On the New York Rangers …
Larry Brooks of the NY Post: Defenseman Ryan McDonagh will be an unrestricted free agent after next season. He’ll be 30 years old and could be cheaper than other pending UFA defensemen Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Drew Doughty and Erik Karlsson.
“You know what? I feel like I’ve got a great situation here, I love it both on and off the ice, and there’s no point at all in speculating about what might be down the road,” the captain of the Rangers told The Post last week. “Who knows what the situation is going to be?
“A lot of it is going to have to do with how we play and how I play. The only thing I can control is how I play, so I’m not about to get into whatever different scenarios might come up. It’s not something that’s on my mind.”
On the New York Islanders …
Chris Nichols of FanRag Sports: Bob McKenzie on SiriusXM (last week) on the Islanders pending unrestricted free agents John Tavares and Josh Bailey.
“We joked about Drew Doughty talking about colluding with Erik Karlsson. What if John Tavares and his linemate Josh Bailey decided they were going to collude and they were going to say, ‘Hey, how about us as a package deal? We’re both free in the summer here.’
“The enormous potential for the Islanders to re-sign these guys and have two front-line players on your first line like that along with Anders Lee, that’s fantastic. But the exposure obviously is what if both of them said, ‘You know what? Let’s explore things a little bit here. Let’s just get to the market and see what goes on.’
“And wouldn’t it be something someone came after both of them. I don’t know what teams could do that. But it’s a fascinating dynamic when you’ve got two guys on the same line lighting it up like those guys are lighting it up, and they’re both unrestricted free agents this year.”
