We all know that the Rangers have amassed an abundance of young, promising pieces since they started the Big Rebuild until the 2018 deadline, however, it is still impossible to say whether the team is ahead, behind or on schedule, because late us the fact that the final picture not only looks incomplete, but is also a bit of a mystery.
But we know for sure that the Rangers would not even be close to where they are today, if the general manager, Jeff Gorton, who was brought back from Boston on February 25, 2018, for the lease of property Rick Nash that he was able to four and to supplement nine months later.
The rebuilt letter presented by letters traded Ryan McDonagh, Mats Zuccarello, Kevin Hayes and JT, Miller among the players who sent off Broadway, but the grace received for Nash represents the grand prize in this process.
Ryan Lindgren comes from the Bruins during his second season at the University of Minnesota after his second-round pick in 2016. A draft pick in the first round was included, as was Matt Beleskey with the salary and an unfavorable Ryan Spooner. OK, looks good, but maybe not so special.
But Gorton drove the Bruins ‘first round and the Devils’ second round (acquired on the deadline for Michael Grabner) to Ottawa to move up from 26 to 22 overall to select K’Andre Miller. And in November 2018, after a series of desultory appearances by Spooner, who never invested in David Quinn’s program, Gorton sent the prosperity to Edmonton in exchange for Ryan Strome.
Lindgren, Miller and Strome, who were all the key ingredients in Friday’s Garden party of a 6-2 victory over the Bruins, in front of about 1800 fans who almost made it sound like it was on June 14, 1994. again in exchange for Nash and his expiration contract.
Nice, nice, pretty good.
The Blueshirts were even better than those in this one, played smart, with weaker and with a controlled rage against a Boston team that lost four of its last five. They did not back down, and they did not back down. On the contrary, the Rangers got up and owned the battlefields. They owned the neutral zone. Simple, difficult plays throughout the series enabled talent to flourish.
“No one came back tonight,” said Lindgren, who had those three-and-three four-pointer and a few assistants. “They are a physical team. They like to jaw after the whistle and, you know, do such things. We did not back down. We returned it immediately.
‘And we were also smart with our physicality. We do not take stupid punishments. It was a great team effort, and we came to play tonight. ”
One of the four credited hits among the Rangers’ credited total of 32 (17 in the first period) comes with about 40 seconds left in the first period, when Lindgren dropped his shoulder and blew on David Pastrnak, who is the wing of Boston to the ice when he tried to carry the right planks through the neutral zone. Oops. Sorry. Roadblock in the road. Pastrnak should have checked Waze.
‘I mean, you saw him come down against the wall, and I knew he was going to try to get the red [line] and pours it in, ”said no. 55 said. ‘So I was just trying to complete my hit, and the fans loved it. So it felt good. ”
Lindgren was considered a marginal prospect when Don Sweeney, GM, Boston sent him to the Rangers. Reading him was ‘great leadership qualities’. It sounded like a ‘great personality’, a reconnaissance report on a first date. Shortly after the deal, Lindgren left school after his sophomore year and joined the AHL Wolf Pack during an amateur test. He spent almost the entire 2018-19 in the AHL before being on the scene early last season.
He formed a perfect union with Adam Fox, with whom he was a teammate and often a defensive pair in Team USA’s U17 team 2015 and U18 team 2016, and in the U20 team in 2017 and 2018 at the World Juniors. Lindgren is just as difficult to play against as any Rangers defender since Jeff Beukeboom, but his game is more than that.
“My relationship with Ryan goes back to the national program and was very familiar with him as a player and a lot of the intangible things he brought to the game,” Quinn said. ‘I thought he had a chance to become an NHL player, but he’s a man who wants to be a good NHL player in a short time.
‘The thing I give him a lot of credit for is that he has adapted. He leaned, he’s faster, his hands are better. His skating has improved, as has his conditioning. He’s an excellent addition to Foxy, but I think he’s going to be a great addition to anyone. ”
Hence the compliments to Gorton. Because there on the ice were Lindgren, Miller and Strome. Lettermen, under any other names.