The Rangers rebounded from their Atlanta escapade with a 2-1 shootout win over the Ottawa Senators Saturday afternoon. The low scoreline belies a lot of drama and end-to-end action in the matinee match and, frankly, it was great to see (if a bit hard on the heart).
Sorry that there are no pics and few numbers, I ran out to Lamb of God/Metallica at the Garden. I may or may not update further ...
*First off, WHAT. A. KILL. Girardi, Staal and Cally played their hearts out killing Ales Kotalik's second dumb penalty of the game in overtime. They were outstanding stepping to shooters, getting in the passing lanes and blocking shot after shot. How the hell does the rest of the team play so bad, so half heartedly for so long when players like this are willing to give it all. Dy-no-mite kill, one of the best moments I have seen by the Blueshirts all season.
*There are few things in hockey that I enjoy more than shorthanded goals and it was great to see the Blueshirts score one (rather than have one scored against them). Gabby makes a great play at the Ranger blueline, hustles the puck up and finds Vinny Prospal breaking on the far side for a perfect one-timer. Gotta love that he retrieved the puck from the ref, as it was the first shortie of his career.
*For as dynamic as P.A. Parenteau was through the first period - and in the shootout, hehe - his half-hearted skate back up the ice left Brian Lee alone as the trailer on a four-on-three that opened the game's scoring. Sorry kiddo, this isn't the AHL, you have to skate hard every second. Sure Ales Kotalik was also trotting back up the ice, but he has already earned a spot on the roster with that shot of his - P.A. still has to earn it. You can almost forgive his empty net miss in the final seconds, seeing as Chris Higgins also blew a gimme seconds earlier, hitting the iron.
*Semi-related: Is it me or is Marian Gaborik the only Ranger with a quick shot release? I mean, PA and Vinny seemed pretty quick but the rest of the boys were bad - and Arty's shootout attempt was torturous.
*The Blueshirts still didn't stand up for each other physically, with who else but Sean Avery getting batted around time after time. With four minutes left in the first Sean Avery hits big Matt Carkner, Chris Neil confronts Avery, Carkner comes back around and nary another Ranger around. Avery gets cross checked across the crease late in the third and nothing. Since they are certain to take bad penalties, why not take some good ones standing up for each other?
*Slightly OT - in case you didn't know, and you likely didn't, I am on Twitter now @truebluefan329. I am still getting into it so I will flesh it out further and update it more soon.
*As I tweeted during the game: "This Rangers power play is brought to you by Acela Express, because it will be a train wreck." It went 0-4 and couldn't hit the broad side of a barn.
*What are the odds that Redden realized how much he missed life in Ottawa and won't come back to New York? I'm not sure why he got the same reception of boos as he does in New York, seeing as he had such a nice pass to Jason Spezza early, let Jonathan Cheechoo get a wide open breakaway later in the first and let the Sens have a great power play chance in the second as he struggled to pick his stick up off the ice. The guy can't catch a break, but at least he can go cry into his eight million dollar salary this season.
*Amazing how most of the best Ottawa opportunities seemed to come when Rozsival was on the ice. Tortorella is rightfully limiting his ice time compared to the rest of the blueline but he doesn't even deserve what he gets. Brooksie was right, Bobby couldn't possibly be worse.
*Second period situation: Brashear skates into the Ottawa zone, passes to Boyle, Boyle has room in the high slot, Boyle passes it to Voros ... and the play is broken up.
*Jason Spezza was heavily hacked and slashed in traffic all game. his wood stick didn't break, and the Rangers weren't penalized. The new sticks cause more nonsensical penalties than they cause goals.
*Lyndon Slewidge does a nice job with the anthems - it was nice for MSG to show it. And every game should include the Canadian anthem, but preferably in all english, not the bastardized version that Slewidge has to sing in the Canadian capital.
*What do you think it would take for MSG to get rid of Joe, and how can we arrange it?
*I love that local commercial that Cablevision runs on MSG for 2 Brothers Scrap Metal. A hot high school girl calls her friend, asking what she should do with all of her scrap metal. Her friend asks her dad, who says to call 2 Brothers, then they cut to 2 Brothers taking a huge pile of scrap metal away from the first girl's driveway. Are there a lot of high school girls with this kind of problem nowadays? Is it really a demographic that they need to address?
*How pathetic/sad is it that great tickets are available for Tuesday's game against Washington? The team we played against in the playoffs, the team with the most exciting player in the NHL ... and there are still tickets available.
*PHW Three Stars
3-Chris Phillips - no points, one shot and two turnovers that I saw .... ???????
2-Brian Elliott - 27 saves.
1-Henrik Lundqvist - 35 saves.
Scotty Hockey Three Stars
3-P.A.
2-Prospal
1-Hank
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Friday, November 13, 2009
Peepin' Foes: Ottawa Senators
The schedule surges on and the Rangers are back in action Saturday with an afternoon matinee up in Kanata. They face off against the Senators at 2 p.m. on MSG or CBC for the lucky ones.
Where We Are: Trying to re-inflate the egos after a pretty flat 5-3 loss to the Atlanta Thrashers on Thursday night. The loss was the third in their last four and fifth in their last seven games. Not good, not good at all.
Where They Are: Ottawa is coming off of an embarrassing 5-1 loss at the hands of former goaltender Ray Emery and the Flyers. The Sens still sit just three points behind the Rangers in the standings, with three games in hand.
Who To Watch For: The usual suspects in Daniel Alfredsson and Jason Spezza. Milan Michalek, who Ottawa got in return for Dany Heatley, has seven goals and is tied for the team lead with Mike Fisher - better known as Mr. Carrie Underwood. Former Ranger Alex Kovalev has been completely underwhelming with just eight points in 16 games, which likely means he will be good for a hat trick on Saturday. Ryan Shannon, who I had high hopes for this season, has just one assist in 11 games (typical).
What To Watch For: Everyone's favourite scumbag Jarkko Ruutu is still a Sen, as is general pain Chris Neil. Neil is second in the NHL with 60 PIM and his teammate Matt Carkner is sixth with 50. Combine that with Ruutu's 43 and you have three guys who are going to take it to the Rangers physically. Good thing they demoted Dane Byers and called up P.A. Parenteau.
What We'll (Hopefully) See: The Rangers finally realizing they are a team and standing up for each other. The Blueshirts to be like Bettsy and score a power play goal. Jarkko to do something stupid and get himself suspended forever. Kotalik to get that shot of his on net more. Higgins and Callahan to break through and score a goal or two. Brian Boyle to win a faceoff. Rozsival to not suck too badly.
Also Check Out: Sens Army and Five For Smiting and Black Aces, no not Nick Kypreos and Mike Hartman.
Where We Are: Trying to re-inflate the egos after a pretty flat 5-3 loss to the Atlanta Thrashers on Thursday night. The loss was the third in their last four and fifth in their last seven games. Not good, not good at all.
Where They Are: Ottawa is coming off of an embarrassing 5-1 loss at the hands of former goaltender Ray Emery and the Flyers. The Sens still sit just three points behind the Rangers in the standings, with three games in hand.
Who To Watch For: The usual suspects in Daniel Alfredsson and Jason Spezza. Milan Michalek, who Ottawa got in return for Dany Heatley, has seven goals and is tied for the team lead with Mike Fisher - better known as Mr. Carrie Underwood. Former Ranger Alex Kovalev has been completely underwhelming with just eight points in 16 games, which likely means he will be good for a hat trick on Saturday. Ryan Shannon, who I had high hopes for this season, has just one assist in 11 games (typical).
What To Watch For: Everyone's favourite scumbag Jarkko Ruutu is still a Sen, as is general pain Chris Neil. Neil is second in the NHL with 60 PIM and his teammate Matt Carkner is sixth with 50. Combine that with Ruutu's 43 and you have three guys who are going to take it to the Rangers physically. Good thing they demoted Dane Byers and called up P.A. Parenteau.
What We'll (Hopefully) See: The Rangers finally realizing they are a team and standing up for each other. The Blueshirts to be like Bettsy and score a power play goal. Jarkko to do something stupid and get himself suspended forever. Kotalik to get that shot of his on net more. Higgins and Callahan to break through and score a goal or two. Brian Boyle to win a faceoff. Rozsival to not suck too badly. Also Check Out: Sens Army and Five For Smiting and Black Aces, no not Nick Kypreos and Mike Hartman.
Friday Afternoon Transaction
New York Rangers President and General Manager Glen Sather announced today that forward P.A. Parenteau has been recalled from the Hartford Wolf Pack of the American Hockey League (AHL), and forward Dane Byers has been assigned to Hartford.Apparently Byers didn't provide enough offense playing six minutes while paired with Voros and Brashear Thursday night so he was banished back to the minors. At least P.A. will get the chance that Byers wasn't given - a slot alongside actual hockey players.
And Rozy will still dress and play 15 minutes or so on Saturday. That is accountability folks ...
10-8-1: Days Off Don't Help
Don't let the 5-3 scoreline or the 36-27 shot total fool you, the Rangers were dominated tonight by the Atlanta Thrashers. Yep, the Atlanta Thrashers.
It was atrocious, and yet the Blueshirts were a post and a crossbar away from winning the game. I guess that is a good thing, but walking out of the Garden I don't feel the least bit good about the Ranger performance. Atlanta kept them bottled up in their own end for long stretches, had little trouble breaking up most Ranger rushes and kept the shots away from the danger zones. You would think that after finally getting a few days off to practice the Rangers would be better, not worse. You would think that.
Efforts like this make you wonder if the team has tuned out Tortorella already or simply have no clue or capability to play his hard-nosed, open ice hockey. The slot remains empty with no one paying the price to go to the net, the defense isn't helping the offense and isn't playing defense, and players are passing up good shots while taking bad ones.
The upside is that the Rangers have a cupcake of a game on Saturday against the Senators where they have a good chance of pulling out a W. Tonight the Sens allowed Blair Betts to score a power play goal - I kid you not. But that isn't until Saturday so let's look at the misery that was this evening:
*The night started in entertaining fashion with Sean Avery talking trash to Colby Armstrong throughout warm-ups. Unfortunately, the game started, Armstrong scored 19 seconds in and Avery took a cross checking penalty less than two minutes later. And that was all we saw of Sean Avery for the night. Perhaps he was afraid of incurring further wrath at the hands of Kerry Frasier, perhaps he was afraid of incurring further wrath at the hands of John Tortorella, who knows but the result was an invisible Avery. And the Rangers need the exact opposite. I love Aves, but he has to step up and provide some secondary scoring.
*The same goes for Cally, who blew a perfect chance on the doorstep. I loved the thought of Cally across from Higgins but perhaps it is time Torts pulled the two stone-handed players apart. Cally should fill the slot across from Gabby as Lisin has clearly lost a step with his foot injury.
*Torts also needs to re-think his defense, Girardi/Staal has stagnated, Gilroy is carrying Redden and the pairing of Rozy and MDZ .... ugh. Rozy's tenure as a Ranger should have ended with Jaromir Jagr's, seeing as he has been horrendous ever since his Czechmate left town. Tonight he helped lower the bar even further with some of his worst play this season. His laissez faire defense just doesn't work and it led directly to two Atlanta goals and his passing is constantly off the mark, putting teammates in bad spots. The sight of him staring at Hank shrugging his shoulders after the Kane goal was ... I don't have the words. He makes Redden look like Rod Langway. That bad. And the whole Tortorella accountability thing is officially a bad joke.
*Why did Torts waste his timeout with nine minutes remaining? He gave the Thrashers a breather, clearly didn't inspire the Ranger power play and was without his break when he needed it in the final minutes. Very questionable.
*Several folks who watched the game on TV said that MDZ was indeed tripped by Peverley as he flew into the Thrasher zone and his momentum carried him forward and got a mistaken diving penalty but from my seat it looked like a dive of Brodeurian proportions.
*Just as I had predicted, Brashear got into a pointless fight against Boulton early on. The score was 1-1, he wasn't standing up for a teammate, he was just trying to justify his contract with more buffoonery. He took on a guy he knew he could beat, and proceeded to throw dozens of punches at the guy's helmet. One could only hope that he hurt his hand again and will be out for a prolonged time. I doubt it, seeing as he circled around the ice for a few more shifts but one can pray.
*The other fisticuffs came courtesy of Cally, who took on young Zach Bogosian after Bogosian ran him. Cally laid on the ice, looked for a penalty, didn't get one, had none of his teammates come to his aid and took him on himself. I'm not sure why he didn't get an instigator, but the referees in the NHL seem to have no idea how to call that mistake of a rule nine times out of 10.
*Brian Boyle got a goal, playing trailer on a rush and banging in a rebound. The tally helped level the table after some horrendous play in the Ranger end. The big guy got some good time and pretty much proved that he doesn't belong any higher than the fourth line in an ideal world; I think I saw him win one faceoff all night. I want to see Corey Locke called up because Torts' experiment of three centers clearly failed on this occasion and Locke is racking up points in the A. Torts got so desperate that he even put out Byers, Brash and Voros by themselves after Boyle scored. The sad thing? They killed the clock in the Atlanta end better than the second and third lines were able to do. The saddest thing? Any momentum gained from the goal was completely killed.
*If the Hartford crew doesn't think Locke can do the job, then Sather needs to look elsewhere. Atlanta's Rich Peverley came off of the garbage heap and has flourished as their first-line center. They need more people who can score, that simple. Gabby is outstanding but he can't win alone.
*Peverley and Ilya Kovalchuk were an interesting contrast to Prospal and Gaborik. While their styles are different, I would say that their skill and talent are a wash. Gabby, yet again, was the one Ranger to consistently put himself into good spots to score while Kovalchuk created something out of nothing time and time again.
*The Garden wanted $55 to heat press a name plate on a jersey. Just to heat press it on, not sew it. What the hell?
*Max Afinogenov really is bad. No wonder he frustrated Buffalo fans so badly. He blew several gimme goals for A-T-L. He got his empty netter after Vinny Prospal made the same mistake several Rangers made over the night - passing up the shot to try for force a foolish cross-ice pass on a midget goaltender.
*Borat was a little bit better, going hard to Hank but he couldn't get himself good vengeance with a goal. Thank goodness for small favours.
*I typed almost all of this on the train before getting home just now to finish it up and head to bed. I tuned into MSG and caught the last three minutes of Rangers in 60 where Sam and Joe seem to have traded in their journalist credentials to become PR shrills. Let's face it, they always have been but it was worse than usual.
*PHW Three Stars
3-Rich Peverley - one goal and two assists.
2-Marian Gaborik - one goal and one assist. And he didn't even bother to come out to salute the crowd after it. Classless.
1-Ilya Kovalchuk - one goal and two assists.
Scotty Hockey Three Stars
3-Hank - How can you fault Hank for the loss? He had no chance at stopping three of the four goals against and without him, the game would have been 5-1 by the end of the first.
2-Gabby - When he gets inevitably injured, we will be screwed.
1-Kovalchuk - Kovy is all-world and it shows. He can't lead the Thrashers to Stanley Cup success but when his skills are combined with other big talents, he is scary - thus the Russian success in the World Championships. Watch out Vancouver.
It was atrocious, and yet the Blueshirts were a post and a crossbar away from winning the game. I guess that is a good thing, but walking out of the Garden I don't feel the least bit good about the Ranger performance. Atlanta kept them bottled up in their own end for long stretches, had little trouble breaking up most Ranger rushes and kept the shots away from the danger zones. You would think that after finally getting a few days off to practice the Rangers would be better, not worse. You would think that.
Efforts like this make you wonder if the team has tuned out Tortorella already or simply have no clue or capability to play his hard-nosed, open ice hockey. The slot remains empty with no one paying the price to go to the net, the defense isn't helping the offense and isn't playing defense, and players are passing up good shots while taking bad ones.
The upside is that the Rangers have a cupcake of a game on Saturday against the Senators where they have a good chance of pulling out a W. Tonight the Sens allowed Blair Betts to score a power play goal - I kid you not. But that isn't until Saturday so let's look at the misery that was this evening:
*The night started in entertaining fashion with Sean Avery talking trash to Colby Armstrong throughout warm-ups. Unfortunately, the game started, Armstrong scored 19 seconds in and Avery took a cross checking penalty less than two minutes later. And that was all we saw of Sean Avery for the night. Perhaps he was afraid of incurring further wrath at the hands of Kerry Frasier, perhaps he was afraid of incurring further wrath at the hands of John Tortorella, who knows but the result was an invisible Avery. And the Rangers need the exact opposite. I love Aves, but he has to step up and provide some secondary scoring. *The same goes for Cally, who blew a perfect chance on the doorstep. I loved the thought of Cally across from Higgins but perhaps it is time Torts pulled the two stone-handed players apart. Cally should fill the slot across from Gabby as Lisin has clearly lost a step with his foot injury.
*Torts also needs to re-think his defense, Girardi/Staal has stagnated, Gilroy is carrying Redden and the pairing of Rozy and MDZ .... ugh. Rozy's tenure as a Ranger should have ended with Jaromir Jagr's, seeing as he has been horrendous ever since his Czechmate left town. Tonight he helped lower the bar even further with some of his worst play this season. His laissez faire defense just doesn't work and it led directly to two Atlanta goals and his passing is constantly off the mark, putting teammates in bad spots. The sight of him staring at Hank shrugging his shoulders after the Kane goal was ... I don't have the words. He makes Redden look like Rod Langway. That bad. And the whole Tortorella accountability thing is officially a bad joke.
*Why did Torts waste his timeout with nine minutes remaining? He gave the Thrashers a breather, clearly didn't inspire the Ranger power play and was without his break when he needed it in the final minutes. Very questionable.
*Several folks who watched the game on TV said that MDZ was indeed tripped by Peverley as he flew into the Thrasher zone and his momentum carried him forward and got a mistaken diving penalty but from my seat it looked like a dive of Brodeurian proportions.
*Just as I had predicted, Brashear got into a pointless fight against Boulton early on. The score was 1-1, he wasn't standing up for a teammate, he was just trying to justify his contract with more buffoonery. He took on a guy he knew he could beat, and proceeded to throw dozens of punches at the guy's helmet. One could only hope that he hurt his hand again and will be out for a prolonged time. I doubt it, seeing as he circled around the ice for a few more shifts but one can pray. *The other fisticuffs came courtesy of Cally, who took on young Zach Bogosian after Bogosian ran him. Cally laid on the ice, looked for a penalty, didn't get one, had none of his teammates come to his aid and took him on himself. I'm not sure why he didn't get an instigator, but the referees in the NHL seem to have no idea how to call that mistake of a rule nine times out of 10.
*Brian Boyle got a goal, playing trailer on a rush and banging in a rebound. The tally helped level the table after some horrendous play in the Ranger end. The big guy got some good time and pretty much proved that he doesn't belong any higher than the fourth line in an ideal world; I think I saw him win one faceoff all night. I want to see Corey Locke called up because Torts' experiment of three centers clearly failed on this occasion and Locke is racking up points in the A. Torts got so desperate that he even put out Byers, Brash and Voros by themselves after Boyle scored. The sad thing? They killed the clock in the Atlanta end better than the second and third lines were able to do. The saddest thing? Any momentum gained from the goal was completely killed.
*If the Hartford crew doesn't think Locke can do the job, then Sather needs to look elsewhere. Atlanta's Rich Peverley came off of the garbage heap and has flourished as their first-line center. They need more people who can score, that simple. Gabby is outstanding but he can't win alone. *Peverley and Ilya Kovalchuk were an interesting contrast to Prospal and Gaborik. While their styles are different, I would say that their skill and talent are a wash. Gabby, yet again, was the one Ranger to consistently put himself into good spots to score while Kovalchuk created something out of nothing time and time again.
*The Garden wanted $55 to heat press a name plate on a jersey. Just to heat press it on, not sew it. What the hell?
*Max Afinogenov really is bad. No wonder he frustrated Buffalo fans so badly. He blew several gimme goals for A-T-L. He got his empty netter after Vinny Prospal made the same mistake several Rangers made over the night - passing up the shot to try for force a foolish cross-ice pass on a midget goaltender.
*Borat was a little bit better, going hard to Hank but he couldn't get himself good vengeance with a goal. Thank goodness for small favours.
*I typed almost all of this on the train before getting home just now to finish it up and head to bed. I tuned into MSG and caught the last three minutes of Rangers in 60 where Sam and Joe seem to have traded in their journalist credentials to become PR shrills. Let's face it, they always have been but it was worse than usual.
*PHW Three Stars3-Rich Peverley - one goal and two assists.
2-Marian Gaborik - one goal and one assist. And he didn't even bother to come out to salute the crowd after it. Classless.
1-Ilya Kovalchuk - one goal and two assists.
Scotty Hockey Three Stars
3-Hank - How can you fault Hank for the loss? He had no chance at stopping three of the four goals against and without him, the game would have been 5-1 by the end of the first.
2-Gabby - When he gets inevitably injured, we will be screwed.
1-Kovalchuk - Kovy is all-world and it shows. He can't lead the Thrashers to Stanley Cup success but when his skills are combined with other big talents, he is scary - thus the Russian success in the World Championships. Watch out Vancouver.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Peepin' Foes: Atlanta Thrashers
“When you play against them with a different team you don’t feel that- the energy of the building. But when I played for them - I cannot even explain it. It’s something special. The fans were unbelievable. Bad or good times they were there for you. They were the sixth player on the ice for sure.” -Nik Antropov to BluelandWell, we get to be the sixth player again tonight as Borat's new bunch of buddies, the Atlanta Thrashers, come into the Garden to play the Rangers at 7pm (on MSG for those who can't make it, or those masochists who like listening to Micheletti).
Where We Are: Coming off of a four day break after a 1-2 western Canada swing. Not enough time to get Drury or Dubi back but enough time to allow Brashear back on the ice; Zip wrote that the Rangers are going with three centers, meaning a return to the lineup for both Brash and Voros ... can't wait.
Where They Are: Faring pretty well considering that Kovy and Kane have been hurt. Three wins in their last five games, but one of the losses was to the Isles, which is shameful. Of course, we lost to the Islanders too, but that is even worse and we aren't talking about us right now.
Who To Watch For: The AP said for certain that Kovy was not playing and then they said that he was playing so I guess we will just have to wait and see. Also need to look out for Evander Kane as well. The kid has some great hands, a great shot and is pretty fast but is coming off of a foot injury. Without the two of them, Borat would skate on their top line with former Buffalo Sabre softie Maxim Afinogenov and Rich Peverley, who is probably the best player in the NHL that you have never heard of. Slava Kozlov is still around but even slower and more deliberate than he used to be. Zach Bogosian is learning that he can be defensively responsible while jumping into the attack and has six goals already.
What To Watch For: Ondrej Pavelec can catch fire and turn into a brick wall. I watched two of their games recently, one being his 50 save performance against the Sens. Sure the Sens stink, but he was amazing - outright amazing. Something to note is that he faced 30 or more shots in every one of his five wins this season. Keep an eye on the Ranger lines because juggling three centers with four lines of wingers should be interesting viewing, especially once they start getting tired. A Brashear/Boulton battle is likely if Brash's "hand" is up to it - Brash won their previous tilt so he won't run and hide like he does against real tough guys. What We'll (Hopefully) See: Sean going back to being Sean. Higgins to get a goal on home ice. Cally to re-find his scoring touch. Hank to be healthy and strong. Arty step up and play well with increased minutes. Gabby to show more skill and tenacity than every Thrasher combined.
Also Check Out: As linked to at the top - the team's own blog Blueland, the requisite MSM blog and the in-depth, well thought out fan blog Do The Thrashers Have Large Talons? (I hate the SBN name so I won't use it.)
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Link Of The Day
Wish I had seen it earlier:
A must click.
Happy Veteran's Day to those who served and a big good luck and get home safe to those who still do.
A must click.
Happy Veteran's Day to those who served and a big good luck and get home safe to those who still do.
Lifer Forum
Last night the Rangers held their Lifer Season Subscriber Forum in the Grand Ballroom of the Manhatten Center. It really was a grand ballroom - a very impressive space that held what Ranger reps said was 1,200 subscribers.
Speaking in the now-typical forum fashion were Ryan Callahan, Henrik Lundqvist, Marc Staal, Brian Boyle and Enver Lisin, with Sam and Joe MC-ing. Everyone got popcorn, a soda and a 'I am a Ranger' placard. There were no autographs or photos, with the players led in and out away from the fans. There was the usual giveaways - through trivia, raffle and selected seats - but I didn't get anything. I don't mind; like every year, I'm holding out hope for Blueshirts Off Our Backs.
Some things I learned:
*Marc Staal doesn't deserve the respect we give him. He saw the Drury hit, thought it was borderline and still did nothing.
*Staal is also narcoleptic.
*Lisin is the team's Yakov Smirnoff: hilarious for his broken english and blatant honesty. That, as well as his bro-mance with Arty Anisimov ...
*The players were told no ties but Hank showed up with a tie and a pocket square, something Staalsie ridiculed him for.
*Hank doesn't think that the extra games of the Olympics are too costly physically.
*And the only person he is afraid to take on in a shootout is he brother Joel - good thing he is back in Sweden.
*Cally takes that letter on his sweater really seriously, which is good to see.
*Joe is just as obnoxious live as he is on tv, and needs glasses. He tried to get Lisin to read something for him and Lisin - who can barely speak english much less read it - was of no help.
*Hank's sister thinks that the goaltender needs to start standing up for himself.
*Boyle really is a massive human being and comes from a massive family of 13 kids. And is a diehard Sawx fan - garnering plenty of boos.
*The Rangers greatly appreciate how their fans travel, thinking of Devil and Islander games as home games, even if most of them feel the Mausoleum is the worst building in the biz.
*And us Ranger fans are a passionate, slightly insane bunch. But let's face it, we knew that already.
More in-depth notes and quotes available at Beyond the Blueshirts
Speaking in the now-typical forum fashion were Ryan Callahan, Henrik Lundqvist, Marc Staal, Brian Boyle and Enver Lisin, with Sam and Joe MC-ing. Everyone got popcorn, a soda and a 'I am a Ranger' placard. There were no autographs or photos, with the players led in and out away from the fans. There was the usual giveaways - through trivia, raffle and selected seats - but I didn't get anything. I don't mind; like every year, I'm holding out hope for Blueshirts Off Our Backs.
Some things I learned:
*Marc Staal doesn't deserve the respect we give him. He saw the Drury hit, thought it was borderline and still did nothing.
*Staal is also narcoleptic.
*Lisin is the team's Yakov Smirnoff: hilarious for his broken english and blatant honesty. That, as well as his bro-mance with Arty Anisimov ...
*The players were told no ties but Hank showed up with a tie and a pocket square, something Staalsie ridiculed him for.
*Hank doesn't think that the extra games of the Olympics are too costly physically.
*And the only person he is afraid to take on in a shootout is he brother Joel - good thing he is back in Sweden.
*Cally takes that letter on his sweater really seriously, which is good to see.
*Joe is just as obnoxious live as he is on tv, and needs glasses. He tried to get Lisin to read something for him and Lisin - who can barely speak english much less read it - was of no help.
*Hank's sister thinks that the goaltender needs to start standing up for himself.
*Boyle really is a massive human being and comes from a massive family of 13 kids. And is a diehard Sawx fan - garnering plenty of boos.
*The Rangers greatly appreciate how their fans travel, thinking of Devil and Islander games as home games, even if most of them feel the Mausoleum is the worst building in the biz.
*And us Ranger fans are a passionate, slightly insane bunch. But let's face it, we knew that already.
More in-depth notes and quotes available at Beyond the Blueshirts
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Re-Drafting The NHL: New York Rangers
Back over the summer, through the beginning of the season, James over at Cycle Like The Sedins hosted a re-draft of the NHL with 30 bloggers taking the individual GM positions. Yours truly took the cigar from Glen Sather and re-built the Rangers. There are some hits and some misses, and I clearly had stars in my eyes with preseason performance (a mistake I make every season) but here is the team I built, round by round with cap hits:
I think the scoring will come. Roy is a playmaker, Pominville a sniper and Kunitz a grinder - together there should be some chemistry. Arnott and Samuelsson are a pair, with Arnott working the slot and Samuelsson swooping around to take advantage of the chaos his partner causes, much like he did with Holmstrom in Detroit. I picked up Leino, Anisimov, Shirokov and Stahlberg thinking that the quartet could battle for that second line spot. They all have good attributes: Leino has a great shot, Anisimov has size and smarts, Shirokov can stickhandle in a phonebooth and Stahlberg has serious speed. Surely one can rise to the occasion, with the runner-up getting good time with the fourth line. And I do mean good time as I would roll four lines.
Our zone would pretty much take care of itself. Kipper is a workhorse and, as he proved several times this season, still has it within him to be a helluva netminder. I selected Crawford as a backup purely because he had a higher NHL10 rating than Antti Niemi, seeing as games will be simmed through the EA Sports title (eventually) and not knowing that Niemi would usurp him in Chicago so quickly.
Not that they will need to do that much as the blueline is quite robust. The jewel is Danny Boyle, one of the top three or four power play quarterbacks in the NHL. Seeing as he is quite adept in the offensive zone, I paired him with Schultz, who is great defensively and capable of making that first pass. Daley and Staalsie are both young, big two-way defenders who are smart with the puck. Skrastins has led such a quiet NHL career but is a hero in Latvia for good reason - he is one of the best shot blockers in the business. Paired with the bruising Hnidy, Skrastins will ensure that few good shots will get through to Kipper. Struds, who will be mandated to maintain his mustache, will be the all-important seventh defenseman and, likely, a player-coach.
There are players I wish I could have picked up (what GM doesn't have some of those?) and one I would immediately grab with a free agent addition - my boy Jed. Seeing as Ortmeyer is playing so well in San Jose, I'm sure I could find a spot for him back on Broadway. But all in all, I think these Blueshirts would make for a tough team to play against, one that could win a few games and maybe cause trouble in the playoffs.
1-20 (20) - Miikka Kiprusoff Cap Hit: $5,833,333That is a grand total of $51.2 total, leaving $5.8 free for wiggle room at the deadline. And here is how I would set up the lineup:
2-11 (41) - Dan Boyle Cap Hit: $6,666,667
3-20 (80) - Derek Roy Cap Hit: $4,000,000
4-11 (101) - Chris Kunitz Cap Hit: $3,725,000
5-20 (140) - Jason Arnott Cap Hit: $4,500,000
6-11 (161) - Marc Staal Cap Hit: $826,6677-20 (200) - Nick Shultz Cap Hit: $3,500,000
8-11 (221) - Jason Pominville Cap Hit: $5,300,000
9-20 (260) - Ville Leino Cap Hit: $800,000
10-11 (281) - Trevor Daley Cap Hit: $2,300,000
11-20 (320) - Sean Avery Cap Hit: $1,938,000
12-11 (333) - Mikael Samuelsson Cap Hit: $2,500,000
13-20 (380) - Matt D'Agostini Cap Hit: $500,000
14-11 (401) - Freddie Sjostrom Cap Hit: $750,000
15-20 (440) - Artem Anisimov Cap Hit: $822,000
16-23 (473, from Colorado) - Karlis Skrastins Cap Hit: $1,375,000
17-20 (500) - Steve Begin - Cap Hit: $850,000
18-11 (521) - Sergei Shirokov - Cap Hit: $1,350,000
19-20 (560) - Shane Hnidy - Cap Hit: $750,000
19-29 (569, from Colorado) - Corey Crawford - Cap Hit: $800,000
20-11 (581) - Viktor Stahlberg - Cap Hit: $850,000
22-11 (641) - Jason Strudwick - Cap Hit: $700,000
23-20 (680) - Blair Betts - Cap Hit: $550,000
Chris Kunitz-Derek Roy-Jason PominvilleFirst off, I have no heavyweight. It is sad - for me of all people especially - but the guys I wanted were picked earlier than I was ready to take them. Still, I think there is solid team grit with Kunitz, Arnott, that entire third line, Hnidy and Strudwick. As long as we keep Avery out of his happy place and in the action, the third line will drive most everyone crazy with some serious energy and angst. Of course, they may take a penalty or two (or three or four) but that is why I reunited Sjostrom and Bettsy.
Ville Leino-Jason Arnott-Mikael Samuelsson
Sean Avery-Steve Begin-Matt D'Agostini
Freddie Sjostrom-Blair Betts-Artem Anisimov
Sergei Shirokov/Viktor Stahlberg
Dan Boyle-Nick Schultz
Trevor Daley-Marc Staal
Karlis Skrastins-Shane Hnidy
Jason Strudwick
Miikka Kiprusoff
Corey Crawford
I think the scoring will come. Roy is a playmaker, Pominville a sniper and Kunitz a grinder - together there should be some chemistry. Arnott and Samuelsson are a pair, with Arnott working the slot and Samuelsson swooping around to take advantage of the chaos his partner causes, much like he did with Holmstrom in Detroit. I picked up Leino, Anisimov, Shirokov and Stahlberg thinking that the quartet could battle for that second line spot. They all have good attributes: Leino has a great shot, Anisimov has size and smarts, Shirokov can stickhandle in a phonebooth and Stahlberg has serious speed. Surely one can rise to the occasion, with the runner-up getting good time with the fourth line. And I do mean good time as I would roll four lines. Our zone would pretty much take care of itself. Kipper is a workhorse and, as he proved several times this season, still has it within him to be a helluva netminder. I selected Crawford as a backup purely because he had a higher NHL10 rating than Antti Niemi, seeing as games will be simmed through the EA Sports title (eventually) and not knowing that Niemi would usurp him in Chicago so quickly.
Not that they will need to do that much as the blueline is quite robust. The jewel is Danny Boyle, one of the top three or four power play quarterbacks in the NHL. Seeing as he is quite adept in the offensive zone, I paired him with Schultz, who is great defensively and capable of making that first pass. Daley and Staalsie are both young, big two-way defenders who are smart with the puck. Skrastins has led such a quiet NHL career but is a hero in Latvia for good reason - he is one of the best shot blockers in the business. Paired with the bruising Hnidy, Skrastins will ensure that few good shots will get through to Kipper. Struds, who will be mandated to maintain his mustache, will be the all-important seventh defenseman and, likely, a player-coach.There are players I wish I could have picked up (what GM doesn't have some of those?) and one I would immediately grab with a free agent addition - my boy Jed. Seeing as Ortmeyer is playing so well in San Jose, I'm sure I could find a spot for him back on Broadway. But all in all, I think these Blueshirts would make for a tough team to play against, one that could win a few games and maybe cause trouble in the playoffs.
Monday Meanderings
Just some random thoughts on a fine Monday night:
*Brian Leetch took his place among the best of the best of the best tonight as a Hall of Famer. Let's face it, it is an honour well deserved but for all of the great achievements on the road to Toronto, there were bumps as well. I never understood why he accepted the captain's C and still don't. The man avoided the limelight like the plague and yet took the leadership mantle without being able to handle it. As he did during his number retirement ceremony, Leetch should have deflected the attention to Adam Graves. While I disagree with the authors of 100 Ranger Greats that he was the greatest Ranger ever (the failure as a leader and litany of injuries - slipping on ice? geez - being the main reasons why not), Leetchie certainly retired as one of the best so congratulations to him, his family and his fans.
*Just why did Glen Sather make the trip to Toronto? So he could taunt Leetch about trading him away against his wishes? So he could make that "Forever A Ranger" number retirement tag line be a blatant lie? Or maybe so he could try to learn how to build a real team from the back-end out like Lou? Or perhaps it was to get thanks from Luc Robitaille for dealing Gretzky to LA (even if it was under ownership duress), essentially making the slow left wing's career?
*So Glencross got three games for a pretty clean hit, huh? The Flame didn't jump, didn't throw an elbow, just caught a player not playing attention with a solid hit - perhaps a second or two late but it was clear that he wasn't following the puck. For everyone to cry "headshot! headshot!" I just don't see how you can justify that without mandating that all NHL players skate with their heads up all the time and be the same height and the same weight as everyone else. I mean, I want to play fanboy and call foul but there simply is no reason to in this case. Three games achieves nothing so why bother slapping him on the wrist? Oh yeah, because that is what Colin Campbell does: make examples of the goons, slap the middle-of-the-road guys on the wrists and let star plays off scot-free.
*Let's face it, the loss of Brandon Dubinsky for a few weeks far outweighs any absence by Drury - which may be as little as one game. While Dubi had just two assists in his last 10 games, he was quite active all over the ice making things happen. You have to figure that with him out, we will see Vinny Prospal or Chris Higgins slide to center and maybe P.A. Parenteau return to Broadway. Higgins has been going hard to the net so maybe his north/south play up the middle could turn this little spark of offense into something bigger.
*As for the call-ups, the argument for Geno Grachev in lieu of Pappy is an interesting one. On one side you have the thought that bringing up Grachev for a cup of coffee so early in the season would likely prove detrimental to his long term development. But, the other side of it is that he could step up his game and help pull the team along - likely bringing Arty Anisimov along with him. Two-for-one is quite tempting, especially seeing as Arty has gone back to looking wooden and lost most of the time. Then again, maybe Donald Brashear'spride hand has finally healed from his loss to Colton Orr and he will rejoin the lineup, with Byers getting bumped up a line.
*As for some folks being alarmed that no one has been called up yet - the less days a guy is recalled, the less days they have to pay him for against the salary cap. Someone like P.A. can come up Thursday for the game and fit right in, having been on Broadway in the recent past.
*I love that we still call it being on Broadway, even though this Garden is between 7th and 8th. I don't know, just a nod towards history and a sense of grandeur I guess.
*Tyler Arnason is a tool. Did he really think he could make it as a Ranger? Or more to the point, as a NHLer? He shoulda taken the European money and ran in the offseason rather than waste our time.
*The Rangers are having a season ticket holder forum on Tuesday night. The media alert had Henrik Lundqvist, Ryan Callahan, Marc Staal, Envir Lisin, and Brian Boyle showing up. I think you can pretty much expect that the players will be kept well away from the fans - to avoid the flu and having to have any actual personal interaction - and the usual questions: 'why don't you shoot when we yell shoot' from an old guy, 'when/how/who did you look up to when you started playing hockey' from a well-coached kid and 'Henrik will you marry me' from some fetching young female. Still, I should have a report back here sometime afterwards ...
*Brian Leetch took his place among the best of the best of the best tonight as a Hall of Famer. Let's face it, it is an honour well deserved but for all of the great achievements on the road to Toronto, there were bumps as well. I never understood why he accepted the captain's C and still don't. The man avoided the limelight like the plague and yet took the leadership mantle without being able to handle it. As he did during his number retirement ceremony, Leetch should have deflected the attention to Adam Graves. While I disagree with the authors of 100 Ranger Greats that he was the greatest Ranger ever (the failure as a leader and litany of injuries - slipping on ice? geez - being the main reasons why not), Leetchie certainly retired as one of the best so congratulations to him, his family and his fans.*Just why did Glen Sather make the trip to Toronto? So he could taunt Leetch about trading him away against his wishes? So he could make that "Forever A Ranger" number retirement tag line be a blatant lie? Or maybe so he could try to learn how to build a real team from the back-end out like Lou? Or perhaps it was to get thanks from Luc Robitaille for dealing Gretzky to LA (even if it was under ownership duress), essentially making the slow left wing's career?
*So Glencross got three games for a pretty clean hit, huh? The Flame didn't jump, didn't throw an elbow, just caught a player not playing attention with a solid hit - perhaps a second or two late but it was clear that he wasn't following the puck. For everyone to cry "headshot! headshot!" I just don't see how you can justify that without mandating that all NHL players skate with their heads up all the time and be the same height and the same weight as everyone else. I mean, I want to play fanboy and call foul but there simply is no reason to in this case. Three games achieves nothing so why bother slapping him on the wrist? Oh yeah, because that is what Colin Campbell does: make examples of the goons, slap the middle-of-the-road guys on the wrists and let star plays off scot-free.
*Let's face it, the loss of Brandon Dubinsky for a few weeks far outweighs any absence by Drury - which may be as little as one game. While Dubi had just two assists in his last 10 games, he was quite active all over the ice making things happen. You have to figure that with him out, we will see Vinny Prospal or Chris Higgins slide to center and maybe P.A. Parenteau return to Broadway. Higgins has been going hard to the net so maybe his north/south play up the middle could turn this little spark of offense into something bigger. *As for the call-ups, the argument for Geno Grachev in lieu of Pappy is an interesting one. On one side you have the thought that bringing up Grachev for a cup of coffee so early in the season would likely prove detrimental to his long term development. But, the other side of it is that he could step up his game and help pull the team along - likely bringing Arty Anisimov along with him. Two-for-one is quite tempting, especially seeing as Arty has gone back to looking wooden and lost most of the time. Then again, maybe Donald Brashear's
*As for some folks being alarmed that no one has been called up yet - the less days a guy is recalled, the less days they have to pay him for against the salary cap. Someone like P.A. can come up Thursday for the game and fit right in, having been on Broadway in the recent past.
*I love that we still call it being on Broadway, even though this Garden is between 7th and 8th. I don't know, just a nod towards history and a sense of grandeur I guess.
*Tyler Arnason is a tool. Did he really think he could make it as a Ranger? Or more to the point, as a NHLer? He shoulda taken the European money and ran in the offseason rather than waste our time.
*The Rangers are having a season ticket holder forum on Tuesday night. The media alert had Henrik Lundqvist, Ryan Callahan, Marc Staal, Envir Lisin, and Brian Boyle showing up. I think you can pretty much expect that the players will be kept well away from the fans - to avoid the flu and having to have any actual personal interaction - and the usual questions: 'why don't you shoot when we yell shoot' from an old guy, 'when/how/who did you look up to when you started playing hockey' from a well-coached kid and 'Henrik will you marry me' from some fetching young female. Still, I should have a report back here sometime afterwards ...
Sunday, November 8, 2009
10-7-1: Rough Ride In The Saddledome
The Rangers lost to the Flames in Calgary on Saturday night 3-1. They had no right being in the game at all against a bigger, strong team and with their backup goaltender in net yet still was an Ales Kotalik miss away from forcing overtime.
That's pretty impressive.
Well, it is either that or a clear indication that Calgary is suffering heavily from the off-season loss of Mike Cammalleri. While I hope for the former, I believe it was the latter.
*Everyone wants to talk about the Chris Drury hit and seems to be calling for blood. Not me. How would suspending Glencross help the Rangers? Sure the hit was a few seconds after the puck was floated away down the ice but Dru had his head down and stick out like he was going to receive a pass. He wasn't paying attention and he paid the price. And, let's face it, it isn't a huge loss to the team. Should he go on long term IR, his $7 mil salary could be better spent than on a 50 point player who kills penalties. We watched a real captain out there on the ice leading the other team and he was far from meek. *And while there is so much outrage focused on Glencross, it should be double towards the Rangers because no one bothered to get any vengeance. No crying for Brashear because anyone/everyone should have done something. Girardi jawed at him or something on the next shift but that was it. Pathetic. Of course, it doesn't help when Dane Byers is playing scared after being suspended, Sean Avery is in his happy zen place and big Brian Boyle is too dumb to know that he should do something.
*The other big injury of the game was to Brandon Dubinsky. Replays showed that he blocked a shot with his hand, so if it is busted or cracked, then the team should sue Bauer because gloves are supposed to protect players from something like that.
*Does everyone else think that Kipper was Calgary's saving grace? Because I certainly don't. Most of his big stops came from the puck hitting him - he left plenty of space but the Rangers couldn't get their shots to go there. *Credit for that does to the Flames defense because, wait for it, they play the body! What a concept! Defensemen closing spaces and playing the body! Had Hobey Gilroy played the body on little Nigel Dawes, Dawsie couldn't have found an open Iginla to score the second Calgary goal. Sure Wade Redden takes some blame for hanging out in the crease watching the play but Hobey is better than that. Wade isn't.
*It is easy to jump on Valley because he is the backup but he really can only be faulted for one of the three goals - the first was a deflection, the second a one-timer but the third just blew right past him. It did come on a bad play by the Blueshirts but he saw the shooter, he should have made the stop.
*Back to Boyle for a second, he went 0-10 in the faceoff circle. 0-10. Anyone else miss Blair Betts?
*Enver Lisin played like he was still hurt; that jump in his step clearly wasn't there. And I wasn't sure if Arty Anisimov was there at all. The box score says he played but I don't remember him doing a single damn thing.
*What happened to Olli Jokinen? Once a regular threat when we played him on the Panthers, he was woeful on this occasion. And I hear that that is the norm for him this season; I wonder what went wrong as he couldn't have forgotten to play over the summer ...
*PHW Three Stars
3-Dan Girardi - one goal.
2-Nigel Dawes - three assists.
1-Miikka Kiprusoff - 32 saves.
Scotty Hockey Three Stars3-Dawesie - Gotta give credit to him for getting revenge.
2-Girardi - Best Ranger on the ice. Sure Higgins and Cally skated hard, Gabby got some good shots off and Dubi finished his shift before going to the bench injured but Dan-O was all over the place. His goal was lucky - multiple deflections - but he stopped several goals with good shot blocks (and I'm pretty sure the last goal against didn't came off his stick but I didn't catch the replay).
1-Jay Bouwmeester/Robyn Regehr/Dion Phaneuf - JayBo killed off all three Ranger power plays seemingly by himself. Regehr made stop after stop, was hurt and missed some time, but still played almost 24 minutes. Sloppy Seconds had big hits, big shots and big stops - probably the best game I've seen him play in quite a while.
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