Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Well, The Rangers Are Ready For Opening Night


Are you?

The Rangers made their final preseason roster moves today, sending Nigel Dawes, Artem Anisimov, and Al Montoya down while keeping Dubi and eight defensemen on the roster (including young Staal). I don't mind these moves at all because, lets face it, it is finally safe to say that if a prospect does well, we will see him on Broadway sooner or later. Dawes will be the first call up if a winger goes down, Anisimov a center and Monty if Hank gets hurt (god forbid). Blueshirt Bulletin broke down the moves pretty well, as they always do.

Blueshirt also pointed out that the Rangers updated their roster and the guys have their uniform numbers set for the season. I thought it would be fun to break down the four guys who have new numbers by who else has worn the jerseys they are about to don in Rangers history:

#5 - Dan Girardi - a pretty well worn number in Rangers history. Bill Cook wore it when he was captain and led the Rangers to their first two Cups. Boom Boom Geoffrion and Eddie Shack also both donned the digit. Granted Girardi isn't a scoring winger, he is a defenseman. Hopefully he will grow into as good a player as other notable Rangers blueliners Barry Beck and Carol Vadnais and not into a loser like Stephane Quintal or Peter Andersson. Most recently it was worn by Dale Purinton (who left for the Aves) and Matt Cullen (traded for cap room).

#17 - Brandon Dubinski - Not a lot of greats have worn 17 in Rangers history but that doesn't mean that it didn't have its stars in earlier eras - Dean Prentice and Eddie Johnstone both donned 17. However, it was also worn by bust Brian Lawton, sociopath Chris Simon (although he was closer to sane when we had him), a long-past-his-prime Jari Kurri, and cokehead Kevin Stevens. Petr Sykora was the last Ranger to wear it, and unfortunately we will have to face him eight times this year with the Penguins.

#18 - Marc Staal - 18 is traditionally not a defenseman's digit - only seven defenders in Rangers history had it and none of them were particularly good. But some great young Rangers wore it, particularly Tony Granato, Mike Ridley, Mike York and the great Walt Tkaczuk. Adam Hall had it last, taking it from Dominic Moore.

#24 - Ryan Callahan - Much to my surprise, no great Ranger wore 24. Swedish great Kent-Erik Andersson wore it for two seasons in the early 80s but he never got acclimated to NHL play. Red Berenson, the great University of Michigan coach, also had it. Nik Sundstrom was #24 while he was here ... and for those wondering, last I heard he is playing at home back in Sweden. Boozer, I mean, Bozo, I mean Sandis Ozolinsh last left the number at the bar on his way out of the franchise.

For all of the talk about the lawsuit MSG has against the league defending the Rangers website, they are fighting the good fight as www.newyorkrangers.com is really well done. It could use a little bit more work - like an in-game blogger *cough, cough, me, cough, cough* but it is a fantastic resource. I got the numbers history from there and you can go there to get profiles of any of the players I mentioned.

Let's Go Rangers! Is it Thursday yet?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for that nice summation on past rangers rosters... but anwho, totally excited about opening night and really seeing what this new rangers team is truly made of! Its never too early to cheer "we want the cup!!!" Lets hope that henrik's stellar goaltending during the second half of last season continues, and that our newly acquired boys , drury and gomez, live up to all that is expected of them.

Anonymous said...

I wouldn't have a job if MLB didn't seize control of the website promotions from all 30 teams. In the beginning there was a lot of resistance 7 years later MLB is cutting huge checks for all teams, and is generating more revenue than their sites ever did while under team control.....needless to say no one is complaining any more.....Though I don't know if I the NHL could do the same considering the piss poor way they run things.

jbrown321 said...

I was super-psyched to see my boy Dubinsky and Staal both make the team.

You have to love the depth of the franchise that a goal-scorer like Dawes is waiting in the wings.

I'm not a Holloweg fan -- exactly what is it that he does well? -- but I suppose we needed the help on the checking line.

All in all, this has the makings of a great season. Would I like to see Sather go out and get a real No. 1 defenseman pair instead of Rozi & Malik? You bet I would. But otherwise, no complaints.

JB

Anonymous said...

Dan Girardi is a FOX!!!!!!!!!!!!!