What Now, Rangers? Special Guest: Jonny Lazarus | The Cutting Edge W/JackKnife

The New York Rangers were off to a great start. After missing the playoffs the previous two seasons, the Blueshirts opened 4-1-0. Alexis Lafrenière is a point per game player, Adam Fox is playing up to standard, and obviously, Igor Shesterkin not only making great saves, but putting up points as well. It looked like they could do some damage. Are we a playoff team again?

Well, damage was done to them on Friday in our nations capital, as Shesterkin suffered a lower-body injury that has sidelined him for the remainder of the 2026-27 NHL season. All the good vibes, the optimism, the hope for the future, seemed to vanish when Igor's skate slid into that goal post.  You could feel the change the same way Obi-Wan Kenobi felt the destruction of Alderaan.

How ironic, my wife and I are in the middle of watching Friday Night Lights the series, based on the book by H.G. Bissinger. (SPOILER ALERT) In season one, the star quarterback of the Dillon Panthers, Jason Street goes down with an injury that ends his season (and puts him in a wheelchair [thankfully not the case with Igor]), and in steps in the awkward sophomore, Matt Saracen to fill in big shoes.  Well something similar is happening at Madison Square Garden now, as filling in the big void left by Shesterkin is Dylan Garand, who was not planned to be on the opening night roster, let alone starting for the remainder of the season. Life is weird like that sometimes, and assuming General Manager Chris Drury doesn't have anything up his sleeve, Garand will be carrying the load. 

I was wondering how this team was going to handle adversity.  I was curious how this group would react to a rough stretch of hockey they might go through.  I wasn't expecting this.  Nobody was expecting this type of hurdle that the team is going to have to jump over.  The sad thing is, all the good will the team built back up, all the good things players have been doing, whether it be Lafrenière with his third career hat trick to beat the New York Islanders, or Adam Fox playing at an elite level, that's all overshadowed now due to Igor's injury.  It feels like we're in Delta House and the university just kicked the members out of school.  We need a Bluto speech. 

Well I can't reserect John Belushi to get us optimistic again.  But, I can get you the next best thing.  Daily Faceoff's own, and friend to NTS, Jonny Lazarus had his own take regarding where the Rangers go from here.  I highly suggest you listen to it before you continue reading.  Lazzy was also kind of enough to answer some questions about the Rangers and where they go from here. 

How does Shesterkin's season ending injury change your perspective of this season? Has the ceiling lowered for what this team can accomplish?

I think perspective has certainly changed the ceiling is obviously lower when your most important player who plays the most important position goes down, but there are some things that could be spun in a positive. In reality, the Rangers were not winning a Stanley Cup this year. If they can get into the playoffs without Igor, that shows a lot more about this team than if they were able to get in with him. We're going to learn a lot about this group and what they're made of for the near future. If they don't make the playoffs, they can tank the season and get another good draft pick this coming June, which doesn't hurt at all right now for where the organization stands. 

In hindsight, the Rangers are extremely lucky Garand is still here after waiving him last week.  How do he and the team lock in so that they can have a stretch similar to when Talbot was in for Hank circa 2014-15?

Tough to compare those two situations because that Rangers team was a championship caliber team. Cam Talbot played great, but also had a strong team in front of him. Garand will have a good team in front of him, but you can't really expect a similar result, or it would be unfair to him to do that. That said, this is Garand's moment, the team plays strong defensively, he'll have a chance to succeed.

JT Miller is saying all the right things post game. He's gotten tons of praise from his teammates, he does a lot of the little things that might not be seen on a scoresheet. That being said, he really hasn't put up strong offensive numbers so far and it might leave a fan like me frustrated. You played the game at a very high level. Is there something or some things Miller is doing that fans are just not seeing or appreciating?

J.T.'s line has been really good offensively, and has generated plenty, so it would be a different story if he wasn't getting the looks or creating offensively, but he is. All that matters is that he's adding more than he is taking away. The production will come.

Cole Beaudoin had a bad turnover on Friday night that led to the game winning goal for the Capitals. Rather than get benched, Sullivan kept using him and even said post game that he's a good player and those mistakes will happen. Would you describe that as a breath of fresh air for the Rangers? Because me, I've been wanting them to give kids some leash to make mistakes and learn from them for a long time?

It's definitely a breath of fresh air, and the biggest thing as that Beaudoin had the right intention, he was making the right read, he just threw a bad pass. If he had made the wrong read, it's different story. Coaches care about the way players think the game, and Beaudoin has a pretty strong IQ.

Lafrenière is off to a great start. He'd have more points if he had some more puck luck in the games before the hat trick against the Islanders. Can you explain to me (like I'm an idiot whose highest level of hockey I've ever played is adult beer league [which I am]) what's changed in Lafrenière's game and how he's being effective?

To me the biggest thing with Lafreniere is that he isn't differing to anybody. Having Gabe on his line has been a huge blessing because Gabe is a playmaker who doesn't necessarily need the puck on his stick for a long period of time to create. He and Lafreniere have a formed really strong chemistry and Lafreniere is getting to spots where Gabe and Mika can find him. That said, he's stil got to find ways to finish more consistently, he's done a much better job at playing on the inside, not just possessing around the perimeter. Lafreniere is around the net much more too.

Is there anyone that deserves praise that I did not bring up in these questions?

Pavel Dorofeyev has been playing really well, he just hasn't put up the points yet to show it, but I've liked his game and his shoot-first mentality a lot so far.

How would you rate the play of Adam Fox so far? Can you break down what makes him so special and why slander against him is "ridonkulous?"

I mean it's the same story every year. Adam Fox makes the smart simple play almost every time he's out there. It's just not flashy or sexy all the time, but he's the smartest guy out there, you rarely see him give away the puck. He moves so well laterally along the blue line to create lanes to get the puck to the net and he's always in a good position for the most part defenisvely.

Predictions. Igor is out now. Who steps up? Who surprises us? Where does this team end up at the end of the season?

With our without Igor, you need the first PP unit to step up. You need to have a good PP to be successful, so I'd say it's a guy like Lafreniere now that he's on the first unit and Sullivan trusts him. It's too hard to predict where this team ends up without seeing Garand play on a consistent basis, but I think they'll remain competitive and in the playoff hunt.

-

Thank you, Lazzy!  Those of you who would like to follow Lazzy can follow him @jlazzy23 on Twitter.  You can also see more of his content @DailyFaceoff_NYR and @tristatehockey_dfo on Instagram.

So there you have it folks.  It's a very tough spot for the Rangers to be in, but the sky is not falling.  In fact, this is where we see who the Blueshirts truly are.  Let's see who our skaters are without having to rely on elite goaltending.  It can force them to change for the better.  After all, adversity builds strength. 

They can cower with their tails between their legs, or they can answer the bell and compete at a level we initially didn't think was capable of.  The obvious thing to do is the ladder, because the former is unacceptable with 78 games left this season.  I think back to Avengers: Endgame, when Captain America was consoling the group that had a hard time moving on after the blip, saying you got to move on.  "The world’s been left in our hands.  If we don’t do something with it...then Thanos might as well have killed all of us."  Well the season is still in the Rangers hands, and if their spirit is down, then they all might as well have been injured.  

From what we've seen, that is not the case, as Garand seems up to the challenge and he is embracing the opportunity that is being presented to him.  In fact, he's got a "chip" on his shoulder to prove he belongs at this level.

Obviously things can change.  Not only do the Rangers appear to be changing lines, but now there's rumors of Jonathan Quick coming out of retirement to help out the Rangers.  I certainly would welcome Quick coming back to add some depth, but let's roll with Garand at number one.    

In his young NHL career, Garand is 3-1-1 with a .954 save percentage.  In the AHL playoffs, he's 10-7 with a .927 save percentage.  Not only that, he has championship pedigree, winning the 2022 Gold Medal with Canada during World Juniors.  So it's not like we got some shlub in net, we have someone who has shown they deserve a chance.  

It's been a wild ride the past two weeks for Garand.  From being waived, clearing waivers, being called up to be the backup, and now being the number one goalie is quite the journey.  It's been a short sample size for him, but let's give him a chance before writing off this season.  Head Coach Mike Sullivan plans to do so before Joonas Korpisalo (still four weeks away) comes back.  

Some may reasonably think Igor was our only or last hope to make a run this season.  Well, to bring it back to Star Wars...

That other is Garand.  Let's see what he can do before we write him off, starting with the game tonight at the Garden against the Vancouver Canucks.  Let's hope the Rangers follow the example of the New York Giants, who are still competing and playing tough despite losing Jaxson Dart.  To bring it back to Animal House, as Bluto said, "let's do it!"

At the end of the day though, the injury is truly Paul Bissonnette's fault for jumping on the Blueshirt bandwagon before the season started.  That man is a jynx.

--

This article and NTS is brought to you by Recoil Garage. Visit recoilgarage.com to book your service today