One of the thoughts, when the New York Rangers decided to start Alexandar Georgiev on Monday night, was that it was an audition for other teams who might be interested in trading for the young Russian netminder. If that was the case, he passed his screen test with flying colors as Artemi Panarin tallied five points as the Rangers throttled their rivals from Long Island 6-2. In addition to Panarin’s excellent work, Jesper Fast had a goal and two assists while Adam Fox added a goal and an assist.
The New York Rangers Can Make the Three Goalie Carousel Work for a While
The notion of the Georgiev audition comes after some media reports indicated that the Rangers are willing to “listen” to offers for the young netminder. Reports have suggested that the asking price is high, and nothing that happened in Monday night’s game will change that. If anything, the price just went up. However, the Rangers may want to re-think this situation and keep three goalies for a while.
There are a couple of different scenarios that could allow them to hang on to all three to see if the situation can work itself out naturally. One of the takeaways from Monday night’s game is that Georgiev can still be useful after not seeing the ice in a while. Georgiev did not play the last three games as Igor Shesterkin, and Henrik Lundqvist got the start in those matches.
However, the veteran Lundqvist is the player who has been used to regular work, and he is the one that truly needs it. So, in that case, the Rangers could approach him and let him know that if he wants to stay in New York, and hamper the progress of young talented goalies, and cause a significant hit on their cap, then he will have to play the “difficult” games.
That would mean like last Saturday in St. Louis, he will have to face top teams on the road, thus proving he deserves time in the net while allowing the youngsters to ease into their roles. For example, Lundqvist could get the start on Thursday night against the Isles, using his experience to deal with the hostile Long Island environment.
You could then follow that by giving Shesterkin the home start on Sunday against Columbus and then have Georgiev face the Islanders at home two days later. This will take them up to the All-Star break, giving the Blueshirts 10 days before their next tilt to figure things out. It could also allow them to send Shesterkin down to Hartford, under the guise of letting him have the honor of playing in the AHL All-Star Game, which is held the same weekend as the NHL affair.
This will give you at least until the end of the month to consider options, and have a plan in case an injury should occur. A workable situation in making sure your two young prized goaltenders’ values are optimized.