Your New Year's Ranger headlines:
* QUICK WAS TOO SLOW. (When Jonny allows five goals; he ain't gonna win; no how!)
* FOX WAS TOO LATE. (Hail, Adam, the not-conquering hero. Nice goal, assist; bad loss.)
* WILSON WAS TOO GOOD. (As usual, the Blueshirts wish Tom was with NY, not DC.)
What else do you need to know as your Beloved Blueshirts welcome Year 2026 almost as disastrously as they did 2025.
When Rangers Cup-winning GM Neil Smith called his former club "a disaster" on the recent "Bottle Rocket" podcast, The Maven thought maybe Smith was exaggerating.
But after yesterday's 6-3 loss to Washington in D.C. I'm with Neil all the way.
In a game that had many facets of importance to the New Yorkers they fell on their faces – again. The usually reliable Jonathan Quick was unusually unreliable – 21 saves on 26 shots doesn't cut it.
Adam Fox returned, got an assist and scored a power play goal; so what did it get them – or him? No points in the standings.
Endless Rangers nemesis Tom Wilson KO'd Noah Laba right out of the game with a clean check. Sam Carrick later tried to beat up Wilson. Carrick lost a pound or two while Wilson wound up with two goals and no fight loss.
What To Make Of Team Chameleon Alias The Blueshirts
Trying to figure what this <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/new-york-rangers">Rangers</a> team is all about is roughly equivalent to cycling from here to eternity.
Frankly, The Maven had promised readers a much better effort. Why not?
For today's answer, I checked my April 2025 notes from MSG analyst Joe Micheletti's farewell = Rangers X-Ray.
"They have no spirit," said Joe. Well, guess what? They still don't.
Who knows; maybe the fresh Miami air will cure them.