The New York Rangers have traded their captain Ryan McDonagh and forward JT Miller to the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Rangers in return received a 2018 1st round pick, a conditional second round pick that becomes a 1st if the Lightning win the Stanley Cup this year or next year, along with three young players. The players included are center Vladislav Namestnikov, Brett Howden, and Libor Hasek. This is a deal in which both sides got what they needed to achieve their goals. Rangers added a ton of future pieces that’ll speed up the rebuilding process and the Lighting got two key players to help get them a Stanley Cup.

The Rangers getting two good draft picks here was the marquee element of the trade. With that being said, the players they got shouldn’t be looked at as throwaways. Namestinkov is 25 and is having a career year. He has 44 points in 62 games with a +/- of 11. Safe to say he’s a solid piece, with the potential of being something even better. The other two guys are in the WHL doing a solid job. I honestly have no clue if they have the juice to be good players in the NHL, however the addition of two more prospects definitely doesn’t hurt.

Losing the captain in McDonagh is certainly going to sting for Rangers fans. I know how much he was loved by the fans, so no deal is going to make that any less painful. That’s the nature of the business, though. Everyone has to move on eventually, unless you’re King Hank of course. The Rangers draft the right players they’ll be back to competing in no time. They have three 1st round picks in the 2018 draft, which can be used to create the next core of a Rangers dynasty. Tough to say there’s a clear cut winner in this deal since both sides are getting exactly what they had hoped for at the deadline. 

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The Rangers have sent 6 time all star forward Rick Nash to the Boston Bruins for a 1st round pick, Ryan Spooner, Matt Belesky, Ryan Lindgren, and a 7th round pick. In other words the Rangers robbed the Bruins. I see some Bruins fans on Twitter trying to rationalize the trade, just stop fam, you're embarrassing yourselves. The Bruins gave up a 1st round pick and a pretty good prospect for a ghost of Rick Nash rental. The Rangers gave up a player with an expiring contract that had no future with the team and got back potentially two players that will be apart of their future for a long time. Those players being the 1st round pick they got and prospect Ryan Lindgren. Lindgren isn't going to be an all-star, however that doesn't mean he can't be a productive defenseman for the team for years to come. If you don't think the Rangers are the winner of this trade by a mile, I genuinely feel bad for you and the lack of brain cells you were given.

Let me break this down. Rick Nash was once an elite offensive player who has scored over 50 points 9 times in his career. However, those days are LONG gone. Rick Nash has 28 points this season in 60 games played, pretty ineffective by the standards of which he's held in this trade. Ryan Spooner, who the Bruins sent to the Rangers as a thrown in for this trade, has 25 points in just 39 games. Safe to say he's been a much more effective forward than Rick Nash this season.  That's why it's actually mind blowing to me that the Bruins gave up so much value for a nearly valueless player. Now, it's not all hate for Rick Nash. The guy  shows up every night, gives it his all, and I'm sure his leadership in the locker room is priceless. With that being said, it doesn't change the fact that the Rangers fleeced the Bruins.

Only way this trade will end up looking good for the Bruins is if Rick Nash somehow turns back the hands of time and lights it up for the Bruins. I guess they were looking to add a veteran offensive piece that'll help them come playoff time, which is totally ridiculous since Rick Nash is notorious for disappearing in the playoffs. Watch, now that I said that Rick Nash will win Stanley Cup Finals MVP and spit on my grave. If that happens I can't even get mad because it'd be so fucking ludicrous. Anyways, Rangers haven't won much this year, but this was a huge W for them in terms of building towards the future. The Bruins still have a ton of prospects, one of the brightest futures in the sport, nonetheless if they continue to make asinine moves like this that'll quickly change. This tweet I posted earlier sums up the tweet quite well: ​https://twitter.com/djackman96/status/967794993283895297

Wow, last night's women's hockey gold medal game was quite the event. Most people probably missed the game since it started around 11:30 and didn't finish until about 2 in the morning. For those of you who missed it you'll never know how much you actually care about women's hockey until you watch. Nonstop in the 3rd period, OT, and shootout was my body contorting as each shot was taken. I was a nervous wreck, at that moment in time nothing meant more to me than our women finally beating Canada to win the gold. After 4 Olympic heartbreaks this was finally the USA's moment. Honestly, we were the better team and the score ended up reflecting that.

In the Overtime period the USA was getting opportunity after opportunity. With each shot on goal I was getting closer and closer to popping the champagne bottles. It seemed as if it was only a matter of time with the way our women were flying around that ice. That was until Canada got a power play with a little less than 2 minutes left in OT. It was a nightmare situation. 4 on 3 to close out the period. It was now guaranteed that the USA could only win in a shootout and most likely Canada was just going to win it right here, right now. Somehow, someway, they gutted it out, our goalie was amazing deflecting shots that I was sure were going to connect with the net, and the USA forced a shootout. 

The shootout was fucking EPIC. I'm usually all against the shootout like everyone else, however last night's shootout was something out of a movie. Back and forth USA and Canada went, goal after goal, when we scored they scored and vice versa. Then, Canada took a lead. That oh shit feeling sunk into your body. Here we go again I thought. Not this team, though. This is a team of destiny and they proved it. Team USA tied it right back up with a fucking sniper bullet to the top shelf where the cookie jar is hidden. Canada had a chance to once again take the lead but were stoned by USA's legendary goalie. That's when a women on the USA team had maybe the filthiest deke I've ever seen on a goalie, tore Canada's goalie ACL's, and buried the puck in the back on the net. I was going absolutely bananas at this point, now the game was ours. Canada had their chance to tie it back up but once again our amazing goalie came up huge and the USA women's hockey team brought home the gold. Fucking legends.

I can honestly say last night was the most fun I've ever had watching a hockey game. Both teams stacked with crazy talented athletes. When I watch the WNBA, clearly the level of play is down from what the men do in the NBA, however in these Olympics watching the women's hockey has been 100x better than watching the men. If there was a WNHL I'd be their biggest fan. Well, it's my lucky day because in 2015 they started the WNHL. Granted there's only 4 teams, but that's how the NFL started, and look where they are now. I'm all in on women's hockey to be the next major sport in this country. Pure electricity, pure savagery, and pure elegance all wrapped up in one sport. Congrats to the USA women's team on winning the gold. More importantly, congrats to me on being an early adopter of maybe the greatest sporting league of all time.