Rangers Roundup: Fast contract, NHL Draft, and more Coronavirus cases

Here’s your evening roundup with news concerning the Rangers and from around the NHL. In case you missed some of our earlier articles today, the Rangers did talk extension with Fast, JD says team is ready to draft online, and more Coronavirus cases.

More Coronavirus cases

The Avalanche now have an infected player and a member of the St. Louis Blues media has tested positive for COVID-19.

The Colorado Avalanche were advised today that a player has tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. The player has been at home in isolation since the first symptoms appeared, has recovered and is back to normal. The Avalanche have notified anyone who has had known close contact with the athlete.  

Colorado Avalanche

NYR and Fast extension talks

Larry Brooks is now reporting that the Rangers did try and work out an extension before the deadline. Obviously the two sides could not agree and we don’t know if the reason was money, term, or both.

The Post has learned that management had preliminary discussions with Fast’s camp leading into the Feb. 24 trade deadline but were unable to come to an agreement on an extension, with the divide somewhat wide. The Blueshirts nevertheless declined to move Fast, instead retaining him for the drive to the playoffs. If this season does not resume, this w

NYPOST

Brooks does believe that due to the salary cap not rising, it will not only make it more difficult for the Rangers to keep him but also for other teams sign him. But let’s be real, there are plenty of teams with cap space that will be able to give him a deal in the $3-4M range per season with term that the Rangers can’t. At 28 years old with 12 goals and 29 points in 69 games, Fast is the perfect utility forward that can kill penalties.

JD prepping for draft

The Rangers organization along with Jeff Gorton and Chris Drury have scouts all over the world that are quarantined…but they all have computers. One day there is going to be an NHL Draft. We are doing our part looking at games everyday, having communications via the computer really doing some thorough work. Trying to do our best under the circumstances as a group.

John Davidson

Bottom line, the message reveals that the Rangers are prepared for the NHL draft no matter what form it will be in. The remarks about their telecommuting infrastructure to conduct business is also reassuring. I assume like most companies, the Rangers are not using an unsecured network to conduct business. They likely have VPN’s in place to make sure integrity is maintained.

Anthony Scultore has been covering the New York Rangers and the NHL since 2014. His work also appears at... More about Anthony Scultore

Mentioned in this article:

More About: