:13:08energizer bunny which is what i used to call tyler mott and they kind of remind me of the of
00:13:14a similar
00:13:14player a little bit undersized in the way that they play the game but i think sakura has much
00:13:19more of an offensive upside to him um what have your impressions been of sakura so far look at how
00:13:25his
00:13:27teammates react and respond to him and yeah it's especially the guys that have been called up to
00:13:33guys he spent time with in hartford that are all up with the big club now that is special and
00:13:40you
00:13:40don't just that doesn't get handed to you that's not you know that is absolutely genuine that's the
00:13:47coolest part of seeing this guy succeed because you just know you know when when you're embraced like
00:13:55that you're you're like a real one you're a teammate that guys are like this is our guy um so
00:14:03that that's
00:14:03the coolest part hope he gets better and better and better because clearly they know his character
00:14:10is what it is his work ethic is what it is and they just want to be around him so
00:14:16when he has success
00:14:19in you know a world now it's just instant gratification and everybody's out for themselves
00:14:24and different things obviously hockey's a team game and guys have each other's backs some teams more
00:14:29than others this guy this guy could like take away the stat sheet and just you can bring if you
00:14:38can
00:14:38bring people together i don't care what whatever you do um you have accounts for something yeah so much
00:14:45value there and so like i i'm really interested to see how kind of goes with him because i just
00:14:52was
00:14:52like blown away with them like this kid must be something special yeah i mean just being in his radius
00:14:58you can you can feel it like that happy-go-lucky i mean i wrote it the other day like
00:15:05i think he would
00:15:07actually implode if he didn't express his gratitude as much as he has like he's just that kind of guy
00:15:13there's like a one of my favorite viral clips of of him i think it was from uh worlds and
00:15:20he said like
00:15:21thank you to the to the guys on the on the desk on the broadcast who were interviewing him like
00:15:27four different ways as his sign off like i'm so grateful for you guys thank you so much like
00:15:32bless you thank you just a million different ways because that's just how he is and you really can
00:15:39just feel that when you're around him and he's he's a good little player like he's always going to give
00:15:46you 110 percent and that's always going to count for something and mike sullivan said it was hard not to
00:15:51root for a guy like that and mentioned
00:15:56so that's going to count for something and that that could definitely take him a long way um with
00:16:01the rangers so uh the biggest question i think amongst all the kids moving forward is how many
00:16:08games dylan garand is going to get in net at the end here sullivan said today that shisterkin wants to
00:16:14play so he's going to play his usual amount it seems but now that you have jonathan quick coming
00:16:21back from injury he might back up tonight against montreal and spill up in the air they're going to
00:16:25see how he feels but brian how many games do you think garand should be getting down the stretch here
00:16:31yeah that's a uh that's an interesting one because like they certainly took their time with him right
00:16:39and brought up martin earlier in the year and there were i guess curiosity surrounding why maybe he
00:16:48wasn't yeah getting the call or then he got called up and didn't play uh i kind of like building
00:16:54that
00:16:54fire a little bit and it's proven to work fairly well um i i it's a tough one because it's
00:17:01like are
00:17:02there games quick can go what he's done for this team what's the future how does that you know how
00:17:08does
00:17:08everything play out it's really a tough one but he's earned himself uh another look for sure i mean
00:17:16at least one yeah and then you go to igor who probably wants to play burning desire to keep
00:17:21competing um it's a long off season so i'm glad i don't have to sit there with that three-headed
00:17:28monster and decide on which way to go if i'm mike sullivan it is a bit of a three-headed
00:17:35monster isn't it but
00:17:36i i kind of wanted to ask you this question because i think it all also might apply to connor
00:17:42sherry
00:17:42um when you got when you have guys like i mean jonathan quick and connor sherry are
00:17:48very different but veteran players who have been around who have garnered respect in the league
00:17:55how much is how much does a coach maybe think about like the respect aspect of it when you're
00:18:04making these types of decisions like the fact that connor sherry is still playing the minutes that
00:18:09he's playing in this lineup when he's not signed long term here with the rangers and you know jonathan
00:18:15quick is obviously you know might be close to retiring how much does that respect aspect play
00:18:23into the national hockey league it yeah i mean it's it's certainly you want to do right by the veteran
00:18:31guys that have been good soldiers it's certainly it matters and there's a reason connor sherry's
00:18:39been a part of stanley cup champion team uh there was obviously his story about leaving money
00:18:48like money that he was guaranteed to get for a chance uh yep yeah and being where they are now
00:18:55yeah i don't know if it's stunting anything you see how hard he works uh it's going in the net
00:19:02form
00:19:02a little bit now i don't think it's a bad thing for some of these young guys um you know
00:19:08same thing
00:19:08with quickie i mean they had to lean on him a lot more than they thought they probably had to
00:19:14he's such a selfless teammate and guy that just wants to help however he can all while being a
00:19:23hall of famer so i mean yeah certainly everyone has an ego you don't make it if you don't but
00:19:29the way
00:19:30guys can move around that stay motivated is impressive you know again i don't i don't think it's a bad
00:19:39thing to ever reward guys that have been and still are committed to help move forward the franchise
00:19:48um unless it's like unless it's they're just completely falling short which i mean i can't
00:19:55really say either have recently yeah so unfortunately like yeah wish this came sooner in the season for a
00:20:03guy like sherry i'm sure he does too because like he's he's fighting for his supper right now he's trying
00:20:08to continue on his career um that's the other part of it i think is you know he is playing
00:20:15for his next
00:20:16contract as well that might be a factor and you know fans can be upset with that all they want
00:20:23and
00:20:23think that you know the younger guys should be getting more of a look and that's a fair argument
00:20:28to make but i part of me feels like that has you know an effect on the situation as well
00:20:35just again
00:20:36just speculating from being around the team yeah fans always want the new shiny toy and that's you
00:20:44know that's of course it's it's fun for people in media too because it's another new thing to talk
00:20:50about what's this guy about what's his backstory what can we get on him that's and it's great i mean
00:20:55so core is a great example of that too because it's like this is different let's talk about it um
00:21:01yeah
00:21:01but i mean the league's kind of trended towards anointing players or giving certain guys
00:21:13something that they think they'll grow into before they've quite earned it if i'm if that makes sense
00:21:19across the league it does yeah um where it's like you had to earn it and then earn it and
00:21:25prove it
00:21:25again and then you kind of got a little taste and then you got your big deal and all that
00:21:28so i kind of
00:21:29don't hate earning your way a little bit it's a very very small if these guys have big aspirations
00:21:35for nice long careers this is like a tiny blip so learning from good pros is never going to be
00:21:41a bad
00:21:41thing yeah no i i don't disagree all right let's transfer into some subtext and youtube questions
00:21:52yes um all right i apologize in advance if i botch anybody's names i'm going to do my absolute best
00:22:00to give you your shout out uh we had a lot of questions kind of overlap so i grouped a
00:22:05bunch of
00:22:05you together um we've got a matt rempe situation of questions from steven kakay steven iotis mike labriola
00:22:15and steven sifuentes being that the kids himelash socorro and quartier have excelled have they made
00:22:23matt rempe obsolete moving forward what do you think is the ceiling for himelash do you think
00:22:28matt rempe will be able to resume his career due to his thumb injury because so much of his career
00:22:33is based on his ability to fight and be physical do you think the emergence of socorro and himelash
00:22:39wave of the prospect pipeline mark the end of the edstrom rempe tenure on broadway
00:22:45i don't think it's uh particularly good news for matt rempe that these kids have done so well but
00:22:52i think that he's had a unique season in the sense that this injury was was very uh hampering for
00:23:01him
00:23:01um when he came back the first time around he probably shouldn't have uh for a number of reasons i
00:23:09think but the number one being that he couldn't even grab his stick fully uh makes it hard makes
00:23:17it hard yeah just just a smidge um so i i don't know if if i would call him obsolete
00:23:23but i do think
00:23:25that he has some catching up to do come training camp and some work to put in on the offseason
00:23:31to
00:23:31continue develop developing his game and create a more consistent game but uh it's definitely a much
00:23:38more crowded group on that fourth line for sure i think the whole organization has an abundance of
00:23:45fourth line type players um which is a problem a problem in itself i think but i wouldn't count
00:23:52matt rempe out nor would i count adam edstrom out either i think edstrom is a little bit more unique
00:23:59in
00:23:59the sense that i don't think they know what to do with him or where to put him at this
00:24:03moment at
00:24:04least that's exactly what mike sullivan said after the uh brief try at him for him at center um i
00:24:13i think
00:24:13they just need to to find you know where they fit in the lineup but i think it's still a
00:24:20pretty you
00:24:20know multi-headed race uh for securing those spots in the bottom six but you know having a denser pool
00:24:29of prospects is is never you know a problem to have but they all are kind of similar in their
00:24:35styles so that could be a challenge but i think a lot of it will be up to what matt
00:24:41rempey and adam
00:24:42strom are able to accomplish this summer and bring it to training camp next season because it's going
00:24:47to be a pretty competitive pool i think amongst all of those guys who are going to be gunning for
00:24:54spots now that they've all had a taste so if you're on the bottom in the bottom six on a
00:25:02short term and
00:25:03short money deal this is your reality on good teams this is your reality every single year this is your
00:25:09reality i signed a three-year contract in tampa after going to cup finals with the rangers i got to
00:25:16training camp and i was like oh boy i better i better pick it up or i might not make
00:25:23this team
00:25:24that's how much talent skill there was on that team i knew i was a different sort of animal and
00:25:30a
00:25:30different element that none of those kids could do it but it was like i'm just going to throw a
00:25:37quick
00:25:37few names at you um rookies the previous season were andre palat and tyler johnson uh a guy who had
00:25:4650 games a year before was a guy by the name of nikita kucherov uh vladny nimesnikov was there
00:25:53yanni gord was there yanni oh my god he didn't even make the team like these guys yeah were sent
00:26:00down
00:26:00uh johnson drew ann was there and if you remember him at 19 years old it was like a water
00:26:05bug i couldn't
00:26:06believe the talent pool that i was dealing with but i already knew that because i didn't care how
00:26:13long my deal was it wasn't for a ton of money and you could move it uh so thankfully you
00:26:19know the
00:26:20summer is where you get better you you build your engine and and go to the gym and that's trying
00:26:25to
00:26:25prevent injury but then you have to work at your game and all of these guys rempy edstrom himelash
00:26:31lava don't get comfortable um yeah all of these players need to go in like poor hungry driven go
00:26:41in there like you have to make this team or you'll die and get as good as you can put
00:26:47that pressure on
00:26:48yourself all summer long so when the pressure actually hits in that first preseason look
00:26:51you make the right impression now to answer the question
00:26:56i think matt rempy has a ceiling that's extremely high for what he's able to do
00:27:00because he is a different animal i think himelash has been impressive
00:27:05if he works on finishing a little bit because he can create some chances for himself
00:27:10he could be a real handful to play against as well i i still think edstrom if he kind of
00:27:15puts it all
00:27:15together could be dominant in his role i i think that all of those players have to look across and
00:27:25say that guy's going to give everything he absolutely can to try and take my job and then
00:27:28that collectively yep rising tide right lifts all boats uh at the end of the day you get your 20
00:27:36skaters you're a better team for it and you know you root for all of them but there's only so
00:27:42many
00:27:42seats at the table exactly exactly no it'll be i think training camp next season is going to be
00:27:48really fun just because of this last month and a half two months of the season training camp fights
00:27:54yeah no i mean it might be yeah it's going to be competitive um for sure especially amongst this
00:28:02pretty large pool of of young players who they have granted not all of them might still be in the
00:28:09mix
00:28:09after the offseason but um i still think that it's going to be a pretty pretty large pool of players
00:28:17who
00:28:17have at least you know gotten some reps at the nhl level with the rangers in the last season so
00:28:23they're all going to be chomping at the bit um all right richard ramsey from subtext wants to know
00:28:31if we think quick will play next year will he retire that's the question i actually said this um i
00:28:37went on
00:28:38sportsnet the fan and they were asking me what i thought he was going to do and it was kind
00:28:43of funny
00:28:44because i actually tried to ask him myself just like very nonchalantly not even in an interview
00:28:50just like walked up to him and was like hey you think about what you want to do next year
00:28:55yet
00:28:56any plans for next september yeah any plans on your on your calendar are you gonna still be in the
00:29:03national hockey league um i tried you know tried my best and he just kind of smiled at me and
00:29:09was like
00:29:09we're still in this season focusing on this season which is of course the exact answer expected from
00:29:15him he's not going to say anything to anybody um but i i think it it's little this will be
00:29:22interesting
00:29:22to see and i think it'll say more about how the rangers feel about garand than anything else because
00:29:28i don't know if i see jonathan quick playing for another team i think he is comfortable in new york
00:29:36i
00:29:36don't think that he is interested in making another move especially at this part of his career
00:29:43so it'll be whether or not the rangers think phil and garand is ready to be the number two i
00:29:49think
00:29:49honestly um so yeah i guess that also kind of goes into our conversation about whether or not garand
00:29:56should get more looks at the end here because it's kind of like that's part of the decision making
00:30:00process of if you want to commit to you know the young guy is the number two or stick with
00:30:08the veteran future hall of famer who might keep slipping in his game well i mean he like 36 he
00:30:17was
00:30:17slipping and then he got you know a different role yeah you know i so that's some of the conversations
00:30:23that uh they all have to have in their own if it's up to him uh i don't know which
00:30:33way he would
00:30:33lean because like i can't get inside the guy's head goalies are goalies number one and i agree i don't
00:30:40think uh him in a different sweater would make a ton of sense but man he's had he's had just
00:30:49such an
00:30:50unbelievable unbelievable career i i yeah i hope he still has game and keeps playing that's that's
00:30:56my answer do i think that's likely i couldn't even handicap it right now we've got ed coyle from
00:31:05subtext and lewis luciani from subtext and mike mabfredonia from subtext it looks like fox does not want
00:31:14to be here does trochek stay well the rangers keep trochek he he plays with heart every game
00:31:22we need him to stay he should have been named captain do you guys see a scenario do you guys
00:31:28see a scenario where drury doesn't trade trochek in the offseason given his good contract
00:31:33and veteran presence for young guys emerging plus face-off skills important well look i think there's a
00:31:40lot of statements in those questions hey i i solicited questions comments and concerns so
00:31:48that's that's a lot of statements they're allowed they're allowed um no i mean look i i get i get
00:31:55the
00:31:55narrative around around fox if you compare his answers to his thoughts about his future in new
00:32:02york compared to mika zibanejad they sound different they definitely do and i understand
00:32:07you know the idea that there's worry that fox doesn't want to commit to this retool going forward
00:32:15here that being said i think that those comments came at a very precarious time for for fox coming
00:32:22off of injury you know they it was a a bad loss i think it was an overtime loss after
00:32:27he when he said
00:32:28that um and since then you know he's i mean he had a quote the other night about how owing
00:32:35it to the
00:32:35fans and you know wanting to you know keep winning for them and putting on a show for them you
00:32:41know
00:32:41that doesn't sound like a guy um who's not thinking about his future in new york to me but past
00:32:47that uh
00:32:48the trochek stuff is is intriguing i do think that they will still make a very strong effort to trade
00:32:57him
00:32:57in the off season just because that's already been like kind of made the plan like the plan so to
00:33:05say
00:33:05even though it didn't work out before the trade deadline he knows that they want to see what's
00:33:10out there for him and he knows that they want to see if they can recoup some assets for him
00:33:14so i think
00:33:15that changing course from that doesn't really seem likely and how is the guy i mean trochek's a pro of
00:33:21course but again it's still going back to the whole letting a guy walk back into a locker room who
00:33:26knows
00:33:26he's not exactly wanted type deal so i do think that they will still make a a strong effort to
00:33:33trade
00:33:33him in the off season whether or not they'll be able to get the amount of assets that they weren't
00:33:37able
00:33:38to the first time around for the trade deadline is you know yet to be seen um but yeah i
00:33:44mean if it is
00:33:46truly a retool i think it would be more expedited if uh trochek stuck stuck around just because he's on
00:33:54such a you know such a reasonable contract more so you know especially with the cap going up it's
00:34:01going to look better and better every year cheap so yeah so that's that should be a factor that jury
00:34:07weighs in on but i don't know it does kind of feel like they've committed to that at this point
00:34:13if they
00:34:13can get what they want yeah i mean that's why he would be so attractive to move where you can
00:34:21get
00:34:22a lot of assets back because he's a good really good hockey player with a really reasonable contract
00:34:27a cheap contract um i don't know one conversation could change all that too i think of course he's
00:34:37you know and you play for your teammates you know you can't control what's going on above you
00:34:41you never can no matter what it's pro sports it happens a hundred percent of the time eventually
00:34:48unless you're one of these generational superstars i guess they go out on their own
00:34:52which rarely rarely happens uh he is a really good player and can really help
00:34:59a team in a lot of different areas so troch if he doesn't get moved i would be happy and
00:35:07i would not
00:35:07be shocked uh in terms of fox who clearly doesn't want to be here anymore according to
00:35:14one contributor uh look you got to have a little edge and he he picked his destination and he used
00:35:22every single uh right that he had within the cba to find his way to new york he wants to
00:35:29be a ranger
00:35:29he wanted to be a ranger he has a long-term deal with the rangers
00:35:35i don't think the rangers are going to want to move on from that and he i don't think that's
00:35:41going
00:35:41to cause any sort of riff i think you just you just need buy-in and that's not a position
00:35:50that they
00:35:50have a ton of depth in especially in terms of you take him out like yeah we can talk what
00:35:56vlad
00:35:57gavrikov did and what a signing that's been um when fox was out but like ideally you don't want
00:36:03to have to ask that of vlad gavrikov for 82 games and with fox in it just brings such a
00:36:10calmness and
00:36:11so the rangers are going to probably want to keep him i think he's the games he's played especially
00:36:17early in the season he's defended really well um that's you know you want to make team usa you don't
00:36:24it's it's not like you got screwed you're a really really good player i mean they won the gold
00:36:32medal so i get i get it could probably upset you it should everyone should have a burning desire that
00:36:39was on that 40 man whatever to want to be on that team and and i every interaction i've had
00:36:45with adam
00:36:46fox is he's a great kid a humble kid he's he's on the quieter side he goes about his his
00:36:52work he's a
00:36:52leader on that team it's just been a hard year for everybody so if you want to dissect every single
00:36:59answer and try to make words of statements that weren't actually said i mean go ahead at your own
00:37:07peril because you know what's actually said is like yeah at the end of the year we'll reevaluate
00:37:13everything like we always do i'm sure the team's gonna they're not where they wanted to be so yeah i
00:37:19i'm
00:37:19not worried about him moving on or like not buying in next year if he doesn't sort of get his
00:37:29wish
00:37:29i think he's i mean he's a good person he's too good too good of a pro for that and
00:37:34he could easily
00:37:35you know be one of the guys steering the ship next year definitely uh perry hayes from subset
00:37:43subtext says all indications are trocek is getting traded and off season why continue to play him on
00:37:49pp1 when gabe was thriving there and needs the experience there to continue his development which
00:37:54should be of highest priority trocek is a 3c and pk pk guy on a good team uh i think
00:38:02i think part of it
00:38:04is also continuing to show what he can do in that role you know for trade value purposes but it's
00:38:11also
00:38:11mike sullivan has said it a million and one times he is coaching this team to win games he cares
00:38:18not
00:38:19for your draft lottery odds he cares not for the draft position you know that's not mike sullivan's
00:38:28department that is not what he is here to do and if you've been paying attention to anything that
00:38:36mike sullivan has said this season that this is not where he wants the situation he wants to be and
00:38:41he wants to win that's why he left pittsburgh is because there was a uh discrepancy on their ideas
00:38:48of their timeline back to success so i think that putting tro keeping trocek on the first power play
00:38:57unit is just mike sullivan is just mike sullivan trying to win games and putting who he thinks is his
00:39:04best power play unit out on the ice um and a lot of those guys are going to be here
00:39:10next year
00:39:11too probably so that's part of it as well so i i i get i get the i get the
00:39:19frustration with gabe coming
00:39:22off of the first power play unit i did um and i don't really think either way is a wrong
00:39:27answer but
00:39:27i do understand why sullivan is is going this route well you have lafnir on the power play
00:39:37and he's don't you want him to be in the mix with the best power play guys too i mean
00:39:42gabe has was in
00:39:43the mix a little bit it looked good so then say next year or the year after he's like counted
00:39:48on
00:39:49he's getting these reps and the the pressure's kind of at a lower end it's not as it's not as
00:39:55high
00:39:55stakes but he's getting these reps he's getting these you know he's seeing these things these
00:40:00plays develop and now all right you're on pp2 for a little bit troc is on power play one you
00:40:05start with
00:40:05the puck look what's done for lafnir he's getting the reps with the right group it's the right thing
00:40:11it's the best option you have if that's what the coach thinks that's what's going to make everyone
00:40:17better and to your point what you said which is great there's guys that are still going to be
00:40:21here next year that's on that power play right yeah so instead of having three new faces on the
00:40:25first power play you get one new one here or one new one over there and and it can kind
00:40:31of continue
00:40:31to you know what you're deficient at you know what you can work on and you know what works and
00:40:35it helps
00:40:35the continuity yeah and it's helped lafnir which has been great we want that that is very important i
00:40:43know gabe's brand new and laffy seems like he's ancient he's still a kid and he's getting better which
00:40:49is a good thing y'all were were complaining when he wasn't on the first power play and now he
00:40:55is
00:40:56no i i get it i do get it um all right sal from milford some subtext so which young
00:41:04player
00:41:04sal which young player has impressed you both the most robertson lava or gabe and which young
00:41:11player has been the biggest letdown lafreniere cooley or schneider uh for impressed yeah for
00:41:22impressed i gotta go lava um yeah i i think i wrote about him today actually um just the fact
00:41:32that he
00:41:32had like the full nhl experience this season between like being an everyday player and having a couple
00:41:40injury stints you know he comes back from the second one and his third line role is not there
00:41:45anymore he gets put on the fourth line so i think that he i i think he is impressed just
00:41:52in the sense
00:41:52that he is pretty seamlessly fit into the lineup as a full-time nhl or making the jump basically from
00:42:00college he played like 11 games in hartford last season so it was like that's a big jump to make
00:42:07from the collegiate level right to the nhl so and coming out of training camp and just completely
00:42:13seizing the spot so and he i like his game a lot i think he plays a heavier game um
00:42:20for a centerman
00:42:21that the rangers could use in their top nine and then the rangers have needed a little bit more of
00:42:28in their top line so for me lava is is and robertson has obviously i mean he came in and
00:42:35and even though he
00:42:36was bounced in and out of the lineup for the first however many months of the season he then
00:42:42bore down and has been a regular for the last however many months like probably half the season
00:42:48it's almost felt like so yeah he's been just as as impressive but i think lava really just
00:42:56yeah was a little bit ahead there no lava is unreal like that guy yeah yeah like you said kind
00:43:04out of nowhere i remember in training camp i reached out to a few people asking about him
00:43:08like how high are we on this kid and them being like yeah oh yeah i'm like he's got a
00:43:14chance to
00:43:15make this team they're like yeah oh yeah and yeah just the speed and then him learning on the fly
00:43:20his reads uh in different areas of the ice he's on the penalty kill like as a staple now he's
00:43:28got a
00:43:28role he's got responsibilities and it looks like it's going to keep growing and growing
00:43:31that guy is a player that's an nhl player who might not have had a ton of eyes on him
00:43:39because
00:43:39he played on a not great college team that didn't score a lot of goals that's a that's an nhl
00:43:44player
00:43:44gabe's been really impressive he he's gonna he's gonna get better and better you know what the d
00:43:49gets tough because there was so much shuffling around with the d this year so you give a kid uh
00:43:58like robertson a ton of credit just because he's been grinding so many years um it's gonna be
00:44:04really hard to criticize you know really any of them i i really liked how lafreniere's bounced back
00:44:11um you know with with will cooley yeah there were probably stretches where he didn't do a whole lot
00:44:22and then he's come back and had you know some good games does everybody expect because he gets 20
00:44:27goals once to be a 30 goal guy right away i mean no but he's knocking on the door again
00:44:32at 20
00:44:34and doesn't play a ton of yeah he's not like a top six like or six on five or we're
00:44:41throwing
00:44:41offense at him all the time he's still young too i think he can you're here for a couple years
00:44:47you go
00:44:47up again take another step so i'm not it's tough to go ahead and criticize anyone schneider is he on
00:44:53the left is he on the right who's he playing with that poor guy yeah and which has been a
00:44:59theme of
00:45:01his entire rangers tenure might i add yeah i mean so look and i played against the guy years ago
00:45:07and
00:45:08i'm like this guy is solid he's strong um is he gonna be a number one i don't think so
00:45:13but yeah
00:45:13he just might be a a third pair guy on a really good team yeah he could be a second
00:45:19pair guy too
00:45:19yeah i can't say that i can't say that you know i'm disappointed i'm not gonna anyway but i don't
00:45:27honestly don't i'm not really disappointed with kind of any of what's going on they're getting
00:45:34better coaching now and i think it'll it'll get better as they get kind of more if they can situate
00:45:41their pairings and get get some chemistry there yeah i think you'll see better play from all of
00:45:46them yeah i sat down with cooley last week i wrote about it for the newsletter um yeah it's been
00:45:55a bit
00:45:56of a mixed bag for cooley i think this season like you said there were stretches where he didn't make
00:46:02much of an impact at all and i think what has made put the spotlight on him for it is
00:46:09because
00:46:09in his third full season he is one of the most important guys on this team like he plays penalty
00:46:17kill he plays power play um he's like top 10 in ice time so very quickly in his young career
00:46:25he's become
00:46:26like a key guy for this team so and each year he has had substantial ice time bumps so this
00:46:35year
00:46:35kind of felt like maybe it was just a little bit more than he was i don't know want to
00:46:40say ready for
00:46:41but i think the fact that a lot of the responsibilities fell on his shoulders as well
00:46:47it it just was a lot to to live up to um so it kind of went that way where
00:46:55it was pretty streaky
00:46:56where he would go a pretty long time without making much of an impact i think he's currently on like
00:47:02a
00:47:0312 or 13 game goalless streak right now um so you know and that's what we talked about him and
00:47:10i he said
00:47:11you know when you're playing top six minutes which he has a good portion of this season you have to
00:47:17produce you know you have to you have to score and you have and he you know knows that and
00:47:22he was
00:47:22not happy with his season at all this season so i think that he's gonna go into the off season
00:47:28with
00:47:29a bit of a chip on his shoulder and i'm looking forward to seeing what he'll bring to training camp
00:47:34for sure don't focus on the goals you can the goals will come he he was he won he won
00:47:40steve mcdonald
00:47:41last year didn't he yeah extra effort away yeah i mean yeah if you focus on that the rest will
00:47:47fall
00:47:47into place harry casillo from sub subtext have the rangers prospects been undervalued they seem to
00:47:55have some promising kids in the pipeline but i read nothing but negative reports on most i think i don't
00:48:03know if undervalued is is the right term i think that they have a lot of similar type players like
00:48:11when like i said before like i just feel like they have an abundance of bottom six role type players
00:48:18cora himelage rempy edstrom um you know even you can go further down brisson you know they're not
00:48:27you know off top gabe is is you know and then often obviously was traded so i i think they've
00:48:35missed
00:48:36on a lot of their like top picks that they've made over the years that's you know been well documented
00:48:43and written about um but i just feel like the negative reports and why their prospect pool is ranked
00:48:51so low compared to some others is just that it's a lot of the same types of players
00:48:56that you know are at most bottom six players so i think that that's the biggest knock against them
00:49:05and why they get such negative coverage maybe well i mean lafreniere didn't spend time in the
00:49:11minors schneider really these guys came right up the big you know pearl wasn't there long even like
00:49:18a rempy and edstrom they weren't there long um hartford hasn't been great herard you know too he's
00:49:26yeah he's got he he should have the offensive upside but you know he got a nice little run
00:49:32this wasn't able to do much with it so yeah and he's got an engine he works hard he just
00:49:39needs to
00:49:39if we can get a bit more cerebral and you know that's not an easy thing to just like go
00:49:44in the
00:49:45gym and figure out so those are yeah it uh who know i mean a couple of the awesome trade
00:49:52people
00:49:52are high on this prospect uh there's a draft uh player i think they're on the same team in the
00:49:59oh they've got some ohl players those two are lighting it up yeah it's so yeah i mean
00:50:07you can't be you can't miss for long because then you just have to go into free agency it's never
00:50:13really you got to build from within that's your foundation yeah you know drafting and developing
00:50:18um so yeah they need to take a peek at that and continue to put some smart people and good
00:50:25hockey
00:50:25minds and good former players uh working there and helping them develop i know stals he's doing it now
00:50:32um just a obviously a great human and had a great career and so he can help uh teach those
00:50:41kids sort of
00:50:41the way but also understand what's important to get your foot in the door and then he leave it to
00:50:46the
00:50:46coaching staff to keep showing players how to get better from mb on some subtext is sullivan the
00:50:56right coach for a rebuild seems to bench a lot of young players for multiple games while giving
00:51:01regular times guys like radish and sherry up until a month ago sherry had one goal goals earlier in the
00:51:07season would have helped when the team had trouble scoring we said we said that already yeah yeah we we
00:51:15kind of touched on it a little bit already uh of why guys like radish and sherry are are getting
00:51:21more ice time than some of the young guys in hartford and i i actually specifically asked
00:51:29sullivan why a guy like sherry is getting continuing to play over you know a brepper which he's been hurt
00:51:37but
00:51:37like any other guy in hartford so to say and the first thing he said is well we've had looks
00:51:45so that tells me that he hasn't liked what he's seen so i think right now the team and the
00:51:52players
00:51:52who they have up right now are the guys who he wants to see more of and who he's liked
00:51:57what he's
00:51:57seen from them um you look at a guy like scott morrow they clearly did not like what they saw
00:52:03from him
00:52:04um he was sent down and has not you know been given a look since so i i think that
00:52:12as far as
00:52:13if sullivan is the right coach for the rebuild i mean i think he is a really good coach just
00:52:19in
00:52:19general like i truly love listening to him talk about the game like the last coach that i covered
00:52:26that i just truly felt like i learned something new after every press conference was barry trotz
00:52:32um so i would put mike sullivan right on that list for me um so i think that says something
00:52:39but
00:52:39i mean granted i've been here for five minutes so i learned something new every day but
00:52:44i i i think that sullivan has the right temperament for it is it the job that he thought it
00:52:50was going
00:52:50to be when he first came in that you know is definitely not the case but i think yeah he's
00:53:00a
00:53:00professional and i think that he you know is going to do what he thinks is right for this team
00:53:07obviously um i don't know i don't i guess i don't understand the question because he's a good coach
00:53:14and he's a he can articulate well what he wants so i don't understand the question whether it's whether
00:53:23it's rebuild whether yeah 100 he's very good communicator uh yeah whether you're a young
00:53:32player a veteran player he's very honest he's and he's sensitive to the fact that if he has to
00:53:38tell you something you don't want to hear he knows that he's got respect well maybe this is just speaking
00:53:46from my own experience with him but having him as a young player then having him again as
00:53:50he was an assistant coach when i was a young player but and then my last year in the league
00:53:54he was my head coach i i didn't see a whole lot of difference between how he operated he as
00:54:03the head
00:54:04coach of two cup winning teams like he still had command of that room which was impressive how he went
00:54:11about everything was impressive younger players if you walk in the room and you're in the nhl
00:54:19you might get a tiny bit of leeway if you have a really really high ceiling and you're showing
00:54:25flashes and they're going to keep they're going to stick with you through some of your mistakes but
00:54:28you're all expected to do the same thing and learn the same way so it's up to you to be
00:54:34ready or not
00:54:35i don't understand the whole like this guy's great to bring a team from down here right to here but
00:54:40he's not able to get you over it's the game and he's a good teacher of the game so pay
00:54:46attention and
00:54:47learn and then you'll have a good career session it's it man you're learning
00:54:54earn your ice time marty zelenko from subtext molly you're around the team and in the room
00:55:02do you feel like vibes are as high as they've been all season the young guys stepping in and getting
00:55:07a
00:55:07chance seems to have boosted morale do you think they can carry this into next year
00:55:11um i think the vibes are higher than they've been in the last two seasons if i'm being honest
00:55:17i would i would uh i would wrap all of last season into this um it is the lightest vibes
00:55:28around the
00:55:29team for 100 over the last two years all the youth in the room just himelash and sakura
00:55:39and their friendship by itself i think could raise the vibes in an entire room by it's like alone
00:55:46so um yeah it's been it's it's been really fun to see all the veteran guys feed off of it
00:55:55and
00:55:55sullivan is enjoying it as well i mean what's not to like it's seriously yeah it's it's just fun and
00:56:02you know they're not playing for anything right now it's just you know trying to feel good about the
00:56:08game that they put on the ice every single night and that's all that they're caring about and
00:56:12that's why they've been winning more in the last two months than they have all season long
00:56:17um that's just kind of how it works sometimes i think as far as carrying it into next year i
00:56:23i think
00:56:24season to season is so different and you know there's going to be different guys in the room and
00:56:29guys who aren't in the room for sure um but i do think that there's going to be a lot
00:56:36of young
00:56:36guys on the team last year depending on how the off season goes i do think that there's going to
00:56:41be a nice presence of them in the room um certainly led by guys like noah lava um so i
00:56:49don't know if
00:56:50it'll carry over but i think it'll set the room up for you know a good chance to keep things
00:56:58light
00:56:59at the start of the season and you know having those types of faces in there who are going to
00:57:04be
00:57:04just as excited and just as anxious to secure their spots as they are right now
00:57:10well said thank you let's see um
00:57:19oh uh andy from subtext wants you to give your take on the torts in vegas situation
00:57:24uh yeah um
00:57:31well vegas doesn't mess around no and i think butchie butchie'll have a job in five minutes again
00:57:39so really really good coach uh bruce cassidy really good coach and obviously had had has had
00:57:48success i feel bad like is torts gonna get them saves because they haven't gotten any saves
00:57:54yep in vegas issue um so yeah we'll see uh he
00:58:02i mean i i think he can rally that that crew i can't like i kind of want to see
00:58:08it i want to see
00:58:09him go on a run because i i you know i love torts i love playing for him i hated
00:58:14playing for him
00:58:14sometimes and i loved it and looking back on it never any hate just uh just wanted to you know
00:58:23rip his head off sometimes and he probably wanted to rip mine off more but yeah he uh
00:58:29yeah i just i got i got i got all the time in the world for him and appreciate
00:58:35everything he did for me and i just kind of want to see it i want to see how
00:58:40you know he's always wanted to coach he does a great job on espn and he's just never
00:58:45wanted that to be it but he always wanted to coach um so he gets another chance at it and
00:58:52he's got
00:58:52a ton of energy because he's a lunatic and works out forever every morning and wrestles dogs and
00:59:00stuff he's out of his mind but i hope i hope i hope he has success there it's interesting like
00:59:04it's just for this rest of the season so yeah see where it goes yeah uh mike sullivan was asked
00:59:10about it too and he had such a great line he said that he felt like one of the things
00:59:15that he's really
00:59:15good at is crisis management so i saw that too and i'm like this yeah but if he starts the
00:59:22whole
00:59:22crisis like are we going to put that feather in his cap if it's his fault yeah no i'm just
00:59:31kidding
00:59:31i love the clips that go around him towards man they're just so funny him like coming over
00:59:38players on the philadelphia bench like leaning over onto the ice cream leaning over me once yelling at
00:59:44the board jersey all right all right get back over there oh my god it's so funny um nyr for
00:59:52life from
00:59:53youtube since laffy has had a revelation back to his game does this change jury's mindset of
01:00:00potentially trading left for near in the off season or is he still gone by the time the opening
01:00:04roster is named next how are how are all these people traded like i don't think anybody has
01:00:09reported that laffy has definitely gone in the off season or one of the top guys i think that
01:00:16they would listen just like leading up to the trade deadline they were listening on everybody and made
01:00:24that clear that they were listening on anybody if there was any interest and from anywhere in the league
01:00:30um do i think that drew would rather laffy figure it out in new york absolutely um whether or not
01:00:40that's going to happen or whether or not or what the chances of that happening are is what jury is
01:00:46gonna have to decide if he does have a deal come across his desk for laffy year um yeah i
01:00:55mean what if
01:00:55if he gets unlocked and scores 30 and has 70 points right that's a lot of production for what is
01:01:02now
01:01:04an inexpensive contract for that sort of production yeah yeah i don't know it really could go either
01:01:11way i mean it depends on how on how they value him you know how much they value him is
01:01:19it a you know
01:01:20you take the first deal that you get kind of situation because i don't necessarily think that
01:01:26there's been a lot of you know interest in him um or yeah do you keep the faith and just
01:01:36he continues to figure it out and um because you know obviously what he's doing right now is awesome
01:01:43like this is some of the best hockey that he's played in a bit um but obviously it's coming in
01:01:49in meaningless games and you know not meaningless for him it's not meaningless but in meaningless for
01:01:56the team but yeah right no i understand it's hard to weigh it when it's under those circumstances
01:02:05but you just gotta hope that he's gonna carry it into the next season but yeah and said it this
01:02:11is
01:02:11season six for him and every time that he's gone on one of these runs it's been fleeting yeah so
01:02:20you know it's it depends on how drury weighs it it really does and you know nobody nobody knows that
01:02:27because that's how drury weighs it so i think you're selling low i don't i don't think you
01:02:32you can do that yeah i mean like i think just they would ideally would like him to figure it
01:02:39out
01:02:39here he's on that contract he's first overall pick for them so many reasons to want to work out here
01:02:46um but whether or not it will you know like right now his trade value is maybe the highest it's
01:02:55going
01:02:55to get for right now so those are the questions that need to be weighed and answered moving forward
01:03:03in this retool um all right i think that's a good place for us to stop um i know there
01:03:10were a bunch
01:03:11more maybe we could do another episode like this uh yeah later on if you guys liked it give us
01:03:18a
01:03:18thumbs up comment down below if you liked it if you have any other questions that you want us to
01:03:23consider for a future mailbag please leave us your word and thanks for listening and comments too i love
01:03:31the i love the comments the comments and the statements statements are great they're good
01:03:36keep them coming all right thanks for listening guys see you next week
01:03:47you
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