Rangers mishandling Ryan McDonagh trade has been Lightning boon
NY Post
As if the Rangers’ light return from the Lightning for Ryan McDonagh (and J.T. Miller) hadn’t been analyzed enough, along comes No. 27 with a Conn Smythe-worthy performance.
But more than three years later, the most intriguing part of the 2018 deadline trade in which the Blueshirts sent McDonagh and Miller to the Lightning isn’t so much that the Rangers, under then-general manager Jeff Gorton, whiffed on their evaluation of Libor Hajek as a must-have, difference-making, top-four defenseman, but that there was comparatively little interest in McDonagh when the Rangers placed him on the auction block. This was no bidding war. Only a handful of teams were in on McDonagh, who was coming off a couple of down years, had been battered by injuries over the preceding four seasons and was a year away from unrestricted free agency. The two-playoffs rental at a club-friendly $4.7 million per did not hold much sway.
PORT ST. LUCIE — For now, Craig Kimbrel is choosing Mets purgatory.
‘Freak of nature: Zion Williamson’s resurgence could pose a Knicks problem versus motivated Pelicans
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.