A Quick Look At The Alumni Roster

The rosters for the Winter Classic Alumni Game were announced this afternoon. The bad guys are listed at this link but here is the Ranger roster:

Glenn Anderson
Dan Blackburn
Paul Broten
Ron Duguay
Nick Fotiu
Mike Gartner
Adam Graves
Ron Greschner
Pat Hickey
Darius Kasparaitis
Kris King
Nick Kypreos
Tom Laidlaw
Darren Langdon
Brian Leetch
Dave Maloney
Stephane Matteau
Brian Mullen
Dale Purinton
Mathieu Schneider
Darren Turcotte
John Vanbiesbrouck

Some observations of the old guys:

*Beezer is my all-time favourite Ranger, even if he sullied his legacy by playing for the Flyers, Isles and Devils at the end of his career. It will be nice to see him take the ice in a Blueshirt again.

*Someone should have told whoever picked the teams that the Broad Street Bullies are now filing social security, they didn't need to select so many goons. Nicky, Dale, Maloney, King, Kypreos, Langdon ... were Joey Kocur, Chris Nilan and Rudy Poeschek busy?

*In all seriousness, it would have been great if Sergei Zubov could have made it. That is one great Ranger that the franchise unceremoniously dumped and never replaced.

*How did neither team bring in Sandy McCarthy?

*I would love to see Mike Gartner skate over, take out teammate Glenn Anderson, take his rightful Stanley Cup ring and skate away.

*Will Blackburn be playing with his two blocker set up?

*Saw Brian Leetch play outside last winter in Hartford with the Bruins alumni. Look for him to be every bit as good as recent-retiree Mark Recchi will be for Philly.

*If Paul Broten can make it, why not Jan Erixon?

*HBO has to put a microphone on Philly's goaltender Mark LaForest. I interviewed Trees when he was with the Binghamton Rangers and that guy can talk - lotta swearing but that is the whole point of 24/7, right?

*Terry Carkner and Kjell Samuelsson are both playing for Philly. Not sure why the Flyers didn't put in Ian Laperriere too so us Ranger fans can weep for three draft picks who got away and ended up with the enemy.