The Rangers closed out their West Coast trip with a downer in Anaheim on Wednesday night. It wasn’t so much the way the skaters played — during the 2-1-1 trip they had maybe 40 ugly minutes — but the major concern as the Rangers head home at 10-7-4 has to do with Jaroslav Halak.
He still hasn’t won as a Ranger over six starts. Worse on Wednesday, he gave up two goals he shouldn’t have, and that was the difference in a one-goal loss. Anaheim goalie John Gibson made 41 saves, the Rangers hit half a dozen posts and Halak was subpar; that’s all there was to this one.
There’s more to the Halak situation, which we’ll dive into along with some other observations as you settle in for Thanksgiving and the Rangers settle in to fly all day Thursday and get their rest for Connor McDavid’s arrival at the Garden on Saturday afternoon.
On to EDM.
See you home @TheGarden on Saturday. pic.twitter.com/IWxM7NB99Y— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) November 24, 2022
The Reaves trade
Chris Drury’s next move, if the Wild hadn’t bitten on taking all of Ryan Reaves’ remaining salary this season, was likely placing the well-liked veteran on waivers to see if anyone would take a shot there. It’s full credit to Drury for finding a taker in a situation where the Rangers needed to start accruing cap space for whatever lies ahead — either the much-whispered-about run at Chicago’s Patrick Kane over the next few months or any smaller moves, possibly for a No. 6/7 left-handed defenseman or a cheaper scoring winger than Kane.
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Reaves quickly ingratiated himself in the Rangers room, as he’s done wherever he’s been. He’s a magnetic personality and last season probably played a bit more than you would have liked — 69 of the 82 games and then 18 of the 20 playoff games — but the Rangers were painfully thin in the bottom six last season and Reaves didn’t hurt them at all, given the options.
That wasn’t the case this season. The pace was too much for a Sammy Blais–Ryan Carpenter-Reaves fourth line and Julien Gauthier’s rebirth as an effective 12th forward left Reaves in a tough spot. You can’t really be a leader when you’re not playing, and it was clear to Reaves, whose agent asked Drury to find a trade partner not too long ago, that there wasn’t going to be much opportunity for him to play here.
So now the Rangers are at their preferred 22-man roster and, according to CapFriendly, could add $6.68 million in contracts at the trade deadline. They would even still be able to accrue some space even if the injury bug hits by bringing up forwards Jonny Brodzinski or Will Cuylle, or even Matthew Robertson to get some time at the NHL level on the third defensive pair.
The Reaves trade gives Drury and the Rangers options without hurting the roster. Ideal situation.
Halak
We move into the not-ideal situation with Halak now. He’s had some OK starts and now two where he wasn’t sharp enough, but the results are all the same and it can’t be such a huge dropoff between Igor Shesterkin and his backup.
However, unless Billy Guerin is looking for a 37-year-old goalie sporting an .880 save percentage, Drury may not be able to wriggle free of this one. Drury gave Halak a no-move clause so Halak could refuse to go anywhere if he so chose, including to the AHL if the Rangers wanted to waive their underperforming goalie. They have Louis Domingue in Hartford, who has a .908 save percentage through nine starts, so the Rangers could use some of that newly created cap space to add Domingue and give Halak time to work through his issues.
That would hardly be a judicious use of cap space. The Rangers have two back-to-backs in the next 15 games until the Christmas break. We may be getting ready to see a lot of Shesterkin in the next month.
Panarin
It’s now no goals in 11 games for Artemi Panarin, one shy of tying the longest drought of his NHL career. He did get career assist No. 400 on Wednesday, he had a spirited game in Los Angeles on Tuesday night and he tossed 13 total shots toward the opposing net the last two games, but nothing’s going well for him. The Rangers’ top power-play unit looked good in its first opportunity against the Ducks, then kind of meh the next three, and Panarin is a big part of that unit.
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Panarin still sits tied for the team lead with 23 points, but not enough is happening when he’s on the ice, especially at even strength. Gerard Gallant tried to goose his team’s five-on-five play in the third period Wednesday by shifting Panarin to the Chris Kreider–Mika Zibanejad flank but that didn’t add a whole lot, plus it also left the Vincent Trocheck line looking confused. We haven’t seen much chemistry between Panarin and Trocheck through 21 games, so perhaps it’s time for a slight adjustment.
Whether that’s going with a Kreider-Zibanejad-Panarin top line more often or, perhaps the easier fix, putting Vitali Kravtsov back in with Panarin and Trocheck is up to Gallant, of course. But Kravtsov spent much of training camp on Panarin’s opposite wing, and the 23-year-old whose first quarter of the season has been derailed by a few minor injuries has the skill to maybe bring more out of No. 10.
Gallant could really upend the order of things and try Filip Chytil with Panarin. It may be worth a shot — Chytil has had some strong nights this season regardless of who his linemates are and his ability to find soft spots in the offensive zone could work with Panarin, rather than Trocheck’s more bull-in-a-china-shop style. Something to consider.
Kakko
Entering Wednesday’s game, Trocheck led the Rangers with 13 high-danger scoring chances at even strength (data courtesy of Clear Sight Hockey). Right behind with 12 was Kaapo Kakko, who added to that total with a breakaway Wednesday. We don’t have to tell you how it turned out because if you’ve been watching the Rangers this season, you’ve seen Kakko denied on three or four breakaways already, plus a few others that need to be seen to be believed.
He did score during a delayed penalty to give the Rangers the second-period lead in Los Angeles on Tuesday, but he was also rejected by Cal Petersen on a diving stop right before the Kings tied the game in the third. Kakko got turned aside by Sharks forward Steve Lorentz in the crease in San Jose three nights earlier. And there was Gibson’s breakaway stop on Kakko on Wednesday.
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The big young winger doesn’t seem too fazed by all the chances he’s not scoring on, but it’s tough to watch. The puck is finding him plenty in scoring spots, but he’s not scoring enough.
The Kid Line had a good night in L.A. and then kind of a dud in Anaheim. If Gallant is inclined to break them up it might work to give Kakko another go with Zibanejad and Kreider and put Jimmy Vesey with Chytil and Alexis Lafrenière.
Blais
Blais is a team and coach favorite but with Kravtsov needing to get back into action, Blais stands out right now as the forward most likely to sit. He’s still finding his way past the ACL injury he suffered just over a year ago and it’s rendered him a bit slower and bit less willing to work the corners. Kravtsov comes in, Barclay Goodrow drops down to play with Carpenter and Gauthier, and Blais is the odd man out for now.
That would have seemed out of the question before Blais’ injury last year. It’s a testament to a deeper forward group this season, one that pushed Reaves out of the picture and now has useful roles for all 12 guys who suit up. With Carpenter’s improving game, faceoff and PK duties, the choice is between Blais and Gauthier. Gauthier drew his team-leading eighth penalty Wednesday to go with three goals. Blais is still 0-fer his Rangers career. Seems like an easy call.
(Photo of Artemi Panarin with the puck against the Ducks’ Jakob Silfverberg: Ronald Martinez / Getty Images)