The Captain Conundrum 2011

The news is out, the Rangers are done with Chris Drury, leaving the Blueshirts without a captain.

Before the C was sewn to Drury's sweater I held the belief that the team needed a cult of personality to lead them and, if anything, the last few seasons strengthened that philosophy. Us fans will never know what Drury brought to the table in the room and outside the rink - he may very well be responsible for the quick acclimation to New York by all of the Ranger kids the last few seasons. We will never know. But it is sad the way things worked out from what we did see.

We are pretty much right back where we started from. Back in 2008 the Rangers were transitioning from the Jagr generation to the Renney's American Rangers and it was clear that the C would go to one of the two big money Cs that were signed, Drury or Scott Gomez. Seeing as Gomez was a clown, that pretty much sealed the deal for Dru. Now the team is transitioning from the mercenary Sather signings to a generation of home grown kids.

So who will it be?

The obvious choice is Ryan Callahan. Cally's on-ice abilities are well known and he matured before our eyes as the New York media turned towards him in Drury's injury-caused absences. Callahan may very well be the next captain and he may very well prove to be worthy of the letter (and I truly hope so) but April 7th opened the door to doubt. Cally stood on crutches alongside Steve McDonald to present the extra effort award before an important home game against Atlanta. The sight of their injured teammate alongside New York's hero cop did nothing to inspire the team and they fell 3-0 in an utter embarrassment.

What we need to figure out is who will be able to inspire this team and lead them to a Stanley Cup? Callahan may very well be the man, but let's just look at a few other candidates:

Henrik Lundqvist: Hank is clearly deeply emotionally tied with the team and it's performance - after wins he is happy, after losses he looks like someone kicked his puppy. He doesn't hide from the media and isn't afraid to call out his teammates. As much as he is the King, he is also the Atlas holding up the Ranger world. But Roberto Luongo proved that goaltenders just shouldn't be captains in this day and age. While Hank can surely handle the pressure, he doesn't need or deserve the distractions.

Brandon Dubinsky: Dubi has been right there alongside Cally, growing up and giving all he has for the team. He is willing to fight for his teammates - physically at times - and call out the opposition *cough, cough, Crosby, cough, cough*. But he is on the verge of yet another possible contract holdout and you simply don't want to see that from the captain.

Marc Staal: The Rangers' top defenseman, Staal is yet another product of the developmental system who is rightfully taking his place among the best blueliners in the NHL. On the ice he is quiet and steady and perhaps the best foil for Alex Ovechkin in the league. While we saw a hint of a sense of humour with him at the All Star draft, Staal is usually as straightforward, bland and dour as Drury was with the media. He is best just going about his business rather than having to deal with all that captaincy holds.

Derek Stepan: In his first season Step stepped right in and often didn't look like a rookie. With the media and the fans he is gregarious and gracious and is already well loved by his teammates. A leader at Wisconsin and with the junior Team USA, Stepan clearly has the personality and ability to be 'the man' when called upon. But, going into his sophomore season he needs to be able to work to avoid the infamous slump without having the team's fortunes weighing upon him.

Brad Richards: Since it seems to be all but certain Richards is signing with the Rangers on Friday, he should be considered a candidate. The former Conn Smythe winner already has a good relationship with the head coach and several of the players and at 31 years old has plenty of experience in dealing with the ups and downs of the league. However, Richards will need to acclimate to the city and, unless his contract demands are far less than expected, will be just another mercenary coming to New York for the money.

Twice in recent history the Rangers chose poorly between two candidates for captaincy - picking the reluctant Leetch over Graves and Jagr over Shanahan. Drury was definitely a better selection than Gomez would have been but he didn't prove to be the leader the Rangers needed. Let's hope that they decide on the right one this time.

The NYR Facts Of Life: #23 Chris Drury

For each player who suited up in a Blueshirt this season we will take the good, we will take the bad and take them both and see what we have. And this time around we started with the high numbers and are up to #23, the captain Chris Drury.

#23's #s: 24 games, one goal, four assists, +2, 8 PIM (five playoff games, no goals, one assist, even, 2 PIM).

Take the good: The Rangers respect their captain. Drury has lost a step and whatever scoring ability he had back in Buffalo but he - when healthy - continued to do all he could to help the team. He blocked some shots, laid some hits, took some faceoffs - Dru actually had a 65.5% faceoff winning percentage in the playoffs. Oh, and Dru scored a sweet goal in his first game back from his second injury - the last game of the regular season.

Take the bad: One goal in 24 games? And he even averaged 36 seconds of power play time ... what was Tortorella thinking? Drury missed 57 games due to his two injuries, but those weren't his fault and his absence actually helped the team grow. But he likely rushed back from both his bad finger and his bum knee because the team lost Ryan Callahan to injuries of his own. It was a selfless act to return, but Drury wasn't able to even be a shadow of the player he was three seasons ago. And when asked what he craves most, he said hot oil pizza and not another Stanley Cup. The captain should be hungry for victory, not for lunch.

Take them both and then we have: John Tortorella's Tim Taylor - a plugging fourth liner captain who leads by example. Just this time around, he is one that happened to make $8 million last year. In Tampa Taylor was the placeholder, donning the C during the span of time between Dave Andreychuk's retirement and Vincent Lecavalier's maturation. Now, Jagr was no Andreychuk but Ryan Callahan can be the kind of guy Lecavalier has turned into - a smart, strong, two-way player capable of leading his team deep into the playoffs. We won't know until Drury has either relinquished the captaincy, finished out his contract and moved on or was bought out by the brass. Let's hope we find out sooner rather than later.

The Captain Conundrum

There is much debate of late over who will become the 25th captain of the New York Rangers. From all that I have read, and I am not about to link all of the pieces as both MSM and bloggers are weighing in on it left and right, everyone seems to think this is a two horse race: Chris Drury vs. Scott Gomez.

I find it remarkable and completely disagree with either choice. First off, let's look at why they are the leading candidates: Both have won Cups, both can put up some points, both are signed to well-paid, long-term contracts. The arguing points used by proponents of each against the other is that Drury is too quiet and Gomez acts too immature. Both statements are true, and that should disqualify each of them in the battle for the captaincy.

Markus Naslund and Wade Redden both have worn letters before but both fall into the same category as Drury as leaders by example. Captains of that ilk work in Detroit, in Colorado and in Ottawa but they don't work here. History has proven that.

New York needs a cult of personality to lead them, and none of the aforementioned 2008-09 Rangers qualify as that. Mark Messier, widely acknowledged as The Captain, was one. Neither his predecessor (Kelly Kisio) nor his successors (Brian Leetch and Jaromir Jagr) had the power to force their will upon others, to motivate others and to resuscitate others. They were great, great hockey players but they couldn't make those around them great.

And New York demands greatness.

Is that quality in the current Ranger locker room? In skill ... perhaps but, at least at the moment and at least on the surface, not in personality. Drury and Gomez are both good hockey players and proven winners but Drury keeps to himself and Gomez smiles in postgame interviews after losses. The short term solution for this is to spread three A's around until someone steps up and brings the team with them.

Perhaps the captaincy could go to Staal, Girardi, Dawes or Callahan but not yet. The C brings with it a legacy and it should not be tarnished just because fans or pundits feel that somebody has to have it.

Sad Sight In Siberia

But maybe it's for the best??

Zbohem Jaromir

While I disliked the man, I would be remiss not to bid farewell to Jaromir Jagr.

Jagr always did things his own way and now he is going out that way. It is sad, for sure, but it is his own fault. Had he not been a moody, petulant child when the Rangers got rid of his buddy Nylander before last season, he could have easily reached the 84 point mark that would have extended his deal with the Rangers. Instead, he sulked and was a shadow of himself. He waited until the playoffs to remind everyone that he indeed was Jaromir Jagr and that was a shame. He was a world class talent - one of the top five Europeans to ever play in the NHL - but he had a child's selfish streak that came from being treated as a phenom his entire life.

Speaking of phenoms, the Rangers drafted Alexei Cherepanov with the hope that one day he will be able to come in and replace Jagr. Now the two of them will be playing together in Siberia. We can only hope that the parting between Jagr and the Rangers was as amicable as everyone said so Jagr sells Cherry on the benefits of Broadway. This could work out fantastically for the Rangers if the former captain takes it upon himself to prepare the youngster mentally and physically for the NHL. Then again, it could be disastrous if he explains that you don't have to work as hard in the Russian league and still make a great tax-free living. That Stanley Cup thing isn't all that it is cracked up to be and the fans are quick to turn on you.

Personally I never turned on him, because I never liked him very much to begin with. I hated that when Jagr was unhappy it showed and I found the fact that the Rangers made him the captain based on his statistics was criminal. You never knew which Jagr was going to step onto the Garden ice: the future Hall of Famer or Oscar the Grouch.

Regardless, the Blueshirts will miss him because even when he wasn't putting forth maximum effort, he was a still physical force who could maintain possession of the puck. Markus Naslund certainly won't be able to keep the disc at his feet with Mike Komisarek or Hal Gill or Brendan Witt on his back. With Jagr's departure, the entire look and feel of the Rangers has now changed; let's just hope it is for the best ... for all parties involved.

27-24-6: Quack, Quack, Quack Mr. Renney

The New York Rangers are two different teams - the one when Jagr is on the ice and the one when he isn't. There is no clearer example than in the third period of the 4-1 loss to the Ducks tonight. Already down 3-1, Mathieu Schneider took a holding penalty. The Rangers 'second' power play unit took to the ice, and battered the Ducks - pinning them in deep while getting chance after chance. Instead of keeping them on for an extended shift, Renney put the Jagr unit on and the Rangers passed the puck around, getting no chances, while eventually passing the puck away. Jagr turned the puck over and Todd "The Paralyzer" Bertuzzi scored to put the game out of reach. Jaromir Jagr should not be the captain of this team, hell, he should not even be on the team.

Renney ranted and raved how Jagr doesn't go down when battered, how he won't take a dive ... well that goes to show that his personal pride is more important than his drive to win. If you will do anything to help your team win, then falling when a guy is mauling you is a necessary evil. Until the Rangers get a leader who will do anything to win, they won't go anywhere.

Other notes:
*I was one of the biggest supporters of Ryan Hollweg but enough is enough, he has to go. In his first game back from a suspension for a stupid, selfish hit, Hollweg made another selfish play that cost the Rangers. This time, he was attacked by Ryan Carter midway through the third period. The Rangers were down 3-1 and Carter threw down his gloves. Rather than do the smart thing and skate away, drawing a penalty, Hollweg threw down the gloves and took on the rookie nobody. Both got matching penalties, with Hollweg winning - yippee. Try thinking of the team first pal, that's why I hate Jagr and that's why I think your time is through. Dane Byers proved he was capable during the Kings game, its time to get him more ice time with the big boys.

*Blame as I might Jagr and Hollweg, the real culprit was the Man Who Would Be King, Henrik Lundqvist. Hank was horrible, giving up two, maybe three inexcusable goals. You have to wonder what Renney is thinking by putting him in night after night. Hank played decently but lost to the Kings, the worse team in the NHL. So he automatically gets the start against the reigning Stanley Cup champs? Expect Valley to get a well-deserved, well-needed start this weekend.

*Dubi, buddy, I love ya pal, but take a boxing lesson or something. Nick Fotiu is often around, get a lesson or two on how to take care of yourself with the gloves off. I love the fire, but watching you fight is uuuuuuuuuuugly.

*I went home and threw on Rangers in 60 while I typed this ... seriously, how does anyone listen to Micheletti? This guy is terrible!

*Petr Prucha had probably his worse game of the season. Let's hope that once he has hit bottom, things can only get better.

*I feel bad, just tearing on the Blueshirts, there were some good moments - like the late power play shift I mentioned at the top. Drury worked the crease while Gomez, Girardi and Dawes smoothly moved the puck around, shooting at will. Gomez skated like the wind for most of the game and got a few great chances but couldn't finish them. Marc Staal was fantastic. And onto the three stars:

*PHR Three Stars
3-Corey Perry - one goal.
2-Schneider - goal and an assist.
1-Jean-Sebastien Giguere - 32 saves.

Scotty Hockey Three Stars
3-Colton Orr - finally defeated another heavyweight in George "I'm Bringing Sexy Back" Parros.
2-Jiggy - he stood strong, even if most of his saves came on shots right into his chest.
1-Matt Schneider - the native son makes a successful return to the city. I told you guys we should get him ...

Two Quickies

I should be flattered but was given no credit so I will just point out that New York Times writer Lew Serviss blogged today over at Slap Shots that the All Star Game should be the annual outdoor game.

Sound familiar? It should for you 150-or-so regular readers as I've mentioned it four times since the Winter Classic (not including this instance). Glad to see that the Gray Lady is in touch with the times ...

And the other item I wanted to show you guys is that our boy Jagr apparently is mad at NBC after analyst Mike Milbury said in an interview that it is Jagr's fault that the Rangers have played so far below potential. After hearing those comments, Jagr refused to participate in a canned interview that the network would have used as part of their coverage of the 12:30p game tomorrow against the Bruins. It was truly a professional move by Jagr (sarcasm), that showed that he can still be a moody, petulant child when he wants to. He couldn't rise up and be the bigger man there, just like he is having so many troubles being the big man on the ice. For shame.

Guess I won't be getting that one-on-one with Jags either. Gosh-diddly-darn-it!!

20-19-5: The Broken Record That Is The NYR

Well, I think the title says it all. Everything that has been wrong of late continued to be wrong on Thursday night as the Rangers fell to the Flyers 6-2. The coaching didn't properly prepare the team, the goaltending was soft, the defense mistake prone and the offense disjointed. But other than that, everything was great!

*Well, first off, if you can't motivate your team to break out of a losing streak while playing one of your biggest rivals in your own building, then there is something wrong. Yeah, I am looking at you Tom Renney and Jaromir Jagr.

*Renney continued his dartboard line assignments, trying to get anything going with the injuries to Avery and Straka. It didn't work. At all. Ryan Hollweg was going to the net, skating hard and actually scoring, and yet didn't get on the power play. Renney can't say that Hollweg would have broken up the unit, because neither power play unit played with any kind of familiarity. Hollweg was the best player on the ice for the Rangers and played 10 minutes, 8:36 less than Jagr.

*And Jagr, well ... geez ... he sucked. Again. The "captain" took two insanely stupid penalties that cost the team. The first negated a power play where the team could have blown open the game and gone 3-0 and the second came with the team down 5-2 with more than six minutes to go. He also played at half speed and didn't get off a single good shot that tested Niittymaki. He is your superstar folks and it looks like we are stuck with him as Alex Ovechkin signed a 13 year, $124 million deal to stay in Washington. Greeeeeeeeeat.

*Renney's mistake in playing Shanny on Tuesday despite him being far below full strength came back to bite them a second game as the veteran sniper played a second barely-there pedestrian game.

*Malik sat again, but really, who cares? Mara and Rozy were still in the lineup and still played miserably in the Rangers' zone. The sad thing is that Marc Staal is starting to look like the rookie he is and Rozy - the supposed top defenseman on the team - isn't there to help him out. In fact, Rozy was horrifyingly bad and just watched as Stefan Ruzicka (who is not Rosy Ruzicka's kid) scored.

*Hank needs to find the bench, and pronto. He was absolutely horrid and if any single person was to be blamed for the loss, it was him. He gave up yet another ridiculously soft goal from below the goal line to Scott Hartnell, and gave up a breakaway goal by, who else, but Hartnell. This is the goaltender who had been the best in the league over the first 26 games and was probably the best goaltender in shootouts since they were instated after the lockout. The solution? Well, we can either pray that the All Star break will give him the time to rest and reflect he needs or the Rangers can call up Al Montoya and give the Cuban a shot. Valley won't do it, the team needs to tighten up and having a rookie in net may prove to be the impetus for that.

*I've dogged Chris Drury quite a bit but I have to give some credit to him - he is actually starting to work the front of the crease on the power play. Granted, he isn't big enough to screen the goaltender, and hasn't deflected much of anything lately, it is just refreshing to see a Ranger planted down low. As for his "broken stick" penalty, he didn't know the rule and neither did anyone else is the building aside from the refs. (For those that didn't see, Dan Girardi broke his stick and Drury threw his over to him. The stupid NHL rule states you can hand a stick to another player, you can't throw it.)

*Its amazing how the puck bounces: With the game 4-2, Prucha hit the post on a beautiful play, then a few moments later Simon Gagne scored so the Rangers went from being down by just one to down three and out of the game.

*Something sad is that with all of the talent on the Rangers roster, the only players that were comfortable carrying the puck are Gomez and Dubi. Unfortunately neither channeled Mario Lemieux and instead passed the puck away to incapable/incompetent wingers.

*It was a rivalry game and the Rangers went down by three, four goals and Colton Orr doesn't try to fight anyone. Way to send a message boys.

*PHW Three Stars
3-Steve Downie - two assists.
2-Niitty - 39 saves.
1-Hartnell - hat trick.

Scotty Hockey Three Stars
3-Downie - he was a pest, set up two goals and didn't do anything too stupid. More power to him.
2-HBO Line - best line on the ice for the Rangers, working hard every second they were on the ice. No one else on either team can make the same claim.
1-Mike Richards - I really don't like him but he had poise, moved the puck well (as shown by three assists) and was responsible at both ends of the ice.

16-13-3: Hey, Hey, What Can You Say?

I gotta admit, Wayne Gretzky is a classier individual than I am. With his team ahead 5-0 heading into the third period, he had them sit back and play a conservative game. If it were me, I would have tried to beat the Rangers 10-0, and probably could have, the way the Rangers were playing Sunday evening. Hmm, where to start, where to start ... :

*The most disheartening thing to me was not that the Rangers lost to one of the five worse teams in the NHL but that only one player on the team actually played like he was pissed off: Dan Girardi. Every single player should have been infuriated but they all played the same lackluster hockey in the second period that they did in the first.

*The Rangers scored their one goal on the power play in the third after Phoenix had already started sitting back on their heels. So do the Blueshirts then pounce and build off of the one goal? Nope, their "captain" takes a lazy holding penalty and kills what little momentum they had. Superstar!

*As I expect that little from Jagr, I expected a little more from Tom Renney. The Kind Commander lost the game for the Rangers before it started by not putting them in a position to win. He mishandled the injury/flu depleted roster and put a team out on the ice that couldn't do anything.

>First off, according to Sam, Renney benched Ryan Hollweg to send a message that "He needs to do more." That's fine, but don't do that when your team is decimated by injury. And don't replace him with super-slo-mo Jason Strudwick.

>That set up yet another mistake, reinserting Marek Malik back in the lineup. That changed two of the three defensive pairings and eliminated all of the chemistry ... and put Malik back in the lineup. He was his usual terrible self but certainly not the cause for the Rangers demise.

>Not helping the team either was the fact that Renney put his two call ups, Greg Moore and Nigel Dawes, on the same line. >Two kids, who are going to do their damndest to make a case to stay in the NHL and will take the risks associated with it, on the same line - and playing with the underachieving Chris Drury. Yeah, no.

>And if Hank has a bad wrist and a case of the flu, why was he even dressed for the game? Renney had no intention of letting him play, so why not let him rest at home and bring up Montoya. Give Monty a start and show Phoenix what they missed out on by not trading for him.

*The one roster move that Renney didn't make that I won't complain about is to take Dubi off of Jagr's line. Unless they move Straka to center and get another Czech to play wing, leave it alone. Drury is playing poorly, Gomez is playing poorly, don't add them to a line with a guy who clearly doesn't care about playing - poorly or otherwise. Dubi injects some energy to that line and is willing to check people, something the two Czechs are reluctant to do.

*Jagr apparently lost a tooth in the first period when he was elbowed in the mouth by Fredrik Sjostrom. Did he show outrage and stand up for himself? Nope, he skated to the bench. He deals with double teams, elbows, hooks, holds, slashes, etc. all game long and does nothing about it. This guy is the captain of the New York Rangers! If you have no respect for your teammates - which you clearly don't playing like you don't want to be there - at least have some respect for yourself!

*A quick word on the goaltenders: Valley really isn't to blame on the loss - at least three of the goals against weren't his fault. Ilya Bryzgalov, who regular readers know I am a fan of, was terrible at the start. Bryzgalov couldn't seem to get his angles right and was out of position several times but the Rangers didn't take advantage.

*PHW Three Stars
3-Bryzgalov - 34 saves
2-Radim Vrbata - goal and an assist
1-Joel Perrault - two goals

Scotty Hockey Three Stars
3-Shane Doan - just because he is the last Winnipeg Jet on the team, and that means something, if only to me. He also had an assist and threw some pucks into the crowd to little kids before the game. A good guy, who is very underrated.
2-Bryzgalov - recovered from the aforementioned lousy start to give up just one goal, despite his team mailing it in for the third period.
1-Wayne Gretzky - he returned and conquered, showed class and skill by getting his young team to play composed in the World's Most Famous Arena.