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An interesting three questions for the mailbag this week. As always, use the widget on the right to send questions in to be answered.

Gerard asks: What is it with the Rangers and their lack of secondary scoring?  Outside of Kreider, Hayes, Zibanejad, and Zuccarello, no one else seems to be producing.

Let’s start with the obvious: The Rangers are not a good team, so this shouldn’t be surprising. That said, you’d think they would get more out of Pavel Buchnevich, Filip Chytil, and Vlad Namestnikov.

Chytil has a line of 10-9-19 in 54 games this year, and has shown flashes of brilliance. He’s still adjusting and learning the NHL game. He was never going to put up elite numbers his first year. Patience. He will get there.

Namestnikov is not a scoring driver, so he needs to be with play drivers to really produce. If he’s not in the top-six, and he’s middling with Ryan Strome, he won’t product.

We’ve been documenting the trials and tribulations of Buchnevich all year, as he’s been bounced around the lineup with no cause for concern. Yet he’s still sitting at just 9-9-18 in 38 games, which is still on pace for 40 points per year. It may not be a breakout year, but those are still respectable secondary scoring numbers.

Your secondary scoring is basically just Buchnevich at this point. So this is a very long way of saying there is no secondary scoring because there are no legitimate secondary scoring options.

Rangers West asks: Do you think Kreider could get Matt Tkachuk, Christian Dube, and a 1st from Calgary? What about Makar and both of Colorardo’s 1sts (including Ottawa’s)?

Easy one first: Colorado laughs at that deal. They are not giving up their best prospect, a guaranteed top-five pick, and a potential additional lottery pick for a year and a half of Kreider.

Slightly more difficult one: Calgary also laughs.T kachuk is on an 80 point pace and is 20 years old. Why in the world would they give that up for Kreider? Now if you said Bennett, Dube, and a 1st, it keeps them on the phone.

Marshall asks: Look at what the Islanders did by hiring great management and coaches and running a decent farm system. We have been stuck with mediocrity to garbage for most of the Sather/Dolan reign. No end in sight?

We are about one full year into the rebuild at this point. I see the patience is already wearing thin.

Let’s stick with the Rangers for a second. I guess you missed the last eight years, where the Rangers won a President’s Trophy, a Prince of Wales Trophy, and went to another pair of Conference Finals? That doesn’t come easy, and to stay that good for that long, futures are dealt. That’s the life cycle of a professional hockey team. Look at Chicago’s tire fire right now.

The Sather/Dolan reign isn’t anywhere near perfect, but it gave us that run. And as for the rebuild, they gave us five first rounders in the last two years, plus whatever comes this year (at least one, maybe two is TB wins, plus deadline hauls). They gave us the Zibanejad trade for an aging Brassard.

The Islanders, meanwhile, are VERY well coached (yes, Barry Trotz is a better coach than David Quinn). However the coaching and goaltending from Robin Lehner are covering up some bad management mistakes. This is a team that has $15.35 million tied up in forwards Cal Clutterbuck (3 more seasons), Casey Cizikas (2 more), Leo Komarov (3 more), and Andrew Ladd (4 more). That’s $15.35 million spent on four of their six bottom-six forwards, and $17.85 million for five of their bottom-six when you include Matt Martin.

They have another $6 million tied up in 35 year old Johnny Boychuk for 3 more years and Nick Leddy at $5.5 million for 3 more years. Don’t forget Scott Mayfield has $1.45 million for 4 more years as well. That’s a combined $13 million for a a -8.35 rel xGF% combined between the three. That’s not good. Put that all together and you have $30 million tied up in bad contracts. Think Staal/Girardi were bad? The Isles have triple the amount of bombs in their lineup.

Let’s see how they do when they need to re-sign Jordan Eberle, Brock Nelson, Anders Lee, Matt Barzal, and Anthony Beauvillier. It’s worth noting that the GM that acquired the aforementioned five players is no longer with the team. He’s also the GM that got that 2nd first rounder last year that turned into Noah Dobson (Travis Hamonic trade).

The Islanders are a good team. They have the pieces to make it work. However they have so much tied up in dead weight that it may cost them dearly in the future. Trotz is a good coach, he’s better than Quinn, so I’ll give you that. However I’d much rather have the Rangers run of the past, their current rebuilding present, and their potential future than the current path of whatever the Islanders are on.

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