Yesterday afternoon was relativity quiet in Rangerstown. The Rangers were coming off an excellent five-goal effort in a comeback win over the Bruins, and people were generally feeling pretty well.
Initial reactions weren’t great (especially on the Podcast Thursday night), nor should they have been. The Rangers’ history of really bad asset management during the Alain Vigneault years continued -- although let’s be honest, it wasn’t great under John Tortorella or Tom Renney, either.
The Rangers will find out at Noon today if they’re going to lose McIlrath to another team for nothing, and even if he does get sent down to Hartford he will almost certainly not play the required 42 NHL games to keep him a RFA next year — which means he’ll be leaving this summer for nothing anyway.