Surging Rangers will face plenty of distractions again with trade deadline coming
NY Post
The Rangers have put the noise and distractions behind them. It has been about hockey and only about hockey since the calendar flipped to 2025.
And it has been pretty successful hockey at that with the Blueshirts extending their point streak to seven games (5-0-2) with Saturday’s 1-0 shootout victory over Columbus at the Garden in a playoff-implication match through which Igor Shesterkin did not give a single puck to the Jackets.
But there is more noise on the horizon and, if the Rangers allow it, there will be more distractions which this team will have to navigate. It won’t be unique to the Blueshirts in advance of the March 7 trade deadline but the chatter has already — and only — just begun.
In any dialect, J.T. Miller’s body language in Vancouver can be translated to a cry to get the winger back to New York, where the 15th-overall selection of the 2011 draft spent the first five-plus seasons of his career before going to Tampa Bay in the purge of 2018.
NFL fans were mortified by when referees levied an unnecessary roughness penalty on the Texans in the third quarter of Saturday’s AFC divisional round game against Patrick Mahomes and Kansas City — a game the Chiefs went on to win 23-14.
At various points of this up-and-down season, the Rangers almost certainly would have found a way to lose a game like the one they played Saturday night against red-hot Columbus at Madison Square Garden.
The Knicks already were without injured center Karl-Anthony Towns — the No. 2 rebounder in the NBA — when the No. 2 rebounder on their team headed for the locker room clutching his left shoulder in the third quarter of Friday’s home loss to the Timberwolves.
Travis Kelce had some jokes following the Chiefs’ 23-14 home win over the Texans in the AFC divisional round.
The Rangers have put the noise and distractions behind them. It has been about hockey and only about hockey since the calendar flipped to 2025.
The Mets are suddenly in the same place strategically trying to replace Pete Alonso as the Yankees were when Juan Soto left for the Mets. Cue, the irony.
The Knicks viewed January as an opportunity to beef up their overall record with a stretch of 12 out of 14 games slated to be played at home, but the Garden has been anything but a party so far for Tom Thibodeau’s team this month.
ORCHARD PARK — The hardy souls across western New York and inside Highmark Stadium never ask for much, just that elusive first Super Bowl championship, but first Josh Allen with the ball in his hands last on Sunday night.
Mitchell Robinson hasn’t spoken with the media since undergoing ankle surgery in May, but every now and then, he offers an update on social media on a rehabilitation process that now has stretched into the second half of the Knicks’ season.
In the immediate aftermath of Juan Soto choosing the Mets, Brian Cashman addressed media and scanned through his roster for areas of need.
For a team that often boasts about its slew of strong perimeter defenders, the Knicks certainly do give up a ton of points outside their 3-point line.
The Jets completed interviews No. 13, 14 and 15 for their head coach opening on Friday.
The Rangers haven’t wavered when describing their games for the past few weeks.
One former front office executive is suggesting foul play foul play in the Dodgers’ signing of Roki Sasaki.
No one is more taken with the idea of a “Prime Time” sequel in Dallas than Jerry Jones.
SALT LAKE CITY — At the end of the 2024-25 regular season, this three-game road trip could be a difference-maker for the Rangers.
With less than a month before players begin reporting to spring training, the market is still moving like molasses. If fans are frustrated by the ultra-slow pace, imagine how free agents feel.
Precious Achiuwa didn’t start. But he finished.