jimmy vesey

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It’s Wednesday, and I honestly have a little bit of writer’s block. Blame the NCAA tournament, I guess. There are a bunch of little things on my mind, but nothing big enough to make a full post. Then it hit me. How about a musings post? Works for me. Hope it works for you.

1. Jimmy Vesey got a hat trick on Monday night. Good for the kid. Happy for him. He’s a decent bottom six forward, capable of 15 goals, 20 points. He may get some penalty killing minutes. However there is a growing –and very vocal– group that thinks this kind of production belongs in the top-six. I staunchly disagree. Even based on the current production, he isn’t a top-six forward. Simply put, 15 goals and 20 points doesn’t cut it.

2. Pavel Buchnevich. Mika Zibanejad. Vlad Namestnikov. Chris Kreider. Mats Zuccarello. Ryan Spooner. Kevin Hayes. Even on a bad Rangers team, he’s not even in the top seven in forwards. So let’s cool it with the Vesey for MVP talk. That’s not to say he is a bad player. It’s just level setting expectations and coming back to reality.

3. I’m intrigued to see what happens with Alex Georgiev and Ondrej Pavelec next summer. Georgiev has looked good in his short stay thus far. Pavelec looked good all year. Do the Rangers keep both, just in case? Pavelec would need to be re-signed, which shouldn’t be much of a problem. Having depth and a good goalie in Hartford is going to be key, so that’s the path I would hope they take. Georgiev could use a season there before taking over as the backup.

4. For the first time in our lives, the Rangers have cap space as a viable, tradeable asset. They have $25 million in cap space next year, without even accounting for a salary cap increase. If the ceiling goes to $80 million, as rumored, then it’s closer to $30 million. They have five guys due someone decently sized raises, but I will bet money some of the higher salary guys will be cut loose via trade at the draft. Jeff Gorton said it himself, he isn’t done.

5. One of those guys that could be gone? Hayes. I know it probably won’t be a popular move, but he’s very similar in production to the recently acquired Namestnikov and Spooner. All three are RFAs. Depth never hurt anyone, but I can see it happening. Call it a feeling.

6. I don’t see a future for Rob O’Gara on this club once the blue line is healthy. He hasn’t been overly impressive in his stay. I can’t say I’m shocked by this. He looked to be a warm body throw-in, included with the third rounder for Nick Holden. As for the rest of the kids playing right now, the jury is still out. They’ve shown flashes of good, flashes of bad. So we shall see. There’s a lot of work to be done.

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