Yeah Sean!

Well, despite the alleged idiotic mudslinging by Rangers General Manager Glen Sather, New York accepted the ruling of the arbitrator and will keep Sean Avery this season. Avery will get $1.9 mill in a one-year deal, 800,000 grand less than he wanted, and 600,000 more than Sather offered. While he still got a nice raise, Glen definitely caught him with a sucker punch in the arbitration hearings.

The ridiculous still-alleged comments calling Sean a "detriment to the team" when he was anything but just blows my mind. Yes he was a negative power under Andy Murray's regime in LA, but while in red, white and blue he appeared to mesh with his new teammates and do what he was told by the coaching staff. We will never really know how he was on the practice ice or the locker room but public comments made by Jagr and company were glowing throughout the playoff run, even when Avery was inciting the Sabres. If anyone knows how one negative person can effect a team, it would be Jagr since he personally destroyed the Washington Capitals with his bad attitude. Jags, like all of the Rangers faithful, seemed to enjoy watching Sean infuriate the opposition and do all of the hard battling that no one outside of Ryan Hollweg was willing to do.


So now we have Avery back and he has been insisting on his dedication despite Sather's rudeness so we should be able to see just what he has to offer. With it 90+ degrees out and camp still over a month away, one can only imagine how a line of Brendan Shanahan, Avery and Chris Drury will battle for the tough goals and play the north-south game that is so exciting (and wins championships). It is a sweet thought ... almost as sweet as Elisha's ***! Let's go Girl Next Door! I mean, Let's Go Rangers!

Marcel's Better!

Hahaha, we are bringing back Marcel Hossa. At times better than his brother last season, this is still a silly signing. Hossa was only good playing alongside Jagr and even then for a brief moment before he got hurt. Yes, its good for the team's depth, but seriously Hossa is worthless unless he asserts himself and he too often disappeared. He scored a few big shootout goals, but Marek Malik got one too, and he is garbage.

We rave about the skill of the Rangers prospects and yet block a roster spot with Hossa? Would Nigel Dawes work in that slot? How about former first round pick Lauri Korpikoski? The Rangers claim that they both have a huge upside that Hossa also had, but he still has yet to reach it in 187 career NHL games ... If this keeps Jagr happy then I'm grudgingly for it, but I think the team would be better served giving the slot to other prospects.

Staals Get Busted, And I Love It!

Carolina Hurricanes center Eric Staal was one of 14 people arrested in Cook County, Minn., early Saturday morning and charged with disorderly conduct and obstructing the legal process.

In addition to Staal, 22, his younger brother Jordan, 18, and a number of his cousins were arrested as well. Jordan Staal, who just finished his rookie year with the Pittsburgh Penguins, was also charged with consumption of alcohol while under 21 years of age.

The full article on the debauchery is available here. I must warn you, Eric's agent believes that they may have been "lipping off."


But read between the lines and do you know what's there?? Our soon-to-be defensive stalwart Marc didn't get busted!!! Either he was smart or fast enough to evade capture by the police! Hey, defensive instincts are in short supply on the Rangers blueline so I just can't wait to see him on the Garden ice. Go Marc!

What?!?!?

You know, the NHL has some gall. The league's new jerseys are far more expensive than the current designs. The Rangers just put up on their website that replica's of the new designs will cost $145 - (check it out here). That is almost twice what a replica costs now. That is insane. First the league takes a year off to ensure team cost certainty, then they increase ticket prices this offseason and redesign the jerseys, doubling their costs???



I could tolerate the third jerseys - no matter how ugly so many were - because the teams still had the same primary uniforms. Now you change it (thanks RBK) and force fans to buy an entire new kit? Its just more proof that Gary (Scrooge McDuck) and the rest of the owners just don't care about the fans, just their wallets.

I am an obsessive fan of the Rangers and own nine of their jerseys but you had better believe that I won't shell out $145 for a new one. My customized jerseys even cost far less than that. And as I have mentioned many times, I already work six, seven days to pay for the escalating cost of my season tickets ... there aren't enough days in the week for me to afford a new jersey. Sooner or later the league's merchandising will face maximum saturation among the diehard fans and what will they do then? It scares me to imagine what they will come up with then ...

Hell No, You Can't Go!

Ok, so ESPN.com of all places has broken the news that Gary Bettman has pressured Nashville Predators owner Craig Leipold to ditch crackberry mastermind Jim Balsillie and look to sell the team to an ownership group based in the United States - either one in Nashville or Kansas City.

The article is here, so feel free to check it out. Basically, Gary Bettman continuing to do his best to Americanize the game in the misdirected hope that the massive market of Middle Americans will flock to the sport. They won't, and the league is losing an insane amount of money by not bringing another team to Southern Ontario. New York and Los Angeles both have two teams (Anaheim is the second L.A. team - just wait, they will soon become the Los Angeles Ducks of Anaheim), so why not Toronto. The Leafs ownership is going to fight it as they won't be able to gouge their fans as much but a team in Hamilton can only impact the league's finances and image positively. The only negative, at least in Gary's eyes, is his reputation as he has sworn to insanely try to force hockey on Americans who would rather watch cars go around in circles and occasionally run into each other. Let's face it, the commish's rep, at least among hockey fans (i.e. the only people who know who he is), is total garbage anyway so maybe its time to suck it up and get a seventh team in Canada - even at the cost of one in a southern United States city that doesn't support the team they have. You won't gain the league many more corporate dollars with teams in places like Kansas City, Houston or (as has been proven) Nashville than you will with teams in Hamilton, Winnipeg or Quebec City.

Oh, and a thanks goes out to Barry Melrose Rocks for the (de)Motivator above.


On a happier side note, I just want to congratulate Ken Gernander on getting promoted to Head Coach of Hartford. Jim "eat another doughnut you fat pig' Schoenfeld for some reason decided to accept a move to Rangers assistant GM, when he swore he loved his work in Hartford as a teacher for NHL prospects. Schoenfeld should be fine, albiet as a puppet and legman for Sather. But whatever, back to the point, congrats to Kenny G. A man of grace and class, Gernander was the consummate professional and a very nice man. He taught me the Binghamton Rangers penalty kill while we sat in the press box during a rare game he missed back in '97. Best wishes!

It's Friday and Still Summer

How depressing, but not as terrible as the new jerseys unveiled in Nashville for the Predators. This 'sleek' new design with piping better not ruin the classic look at the red, white and blue of the Rangers as well as the other Original Six designs. Not to mention how dopey the Pred players look in the picture ... then again, no one will see them as they play hockey in Nashville. Goddammit.

On another note, Alexei Yashin will spend this upcoming season in Russia. As a fan of the Rangers, I will miss him - he was yet another great target on the wide ass of the Islanders. An interesting note from NHL.com, "His departure means Ottawa's first two first-round picks in franchise history are no longer in the NHL, Yashin going second overall in the 1992 NHL entry draft and Alexandre Daigle - now playing in Davos, Switzerland - chosen first overall in 1993 by the Senators." Daigle had 61 points in 44 games with the Swiss squad last year ... why couldn't he do that for us? The soft skillster had 26 points in 58 games back in 99-00 and his light on the defense but high on the dipsy-doo might work in the NHL finally. Who knows? And you know, who cares? Ottawa went on to draft Marian Hossa, Jason Spezza, etc. so I think they recovered from their losses. Now if one of the Rangers prospects could only turn into a superstar ...

And turning away from Yashin to some more communists, the Russia/Canada superseries coming up this summer is an awesome idea but could prove to be terrible. What happens if Ansimov or Cherry gets hurt?? I know Russian coach Sergei Nemchinov, our classic No. 13, will look out for them as a favour to his old organization but still - it isn't worth the risk ... and just fyi, there are no Ranger draft picks currently on the Canadian roster.

Ok, I think that covers the good news of the day, I have to get back to the bad news of the real world ... damn job. Someone please pay me to do this!

Some Wednesday Randomness

First off, happy trails to Dale Purinton, who left the Ranger organization and headed west to Colorado. While I don't think this means he will be back in the NHL, I guess they want him handy to eye gouge anyone who tries to tip over Joe Sakic's wheelchair this coming season.

Secondly, the Washington Capitals resigned Chris Clark to a three year deal. Why do I care? Clark is American, plays old time hockey and gives Ovie some leadership. He is another good reason to root for the Caps along with what is sure to be a great tag team of Nylander and Ovie, the utter class of Ollie the Goalie and the hot shot young talent of Backstrom and Semin. BUT there is one reason to root against them ... they signed Tom Poti. So they are stupid, which is unforgivable. It was all so much easier when he was on the Isles since I loathe them anyway.

And finally, the Rangers had better re-sign Sean Avery soon, because otherwise the Garden faithful may riot. We don't need Mike Peca or any more free agents, let's just wrap up the sparkplug that fired up the engine and get ready for the prospects tourney and training camp ...

Happy Trails Matty

So the Rangers dealt Matt Cullen back to the Hurricanes today in exchange for defenseman Andrew Hutchinson, a minor leaguer and a third round pick. I would say we got good value in return for clearing some cap space. Still, its a shame to see the speedy center go. Cullen never seemed to hit his stride or adapt to New York. During offdays with the Rangers, he used to call in to Hurricanes broadcasts to shoot the shit with the talent, who he had become friends with during his stint on the Cup champs. So he clearly is going back to somewhere he is more comfortable annd the Rangers get some more depth. Hutch was a former AHL All Star who has good hands, but is soft and needs work defensively. Unfortunately his numbers and scouting reports indicate that he is a Poti-esque player, at this point we will hope for the best ... at the least, getting a third round pick thrown in is nice considering we are giving up a player who has never scorred more than 50 points in a season. With him and Jed gone, the penalty kill for the Rangers is sure to have a new look. Hopefully it won't be a porous one ...

Hossa! Hossa! Who The Heck Cares About Hossa?

So as per usual I put myself in the middle of an argument about the Rangers. One person was advocating Nigel Dawes addition to the team, while another said that that would be stupid and Marcel Hossa is deserving of the roster spot. As some may know, I don't care much for the lesser of the two NHL Hossas. So you can guess which side I picked. But, I dug up some interesting numbers that supported my case:

Hossa played 144 AHL regular season games, and he scored 54 goals. In 146 AHL regular season games Dawes scored 62 BUT the discrepancy comes in the clutch - Dawes averaged more than a point per game in the Calder Cup playoffs while Hossa averaged half that. Hossa has played 187 NHL games, Dawes just eight.

We will see when Nigel gets some more NHL icetime who is truly better but I would rather someone who can come through when it counts. Hossa has just 30 goals (and 23 assists) in those 187 NHL games; he got his shot, now we should give someone else a try. If we are indeed less caring about catering to Jagr's penchant for European teammates, there is little reason to keep Hossa over Dawsie ... your opinions?

D-fense

So Sheldon Souray is a Edmonton Oiler ... good. Souray has probably the best point shot in the NHL and now we don't have to face him. The Rangers don't need a one-dimensional defenseman, they need another good soldier like Girardi or Tuytin to play along the one-dimensional Paul Mara and a good puck moving two-way defenseman to complement Rozy (like Staal). So getting Souray and stretching the salary cap would have been a mistake. Remember, plugging in high priced free agents didn't work prior to the lockout, it won't work now.

Now if we could just find a way to get rid of that Malik ape ...

Really quick

Since I got all of three hours of sleep on a horridly uncomfortable couch, a quick note on today's precedings.

-The Rangers have the nerve to give a guy they hope wins them some games a seven year deal (Gomez) and give the guy who has won them some games a one year deal (Hank). Doesn't make much sense to me. I guess once we get Scotty and Al Montoya together, I am going to have to learn how to say 'waste of money' in Spanish ... while Hank wins some team the Stanley Cup (Detroit?? Hasek will only be back for one year and that town has been quite Swede-friendly).

-The schedule came out and the Rangers are playing their home opener against Florida ... think the league wants New York to look good in their first game?!?

-No Brian Leetch night announced as of yet but with both Boston games being on Sundays late in the season, I wouldn't be shocked if it came against Toronto on December 6th ...

-We get to see LA, Anaheim, Phoenix, Dallas and San Jose for our Western Conference home games this season. I don't know about you, but I just hope that Colton Orr is in good shape as four of the five boast heavyweights ...

A few follow ups ...

First off, I would be remiss if I didn't wish Jed Ortmeyer the best in Nashville. As many of you know, he was my favourite player and I think his heart and work ethic will be missed. As for Karel Rachunek and Kevin Weekes going to the Devils, haha. I would have thought that Lou would have realized that he already signed a European puck moving defenseman with no heart that didn't work out (Vlad Malakov) and it cost him a first round draft pick just to get rid of him. As for Weeeeeeeeekes, he did his job here but never was a true starter so good luck to him in filling the skates of Chris Terreri and Craig Billington.

And so I posted my last blog, and sent around and one of the responses I got was:
"what is he talking about that it worked with having Euro team...Did it? First round lost to the Devils and choking to Buffalo to me does not mean that it works."

Now I don't know about you, but I think this guy is an idiot. After not making the postseason for seven years, Sather builds a comfort net around Jagr and we make the playoffs two years in a row (and the second time we were essentially 7.7 seconds away from the Eastern Conference Finals). I would say that plan works and has set the team in the right direction. Look at the Blackhawks - they signed some big name, big ticket free agents after the lockout and were one of the worse teams in the NHL.

And because of the insane deals that we gave Gomez and Drury, it looks like Sean Avery is going to head to arbitration. On several message boards it was brought up for debate if it would be a big deal if we lost him after the year and some Rangers fans actually said it wouldn't be at all because of the two signings and because of the guys we have in, and are heading to, Hartford ... my response:

Man you guys are quick to turn on a guy. Need I remind everyone that we hailed Sean as a hero as his coming to the team pretty much turned around our season. And don't anyone say that we could have done it without him because that sure as hell isn't true. His drive and fire ignited a team that was headed for the golf course and turned us into a powerhouse heading into the playoffs. Yes he disappeared against the Sabres. So what? We wouldn't have even faced the Thrashers if he didn't come to the team. Jagr, Renny and company even said as much, and now you guys are willing to throw him away because we got two playmaking forwards and have some halfway decent prospects. That's just ridiculous.

Some doom and gloom ...

I am just going to mention in here that I am not so sure about the Rangers signings of Scott Gomez and Chris Drury. Defenders of the deals can go on about how Gomez is younger than Nylander, has more potential and has won a Cup but the one priceless point is that Jaromir Jagr liked playing alongside Nylander. That simple. When we came out of the lockout Glen Sather got players that made Jagr happy and he played his best hockey since he left Mario's side. Now we get rid of one of the main people that he loved playing with.

I don't care if Gomez is going to turn into Adam Oates or Dale Hawerchuk or whoever, if these big ticket signings piss Jagr off, he could very well revert back to the player he was in Washington when he was unhappy and we will go right down the tubes to where we were in the late 90s. Yeah, we had Gretz and some other big ticket signings, but we had no chemistry and we went NOWHERE. Not to mention that signing Gomez and Drury to these insane contracts will certainly cause unrest among Henrik, Avery and Shanny as they have already proved their meddle in a Blueshirt and now Glen will try to lowball them to fit everyone under the cap ...

I see the doom and gloom because when we had a plan and went with it, things worked, even if I didn't agree with it. Glen was going to rebuild so we traded Leetch, the greatest American player ever. Fine. Glen wanted to build for the post-lockout NHL and do it around Jagr by signing seven Czech players, fine. Teams with North American flavour have won Cups, no team that had that many Euros, nor a Euro captain ever has. But I was willing to go with it, and it worked. Now let's blow it up by getting rid of one of the linchpins and go after the big ticket names? It doesn't seem like a plan, it seems like an attempt to grab headlines when we should be trying to grab the Cup.