NEW YORK (AP) For New York Rangers general manager Jeff Gorton
Jonathan Bernier Jersey Womens , the NHL trade deadline brought mixed emotions on Monday.Gorton said it was ”difficult” to trade captain Ryan McDonagh
and forward J.T. Miller to the Tampa Bay Lightning for Vladimir Namestnikov, two
prospects and two draft picks.But the return, prospects Libor Hajek and Brett
Howden, and Tampa Bay’s first-round pick in 2018 and a conditional first-round
pick in 2019 are ”exciting” for a franchise in the midst of a rebuild.He made
sure to stress, though, that this was simply the beginning.There’s a lot of work
here,” Gorton said on a conference call. ”We’re trying to build a team. We’re
adding these assets and doing all these things, but listen, there’s a lot of
work to be done.”There’s a lot of players out there that we need to be watching,
finding out what’s going on in the draft. There’s a lot of opportunity to grow
as a team and make our team better. That’s our goal, that’s our mission. I feel
like we’re just starting.”New York has three first-round picks in June’s draft.
The Rangers also have two second-round picks, two third-round picks, a
fourth
Conor Timmins Jersey Womens , a fifth and a sixth for a total of 10 picks.The deal continued the Rangers’ rebuilding process. They have acquired
defenseman Rob O’Gara and a 2018 third-round draft pick from Boston for Nick
Holden; prospect Yegor Rykov and a 2018 second-round draft pick from New Jersey
for Michael Grabner; a 2018 first-round pick, a 2019 seventh-round pick,
prospect Ryan Lindgren, Ryan Spooner and Matt Beleskey from Boston for Rick
Nash; and now Namestnikov, Hajek and Howden.”You look at these opportunities
when they come along and maybe we take advantage or get an opportunity because
teams feel they can win and we can make these deals,” Gorton said.As the Rangers
head to Western Canada for a three-game road trip against Vancouver, Calgary and
Edmonton, they are 25th in the NHL with a 27-30-6 record and 60 points.Whereas
New York is looking toward the organization’s future, Tampa Bay is bolstering
its roster in an attempt to win the franchise’s second Stanley Cup.In acquiring
McDonagh, the Lightning are acquiring a top-pairing defenseman who has one year
left on a six-year, $28.2 million contract signed prior to the 2013-14 season.
He joins a defensive group which includes Victor Hedman, rookie Mikhail
Sergachev, and McDonagh’s former teammates in New York
Ian Cole Jersey Womens , Dan Girardi and Anton Stralman.Right wing Ryan Callahan, who also played with McDonagh with the Rangers from 2010 to 2014, is
also a member of a Lightning team which leads the Eastern Conference with 87
points entering Monday night.McDonagh has 26 points (two goals and 24 assists)
in 49 games this season, and 238 points (51 goals and 187 assists) in 516
regular-season games. He has 10 goals and 31 assists in 96 playoff games.”It’s a
very difficult thing to do. It’s a player we view as a really special Ranger, he
(was) the captain of our team. He (was) here for a lot of good times and played
a lot of good hockey for us.”A special person off the ice. Involved off the ice
in charities, and a great family. A player we traded for if you think back was
sort of a time where things started to change in the right direction for us,”
Gorton said of McDonagh.”Difficult, as you said. J.T. has been a good player for
us, too. I wouldn’t want to undercut him.”Definitely emotional to see him go.”—
BOSTON (AP) Bruins forward Brad Marchand has used the past few days since his
team was eliminated in the second round in five games by the Tampa Bay Lightning
to reflect on his role in the loss.Marchand drew national attention and a
reprimand from the NHL after he was caught licking the face of Lightning forward
Ryan Callahan during a confrontation in the Lightning’s 4-3 overtime Game 4 win
that pushed the Bruins to the brink of elimination.For Marchand, who scored 34
goals during the regular season and represented the Bruins at the All-Star Game,
the licking incident added to his list of infractions. He has been suspended by
the NHL six times and fined three.Now Marchand is thinking about cleaning up his
act.”After having a couple days kind of looking back on the year and seeing
what’s happened the last few days I guess, with all the media and everything, I
think the biggest thing for me now is to really take a pretty hard look in the
mirror and realize the actions
Philipp Grubauer Jersey Womens , some of the things that I’m doing, have much bigger consequences,” Marchand said during the Bruins’ breakup day at the
Warrior Ice Arena on Wednesday.”Especially the last thing I ever want to do is
kind of bring the embarrassment on my teammates and the organization that it
did. I have to be a lot better. I know I’ve said that in the past, but I think
that that’s got to be the thing that I really work on the most.”I think I’ve
gotten my game into a pretty decent spot, but I got some character things and
things that I’ve done that clearly need some fixing.”The Bruins may not have to
change much despite coming up short in their quest for their first Stanley Cup
since 2011. They won 50 games for the 10th time in franchise history and
finished second in the Eastern Conference, one point behind Tampa Bay.They went
14-0-4 from Dec. 16 to Jan. 25, which was their longest point streak since they
went 18 games (13 wins, five ties) without a loss from Dec. 28, 1968 to Feb. 5,
1969 and tied for the second-longest point streak in team history.One year after
losing in the first round of the playoffs to the Ottawa Senators, the Bruins
defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs in seven games in the first round and advanced
to the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 2014.They
accomplished this while losing 304 regular-season man games to injury and
integrating five rookies to the lineup.”We started with some injuries as you
saw. … But then we got most of our guys back and we started playing with a full
lineup and it showed on the ice. We were slowly and surely climbing the
standings,” Bruins captain Zdeno Chara said.”We faced some challenges about
three-fourths into season again with some injuries, still we had guys filling
the gaps and the roles and we kept finding ways to win games. So that’s very
positive about this team and resiliency and never-give-up attitude.”Many Bruins
players were still coming to terms with being eliminated.Several
others
Adam Clendening Jersey Womens , including Patrice Bergeron (groin), David Backes (concussion), Torey Krug (fractured ankle) and Marchand (groin),
were dealing with injuries as often happens with Cup contending teams this far
into the playoffs.But to a man they were confident that there are better things
ahead for the Bruins, who have seven unrestricted free agents among the 26
players that finished the season on their roster.”I think the thing that we’re
excited about next year is we have a lot of the team returning, which is huge.
It was a big learning experience for the young guys that came in,” Marchand
said.”A lot of highs and lows so it should be a learning experience for them,
and same with us (the veterans), we can always draw a lot from each and every
year. … So hopefully we can all bring the benefits from this season into next
year and be even better.”—
