Coming up on two years since the New York Rangers and Ottawa Senators made unique trade regarding two of their best forwards, it’s worth taking a look back on where these players stand now and how that trade has affected each team.

Going back to July 2016, a 22-year-old Mika Zibanejad had just come off a 51-point season is 81 games played. Those are some numbers that you’d hope to see from such a young forward going forward. However, as we saw unfold, the Senators had different plans with Zibanejad as they traded him to the Rangers for a then 28-year-old Brassard. Brassard and Zibanejad put up very similar stats in their last season with their respected club, as Brassard put up 50 points in 80 games. The trade at the time was surprising, as Brassard, who had a larger price tag at the time, was swapped for a younger, similar player that many thought has more potential.

So why are we looking back at this trade two years in the making? Reflecting on trades can either be a great, or dreadful thing. As for this particular trade, I like to think it shaped up nicely for the Rangers. Since coming to New York, Zibanejad has put up 84 points in 128 games through two seasons. Aside from that, Zibanejad inked a new 5 year, $26.75 million dollar contract with the Blueshirts this time last season. With Zibanejad came a second round pick from Ottawa, which would have been fantastic to have at the stages the Rangers are now, but the club traded that pick away to Detroit in a package for Brendan Smith.

Even with trading away Ottawa’s second rounder, the Rangers regained another 2nd round pick from the Devils at the trade deadline when the Blueshirts shipped Michael Grabner to New Jersey. So, instead of having six picks in the first two rounds, the Rangers have five, which is still fantastic since three of those come in the first round.

Aside from losing Ottawa’s pick, this trade has panned out perfectly for the Rangers. Derrick  Brassard put up 77 points in 139 games through a season and a half with the Senators, before being traded to Pittsburgh during the 2017-2018 season. The numbers Brassard put up for Ottawa seemed to be on par for his career, but his time in Ottawa wasn’t as long as the Senators had hoped when they traded a young center in Zibanejad for him back in 2016.

Give us your thoughts in the comments below.

This game looked a lot like the first time these teams met up not to long ago on October 22nd, in fact it ended in the exact same score. The Rangers came out strong and never really let up as they frustrated the Coyotes players all night long. It’s always good to see the boys come out fresh for the second game of their back to back west coast trip.

1st Period:

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2nd Period:

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3rd Period:

The play below was initially called a good goal on the ice, but would be overturned due to the fact that the stick made contact with the puck while it was above the crossbar.

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Maybe my favorite GIF of all time below…

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Raanta was :04.6 seconds away from his second shutout as a blueshirt, but Shane Doan would spoil that parade right as the 3rd period was coming to a close. Raanta was a really good sport about it though as you can see, all smiles.

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                                              3 Stars of the Game:

Boxscore:

If you liked my GIF’s feel free to follow along with me on Twitter as I GIF the games live as they happen. If you do already follow me on twitter, thank you. If you don’t, Tuesday when the New York Rangers take on the Carolina Hurricanes is your next opportunity!

*Infographics via ESPN

It’s that time of year again and I’ve reviewed about a half dozen fantasy sites, took out my calculator and filled out a spreadsheet. Here’s FullTilt Rangers annual scoring predictions for the Blueshirts this upcoming season.

Goal and Points Leader: Rick Nash

Who else did you think? Rick Nash is still by far the Rangers most talented forward and he will build off his 42 goal campaign from last season. I am projecting him to score 44 times and that is in large part to his uptick in power play goals.

Nash will benefit from a full season with Keith Yandle manning the QB position on the PP. Last year he tallied 6 times on the man advantage, but I expect him to double that this year. Once again, Nash will be the regular season hero…the question will be can he keep it going into the playoffs.

Assist Leader and Top Scoring Defenseman: Keith Yandle

Most pundits have Yandle as a goner this coming summer. Well, he is sure going to give the Rangers some serious pause before they decide to trade him or let him walk as a UFA in July.

Yandle is going to lead the Rangers PP to one of its best ever. Last year the Blueshirts tallied only 39 times on the man advantage. I am projecting Yandle to provide a significant boost by 26 more goals.

This will also be due in large part to the beast mode presence that Chris Kreider will provide up front. Expect the Rangers PP to dazzle in 2015-16! Yes, I know I am crazy…but if you know me, I always make a few bold predictions a season and this will be the biggest.

Notable Projections

Derek Stepan may make more money, but it will be Derrick Brassard that will be the Rangers top center again. That will primarily be because of the benefits of playing with Nash and Mats Zuccarello.

Kevin Hayes will outscore Chris Kreider, but Kreider will still be considered the better offensive weapon with his 28 goals and PP dominance.

Emerson Etem will be a nice replacement, but the Rangers will miss Carl Hagelin. I have Etem for 12 goals but it is one prediction I have low confidence in. I think the maturation of J.T. Miller will be what makes people forget Hagelin faster.

Kevin Klein will regress to goal numbers closer to his career average and Tanner Glass will finish as a plus 1 on the year. Yes…that could be even bolder than my PP prediction.

Well, there you have it! Tell me what you think in the comments section below.

This is it Ranger fans! Game 7 for all the marbles. The Rangers either continue their quest for the Stanley Cup or begin cleaning out their lockers. The question here is will the Rangers star players show up in the biggest game of the season, or will they be passengers just along for the ride?

Since game 4 Rick Nash has played some of his best hockey as a New York Ranger. He normally does all the “little things” needed to win but has a tough time scoring. He had the 2 goals in-game 4and has played well offensively since. Driving to the net more and cutting to the middle instead of tip-toeing around the perimeter. The results are starting to show for the much maligned Nash.

The Rangers have their big game players and they’ll need them to show up for Game 7!

Derick Brassard has been the Rangers best playoff performer since he was acquired at the trade deadline in 2013. You know Brassard will come to play whether he scores a goal or impacts the game in some way or another. Like death and taxes, Brassard will play his heart out tonight, guaranteed!

Chris Kreider is like the Rangers personality. The team gets a lift from his unique mix of size, speed, strength, grit, and determination. He always brings his best game in the playoffs and his efforts usually lead to a Rangers win. Kreider impacts games in so many ways that he can open his tool box and choose which is most advantageous on that night.

The Rangers back-end is the best in the NHL if Yandle is on his game.

It’s possible Keith Yandle was dealing with a nagging injury early on in the playoffs. He only had two assists in the first round against the Penguins and two more points against the Capitals. He did get an assist on Derek Stepan‘s series clinching goal in overtime of game 7 in the last round.

Yandle now seems to have a handle on things because he’s now fourth on the Rangers in playoff scoring with 11 points (2G-9A). That means if my math is correct, the offensive defenseman now has 7 points in the 6 games on the Eastern Conference Finals (2G-5A). That’s called getting it done in a big spot and the Rangers need Yandle to help create offense and even add some himself.

Aside from the big name players for the Rangers, the supporting cast have been great in these 2015 playoffs. 

Derek Stepan has also stepped up his play as the Rangers got deeper into the playoffs. He is third on the team with 12 points (5G-7A) and has certainly done his job. His line with Chris Kreider and Jesper Fast have been the Rangers most consistently dangerous line in these playoffs.

Jesper Fast is becoming a serious 2-way forward for the Rangers and is always an offensive threat with his speed. He never quits on a puck or play and I would imagine the Tampa Bay players have a picture of him they throw darts at. He’s difficult to play against with how well he plays without the puck.

Finally we have J.T. Miller who has had his moments in the doggie house starting to emerge. From being on the shuttle bus back and forth between Hartford and the Rangers lineup, he had worked his way into a permanent spot in Alain Vigneault’s lineup. He’s now playing top six minutes and has responded well since given the opportunity. He always plays better with better teammates and since the move he has been great. As long as he cuts out the mental lapses from his game, he will be fine in that position.

The quest for the Stanley Cup can continue after tonight or it can be over for the Rangers if they cannot get past the Tampa Bay Lightning. 

Before we even think about the Stanley Cup Finals the Rangers have the Tampa Bay Lightning standing in their way. The longer this series went on, the better the Rangers chances were of advancing.

Now that the Rangers have pretty much seen all the Lightning’s tricks and gimmicks, they can no longer try to steal a game from the better Rangers team. Tampa Bay will have to beat the Rangers straight up in one game, a winner take all battle royal at the worlds most famous Arena.

The Rangers have the best big game goaltender in the NHL!

Between the Rangers and the Bolts, the Rangers biggest advantage is in goal with Henrik Lundqvist. As good as Ben Bishop has been in the playoffs, he’s a rookie to the pressure cooker that is game 7. He was touched up for 5 goals in game 6. 5 goals in game 4 and 5 goals in-game 3 loss in overtime. Even if this game turns into a shootout like in game 3, I’ll take my chances with “The King” over “The Bishop” in a crucial elimination game.

Keys to victory in game 7 tonight for the Rangers at MSG!

The Rangers are going to want to control the Bolts top two lines but most importantly the second line of Ondrej Palat–Tyler Johnson–Nikita Kucherov. Tampa Bay lives and dies with those three.

Steven Stamkos is always a threat and must be checked just as hard. Valtteri Filppula and Alex Killorn have played better as the series has gone along but they won’t beat the Rangers alone. Taking away the Johnson line makes the Bolts a one line team and the Rangers superior depth will take this game over. As long as the Blueshirts stay out of the penalty box as much as possible they should have a great chance. Scoring on their Power Play chances given to them will help tremendously.

There’s nothing like a timely power play goal to change momentum in a game but that is a two-way street the Rangers would like to be on the right side of. Keep the Lightning to the outside and clear Henrik Lundqvist’s line of sight to the shooter or puck carrier.

If the Rangers get a two goal lead or better they have to continue to forecheck. AV likes to go into a different form of his 1-2-2 forecheck called the Left-Wing Lock. It’s a 1-1-3 designed to keep the opposition from getting in behind the defense for a quick strike. It only works as a neutral zone trap if the lead forechecker is in the oppositions zone forcing the play. You can’t give their defenseman time to look over the neutral zone coverage. Any defenseman in the NHL can make a good first pass with time and space. 

If you lay back at the red-line on the Lightning they’ll gain speed untouched through center ice and we will have another game six against the Capitals. The Rangers almost blew their season with a 4-1 lead halfway through the third period.

They can’t let that happen tonight, with their season and Stanley Cup dreams on the line. No passengers for this ride! All hands on deck and full steam ahead. Let’s Go RANGERS!

It wasn’t pretty, or even mildly exciting for about 50 minutes at the Garden. At least not until Derick Brassard deflected home the game tying goal in the third period.

Rangers 2 vs. Hurricanes 1 (SO)

The NY Rangers spent a majority of the night as if they were skating through slush. One man stood out throughout the contest and that was Rick Nash.

Once again the Beast of Broadway (TM) turned in a strong performance. In 19:06 of total ice, Nash threw 4 shots on goal and caused 3 takeaways. He and Henrik Lundqvist would play the heroes in the shootout with the King stopping all 3 shots and the Beast burying his attempt for the win.

Earlier in the game the Rangers really struggled to find their way against a depleted Carolina team. They were outshot 13-8 after one period and the natives were getting restless at the Garden.

Of course, NY would pick it up only to be thwarted time and time again by goalie, Anton Khubodin. He would finish with 33 stops on 34 shots.

The Rangers defense would settle down and only allow 17 more shots from the 2nd period on. The King stopping 29 of the 30 total shots allowed.

“You need every point you can get,” a happy Lundqvist said after the game. “Just because we had a great comeback last year, it doesn’t mean it’s going to happen this year.”

He wasn’t the only relieved person in the room as head coach, Alain Vigneault was pleased with how the Rangers were “safer with the puck”. The jovial coach called it a “step in the right direction” and laughingly said, “never critique a win”.

Bottom line, the Rangers should have walked all over this Hurricanes team and they didn’t. Many of the guys still seem out of sync with one another and are looking for chemistry. The kids, Hayes and Duclair had some bright spots but were not put in difficult situations late as they saw little to no ice time.

Lee Stempniak continues to impress but has anyone seen Carl Hagelin this season? Matt Hunwick only saw 10 minutes of ice and played decent. He finished a -1 but wasn’t responsible for the goal.

The San Jose Sharks swim into MSG on Sunday for a 5pm tilt. If the Blueshirts want to be in that game, they better find a much faster pace and a whole new level.

Hey Rick! Whatever is in your Gatorade, pass it around!

RAGING RANGERS

1. Derick Brassard – Don’t look now, but the Brass Man has scored in 3 straight. Brassard will need to continue that level of production with Derek Stepan out.

2. Lee Stempniak – Another workman’s night with some time on the PP as a reward. He played over 17 minutes and was solid throughout the game. He even made a beautiful move in the offensive zone to set up a long Girardi shot out of nothing.

3. Rick Nash – The Beast of Broadway is on a mission. Even Brassard said after the game, “I’ve known him for a long time and as soon as I saw him in the first practice, I knew he meant business.” 6 goals in 5 games is some serious business to me.

REELING RANGERS

1. Ryan McDonagh – He’s had some flashes of brilliance, but I feel like he is doing too much and not letting the game come to him. He’s been uncharacteristically beaten a few times in the neural zone by trying to force plays. The C is probably adding some pressure on him, and it’s probably a good time for Marty St. Louis to pull him aside and say, “relax”.

2. Carl Hagelin – I’ve called the Dairy folks and his picture will be appearing on Milk Cartons across NY tomorrow. Seriously, 5 games with zero points and a -5!

3. Anybody on the PP – the 0 for drought continues (16!). Can we please get a butt goal???

Highlights & Interviews

It was 3, 3rd period goals that lifted the Rangers over one over their newer rivals.

Homecoming

Talk about a feisty game, boy did this one live up to the hype. It was Rick Nash’s first game in Columbus since being traded over to the New York Rangers 2 off-seasons ago. He received a crowd of mixed emotions, they cheered him when he came out for warm-ups, “boo’ed” him when he had the puck, and cheered him when the Blue Jackets Organization paid him tribute midway through the first period.

Ultimately, Nash was the catalyst in this game. He was engaged every shift and you just had a feeling he was going to break through, well he did… But it was called off by the referee (something Rangers fans are getting accustomed to hearing). A breakout pass sprung him for a short breakaway from the blue-line in where he tried a little shimmy on Columbus goalie Sergei Bobrovsky but made “incidental contact” while getting checked from behind. The puck crossed the goal-line but the goal was waved off. Then, BOOM. Havoc ensues after the whistle, when Bobrovsky shot Nash’s stick away from him as he went to pick it up. Nash then shoved Bobrovsky & we all know what happens when you touch an opposing teams goaltender. Nash wound up sitting for 2 minutes. All I could hear in my head was Team Iceland defenseman Olaf Sanderson say “2 minutes, well worth it”.

VIDEO: Watch Rick Nash drop the gloves as #NYR beat the Jackets tonight! https://t.co/iBXCWe2tnP pic.twitter.com/7bOijRNEQV

— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) March 22, 2014

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The Rangers entered the night with 5 former Blue Jackets, Nash, Brassard, Stralman, Dorsett & John Moore. All of whom were effective, accept John Moore who only had 6:04 of ice time and didn’t come out to play the 3rd period. He took a hard hit from Blake Comeau in the first period and looked a little shaky after that. If he’s not good to go tomorrow night in New Jersey expect Raphael Diaz to be inserted into the lineup for the first time as a New York Ranger player.

Although the 2nd period ended like the game started, 0-0, the emotions were high and the game was thoroughly entertaining. It didn’t take long into the third for us to realize that things weren’t going to smooth over when after just a few seconds Rick Nash had his gloves dropped and was engaged in a fight. Yes, you read that correctly Rick Nash got in a fight. He held his own too. A minute after the Nash fighting major, the Rangers ran into a little bad luck when a simple pass from Beniot Pouliot broke his stick. The puck didn’t get very far and Nick Foligno wristed one over Lunqvist’s shoulder to give the Jackets a 1-0 lead. Then 44 seconds later Derek Stepan knotted the game back up at 1 off a nice feed from Ryan McDonagh.

I said it was a homecoming for a reason, Rick Nash may have been the catalyst, but the ex-Blue Jacket Derrick Brassard winds up with the game winner for the Rangers against his former team. Carl Hagelin added an empty netter to seal the deal and the Rangers jumped back into 3rd place in the Metropolitan division, 1 point behind idle Philadelphia. They’ll want to look for their 3rd straight win against another division foe who’s trying to get back into the playoff hunt, the New Jersey Devils. So if you thought this game was spirited, wait until tomorrow night!

[su_youtube url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n60uyKbeG9I”]Game Seven Highlights – [/su_youtube]

A change of scenery for the Rangers, as they returned from the friendly confines of Yankee Stadium after they swept their Stadium Series set against the Islanders and the Devils. The opponent again, was the Islanders, the result was the same. A Rangers victory. This time to a tune of 4-1.

The Bottom Six Continue to Spark
Brian Boyle, Derick Brassard, Mats Zuccarello. The entire bottom six has continued to chip in and play a hard game night in and night out. These lines were the stars of the Stadium Series games, and tonight was no different. When Brian Boyle made the game 1-0, it was nothing but sheer joy coming out of his face. He felt relieved after deflecting a hard shot from the point by Marc Staal. Boyle has been playing well as of late, I guess you could say it has a lot to do with a certain someone being inserted into the lineup. But, that entire line has raised its game, and it’s a big thank you to Daniel Carcillo.

For the third line, none other than Mats Zuccarello has lead the charge, and has proven himself worthy of a new contract. He started the play that led to the eventual game winning goal by Derick Brassard, who got his ninth of the year. Zuccarello generated that rush, eventually passed it to Marc Staal, and then passed it over to Brassard who had a wide open net. For Zuccarello it’s his fourth point in 3 games, and 8 in his last 10. Zuccarello has been a steal for this team, and has proven that he simply deserves to be in the NHL, as he’s finally got a hold of the ice.

Lundqvist Holding his Own
Lundqvist has risen his game since late December, and has played real well, and shown flashes of his old self. Finally being able to see him hold the team in tight games, and allow the team to come to their own and put enough pucks in the net for them to win games. Lundqvist did just that again, stopping 38 of 39 shots, and really holding the Rangers in the game, when they looked completely lost in the second period.

Lundqvist hasn’t changed his game, but his game has come back to him. Now this team is as dangerous as any in the East, and in the league. It just depends on will he continue to be this hot, or will it start to slow down a bit? Time will tell, but hey there’s nothing wrong with what we’re seeing right now.

The Rangers have a nice three days off before they face the Avalanche on Tuesday at the Garden. And again, I’ll be there with updates and pictures, so make sure you follow @fulltilttaggs on Twitter.

WE HAVE A SITUATION
BOOM! Glen Sather slammed his hand on his desk. “Why is this computer running so slow?” he muttered. BANG! The bewildered GM kicked his office trash can in utter frustration. “I added that new program, so why did it just crash and burn?” Slats exclaimed. The perplexed GM picked up the phone and questioned his IT department; “What’s the problem?” The answer confounded the GM as each tech said “The system is tired. All those new fancy programs just can’t perform even though you got rid of all those less exciting but functional programs.” The surly Slats chomped down on his cigar and asked his most trusted staffers; “Now what?” One by one they all recommended to install this newly available patch that should change the system to handle the needs of the machine and get it to excel. Sather walked away resolved to do it. Hell, he loves this computer he built and this will work.