Gomez - Drury

Yea it seems about that time to review these signings from last summer. Gomez and Drury rank respectfully 1 and 4 on the team's point scoring list. Gomez of course has been the best player on the team and the catalist for the offense for the past couple of weeks. He was also able to jumpstart a slow out of the gate Shanahan who is third on the team in points currently, and it seems like he is doing the same for Jagr who has been able to put up a few assists here and there followed by 2 goals last night. Gomez didn't have the greatest start but has come on the last 2 months and has easily become the catalist for whatever line he is on. Where as Drury has been a solid player as well. Not as noticable sometimes out there on the ice, as some would hope but he is still making a difference on the ice. His plus/minus leaves something to be desired. Drury is one of only 3 Rangers that are in the double digits on the minus side (Orr and Girardi are the others). ESPN doesn't have faceoff statistics which I am assuming he probably leading the rangers if not in second place. Drury's value actually lies elsewhere though. Yes, he is having a decent point season chances are will be over 50 points and has a chance to get over 60; but he is a last second type of guy. He is the player who scores the goal in the last minute when you are facing elimination to force another game, another period or ends the game. All in all there is real no way to judge Drury's season until we get to the second season. So all in all, despite all the lack of scoring this team is doing these 2 are still producing and playing well.

As for Orr's hit last night, good clean hit. Orr had his hands down and caught Cullen with his head down. I liked Cullen when he was a Ranger last year but you do not skate across the middle with your head down in the NHL just ask Eric Lindros. Even if the league has protected against those hits in recent years you still shouldn't even consider doing something like that. Espeically against the Rangers 4th line whose calling card is backchecking and defense, besides the toughness side of things with Hollweg and Orr. Keep your head up and shit like this won't happen. The NHL should never start protecting players who can't learn to keep their heads up when skating across the middle. I mean hell they teach you how to stick handle in minor hockey when you are a kid, and it starts with your head up. Many players have spent countless hours staring at the boards while trying to keep control of the puck at their feet to stop that exact thing. Keep you head up and this shit wouldn't happen. Players like Crosby or Heatley may have made that pass but would not be skating there looking back over their shoulder not keeping their head up. Here is the video.



Hands down, heads down. Stupid penalty from the refs as well but they are trained to protect the players and give the team the Rangers are playing every advantage as possible. Citing last week as the Refs and Marion Gaborik took out the Rangers.

Rangers slap the shit out of the pens

Nothing really to say but awesome. Pound the pens and make syd the kid look bad, it was a great night for me. Awesome. No complaints just awesome. Honestly good effort up and down the lineup and that is some high quality hockey.

flyers bad, simon just as bad?

Through 2 periods not so good.

Where I live the Rangers are not being played tonight but it looks like the mix of rangers injuries and flu symptoms have sent the rangers to the ropes with a big help from the coyotes who are just taking advantage of the team as a whole. Of course I am listening to the game on NHL radio and I haven't been listening for the whole game but I have been keeping up with the situation. From what I can gather the effort is there from the rangers and it has been for the last couple of appearances on the ice but its the execution that the Rangers are struggling with. Callahan to Hartford is a surprise but who knows I guess he hasn't been playing up to expectations but who knows.

What to do from here? This has got me even confused. It's looking like right now the key to this team's success is Sean Avery. The team continues to struggle without Avery in the lineup and without something drastic happening its looking like this will continue.

Side note on this I do not advocate any kind of trade as of yet. I would rather seem them come out of this on their own. The team is strong and young. I can wait another year for a Stanley Cup do not sacrifice the future for something that most likely will not work long term anyway. There are a good number of young players that will be able to come up within the next couple of years and sending them somewhere else is not the answer.

The sad thing is that Renney is the one that is going to be in trouble soon. The following will most likely happen soon (next month or 2) A) Tom Renney getting fired, B) a big trade. We'll see which one comes first, but who knows what Sather is thinking. There are more and more trade rumors that are coming up around the internet, which are starting to involve the Rangers to an extent, but nothing good so far.

Kevin Out

A loss for words

Tonights game against the Hurricanes to the 12 minute mark of the third period has just been awful. Unable to capitalize on all of their chances the Rangers are losing 3 nothing to this point. I am assuming of course that they aren't going to pull this one out of their ass but who knows you gotta keep the faith. If this game continues in the way that it has gone so far that game will most likely end by the same score or the Hurricanes will tally another one late in the game.

The Rangers once again have been unable to put the puck in the net. With credits to the Hurricane defense none of their 28 shots on goal have been all that great of chances. A few here and there, but not many overall. They have just given away the puck all night and allowed chances all night long. The Canes just scored their 4th goal of the night. Jagr as well as the rest of the Rangers have appeared to have completely given up on this game not even wanting to finish off the effort. The best line of the night was the 4th line which generated pretty much all of the chances in the first period.

Here is my question why so little of the 3rd line? This line appears to be playing well for the ice time that they got but seemed to get less ice time then the 4th line. The fact is no one really showed up to play this game, and you can't win a game in the NHL by not showing up no matter how much a team is struggling. The Hurricanes limped into this game and was set to be jumped on by a Rangers team that just came off a big win in Ottawa but they let this one get away from them.

All I can say is they played with very little energy and couldn't generate much at all tonight. I don't like to tell people how to do their jobs, but I think its time to put Hossa in the rafters and bring Dawes or Moore back from the minors or hell even their leading scorer Parenteau. It's just because line 2 is hurt by having him there that line just isn't clicking. Well at least not this game.

Sorry Nigel

Not sure what is going on in Glen's head with this move but it's his decision not mine. Greg Moore is now back with the team as Nigel heads for Hartford, and Hossa apparently still has a spot on the roster. I am happy for Moore who at season's start was pretty much being written off as a bust. Not sure what the plan is or if Nigel just wasn't contributing enough to stay in the lineup in the long run and is being sent down. One thing is for sure something is up. I haven't heard much trade rumors involving the Rangers (as I type this I am checking spectorshockey to see if there are any new ones, nothing) other than the Jovo rumor from earlier in the year which is just stupid and pointless to talk about at this point. So here is my thinking, Sather is getting Moore into the NHL to see what he can do. He has played great this year in Hartford with the injuries he deserves a chance, but with the abundance of good young forwards and the inability for this team to score it makes you wonder if he is trade bait. At the very least I know Hossa is on the market, the only thing he brings is defense and he can't even do that right anymore. I had some thoughts earlier in the year about why Hossa was still around... most of them involved his brother and the off chance that sather would try and convince Marian to come to ny to play with his brother but I can't deal with Marcel anymore.

Now chances are something is brewing but where is someone available? And who is going to fit under the Rangers' cap? Looking up and down the roster Hossa and Mara would be a part of the deal, even though Mara has been playing good so far this year. The only way this team can make a move is dump some salary and 3mil is something that will need to move if an impact player comes in. Chances are a young forward will be involved as well, most likely Moore at this point I wouldn't count out something stupid though like Callahan or Dawes. I say those guys would be stupid because I think they are both good hockey players and I like the way they play, in 1-2 years they will be over 20-25 goals each. So we know who is going or may be going, most likely some combination of that, which brings us back to who to trade for. The Rangers put themselves in a bind by sending Pock to the minors mostly because if they need him back he has to go through re-entry and so does hutchinson, so trading Mara and not getting a d-man in return puts Strudwick as the 6th defenseman. Side note on the defense moving, Malik only makes 2.5 mil less than Mara and could also be dealt and according to nhlnumbers.com a trade involving Mara, Moore and Hossa would free up 4,520,000 in cap space to find a player. This leaves a lot of room to go out looking for players. If Moore puts some pucks in the net then his value could increase and they could get a little more. Side note here Marian Hossa makes 7mil this season so count him out of coming to the Rangers to help out.

Of course this is just speculation, first and foremost Hossa needs to find a spot in the press box, even with Jagr on his side he can't put the puck in the net. Anyway that was a fun rant, but chances are nothing is going to happen trade wise this week or next. Sather will wait to see if this pulls together before he plays with shit, it just seemed fishy to me that the player tied for third on the team in goals (tied second for forwards) is being sent back to the minors. And while sather is sending him back to the minors the team continues to struggle to score goals.

Nigel is was great to see you back with the team, I hope you are back soon. Now on to the more pressing matter at hand from last night. The lack of the ability to pass the goddamn puck. The Rangers were back to their old habits last night of shitty passing and turning the puck over on a regular basis. I love to read about how they can't sustain pressure and they are out of their system from the players. When in reality they are passing to the other team, or to no one. Whether thats because the player who the pass was intended was in the wrong place or the passer just has bad aim I do not know but this has got to change. You can not control the play in the offensive, defensive or neutral zone if you do not pass the puck with accuracy. No player on that team can do it themselves and since that is a truth passing is critical. I wish I would be able to watch tomorrow night's game but I think we are getting the Knicks game here instead. So there is a good possiblities NHL radio will have to help me out tomorrow.

Well good luck to Moore in his first NHL game he deserves it and thats it for tonight.

Watch out rookies!

Not our rookies so much as the rest of the league's rookies. With the way that Dubinsky has been playing as of late its time to start thinking (I know this early in the season) for him to be rookie of the year. Yea, he needs to start putting a few more points on the board but I see that happening real soon. Playing with Jagr and soon Straka on his other flank this will add to his point totals. Personally I think he is playing great and could pull some votes away as long as he starts putting up the points. There is very little chance that he will outscore Kane of Chicago but with everthing else he does on the ice he very well could pull it off.

Now that I got talking about rookies I'm sure people will be saying but what about Dawes and Staal? Hell Dubinsky may not even be the best rookie on his own team how could he be rookie of the year? Yes Staal has been impressive and as far as I can tell he should be included in the listing for rookie of the year as well there is no question about that. I took my information on the top 5 rookies from thefourthperiod.com. Here is what is up right now:Kane, Toews, Cogliano, Erik Johnson, and Carey Price. I can eliminate 2 of them right now Price and Johnson, Price isn't the starter on his own team right now and unless that happens he will not get any consideration for the rookie of the year. He has currently played only 6 games, this could change but if it doesn't then he will be out of the race. Johnson has only played 5 games. Not sure what is the deal with him, he is listed on the roster but is not playing or has just started playing, no injuries are listed for him.

Dubinsky and Staal have played every game for the Rangers and have made great contributions to the team and are some of the best players on the team. Staal is easily one of the best defensemen on the team, I would rank him in the top 3 on the team currently. Being ranked that high on the league second stingiest defense is pretty impressive for a rookie, even if he doesn't have that many points (even though he will probably have around 20 at the end of the season). Dubinsky started the year on the third line with Prucha and Callahan, which without some injuries he might still be there, and now is playing with one of the best players in NHL history and is starting to seriously contribute. 2 goals in 3 games last week, and he could have had a few more. The team still can't score as much as they should be once that starts he will start piling up the assists. I have watched this kid make some real good passes to open players where they just have not finished, if that starts there will be a lot more assists to his credit.

Now to this point I have only mentioned Dawes once, I think. I have pretty much left him off this list for 1 reason. I don't know what his future brings. There is a very good chance he will be back in Hartford by this time next month. Even though I think he should stay he most likely will be wearing a wolf pack jersey soon. I think he will be in the lineup over Hossa who has kind of played his way back into the ? category of whether he should play or not. When he first got into the lineup he was hustling and acting like he wanted to play, I just don't see it anymore. Once Straka and Callahan come back though I think Dawes will be back in Hartford, unless Avery jumps to the 4th line and Orr and Hollweg start switching off games. Dawes would go back to playing with Gomez and Shanny, Straka-Dubinsky-Jagr would be the top line and, Prucha-Drury-Callahan would be the 3rd. I don't see that happening however. Maybe 1 or 2 games or a once a week think. That 4th line is Renney's shut down line, they have an awful +/- (which is misleading, because they can't score) but they most likely will not be broken up and will remain playing together.

Unless a trade is in the future which I don't think is going to happen the team will most likely return to it's opening day roster with different line combinations.

Sorry for not being around for a while...

but this Avery thing has just been growing in my anger about what the NHL is doing as a whole. I said something the other day about what would happen if the NHL didn't take charge of it's players more and I guess they are reading my blog because they decided to do something finally. Of course I think it's all for the wrong reasons and the wrong words. This is just stupid as soon as the NHL's precious Leaf's are harmed or involved it becomes a big deal. They jumped in which is great but of course they picked the wrong side of the issue to choose. Now yes, I am a Rangers fan and I know I am biased toward the Rangers but no one is paying me to do this and in essence this is an opinion based thing and alway has been, that is of course the point of a blog in the first place. So I'll just say it, the NHL committed a crime the other day in fining Avery more money than Tucker, and by fining the Rangers more than the Leafs. I could have done with equal.... I could have even though it shouldn't be but I could have handled it. However there is no Fucking way that the Rangers are more responsible for this than the Leafs and no way Avery is more responsible than Tucker. Now that is a different story if the radio announcer is correct that Avery said something about Blake's cancer but to this point it is hearsay at best and would not hold up in court anywhere including Canada and most likely that man will be paying Avery back that $2,500 that he lost anyway.

Let's start from the beginning Avery says a few choice words Tucker and Blake get mad and start something, nothing new Avery talks a lot. It is after all a part of the game and always will be until everyone has their jaws wired shut, which I don't see happening very soon. Players are taught something in minor league hockey which is true in the NHL that you will always get caught for retaliation it doesn't matter what the other guy did. Avery said something, ok great... skate away it's pre-game get him during the game. A) they could have skated away B) they had plenty of time to get him back during the game. Tucker and Avery both have many fights in their past they could have handled it in an hour when the game started. It was Tucker's choice to start that then, and given his past he should have gotten way more of a fine than what he received if there was going to be discipline given out to begin with. Avery did nothing illegal and should not have been fined. Moving on to the next portion of this Tucker going after Avery. Tucker attacked him out of the penalty box and it should have been an instigator because he started it while Avery tried to play the puck. Fine let him slide everyone knew it was going to happen, another mistake. Tucker's night should have been over there, no more Darcy being a jackass on the ice he should have been in the pressbox.

Now Belak, the guy who can't even crack the lineup is going after Avery for doing nothing, but talking which he does every game. He threatens to kill Avery the next time they get on the ice. Ok, first off make it to the ice surface before you run your mouth and you should have been suspended for your words or at least fined, because hell Avery was, the only difference was that he said them to someone's face unlike you who talked to reporters 7 hours after you took your equipment off because you didn't play. The Leafs handled this situation like a bunch of bitches pissing and moaning and digging their own grave, which of course the NHL dug them out of. Now the next time the Rangers play the Leafs Renney has to plan for them to be goons all game long, which isn't something that needs to be done, and shouldn't have to be done. Because yes they will go after Avery but more likely it will be Jagr, Straka, Drury or Gomez that sees the hit the cheap shot coming not Avery. Most likely out of that list is Straka because of his size, lets face it Jagr is a big man, while the message would be sent best with Jagr knowing the Leafs and the type of shit bags they throw into the lineup Prucha, Callahan and Straka better be watching their backs because they will not go after anyone who can actually play.

I would call up a few boys from Hartford for that game and show the Leafs who is boss but that is unprofessional, or so I think, but let's wait and see what the Leafs do. I wouldn't put Henrik in net because they might take a run at him or if it gets ugly and the goalies get involved why not let the tallest goalie in the world beat the shit out of Raycroft. Will it be a blood bath the next time they meet, probably not because the league will warn both teams and it won't happen and if it does the coaches will be suspended which has happened before and most likely will happen again.

Sorry for the run-on sentences I was a little worked up about this. Circle the following days 12/5 and 12/29 the next 2 times the Rangers play the Leafs. The first one is at MSG I wouldn't expect much while the second is back in Toronto and that could be when the Leafs try and get their revenge.

The most evenly matched division in hockey

The Rangers lost last night and have lost 7 game this year overall and 1 in overtime. They sit at their .500 record and haven't started off great like many fans wanted after their huge offseason acquistions, which in all honesty had me saying man I can't wait to see that Stanley Cup in the garden. The good news however that the Rangers are tied for third place in the division and still only 1 point behind the Islanders/Flyers for the division lead in the Atlantic which is slowly turning into the Southeast of the pre-lockout era. By that I mean 1 team escapes while all the others didn't even deserve to get a shot at the 8th seed, and to be honest niether did the winner. The division leader in this division has the second lowest point total in the league (second only to the southwest) whose leader San Jose has 15 points. The team in the atlantic are separated by only 4 points top to bottom if Jersey puts a streak together tomorrow the Devils can be in first and the Rangers be in last. Not to say that will happen or not but the fact of the matter is right now the division lead holds the key to a 3 seed. With another game tomorrow night against the Pens if the Rangers can find a way to score some goals and keep the Penguins off the board or real close too it, we can get this thing back on track and take first place. Of course thats assuming the Islanders and the Flyers don't play until friday (which I do not know and seems like a lot of research for this early in the morning).

All in all it wasn't that great of a game last night to be honest. Staal looked good again. For the most part though the Rangers are still making dumb passes that are telegraphed. Watching the game over 5 hours away I know where most if not all of their passes are going, which is stopping them in their tracks. The Avery turn over when Jagr was about to skate behind him was awful and lead to a chance. The thing the bothers me the most is the predictability in the offensive zone, the Rangers are constantly passing to the guy that is about to be covered or have looked him down long enough for a defenseman to step in the way of the pass at transition the puck. Passes are on the ice to the first person that they see, they don't look around and it seems like only 2 people are attacking at any time, which limits the options even more. I don't know I just don't know. They are trying to keep it simple in the zone shoot and crash the net only they are keeping it too simple with the passes sometimes which makes it easy to stop the rush.

On a side note Paul Mara looked great last night. He really did earn his paycheck last night with that sneaky goal and some of the net crashing he did mid to late in the game which was Brian Leetch like. Leetch was a sneaky player too (6'0" 190), and much smaller which is why I was surprised that Mara could do that with his 6'4" 220 frame.

Anyway thats all for today. Get it back together team tomorrow for a trip back home to the Garden.

I don't like to brag but....

God did you see how good Dubinsky has been with Jagr? and who said to put the 2 together... me. That's right everyone in the world is Gomez and Jagr this. Oh no I thought but Dubinsky up there and let the youngster thrive in that environment. (citation for this is "The Jagr problem" from last month, my first official post) He has what the line needed a combination of speed and size to bring the line together. When Straka comes back I hope he takes Hossa's spot on the line to make it even better. Not to say Hossa hasn't played exceptionally well, which he has... I mean really he is out there everynight playing like he wants to stay in the lineup. The question is where does everyone fit soon though, barring more injuries which with the depth of this team looks like it won't be much of a problem.

It looks like the offense still hasn't taken off yet this year but the defense is still holding the team down. I was thinking last night that the Rangers this year were drawing a lot of comparisions to the Rangers of the post 98 - pre-lockout rangers where the veteran high priced free agents came in every year to bring nothing in return. However there is one difference so far this year its King Henrik and the defense. Not to say that in those years after Messier left the goaltending of Richter wasn't good, it was just riddled with injuries. Followed by brief stints of goaltenders which played the best they could but the defense wasn't there to help. Oh well this isn't those times though because the team defense is there. As soon as this offense takes off, which at this point who really cares if it does as long as the defense is still there to keep them in the game, the Rangers will be successful and win. Also if they keep this up they could take first place tonight and if they keep playing this style may never look back this season.

On a side note what do you think Gomez is thinking? I mean he leaves the defensive minded Devils to come to a more offense oriented team like the Rangers only to see the devils change their defensive philosphy and see the Rangers become the stingiest team in hockey without the ability to score. Even though the Rangers allow players to be more creative in the offensive zone than the Devils he must feel right at home with this defensive style since he has played his whole career in it.

One last note. Keep the lines the way they are!!! Renney don't fuck this up by moving shit around again. I know people are coming back but these lines are clicking if you couldn't notice from the domination and the shots in the offensive zone. Dubinsky and Jagr look more than comfortable with each other on that line, Drury is looking good and starting to get involved more with Shanny and Dawes and Gomez has looked good in 2 games with Prucha and Avery. I don't need to say anything about the 4th line since they have been playing together for a year already and they continue to play strong defense and get those random chances you expect from a 4th line. So keep up the good work boys.

MSG

MSG frustrates me to no end in central New York. I was not able to watch the game last night and it angers me. Always with the buffalo games here. Why? I understand that buffalo is closer and it makes sense but you own 2 other stations as well why can't they put them their. MSG stands for Madison Square Garden it should show what is happening in Madison Square Garden it only makes sense. Put the Sabres on FSN NY which you also own and bump the Islanders not the Rangers from playing. It sucks they are really forcing me into a situation that I miss a game I could be watching just because more than 2 of the 4 teams are playing on the same night and completely disregarding the fact that the Rangers are the home team and they are broadcasting on MSG. I can understand if they are away because MSG only has rights to a few of those games which is strange to begin with but I will let that slide but when they are home they should be on the television on any MSG broadcasting anywhere. In comparison it would be like showing a Knicks game when they are in LA instead of showing the Rangers when they are at home, it’s ridiculous. Adding onto sportscenter was worthless today not even showing anything about the Rangers game other than the score at the bottom, but they manage to spend 10 minutes talking about the pats/colts game (for the 10th straight day) and throw in Bonds' comments about an asterik which apparently doesn't exist in baseball.... has he never seen 61? What the fuck for a person with a head as big as his you think there would be a brain in there somewhere but I guess that shriveled up like his testicles from all those steroids.

Anyway good win, good to see that Staal got his first NHL point he deserves it; Drury back on the board with a G and an A good work. Looks like Dawes and Shanny are now tied for the lead on the team in goals with 3 can't wait for those numbers to shoot up should be a good time. The Rangers are now only 3 points behind the scum covered Flyers, with the Flyers having a game in hand and losing to the Canadians last night. I can't wait to see who they deliberately try to injury this week. Alright well that's it for today check back possibly tomorrow or the next for something else about the rangers haven't decided yet.

Suspension time or so you would think

First off everyone likes to steal my ideas that I post on this blog 1 day later... I swear to god here is another one of those times of course they offer no real opinions like I do.... Oh well.

Ok so onto my real rant for the day. The Philadelphia Flyers how many more of these incidents need to happen before someone is suspended. Did I say someone I meant the couch followed by the GM. The Flyers have only played 10 games and have lost 47 games of man power through suspensions. I mean what the fuck. Let's face it a couple years ago... I believe it was Brian Trottier who got suspended after sending out his goons after the Rangers had already lost the game. So how is this any different? Well its 3 seperate incidents which the coach may or may not have had any control over. Most likely he didn't send out any of those players to cause those injuries or make those hits.... Now I don't actually think that he did do this but for fuck sake after the first 2 incidents both players were sent to the minors where they will remain for the remainder of their careers because for an NHL suspension to count you need to be on the roster not in the minors.

Now you may think why suspend the coach well #1 they are intent to injure situations and no team in the league has had 3 players alreadys suspended and no team has lost that much man power already this year because of stupid decisions. #2 it does protect the Flyers, wait what? If the league shows they are actually doing something about it... suspending the coach, GM fining the league it sends a message. If this shit keeps up and a few more players get hurt by those kind of actions who is going to stop the bruins from calling up 3 or 4 goons from the minors later in the (being that they have already got a playoff spot or are out of the playoffs) and taking a run with 2 guys at Gagne and 2 guys at Briere. Now lets be honest I would love to see it because of my hatred for the Flyers, but I would much rather beat them on the ice with their best players and not giving their fans the ability to say if we had our "A squad" we would have won. This is the kind of shit that leads to what happened with Bertuzzi and Moore. Of course Moore's hit was completely legal and Bertuzzi is a dipshit, which is a little different but still it close to the same thing.

Now players will always want revenge for what happened to their teamate and the next time the Bruins play the Flyers I would imagine a few players will leave the ice giving blood. If I was Briere or Gagne I would not be looking forward to seeing anything involving Boston on the schedule because since Bergeron went down... that means you guys have an even bigger target on your back... and considering they have the biggest player in the NHL I thinking your going to feel it. Get control of your team before your opposing team gets control of it for you.

What do we do now??????? ...next week.

Shit now the 2 players that were battling it out for the final spot for the forward on the roster are playing great. Marcel and Nigel are playing some great hockey out on the ice right now, and what happens when players come back from injury. There is no way that Sather will send Nigel to the minors after being the leading goal getter on the team and essentially has been the Rangers offense since he was recalled from Hartford. On the other hand Hossa is starting to check on and is playing well with Jagr and Gomez. Yea there are no problems on the roster until all 3 of the injuries are gone but still its something to start thinking about. When Avery returns he most likely will rejoin Drury and Shanny on the second line or at worse bump Hollweg (although he is playing great as well) back down to the fourth to play with Betts and Orr. So then the lines look like this:
Hossa-Gomez-Jagr
Avery/Dawes-Drury-Shanahan
Dawes/Avery-Dubinsky-Prucha
Hollweg-Betts-Orr

Thats all well and good, but that seems like a pretty set lineup. Who loses playing time when Straka comes back? He is most likely headed to the first line to play with Jagr and Gomez, which leaves Hossa in limbo. Ok so now we can either have him play with Jagr and Gomez and move Straka to the second line or the third and then bump Dawes out of the lineup. The lines then could look like this:
Straka/Hossa-Gomez-Jagr
Avery/Dawes-Drury-Shanahan
Dawes/Avery-Dubinsky-Prucha
Hollweg/Hossa-Betts-Orr/Hollweg

This is already becoming a clusterfuck of a lineup because the players that most likely will sit are the ones that are most noticeible on the ice as of right now, and noticable for the good things not the bad things. Chances are Hossa has earned a spot and Hollweg and Orr will do what they did for most of last year and switch off games depending on hardhitter or fighter is needed. However if Hollweg can keep playing the way he is playing and start putting the puck into the net Renney is going to have a huge headache on his hands unless someone else gets hurt. Which is not something you want to see in hockey ever... but it is part of the game. Once Callahan return after that unless Dawes is still leading the team in points he most likely will have lost his spot and will see Hartford again. Even though he deserves the spot on the roster barring him falling apart all of a sudden. Hossa Hollweg and Orr will all split time on the 4th line and Hossa won't be as affective as he is being now, niether will Hollweg but inorder to get more ice time without putting the biscuit in the basket would be more injuries. Avery is already hitting in practice to get back into game shape so he will be back next week forcing Strudwick from the lineup who has been pretty much a ghost as a forward so far, I imagine Pock would have been a better choice for that but he is in the minors and most likely won't see the NHL unless traded the rest of the year. Callahan will most likely be back in 2 weeks or so, maybe a little longer, which then bumps a question mark from the lineup and Straka will be back in 4 weeks which then bumps another question mark from the lineup.

Well the good news the Rangers have a lot of depth at the forward position this year... The problem is which ones should play? I wouldn't want to be Renney right now.

Pumped for the Rangers win, sad about the loss.

All in all Nigel Dawes looked pretty good in his last 2 games. Good work with the 2 goals against the Devils but another worthless performance from the offense against Toronto led to another loss. It's time to start scoring some goals, find away to do it already.

And this rumor shit has got to stop for looking for defense, I can not stand to hear anymore of these rumors about Jovo or any other defenseman. The fact of the matter is this defense is playing so well because it has already gelled. The offense still hasn't found their chemistry and that is why they are struggling. Where the defense got time to blend together in the second half of last year and have great chemistry with each other and the goaltender Henrik right now, which is why they are best in the league in goals allowed, or well one of the best in the league in goals allowed. While the offense is still trying to figure itself out, the defense is the bright spot of the team well #1 goaltending #2 defense but they in many aspects are one in the same. So enough with this bullshit, I don't want Jovo or any other defensemen in the league. Stick with what you got until it is broken this defense worked last year in the playoffs and so far is a star on the team game in game out. There are breakdowns from time to time but no players in the NHL are perfect and there will be breakdowns with any player. There is nothing this team needs right now other than Drury and Gomez learning how to score and Avery coming back from injury.

The reason I say Avery well lets see the Rangers are 1-0 when he plays and finishes a game this year. I don't think it is any surprise that when he went down the Rangers offense started to hit the skids and I hope that he jump starts the offense to get this team rolling in the right direction considering they aren't rolling in any direction right now. Without Avery in the lineup the Rangers have only scored 11 goals and with Avery 5 (yes 5 in one game) yes it was against the panthers who are 19th in the league in GAA, but against teams who are even lower on the list NJ, NYI, ATL and TOR they have only mustered a combined 7 goals 3 of which were last period goals against the Thrashers which were pointless because they were losing by 5 already. If Avery gives this team a jump and gets them rolling again this ship can turn around real quick with this defense and goalie in the back end.

Could it really be just half a second.

While watching the Rangers muster no goals for the second game in a row I made a few observations. First off it is really starting to look like this team may click soon. Now this is the first time that I have said this mostly because of how skeptical I am as a ranger fan after watching teams that should be amazing fail. It really does look like passes are about half a second later than they should be. A lot of passes the rangers are making are ending up in players skates and become a turnover or stall the rush. This can be seen more often then not with passes leaving the defensive zone and on the powerplay. Now this is a combination of both bad passing and players being in the right place just a half second too early while finding a seem through the defense. It's time to start skating boys and its time to make decisions quicker because not only are the passes a little behind the players but the players are just a step behind a gimme goal or an amazing rebound in front of the net.

The second thing that I noticed is the rangers go back more often than any other team in the world. There is not a team in the NHL today that goes backwards as much as the Rangers do. This frustrates me to no end while watching the rangers play; always backwards letting the other team set up a trap. Every team in the league runs some variation of the trap and slowing things down and constantly passing back to the defensemen and trying to find an open player (which never works) is just wasting time. Get the puck across the redline and dump the puck then hustle and make something happen. Every once in a while passing back is fine but 5-7 times a game to find an opening is spending valuable time away from the scoring zone to play with the puck.

On the upside Nigel Dawes was the best player on the ice for the Rangers tonight. Except for a play early in the games where he fumbled the puck on the way out of the zone. This didn't hurt the team at all but it did make me angry none the less. Ryan Callahan also had a great chance on a rush. These are the type of players that need to start getting the puck into the net.


Looking on the ice tonight in a lot of situations tonight, I think Sather needs to consider talking to Dino Ciccarelli about coming out of retirement and standing in front of the net on the powerplay, because there is no one in front of the net on the powerplay. Prucha does a great job on the second unit, someone needs to do it on the first unit. Move Prucha up to the first unit or make one of your 5 shooters stand in front of the net. I just want to see the Rangers simplify their game and put the puck in the net. Send someone to the front of the net, hopefully Avery when he gets back and just screen the goalie don't really help out in the corner nothing but stand there. Maybe every once in a while play in the area around the trapezoid behind the net, other than that nothing but right at the edge of the crease.

Jagr this Jagr that.

Today I actually got some time to poke around on the internet and once again come to an opinion on the rangers after reading some material online. Everywhere I looked today basically is talking about the lack of chemistry between top 2 centers of the rangers and the top winger on the rangers. And let's face it I am kind of sick of hearing about it. I don't want to have to read this shit every day. So I think that it isn't working yes, do I have a solution no. Well maybe I do. I'd give this situation another 2 weeks to develop in the system, see if Gomez and Jagr can get something going. If not it would be time to look outside the organization to find some help, and no not at the center position. Love'em or hate'em at that point it would be time to look forward with what Sather has done with the organization and start to consider dealing Jagr for a younger talented winger. I think Jagr has been great for the Rangers since he has gotten hear but this year seems to be lacking something. Someone good and young and package in a d-man or 2 for a #1 defenseman to sure up the defense. Try sending Malik, Jagr and Pock to a team and I doubt there would be few teams that wouldn't take that deal. If we get a d-man in return as well as a top line winger, that still leaves the team with an extra defenseman and gets another player on the roster who may better fit the mold of Gomez or Drury.

Let's face it here Jagr has got 1-2 years left, if there is going to be a trade happening it will be with Jagr leaving town to better suit the core of players that are left. Drury, Gomez, Prucha, Dubinsky and Callahan are the future of this team. At least will be a big part of the offense for the next 5 years, Jagr isn't. It's time to start looking past him being the top winger on this team and start getting something going that will help the team now and in the future. If the lines click then awesome, this is just really a worst case look at things. If you think about it though if this team starts wheeling and dealing I think he should be the first one out of town, not any of the youth.

Mara on the outs?

I was poking around on Hockeytraderumors.com and I found an interesting story which links to another story on boston.com. When I was reading up on the posts on the bottom I came across a couple of interesting ones, but first I wanted to start out by reminding everyone how Paul Mara came to the New York Rangers. It was a trade straight up for an aging Aaron Ward who just through the chemistry off in the locker room by questioning Jagr's leadership ability. In my expert opinion good trade; at least 5,000 times better than the trade that sent Mike York to Edmonton. Now that being said Sather knew what he was taking on with that contract and I think he did what he had to keep his team focused and got a highly talented player in return for the veteran. Aaron Ward was a good defenseman with the Rangers but didn't really fit in the locker room and that’s how he found his way out of New York.

So it looks like Mara may be on his way out. In my opinion not a good move either sending him down or trading him away (this of course will depend on what comes back to the Rangers of course) He is playing better than some of the defense personally I think he is playing up there in the top 4 out of the defensemen we have on the roster now. He has looked well with Staal and I think they make a decent pair not the best but until Renney takes apart that waste of space that is Rosival and Malik they will be stuck together. Now it is easy to pick apart these defensemen so early in the year this is because there are so damn many of them. Now I read on the same post in the comments at Pock would be a better choice. This may be true to get into the top 6 but not over Mara I think they have similar skills and Pocks aren’t as good as Mara’s are. But I do think giving Malik a sit down might be a good decision to get Pock into the lineup. Now I know how many people are thinking shit everyone hates Malik you too? Actually I do but I understand hockey, I know Malik isn’t really helping the team much but benching him for a long period of time will do nothing for his trade stock. Right now lets face it Malik is worth more on the Rangers roster than on the trade block or the press box. I do think that Malik needs a break though from the fans for a little while. This guy has made a bunch of mistakes on the ice and from what I can tell has not be reprimanded at all. You make dumb mistakes you don’t play that should be plain and simple. I think he has made enough so far to spend a night in the film room watching his mistakes over and over.

Yes, I know I am being highly critical in my first 2 blog entries of the team and where people should be playing. I think Mara has been playing with heart and has made of couple of dumb mistakes but to put him in the dog house and not Malik for similar mistakes is just dumb. If you bench one the other should be sat. Now I know the people that come off saying Malik is your best plus/minus guy stop trying to take him off the ice. Well he isn’t so far this year; Marty Straka is. Malik also is on the ice for a lot more goals against than the +/- shows since he is on the penalty kill which does not register on +/-. I also understand the other perspective of Malik sucks and we want him out of NY. Here are the 2 comments I heard from my first game in MSG… “This is all Malik’s fault… I hate Malik, Lundqvist is the best goalie ever and Malik is ruining everything” said the young pimply faced boy behind me who began to cry while he was speaking. “I don’t understand why they brought Malik back, I mean we booed Poti everytime he touched the puck and they got rid of him why didn’t they get rid of Malik?” random guy behind me, at least he wasn’t crying. Ok let’s start with the first quote, no it is not all Malik’s fault he wasn’t even on the ice for one of the goals against, and the second one was not something Henrik was going to stop anyway; also Lundqvist while great is not the best goalie ever. At least not yet hopefully soon though. Now onto the second quote, No you did nothing to get Poti out of town. Tom Poti played out the remainder of his contract in New York and ever then you couldn’t boo him out of town because he just went to Long Island. Tom Poti didn’t come back because they did not want to resign a bad defenseman, not because you booed him out of town. That’s why Malik is back.

Side note, if you keep booing a player you will not get a good return on a player in a trade. Boo Malik all you want he isn’t going anywhere and he trade value with decrease with each boo. Now you may ask why, and I will give you an economics explanation for this. There is no demand for Malik in New York at least for the Rangers and the fans boo him every game because they hate him, this decreases his value because lets face it other teams know they want him out. Now another team can give nothing in return to get Malik off our hands, let’s say 8^th round pick or a player that will never amount to any thing that is in the ECHL. Since there is a high demand to trade Malik and at this point from many fan’s perspectives for anything; a bad trade will occur. Sather knows this and so does every GM in the league. Lay off him and maybe he will play better and he can leave New York with a decent return.

So in conclusion, if you bench Mara bench Malik. Stop booing Malik and ummmm.... yea sorry about the economics talk. Mara should stay in the lineup, Pock should play from Malik and let's go Rangers. Also to continue from my thought from a couple days ago. I tried my little experiment with Dubinsky on NHL 08 and have managed 10 goals in 2 games. Just something to think about. Also the combinations of Betts, Avery and Hollweg has been more impressive than ever thought. Hollweg 2 goals, 1 assist in 2 games, Avery 1 goal 1 helper.

The Jagr problem.

Yes this may be controversial but I think it needs to be said. I don't mean to start out being this straight forward when I start this but I think it needs to be posted and I think it needs to be said to the masses, or at the very least the 6 people that may read this post.

Jagr is a great player and has amazing skills but the fact of the matter is I don't think he should get top line billing with these rangers. However he is the captain and by far the best skilled player on the team and Renney is looking for a center for him instead of trying to put together top lines that will work together. So this will most likely not happen. From what I saw in the preseason the Dawes-Gomez-Shanahan line was the best line I saw, and personally I think Prucha-Drury-Callahan would be an amazing line with the speed and skills that they possess. Problem with these lines are that Jagr does not have either of the top 2 centers that Rangers picked up in the offseason.

Of course this leads to other problems on the team, A: Dawes does not have a spot on the roster just yet, and B: Jagr has a rookie center. In my opinion however I think Jagr can and will still produce on the third line. Hear me out on this one to find out why. Who does Jagr see on a regular night? The opposing team's best defenseman on every shift. We take some scoring power away from Jagr's side lets say put Straka and Dubinsky on his line still some scoring or even Hossa and Dubinsky on his line he will still have support. Now where does the top defense pairing go? Jagr-Dubinski-Straka/Hossa? Prucha-Drury-Callahan? Straka/Dawes-Gomez-Shanahan? All of these have great potential for goal scoring, high skills and a mix of veterans and youngsters. This is all of course until Avery comes back, where Hossa and Dawes are taken out of this mix. Alright let's get back to reality real quick Dawes won't be called up anytime soon unless someone else goes down with an injury, which hopefully does not happen. Here should be the line combinations without Dawes in the mix:

Hossa-Dubinsky-Jagr
Straka-Gomez-Shanahan
Prucha-Drury-Callahan
Hollweg-Betts-Orr

I'll be honest with these 3 lines going up and rolling one after another getting even time on the ice the Rangers will be able to wear down the opposition every game. No team has enough defensemen to cover all these lines rolling... well maybe Anaheim; at the very least no one in the Eastern Conference. Side note here Blair Betts is a good center and a good team member on this team, but he should not be moved up in the lineup to the second or even third line. He is a good 4th line center and that's where I think he should remain without a question.

Since we are bringing Staal around a slow way and letting him play every game to learn I think we should do the same with Dubinsky let him play with Jagr and Hossa and see what he can do. He seems to play well on the ice with the time he gets and I think he can handle this upgrade. Although I left the Jagr line on the top this line is not the top line on this team most likely until Avery came back it would be 2 or 3. Once Avery comes back let him play with Shanny again and move Straka back to Jagr’s line.

So lets begin the demote Jagr to third line bandwagon to get this team and possibly even Jagr jump started since either he will see less of the top d pairing or the other top 2 centers will see less of the top d pairing opening them up for more offensive chances.

Alright that’s it for today unless something else awesome pops into my head.

Tune in tomorrow for the my opinion on why the Rangers are off to a slow start.

It's Alive!

Well here it is... the first post on my first blog ever. I never really thought about doing this before but it seems like I have a lot to say about this subject and really it’s about time that I started saying it.

This blog is for my comments on mostly the New York Rangers and things that I read about them and comments and stories that I come across on the internet.

What you will find on this blog: No new information just opinion about what I read on this page. Most of what you read will be opinion followed by my expert analysis. You may ask, what makes me an expert? Well that is one of the easier questions I will ever answer because I say so. I have played hockey for a solid 14 years of my life if not more sorry I didn't really count the years before starting to write this ramble. Not only that but I have been watching hockey that entire time. Also you will find my random sense of humor that will be mixed into almost every post.

Let's face it I pretty much live hockey and its time that I make my opinion available to people other than my friends. Most of all I hope over time people will actually begin to read this and comment on some of the things I say and think because feed back kicks ass.

What you will not find on this blog: quotes from the players or anything like that, I am not a beat writer nor do I have access to the players to any degree. I pretty much will comment on trade rumors, line combinations and other happenings around the league nothing more. If you want to just stop in for recycled information from other sites that's cool. I'll try and give credit to most of the people for source information if I remember to do so.

Anyway sounds like that's a good first post on my end.