Screen Shots: New York Rangers, Bob Jones and Craig Anderson

Adam Proteau looks at what the Rangers may do at the trade deadline, Senators' assistant coach Bob Jones' ALS diagnosis and Craig Anderson playing 700 games.

Welcome back to Screen Shots, an ongoing THN.com feature in which we take a shorter look at a handful of hockey topics. Let’s get straight to it.

The New York Rangers are 15-4-2 since Dec. 3, but there’s still a sense they’re going to make a major addition before the NHL’s March 3 trade deadline. As per Cap Friendly, they’re projected to have more than $5.2 million in cap space by the deadline, a number that would put them in range to acquire a high-impact performer such as Blackhawks star winger Patrick Kane. Rangers GM Chris Drury has four first-round picks in the next three entry drafts – three of his own and Dallas’ first-rounder this summer – and given the Blueshirts are in win-now mode, you can easily see them giving up one of them in a trade for a proven NHLer.

The Rangers don’t have a wealth of above-average prospects, so Drury will almost assuredly have to surrender a first-round pick in any trade. But he’s also got 2020 No. 1-overall pick Alexis Lafreniere to dangle – a player who might benefit from a change of scenery and a new team that doesn’t have the type of pressure the Rangers have on them right now. 

The Rangers have 59 standings points at the moment, but in the competitive Metropolitan Division, that puts them only five points ahead of the fifth-place Pittsburgh Penguins, and the Pens have a game in hand. They can’t afford to go through a losing streak, and with less than six weeks left before the trade deadline, Drury will be one of the GMs who could make the biggest splash on the trade front.

The Ottawa Senators announced dreadful news Tuesday morning, revealing that assistant coach Bob Jones has been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a neurological disease that slowly causes loss of muscle control. 

Jones took his battle with ALS public to drive fundraising, encouragement and awareness about the awful disease. He was still out on the ice during Tuesday's practice, which coach D.J. Smith said is Jones' choice as he's joking around with the players and keeping his spirits high.

The Jones family has asked that those who want to donate consider the ALS Society of Canada and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

Everyone at The Hockey News wishes him the very best in the weeks and months ahead. We don’t have a cure for it yet, but the only way we’re going to get one is to support brave people like Jones in any way we can.

Finally, veteran Sabres goaltender Craig Anderson played his 700th game and backstopped Buffalo to a 3-2 overtime win over Dallas Monday night. The 41-year-old now has an 8-6-2 record in 17 appearances this season, but the most impressive stat is his .918 save percentage on a Sabres team that is often defensively challenged.

Anderson has 48 games of playoff experience, including his 19-game post-season run with the Senators in 2016-17. His ability to provide solid netminding will likely be the difference between Buffalo making and missing the playoffs this year. 

The Sabres probably won’t leapfrog the Tampa Bay Lightning, Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins for one of the Atlantic Division’s top three playoff berths, but Buffalo’s current three-game win streak has put them within reach of the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins for one of the two wild-card berths, and so long as Anderson stays healthy, Sabres fans are right to be optimistic they’ll be playing meaningful hockey down the stretch.

Sabres GM Kevyn Adams has $18.2 million in cap space, and perhaps he uses some of that amount to acquire another experienced hand in net like Sharks veteran James Reimer. But if Anderson continues to play well or either Eric Comrie or Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen steps up, Adams can spend that money on help on the blueline instead. 

In any case, this may be Anderson’s last gasp as an on-ice performer, and it will be intriguing to see if he can summon up some magic to make this a special year for Buffalo.