Not much has been going on for the Rangers the past couple of days. Rick Nash hasn’t been traded (not surprising), Bobby Ryan is still a Duck (also not surprising) and the free agency well has run dry. That doesn’t mean there has been nothing going on. First, some news.

Anton Stralman’s arbitration date, if necessary, is July 31st. Most people don’t expect him to get to arbitration. Seeing how quickly everyone else who elected it has signed, I wouldn’t be surprised if that is the case.

Although we still don’t have a timeline, Dylan McIlrath’s has started his road to recovery:

All signs point to this being a long road ahead so we’ll just hope for the best. Get well soon McIlrath!

And now time for some charity news and notes. We all know that hockey players involve themselves in charities as much as possible. This week, that really was shown.

(Photo: Julie Robenhymer/hockeybuzz)

Chris Kreider participated in the Big Assist IV up in Massachusetts earlier this week, which is a charity game started by Ryan Shannon with all proceeds going to spinal cord injury research. Many NHL, AHL, European, NCAA and USHL players take part in this game. And who was the fan favorite? By the end of the night, it was Kreider. Not for anything he did on the ice but what he did after the game. According to Julie Robenhymer who was at the game, Kreider was the only one to stick around after the game and not only sign for a couple of kids but sign for everyone in the building who asked for an autograph. All the other players were showered and gone, while Kreider was still on the ice signing autographs. That right there is what people refer to when they say a player has character. I couldn’t be more proud that he plays for my team

Next up, we have a fundraiser/game out in Minnesota set-up by our own Derek Stepan according to Jack Jablonski who was on hand to drop the first puck. (For those who don’t know, Jablonski was the high school player who was paralyzed by a hit during a game in December 2011. He has kind of become the poster boy for injuries like this.) The game featured a bunch of NHL players including Stepan and Ryan McDonagh on one team and Stu Bickel on the other. The plus about teammates going against each other? You get tweets such as these

Did Stepan really ask Bickel to fight? Thank goodness Bickel said no as he would’ve killed Step! Of course, Stepan wasn’t going to take the remark about his goal and responded with the following:

Sometimes, I honestly can’t with these guys. Anyway, sounds like everyone had a great time.

And finally, one more charity event for a now ex-Ranger (still hurts to say that, by the way). Brandon Prust is hosting what he hopes to be annual event in Ontario called Prusty4Kids, which is a golf tournament involving NHL players and pro-golfers to support Kids Kicking Cancer. Prust became involved with the initiative back when he was in the OHL and has stayed in touch with the program and one special kid, Liam. Word is while these programs are very popular in the U.S., this is the first of its kind in Canada so way to go Prust! It’s stuff such as this which is why fans love him and are really going to miss him. If you want to learn more about the cause or donate, you can do so here.

Couldn’t be more proud of our boys after reading about these! If you know of any other charity games the boys will be partaking in or are able to attend and have pictures, definitely let us know!