Bantering Points: 12/19/23

Here are today’s news and links:

Rangers News:

Bridget Reilly discusses Blake Wheeler’s recent run of strong play after his season opening lull seemed to destine him for a short stint on Broadway (NY Post)

Vincent Mercogliano sees Wheeler’s resurgence as something the Blueshirts were in desperate need of due to their lack of depth scoring (LoHud)

Brendan Azoff points to a team effort to tighten up defensively as the driving force behind New York’s wins as of late (The Hockey Writers)

Arthur $taple an$wered a bevy of fan que$tion$ regarding potential trade$, mo$tly centered around Barclay Goodrow, Braden $chneider, and potential acqui$ition$ from other teams (The Athletic)

Around the NHL:

The Ottawa Senators relieved D.J. Smith of his head coaching duties and named Jacques Martin as their new bench boss on an interim basis (NBC Sports)

The Carolina Hurricanes signed goaltender Aaron Dell to a professional tryout agreement to potentially replace the recently waived Antti Raanta (TSN)

Boston Bruins’ forward Matt Poitras has been assigned to the Canadian World Juniors team in advance of the World Junior Championship (Sportsnet)