Rangers Roundup: JD connects with Barry Beck after FB rant, examining the trade deadline options, and more
Over the weekend, Barry Beck lashed out at his former team and teammate John Davidson on Facebook about Mark Pavelich. “For the first time I’m ashamed to call myself a New York Ranger,” Beck wrote. “I asked JD if the Rangers could publicly show their support for Mark by just saying one of their own former players was sick and we wish him well,” Beck said about an email he sent to the Rangers prior to Pavelich’s death.
John Davidson connects with Barry Beck
According to the NY Post, the Rangers declined to comment on Beck’s FB post, but they did learn that John Davidson worked with Glenn Healey to get Mark help. Beck gave credit to Healey as president of the NHL alumni association for what he did.
Apparently, John Davidson also reached out to his former teammate about his rant and told him they should focus on mourning Mark’s death. Beck agreed as he wrote on FB:
“I understood everything I said and was soon thereafter contacted by NY Rangers President John Davidson. Years ago John, Mark and I were teammates with the Rangers. John and I discussed the remarks I had made. We both respect each other and agreed that at this time it’s best we focus on mourning the death of Mark.”
Good to see cooler heads prevail. Hopefully everyone will work together to prevent what happened to Mark in the future.
The Rangers and the upcoming trade deadline
There’s a lot of games for the New York Rangers between now an the NHL Trade Deadline on April 12. Eighteen to be exact, and a long way from knowing what their mindset will be on how to approach it. That will depend where they sit in the standings.
When you look at the NHL Trade Deadline, you must keep the Seattle Expansion draft in mind. You also have to think about the Rangers game-plan going forward, which includes an attempt at a big offseason trade for a center.
The Rangers have several players that would make good rentals, and others that could be extremely valuable assets. Let’s take a look at the roster and point out two obvious trade candidates.
UFA’s Brendan Smith and Jack Johnson
If there are any takers, both UFA defensemen Brendan Smith and Jack Johnson would be great to move for additional picks. The Blueshirts are going to want to stock up on draft picks which are a hot commodity for many teams in the flat cap era.
The 32 year-old Smith is going to be very attractive for his ability to play both sides on defense and some 4th line grinder minutes. By the way, it would not surprise me if the Rangers look to sign him at a team friendly price when free agency begins this summer.
Jack Johnson has actually done a decent job in the last few weeks stepping in for injured blue-liners. The 34 year-old is a character guy and would be a contender’s insurance policy as a depth defenseman.
As of right now, no matter how their record is come the deadline – I believe these two are highly likely to be dealt.
Latest NHL Rumors
Evgeny Kuznetsov has entered the NHL Rumors Mill chat.
More About:New York Rangers News New York Rangers Features New York Rangers Rumors