bantering points: 4/20/24

here are today's news and links:

rangers news:

mark cannizzaro argues that between the need to avoid a repeat of last year's disappointing playoff showing, as well as the burden of the presidents' trophy, the blueshirts are staring down all the pressure in the world as the postseason begins (ny post)

mollie walker chatted with jacob trouba regarding his late season demotion to the third defensive pairing that is expected to remain in tact when the puck drops for game 1 on sunday (ny post)

colin stephenson notes that although the rangers endured a sub-par january, the rough patch the team battled through allowed them an opportunity to grow ahead of the playoffs (newsday)

vincent mercogliano previews and predicts the series between new york and washington (lohud)

tom castro sees an opportunity for alexis lafreniere to break out into stardom similar to how alex kovalev did the same thing for the blueshirts 30 years ago (the hockey writers)

lucas standel echos the sentiments of many that the rangers should be heavily favored to advance past the capitals and into the divisional finals (the hockey writers)

around the nhl:

colorado avalanche goaltender pavel francouz announced his retirement from hockey after missing the entirety of the 2023-24 campaign due to a lower-body injury (tsn)

elliotte friedman broke down how the league orchestrated the arizona coyotes now-official move to utah (sportsnet)

ryan clark and kristen shilton offer previews and bold predictions for each of the 16 teams still in the running for the stanley cup (espn)