Marquise Blair Jersey NEW YORK Derek Stepan returns to Madison Square Garden on Thursday for the first time since being traded by the Rangers to the Coyotes on June 23, and the Blueshirts Faithful need to collectively rise up and salute a player who for seven seasons was an integral member of the team's core during one of the most succe sful runs in franchise history. Fans at The Garden need to reverse course on their negative bent in which Stepan was vilified by the end of his tenure in New York following a poor playoff showing last spring, a symbol -- or scapegoat -- along with goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, since-departed defenseman Dan Girardi and head coach Alain Vigneault of the team's fall from prior succe ses,and instead show appreciation for all he did while wearing the Rangers sweater. Now that is not to say trading Stepan, and removing his $6.5 million cap hit the next four seasons, was the wrong move by Rangers management, even if the two-win Blueshirts still have a fairly big hole to fill down the middle. Stepanwas never a true No. 1 center, instead forced into that role because of the roster's make up. It's fair to point out that he Andrew Whitaker Jersey is slow, so-so on faceoffs and never scored 60 points in any season. In his defense, though, how many teams have Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jonathan Toews or Anze Kopitar -- top-line centers for eight of the last nine Stanley Cup champions? Exactly. There isplenty to appreciate with Stepan during his time playing on Broadway. He logged all of the heavy minutes, drawing the defensive responsibility ateven strength against other's team's top lines while recording 51 or more points in all but one of his full NHL seasons. Stepan was a smart, elite penalty killer over the course of his Rangers career, and also a consistent performer on the team's power play. In short, Stepan was a major player at a time when the Rangers reached the Eastern Sebastian Janikowski Jersey Conference Final in 2012, 2014 and 2015, and suffered a five-game lo s to the Kings in the 2014 Stanley Cup Final, New York's first Cup Final appearance since the memorable 1994 championship. He is third on the franchise list for postseason games played (97) and is tied for sixth in playoff scoring with 49 points (19-30-49). Stepan's series-deciding overtime goal against the Capitals that Tedric Thompson Jersey pushed the Rangers into the conference final for a second consecutive season in 2015 is as dramatica moment in the past decade as the team had. And Stepanloved being a New York Ranger -- the Minnesota kid who embraced the big city,started raising his family in Manhattan and often spoke of the goose-bump thrill of playing for the home team at MSG. At all times, he represented the organization with pride and cla s. Stepan was a fantastic Blueshirt teammate, one that grew from little brother to big brother, a respected alternate captain whose leadership skills were highly respected in the dre sing room. He was -- and is -- far from Jalen Sundell Jersey perfect; but it is hard to imagine the Rangers recent run of succe s without him. Now Derek Stepan is an Arizona Coyote, an alternate captain and top-line centerfor a winle s team desperately trying to find is way. Rangers fans need to welcome him home Thursday, embrace him, thank him for his quality years of service, then let him go on his way with the next phase of his career.