Ken Campbell says that the Rangers are targeting March 24th against the LA Kings as the return for Henrik Lundqvist. (THN) Returning on 3/24 would give Lundqvist and the Rangers 11 games before the playoffs. Lundqvist would likely need to be cleared for contact and start practicing with the team tomorrow or Thursday for this timetable to be true.
Marty St. Louis will miss 10-14 days with a knee injury sustained last nigh against Florida. (Brooks)
This is all coming together. Hank will be back and get 10 games +/- to get ready for the playoffs. MSL will get a couple of weeks off to rest, which is a plus IMO, and will get 5 games +/- to get ready for the playoffs. Klein we'll see, but maybe he gets in a game or two before the playoffs to get ready. Things are taking shape. With the Met almost locked up I am getting excited for the playoffs. This team has as good of a chance as any team to win a cup.
Hopefully AV is happy with 2 President's Cups and has his eyes on the prize. I think they have a good chance to break the team points record, that in itself is impressive. Would like to see some youth get an opportunity and give top 2 line players a game or two off to be fresh for the playoff grind.
I agree panzer. We have 14 games left. The Met is pretty much done barring us falling apart and another team getting really hot (looking forward to that Isles/Pens series). From there who cares. We finish ahead of Montreal or TB...what if neither make the ECF. What if we finish ahead of one and they make the ECF. We finish ahead of the West teams...what if we don't finish ahead of the one that makes the SCF. What if the one we finish behind doesn't make the SCF. Point is the Pres trophy means nothing. AV has two as a coach...you think he wears rings for that...LOL. It simply doesn't mean much. Finish 1st in your division, which means a little bit but not a ton, and you get home ice in rounds 1 and 2 for sure. From there the chips will fall where they may. What if Detroit makes the ECF and the Hawks make the SCF, we'll have home ice without the Pres trophy. Rest guys here and there. Get Hank back for the last 10 or so games. Get MSL back for the last 5 or so games. From there stay healthy and away we go for the cup.
I honestly don't think their prospects will drag the team down, the Glass-Moore-Sheppard line fascinates me for the physical possibilities but I'd like to see Lindberg or another prospect get a chance.
At this point I want Glass playing over anyone in Hartford. When teams like Columbus and Philly are out of the race they start taking cheap shots late in the season
Said it in another thread, but we prob wont be brining anyone up at all to "rest" guys. NYR only have 2 call-ups left to use for the season, I'd think we would be saving them for any situation in which we would have to use them. We could rest guys using our "healthy scratch" guys, but I think that might be it unless I am misunderstanding the rule on this.... Not sure how it works going into the playoffs if we can use more than those two call-ups if we have an injury or something, but I would think it would only be allowed on an emergency basis.... Kinda stupid that they wasted two of their call-ups on those two scrubs on deadline day. ...
Good find Vro, I wasnt aware of this rule so I tried to see if I could read up on it. Appears that teams are limited to 4 call-ups after the trade deadline. Somehow (this part I'm not sure of) acquiring the 2 minor leaguers counted as two call-ups. Couldnt be a timing thing, as the Yandle deal occurred a full day before the deadline. Maybe they initially come to the active roster when acquired, and that counts as the call-up? Who knows. Either way, once the playoff starts teams can make call-ups without limit, but you can't have more than three players active at one time who were called up. Emergency call-ups are still available in the playoffs should more be needed. Man this CBA is one dense document, no wonder it took all summer and half a season to figure all this crap out.
