New York Rangers Daily: 6 Blueshirts settle in at 4 Nations Face-off; Oilers show interest in John Gibson trade
The six New York Rangers taking part in the 4 Nations Face-off practiced with their respective countries for the first time Monday. The first member of the Rangers to play in a game will be Mika Zibanejad, when Sweden kicks off the mid-season international tournament Thursday against Canada up in Montreal.
Zibanejad landed himself a pretty good gig with Sweden. He practiced Monday on a line with William Nylander of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Pittsburgh Penguins wing Rickard Rackell. Nylander was already tossing bouquets about the chemistry that line had in practice. Maybe he did so to deflect from the monster lineup they’ll face in the tournament opener.
Canada doesn’t have any Rangers on its roster, but it does have dazzling lineup nonetheless.
Vegas Golden Knights goalie Adin Hill summed up Canada’s roster perfectly Monday, when he said, “Everybody who comes down on you and shoots is a legend.”
Sidney Crosby centered Nathan MacKinnon and Mark Stone at practice. And that could be considered Canada’s second line! Connor McDavid was between Mitchell Marner and Sam Reinhart on what’s likely the top line.
“I thought, ‘What am I doing here?’ ” said laughing Boston Bruins captain Brad Marchand, who skated on the third line with Brayden Point and Seth Jarvis. “I don’t take for granted an opportunity like this. When you walk in the room and see some of the best players who have ever played this sport, you get to watch and be on the ice with them, it truly is an honor.”
And that’s at even strength. Here’s Canada’s PP1 unit: McDavid, MacKinnon, Crosby, Reinhart and Cale Makar.
But each of the four countries participating is stacked and as McDavid pointed out, the winner will be the one that comes together quickest and most completely as a team.
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New York Rangers news
Four Rangers are on the United States roster at the 4 Nations Face-off and two could play on the same line. Vincent Trocheck centered a bottom-six line that featured Chris Kreider and Detroit Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin splitting time on one of the wings. Let’s see how that plays out. Adam Fox was on the top defense pair with Jaccob Slavin of the Carolina Hurricanes.
We handed out our first batch of Rangers report cards at the mid-season break, focusing on the goalies and defensemen.
Our Tom Castro dug deep into why Jordan Greenway should be a Rangers trade target ahead of the deadline.
In our weekly Hartford Wolf Pack report, we focused on strong play from two Rangers prospects, defenseman Matthew Robertson and forward Adam Sykora.
Dave Maloney joined the Rink Rap podcast presented by Forever Blueshirts and hadn’t plenty of opinions on all things Rangers, plus shared a tale or two along the way..
NHL news
Loui Eriksson, who played 1,050 NHL games for four teams, officially announced his retirement from professional hockey. He last played for Frolunda in the SHL in the 2022-23 season.
In latest round of NHL trade rumors, Elliotte Friedman said he’s hearing the Edmonton Oilers have interest in Anaheim Ducks goalie John Gibson.
We analyzed the Islanders difficult decision whether to trade or re-sign veteran center Brock Nelson ahead of the March 7 deadline.
Speaking of possible trades, Jake Evans is already speaking of his time with the Montreal Canadiens in the past tense — even though he’s still with them (for now).
The Nashville Predators claimed defenseman Andreas Englund off waivers from the Los Angeles Kings.
Jesse Puljujarvi, who had his contract terminated by the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday, signed a PTO with the Florida Panthers AHL affiliate in Charlotte.
The biggest question ahead of the 4 Nations Face-off is who will start in goal for Canada? Canada coach Jon Cooper wasn’t saying at practice Monday, but did share that he was going to tell his goalies — Hill, Jordan Binnington, Sam Montembeault — who was starting Monday night and then share the news publicly Tuesday.
Crosby’s been bothered by an upper-body issue, but he declared himself “good to go” to play for Canada at the 4 Nations.
Finland is flying under the radar at the 4 Nations and has an injury-ravaged roster, but captain Aleksander Barkov said he’ll do “whatever it takes” to lead his country to the championship.
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