Islanders show where Chris Drury’s Rangers makeover needs to start
NY Post
It is, to borrow a phrase from Gerrit Cole, low-hanging fruit to evaluate the Rangers based on the Islanders second consecutive playoff run. I know that.
But I also know that Chris Drury faces a massive task in his first offseason as general manager in transforming the Blueshirts from a fancy-pants team loaded with artistes to a group that can get down and dirty one night after the next when the stakes are at their highest. We hear all the time about how the blue line is overflowing, that there simply isn’t going to be enough space on the roster for all the talented kids who will compete for spots. But what I want to know, after watching six games of smashmouth hockey in which the Islanders and Bruins engaged in hand-to-hand combat in front of the net, is where is the size and strength on the Broadway blue line necessary to withstand the rigors of the postseason?
PORT ST. LUCIE — For now, Craig Kimbrel is choosing Mets purgatory.
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Zion Williamson is slimmer and healthier for his trip to MSG.
Don’t blame Mikal Bridges for his paltry stats. Blame the role.
Almost a year to the day after a goaltender interference call against Kyle Palmieri lost the Islanders a game against the Blue Jackets that started their season’s death spiral, they were on the wrong end of another controversial call against those same Blue Jackets that might have had the same effect.
On the Queens side of town, the reno began in earnest almost as soon as Francisco Lindor grounded into the 4-6-3 double play. That ended a 4-0 loss before a rare sizable crowd at Miami’s loanDepot Park last Sept. 27, all of them there to witness the final death rattles of an epic baseball calamity.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba is being paid handsomely for his breakout season.
Next comes the harder part. Mostly because it can’t get any easier.
It was Kids Day at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, but for the Rangers, it’s been All About The Kids for months.
PORT ST. LUCIE — From the moment he was told he needed surgery on his left hamate bone, Francisco Lindor fixated on the recovery time. Trainers provided the Mets shortstop a six-week pathway to return to play, and Lindor was determined to hit every marker.
Dylan Garand knew the number off the top of his head. He knew that, between the regular season and playoffs, he’d logged over 160 games with AHL Hartford, and he was right. Before the Rangers recalled him Friday, Garand had served as the Wolf Pack’s goaltender 165 times.
SAN DIEGO — As you may have seen elsewhere in this newspaper (and also if you haven’t deleted me yet from your social media), I have a book coming out Tuesday called “The Bosses of The Bronx.” Much of it details the 37 years’ worth of antics, winning, losing, winning again and overall mania of George Steinbrenner’s time with the Yankees.
Don’t close the curtain on “Mean” Joe Greene.
The Knicks are on a five-game winning streak and flooded with concerns.