NYR TODAY Monday May 7: World Update; Alumni Birthdays, Today in Rangers History

Chris Kreider scored his first goal of the tournament for Team USA and added an assist in its 4-0 victory over host country Denmark on Saturday.

Kreider, who was named Player of the Game, has four points through two games, the most of any American player and 10th-most in the tournament, tied with Connor McDavid and Mikko Rantanen. 

Mika Zibanejad continued his strong start to the tournament by scoring the game-winning goal in a 3-2 victory for Sweden over the Czech Republic Sunday. The goal was Zibanejad's second to go along with an assist to give him three points through two games thus far.

Lastly, Pavel Buchnevich picked up an assist in Russia's 7-0 victory over Austria. The winger has a goal and an assist for Russia, who is perfect through two contests.

Kreider, Neal Pionk and Team USA take on Germany today at 10:15 am EST, while Russia battles Belarus at the same time. Zibanejad, Lias Andersson and Sweden go head-to-head with France at 2:15 pm EST. 

- Matt Calamia

NYR Alumni Birthdays 5/7

Brad Isbister LW (2006-2007) Dave Karpa D (2001-2003) Reg Mackey D (1926-1927) Lawrence Nycholat D (2003-2004)

Win Elliot (Sportscaster.  Born, Chelsea, MA, May 7, 1915; died, Norwalk, CT, Sept. 17, 1998.)  From the time he attended the first N.H.L. game played in the U.S. (at Boston, 1924), Irwin Elliot Shalek was hooked on hockey.  Elliot played goal for Michigan, called the first televised N.H.L. game, and was the Rangers radio voice for four seasons.  A CBS Network announcer for decades, he did horse racing, boxing, and baseball, but hockey was his love and he may been the best at it ever in America.

Today in NYR History May 7

1986: John Vanbiesbrouck posts the first playoff shutout of his career in a 2-0 win over the Canadiens in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

2012: Brad Richards ties Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals with 7.6 seconds remaining, and Marc Staal wins it in overtime against the Washington Capitals at MSG.

NYR TODAY MON 5/23: NYR at MWC, Rumors, TDINYRH

Rangers at the World Championships Notes:
Derick Brassard and Team Canada Capture Gold at World Championships, Brady Skjei and Team USA lose Bronze Medal Game

A day after scoring the tying goal for Canada vs Team USA, Brassard and Canada defeated Finland to Win the Gold Medal at the IIHF Men's World Championships in Moscow. Brassard finished the tournament with 11 points (5 goals and 6 assists).

Brady Skjei and Team USA fell to Russia 7-2 in the bronze Medal Game. A rough outing for Skjei who was on the ice for 3 of Russia goals and was a minus 2 in 17:12 of game time. Skjei finished the tournament with 1 goal, 0 assists and was a minus 3 with 10 shots on goal averaging close to 18 minutes per game.




RANGERS RUMORS:

As usual Rick Nash is once again in the forefront of the off season rumors. With a list of 12 teams that he can be dealt to, it's speculated the the Rangers will look to dump Nash and his cap hit of 7.8 million per year. The St Louis Blues have been mentioned as a destination for Nash numerous times due to his past with head coach Ken Hitchcock.

With Nash possibly being moved TSN speculates that the Rangers may join in on the bidding war for Tampa Bay Lightning's pending UFA Steven Stamkos. But unless the Rangers make the cap space by trading Nash or by other means along with numerous teams who will be joining the bidding war for the 26 year old Stamkos it looks like a long shot at best.

Defenseman Dan Girardi has once again been mentioned as a choice for the Rangers as a buyout this summer. Girardi has four-years remaining on his contract, a cap hit of 5.5 million per season and a no-move clause this season (2016-17) which turns into a limited no-trade clause for the final three-years, starting in 2017-18 looks to possibly be the option for a buyout by the Rangers. If the Rangers do use that option the Rangers would be charged with a dead space cap hit of the following: 2016-17: $1.75 million, 2017-18: $2.75 million, 2018-19: $3.75 million, 2019-20: $3.75 million, 2020-21: $1.25 million, 2021-22: $1.25 million, 2022-23: $1.25 million and finally 2023-24: $1.25 million




Today in NYR History May 23

2013: The Rangers live to play another day following Chris Kreider's overtime winner over Boston in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

NYR TODAY SUN 5/22: Rangers at WC Notes, Alumni Birthday, TDINYRH

Rangers at World Championships Notes:
Canada vs USA

Derick Brassard scored the game tying goal in Canada's come from behind win over Team USA yesterday in semi-final action. Canada will now face Finland in the Gold Medal Game today in Russia. Trailing 3-2 and heading to the power play Brassard scored the 3rd of 3 unanswered goals for Canada giving him 5 goals in tournament action. Brassard 5-6-11 has recorded at least one point in eight of the nine games Canada has played, so far.

Rookie D-Man Brady Skjei only recorded a shot on goal in 14 plus ice time minutes for Team USA and will face Russia in the Bronze Medal Game today.








NYR Alumni Birthday 
5/22 Bryan Hextall Jr C (1962-1963)

Today in NYR History May 22

1995: Brian Leetch becomes the first Rangers defenseman to record a playoff hat trick against the Flyers, Leetch scores all three New York Rangers goals in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

NYR TODAY FRI 5/20: NYR at World Championships, Alumni Birthdays

Rangers World Championships Notes:

Derick Brassard had a goal in Canada's 6-0 win over Sweden on Thursday. Brassard won 7 faceoffs, lost 6 faceoffs, had two shots on goal and played 13:05 (5:22, 4:20, 3:23).

Nicklas Jensen and Denmark lost to Finland 5-1 in the Quarterfinals of the World Championships and were eliminated. In the eight games of the tournament, Jensen had 5 goals, 2 assists, 6 PIM, a minus two rating, two shootout goals and an average of 16:28 per game.

In 7 games for Norway at the World Championships, Mats Zuccarello had a goal (empty net) and two assists. He was a minus two, had 28 shots on goal and averaged 20:26 per game.

Brady Skjei and Team USA will face Canada in the Semi-Finals on Saturday. In the tournament so far, Skjei has one goal, 2 PIM, 4 shots on goal, an average of 18:33 per game and a total ice time of 74:13.








NYR Alumni Birthdays 5/20 
Dan Blackburn G (2001-2003) Jim Ross D (1951-1952)

NYR TODAY TUES 5/17; Jensen, NYR Grades, Alumni Birthdat, TDINYRH

Rangers Prospect Nicklas Jensen Impresses at Worlds

The 23 year old Jensen has now collected 5 goals and 2 assists at the Men's World Championships in Moscow for Denmark. On Sunday Jensen scored the game winning goal in the shootout to defeat the Czech Republic 2-1. In 41 games for the Hartford Wolf Pack Jensen scored 15 goals and added 10 assists after coming to the Rangers from Vancouver for Emerson Etem.




RNYRF's GRADING THE RANGERS 2015-2016
MARC STAAL Defenseman

Once again a rough season for Staal whom many say was dealing with nagging injuries during the regular season and playoffs this past year. Collecting only 2 goals and 13 assists along with a plus 2 in 77 games it looked as though the work load over the past 2 seasons for the veteran D Man in his 9th pro season has taken it's toll. Staal who underwent ankle surgery in the off season didn't look his best but still managed to average close to 20 minutes per game. With 5 years remaining on a 5.7 million per year contract the 29 year old Staal is the highest paid defenseman on an already high priced Rangers defense. Hopefully with the extended time off Staal can regain some of what's been missing from his game the past few seasons.
GRADE D-

NYR Alumni Birthday 5/17 
Claude Larose LW (1979-80,1982 Playoffs)

Today in NYR History May 17

1994: Mike Richter ties a franchise record with his fourth shutout in one playoff year with a 4-0 victory over the Devils in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Final.

NYR TODAY MON 5/16: Notes, NYR Grades, Alumni Birthdays, TDINYRH

NYR Notes 5/16: Bucnevich, Radulov, Coaching Staff. World Championships

Rangers Director of Player Personnel Gordie Clark commented on recent signing of Pavel Bucnevich saying "that he reminds him of late Rangers prospect Alexei Cherepanov, "same kind of style, real nice head and hands."
Buchnevich is highly skilled, can play any forward position, has skill, hands and good smarts" and made "great strides" from one summer to the next.
In 2015 Clark and Glen Sather told Buchnevich at the World Juniors that he was ready to play in the NHL. The Rangers are still looking into signing Alexander Radulov to mentor Pavel Bucnevich on and off the ice, but it'S said he is a long shot to be signed by New York at best.

Word is that Alain Vigneault's coaching staff will remain intact from this past season.

Derick Brassard had a goal, an assist, was 6 and 5 on faceoffs, 4 shots on goal and 17:26 (5:50, 5:54, 5:42) for Team Canada on Saturday.

Nicklas Jensen scored twice for Denmark Friday, including the shootout winner, to beat Latvia 3-2.

RNYRF's GRADING THE RANGERS 2015-2016
ERIC STAAL Center

 Acquired at the trade deadline from Carolina in exchange for Finnish Prospect Aleksi Saarela, the 2016 second-round pick and the 2017 second-round pick, Staal spent most of his time centering the Rangers 3rd line. Playing in only 20 regular season games, the elder Staal brother tallied 3 goals and 3 assists and was a plus 1 averaging close to 16 minutes of ice time per game. In 5 post season games for the Rangers Staal was held to 0 points and was a minus 7. Factoring in that Staal came to the Rangers having to learn a new system along with only playing in 25 games it's tough to determine a grade in his tenure with the team. Staal is a UFA come July 1 and seeing that the Rangers might be heading in a new direction along with Staal's previous contract of 9.5 million per season it seems likely he will be signing elsewhere.
GRADE: INCOMPLETE 

NYR Alumni Birthday 5/16 
Floyd Smith RW (1960-1961)

Today in NYR History May 16

1995: The eighth-seeded Rangers upset the No. 1 seed Quebec Nordiques in Game 6 at Madison Square Garden, to win the series, 4-2. It's the last game the Nordiques play before moving to Colorado.

NYR TODAY WED 5/11: IIHF MWC, NYR Grades, Alumni, TDINYRH

NYR IIHF 2016 World Championships Notes

Mats Zuccarello scored his first goal at the 2016 World Championships. Zucc has now recorded two points (1-1-2) in three games at the World Championships.

Rangers prospect Nicklas Jensen earned his third point at the World Championships, picking up an assist in Denmark's 3-2 overtime loss to Switzerland, Jensen now has 2 goals and an assist for 3 points in the tourney.

Derick Brassard, Brady Skjei, Zuccarello and Jensen all will be in action for their respective countries today.






RNYRF's GRADING THE RANGERS 2015-2016
DEREK STEPAN Center

 Stepan was actually a very solid player for the Rangers last season collecting 22 goals and 31 assists, his second highest point production and highest goal scoring in his NHL Career. Stepan logged in an average of 11.5 minutes per game in 72 games with a faceoff percentage of 46.6 (515-589) also a career high. Stepan who was signed to a 6 year contract last July is under wraps for the next 5 seasons with a cap hit of 6.5 million per year. Although the Rangers had a sub par season to say the least, Step was as he has always been, a solid two way player playing both power play and penalty kill minutes, collecting 3 shorthanded and 5 power play goals. A team first player who always gives 100% even through injury.
GRADE A-


NYR Alumni Birthdays 5/11 
Lloyd Ailsby D (1951-1952) Per Djoos D (1991-1993) Dutch Hiller LW (1937-41,1943-44) Mark Morrison C (1981-82,1983-84) Ulf Nilsson C (1978-81,1982-83)

Today in NYR History May 11

1997: Adam Graves scores 14:08 into overtime to eliminate the New Jersey Devils in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

NYR TODAY TUES 5/10: IIHF MWC Notes, NYR Prospects, NYR Grades, Alumni, TDINYRH

RANGERS AT IIHF MEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP UPDATE
DERICK BRASSARD Team Canada

Brassard is playing strong at the 2016 World Championships in Russia thus far picking up 2 goals, one of those a game winner vs Belarus and 3 assists in Canada's 3 victories so far in the tournament. Brassard has tallied at least one point in each of the 3 games for Canada giving him 5 points, 1 coming vs USA in the opening game and back to back 2 point games on Sunday vs Hungary and Monday vs Belarus.



NICKLAS JENSEN Team Denmark

Jensen scored 2 goals in Denmark's 3-0 Victory over Norway and has totaled 10 shots on goal during the tourney.







MATS ZUCCARELLO Team Norway

Zuccarello so far only has an assist during the tourney for Team Norway.










RAPHAEL DIAZ Team Switzerland

Diaz has collected 3 assists so far for the Swiss.

NYR PROSPECTS UPDATE

Rangers goaltending prospect Adam Huska was named the United States Hockey League's goaltender of the year, as voted on by the League's general managers.
Huska, the Rangers' seventh-round pick in 2015, finished the regular season 26-9-2 with a 1.82 goals against average and a .931 save percentage with four shutouts. He has committed to the University of Connecticut for next season.

2015 second-round pick Ryan Gropp has a goal and an assist through two games against Brandon in the Western Hockey League's championship series, which Seattle trails, 2-0.
Gropp has four goals and three assists for seven points through eight playoff games, after posting 34 goals and 70 points in 66 regular season games.

Rangers prospect Daniel Bernhardt and the London Knights are getting the best of fellow Rangers prospect Ryan Mantha and the Niagara IceDogs, as London leads their championship series, 2-0.

 RNYRF's GRADING THE RANGERS 2015-2016
RICK NASH Left Wing

After an impressive 40 plus goal season during the 2014-2015 campaign big things were expected from Nash this past season. But much like his past playoff performances Nash disappointed the Garden Faithful posting up 15 goals and 21 assists in 60 games. Although injured for an extended period of time with a severe bone bruise Nash could even come close to the performance of the previous season. Nash did continue his defensive ways though and was an important part of the Rangers penalty kill once again this season along with being the teams leader in goals during the short 5 post season games vs Pittsburgh with 2 goals and adding 2 assists to his point total. Although Nash was supposed to be an important part of the team the Rangers seemed to play better without him during his stint on the IR. Rumors by the Media of the Rangers looking into trading Nash this coming summer now litter the sports pages once again. Whether Nash can come back and play as an elite power forward in 2016-2017 is a big question for the Rangers to examine this off season. If the Rangers can come up with a trade that makes sense and brings back an adequate return look for 2nd year GM Jeff Gorton to make a move and end the Nash era.
GRADE D-

NYR Alumni Birthdays 5/10 
Pete Babando LW (1952-1953) AB DeMarco Sr. C (1943-1947)

Today in NYR History May 10

1995: Brian Leetch records a goal and two assists in a 4-3 win over the Quebec Nordiques in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals at MSG.