13-12-2: Pitiful In Pittsburgh

The city of Pittsburgh was celebrating St. Patty's on Saturday and, man, did I wish I was drunk.

The lack of lager in my system made the Rangers lifeless, gutless, embarrassing 3-0 loss to Pittsburgh quite the painful endeavor. I showed up to the Consol Energy Center, they did not.

As has often been the case this season, they spotted their opponent a lead and had to battle to get it back. Unlike in Winnipeg on Tuesday, they proved unable to do it this time around. Sure they put in a better effort in the second period but anything would have been better than the first. Fleury's biggest concern was covering the one shot that ricocheted off his own teammate's head; the majority of the night he barely had to break a sweat.

There is virtually no physicality on the roster of this year's Ranger roster and their skills are not paying the bills. In fact, a lot of their abilities appear to have been repossessed. Mediocrity would be a step up for Gabby and Richard$ and many of their teammates at this point. The many flaws of this franchise need to be addressed and this current streak of ineptitude will hopefully force Glen Sather to do something about them. 

Just ranting my way through the Late Hits without watching a replay of the game. Can't bear to relive it:

*Remember when everyone said that scoring was the problem last season and not the defense, so adding Rick Nash would solve everything? Yeah, no.

*Over two minutes on the power play gave Richard$ a team-high total of 89 minutes and 21 seconds of man advantage time this season. He has no power play goals and just two power play assists.

*Things are so bad for the offense that they are trying Alex Frolov wrap-arounds with some regularity. Because that move worked so well for him. 

*The DoubleTrees line of Pyatt, Boyle and Miller couldn't be more disappointing. Two big guys too scared to use their size and a rookie making plays (and occasional mistakes) in a vacuum. 

*I remember last week when everyone said Boyle - like Gaborik - was back when he scored that one goal on that one lucky shot. So foolish. One goal in 37 games for Boyle (stretching back to last season's playoffs), one in 14 for Gaborik.

*The Rangers simply can not go forward starting three No. 7 defensemen. Roman Hamrlik has no place in the NHL, and he is a huge reason for this loss. Hamrlik's incompetence allowed the puck to get to Bennett for the first goal and forced Stralman to take the bad penalty that set up the second and his indecisiveness allowed the easy two-on-one tally that capped off the scoring (either cover the man or the pass, dammit). He is long past his expiration date.

*Of course, the Pens' power play goal came after Del Zaster had a perfectly good chance to clear the puck and didn't. Really, really miss Marc Staal. 

*Speaking of the PK, Ryan Callahan without a stick is better than everyone else is with one. Jeff Halpern without a stick? Scary.

*To their credit, the majority of the folks inside Consol Center weren't hammered and weren't overly obnoxious - the benefit of an early afternoon start. They did whine quite a bit, and were yelling for Girardi to be ejected for the game for touching their precious Crosby in the first period. 

*That was awesome Dan-O, shoulda hit him again. 

*The arena, by the way, is quite nice - it shares a lot of the same characteristics as the Rock.

*Two clear dives to draw penalties in this one: Crosby and Del Zaster. What a pair of players ...

*Beau Bennett? Really? Hank was outstanding aside from letting Bennett's shot sail past him far side for the first goal. That was ... ugh. The rest of the afternoon the King was outstanding, even Pens fans gave him accolades.

*Consol is a beautiful new building, quite reminiscent of the Prudential Center in Jersey. Kudos also to their game night staff, who really put together a nice presentation. They have a terrific scoreboard and know how to use it. Great stuff.

*In case you were wondering, I don't drink at most away games (outside of the Rock). No problem being the obnoxious Ranger fan, don't want to be the drunk and obnoxious Ranger fan. Also, I am not spending an extra penny inside NHL arenas (aside from tickets) this season as a protest of the lockout.

*And, finally, a huge thank you to Gretchen, my season subscriber rep for setting up the tix in Pittsburgh. Beautiful view for face price was nice. Too bad the team didn't come through. 

*PHW Three Stars:

3-Dustin Jeffrey - two assists.
2-Tyler Kennedy - one goal and one assist.
1-Marc-Andre Fleury - 23 saves.

Scotty Hockey Three Stars:
3-Hank - With any other goaltender in the New York net this one was 7, 8-0 ...
2-Jeffrey - Took full advantage of Hamrlik's awfulness to set up two goals.
1-Hamrlik - Had the Rangers had a capable blueliner in his roster spot, the Pens might have had a tougher time winning.

7-6-1: When Does It End?

I can accept that Michael Del Zotto can't keep the puck in the offensive zone and passes to the other team as often as he does his own.

I can accept that Derek Boogaard is a liability on the ice who's mistake led to the three-on-two that St. Louis scored on.

I can accept that the Rangers get no favours from the officiating, it isn't like they are the Canadiens or the Penguins.

I can even accept the fact that the Rangers blew a five minute power play for the second straight game.

I can not accept the fact that a Ranger was hammered by a member of the opposition and NO ONE DID ANYTHING. As his teammates went for another of their poorly-timed line changes, Derek Stepan chased down the puck in the Blues zone and was railroaded by B.J. Crombeen. Dubi rushed over and let himself get picked off by a linesman while the other Rangers stood around. They stood around. Crombeen had four shifts on the ice after getting out of the penalty box and not a single Ranger went after him. Sure they would have gotten a penalty and threatened whatever slim possibility they had to tie the game but so what? So the hell what? A two minute instigator or even a early November loss is a infinitesimally small price to pay to show the NHL that the Rangers are a team. A team of honour. A team of pride. A team that fights for the city, the fans and for each other. But they're not. As I have no wish to spark the ire of any female or homosexual readers, I will avoid using the abundance of slurs that are appropriate for this bunch of Blueshirts but just know they aren't flattering.

Notes:

*The punchless Ranger play with the man advantage is sure to be a talking point but it is of little surprise. How can it be? The Rangers actually carried the puck over the Blues blueline once during the five minute major. ONCE. The talent-less Rangers and their dump-and-chase philosophy depends on the team out-hustling the other team and winning battles. Well, J.D. built himself a largely talentless hard-working team that wins those battles. They are bigger and they are stronger and they play a helluva lot more determined.

*Someone get Alex Frolov away from Sean Avery please. After Frolov tried - and failed - at a wrap around (shocker), Avery tried it twice. Ty Conklin isn't a very good goaltender, but he isn't a bad one. Even though New Jersey is a Mickey Mouse organization again, this isn't 1983. Halfhearted wrap-arounds rarely work so to use it every single time is utter stupidity.

*Avery has one goal this season and took seven shots on goal. Brandon Dubinsky has 10 goals and had one shot. One.

*For those that want to refute my earlier rant, saying that the two points are too important for someone to stand up for Stepan, well do you think that the coach really had the two points in mind when he started Marty Biron, a goaltender who had never beaten St. Louis in his career? You can't blame Biron for this loss, that is for sure, but it isn't like Tortorella is doing anything and everything to win.

*MDZ was drafted 16 spots after Alex Pietrangelo in the 2008 draft but was playing in his 95th NHL game while Pietrangelo was playing in just his 30th, as St. Louis held him back a season. Well, J.D. clearly beats Glen Sather in this battle because giving Pietrangelo an extra year in junior has resulted in a much more complete, much more polished player.

*At the faceoff dot the home side is allowed to get their stick down first, giving them an advantage. So how is it exactly that the Rangers were utterly dominated? They lost 38 of 54 faceoffs. That's pathetic and that allowed St. Louis to carry the play. David Backes, technically a right wing, went 11-1.

*Geno Grachev's hard work and good timing nearly earned him a breakaway (that was broken up by a great defensive play). So, when the Rangers were desperate to create anything offensively, why wasn't he on the ice? Grachev played 4:10 in all, not a second of which was on the power play - one of only two Rangers not to get on the ice with the man advantage (Boogey being the other). Considering this guy was hyped as a big scorer that will make up for the loss of Alex Cherepanov who was supposed to make up for the loss of Jaromir Jagr, don't you think he should get a few seconds to show what he has? Grachev and Stepan are not being placed in a position where they can succeed when they are saddled with Boogaard on their line.

*You know your team is wracked with injuries when Brian Boyle plays 16-and-a-half minutes, over three of which were on the power play. I know he has potted a career-high five goals this season, but let's get serious - it's Brian Boyle.

*On a night where Derek Boogaard's former teammate John Scott utterly annihilated Zack Stortini, Boogey didn't drop his gloves; he punched a guy with them on and took a bad penalty for it. The one so-called fight in the game came between Brandon Prust and Tyson Strachan and it was over fast. It looked impressive in the Garden but, watching the video, I'm pretty sure Prust didn't land a single real punch until after Strachan actually slipped and fell. Damn shame.

*Mike Sauer looked pretty good and he managed not to take a stupid penalty like Steve Eminger did but, when Torts decides to re-insert Matt Gilroy into the lineup any day now, it is safe to say he will take Sauer out.

*Nice miss Arty. Anisimov tried to be cute and, instead of jamming the puck through the extended leg of Ty Conklin, butchered an open net after getting it to his forehand.

*Ty Conklin was NHL on the Fly's Performer of the Night and the first star of the game, proving my theory that the professional media don't actually watch the game but instead glance at the numbers before making their decision. Conk made 27 saves but none of them were impressive. The Blues backup was barely tested and yet the MSM guys fawned over the shutout.

*Upon seeing the re-air of the game on MSG, Joe Micheletti sucks. But you knew that already. What I wanted to say was that it is pathetic that Joe and the crew decided to dwell on the Frolov goal that was waved off. Yes, that sucked. But to keep going back to that again and again while the team is playing piss poor puck on power play after power play is just wrong. The high sticking wasn't what doomed the Rangers on this night ...

*PHW Three Stars
3-Marty Biron - 20 saves.
2-Alex Steen - two goals.
1-Ty Conklin - 27 saves.

Scotty Hockey Three Stars
3-TJ Oshie - Oshie looked like Ryan Callahan out there. High praise indeed.
2-Erik Johnson - The young American and his partner Eric Brewer played more than six minutes shorthanded and handily kept the Rangers away from the puck. Johnson has good size and good hands and, it seemed to me, has yet to tap his offensive potential. He ripped one point shot that was wide but his form was perfect.
1-Steen - Steen, technically a center, played alongside Backes and read off of the Olympian perfectly. While he will never be as good as his father, Alex does have some of the old man's instincts and got into the good positions that allowed him to score twice - once on a feed from Brad Boyes on the 3-on-2 and once in an empty net on a feed from MDZ. Whoops.

"Justice" Strikes Again

TORONTO (November 4, 2009) – The National Hockey League announced today disciplinary action resulting from NHL game #201 between the New York Rangers and Vancouver Canucks, November 3.

New York Rangers forward Dane Byers has been suspended automatically for one game, while head coach John Tortorella has been fined $10,000. Byers was assessed an instigator penalty at 18:50 of the third period. He will miss Thursday’s game at Edmonton.

The disciplinary action is pursuant to NHL Rule 47.22, which states "a player who is deemed to be the instigator of an altercation in the final five minutes of regulation time or at anytime in overtime, shall automatically be suspended for one game” ... in addition, “the coach shall be fined $10,000 – a fine that will double for each subsequent incident."

It should say "The disciplinary action is pursuant to the NHL Rule that we can suspend anyone who isn't a superstar whenever we want to so we can look like we are against the violence that actually brings fans to our second-tier sport."

Out in Pittsburgh, Gena Malkin smiles.

40-30-9: No Heart In The Hub

There was golf on the television next to the one I watched the Ranger/Bruin game on and I can honestly say I'm not sure which was more boring. The Boston 1-0 victory kept the Ranger matinee curse alive and earned the Bruins the Eastern Conference title. Good for the B's. For the Rangers, it was just another pathetic, unacceptable loss at the worst possible time.

They had two big power plays in the third period and pissed both away. At regular strength they were outmuscled and outhustled. And if the Rangers lose on Tuesday at home against Montreal, the season will be over. No reason to waste their time getting beating up by Philly.

*The lone goal was pathetic. Rangers totally lost all semblance of control and chased the puck around before getting crossed up and trapped in one corner. Blake Wheeler sits wide open at the point and blows a knuckle puck past Hank. It was savable but there were a whole lotta bodies in his vicinity so it is hard to call soft ... just weak.

*There is a minute left, down 1-0 and your goaltender is on the bench - why would you put Chris Drury and Markus Naslund on the ice?

*Was there any clearer evidence that Naslund's heyday is long behind him than when Milan Lucic knocked him down with one hand early in the third period? Naslund used to power his way to the net against bigger, tougher players who weren't penalized for every hook and hit and now he got tossed like a child.

*Something that can perhaps be attested to Tom Renney's shortcomings is the fact that none of the lines have any chemistry - still. Renney never let any line aside from the fourth get settled and now Torts has tossed them around a bit as well. Passes rarely find players in stride and often leave the recipient in a bad position to make the play.

*Something that is indeed Tort's fault is his reluctance to use his fourth line. All Colton Orr did was hit people in the first period and Lauri Korpikoski hit a post in the third - the closest the team came to scoring all game.

*The Avery/Thomas incident was priceless. The refs clearly didn't see the incident and only reacted when Thomas came out of his crease to attack Avery. Since it was Avery, they had to calls something on him and they saw what on the video replay. Thomas didn't get anything for chopping at Avery, just two minutes for punching Freddie Sjostrom in the face - and with a blocker, that could be seen as intent to injure. I don't know if you have ever been nailed with a waffle to the face but I have, it hurts almost bad as a cross check to the face. Good work by Sean, it should have worked to throw Thomas off his game when you add in some offensive pressure but the Rangers couldn't muster any.

*On the officiating, how come Marc Savard got two minutes for cross checking and not five minutes for boarding? He intentionally hit Gomez in the numbers as Gomez was going towards the boards. A foot further and he could have turned into Travis Roy.

*To help save myself from some measure of misery, I watched the game on NESN. I would rather Homer McFanboy Jack Edwards to the annoying idiocy of Joe Micheletti. Feel free to point out some of his more egregious errors in the comments.

*The colour guy for NESN, who I won't even bother to get his name, clearly didn't bother to watch any Ranger games to prepare for this one. Edwards asked him questions about how the Rangers kill worked and what were some of the flaws and he had no answers. Amateur!

*As for Jack, well a teenage Ranger fan got a puck that was knocked into the crowd and Edwards said that the kid would be "a dead Ranger fan in a couple of minutes." How PC.

*And it was funny listening to Jack Edwards raving about Shane Hnidy's toughness while the defenseman went second man in on Chara/Mara at the end of the second period. I guess it is easy to be a big man when you can hide behind your captain and the visor on your helmet.

*Everyone else cringe when Morris nailed Wideman in the nuts with a slapshot?

*Everyone can attack Don Cherry all they want but more often than not, the man is right. When he is called xenophobic for picking on the softer, unmotivated foreigners folks rail on him. Sadly, when it comes to the pair of Niks, he is right. Borat was amazingly invisible despite being the size of a small house and Zherdev got off a few half-assed shots but that was it. That they can't get up and involved for games of this magnitude is an embarrassment.

*Rene whatever-his-name-is may be one of the worse anthem singers to do a hockey game. He was horrible, and the Boston fans seemed to be happy with his rendition. All the more reason for us to be thankful we have John Amirante.

*On the bright side, Wade Redden had one of his best games as a Ranger so far. Not only did he fill the crease and block a shot with Hank out of position in the second period, he also made a few decent stops and took a shot or two.

*How sad is it that the only positive thing I could find in the debacle was Wade Redden's performance? I want to puke.

*PHW Three Stars
3-PJ Axelsson - one assist.
2-Blake Wheeler - one goal.
1-Tim Thomas - 31 saves.

Scotty Hockey Three Stars
3-Ryan Callahan - Cally was the lone player aside from Hank to play from puck drop to buzzer. Sadly it was just too easy for the Bruins to key on him and keep him away from the net. He is too small to be a big threat against a team like the Bs.
2-Hank - With the Rangers stumbling around their zone for two periods Hank kept them in the game. He made a half dozen big saves and gave the Blueshirts a chance to win.
1-Chara - The Boston captain was every bit as responsible for shutting out the Rangers as Thomas was. He made big stop after big stop, swift passes and huge shots.

38-27-8: Sunday Boring Sunday

The back side of Ranger tickets has a lot of small print and amid that eye-straining legal-speak is this: "Management reserves the right, without the refund of any portion of the ticket purchase price, to refuse admission or eject any person whose conduct is deemed by management to be disorderly, who uses vulgar or abusive language or who fails to comply with the terms and conditions within."

Apparently holding up a sign during warmups that reads "Please Sens, Take Redden Back" meets with those conditions. How possession of said sign - which has no vulgar or abusive language (no 'sloppy seconds') - is deemed ejection worthy is beyond me. Apparently it is indeed an ejectable offense, as I was threatened with it before security took my sign away. How a sign devoid of objectionable material that brought a smile to the faces of other patrons and Ottawa Senators alike is disorderly is beyond me. Is it objectionable to the public relations arm of the franchise? Certainly. Is it objectionable to the fragile ego of Mr. Redden? I'm sure. But is it anything aside from harmless fun? Absolutely not.

As fans we have very few ways to make our displeasure known - basically two ways: boo or don't go. Being as this is New York, it is clear that neither will, or has ever worked. Putting G-rated words on a piece of oaktag was a means of protest to the franchise for the illogical and foolish waste of the fans hard-earned money. Being threatened with ejection after spending said hard-earned money to watch the franchise is worse. And to willingly submit to the heavy-handed request of said franchise just to be slapped in the face with a pathetic excuse for an effort on the ice is absolutely horrifying.

A recorded sellout crowd of 18,200 (which was more like 16,000) paid their hard-earned money to watch Tom Renney's Rangers reappear and submit before a lesser foe in the midst of a playoff run. They played with no intensity, no interest and no heart as the Senators skated out of the Garden with an easy 2-1 win. Jarkko Ruutu was his usual clown-ish self, soliciting a "Ruutu Sucks" chant that he clearly enjoyed and yet the Rangers never attempted to confront the super pest. Ottawa put their backup goaltender in the net and the Blueshirts never challenged him, despite getting six power plays. As they did earlier in the season, the Blueshirts seemed all too eager to play for the shootout and a lone soft goal given up by Hank sank them. It was pathetic, it was gross and one can only hope that Tortorella doesn't let it happen again.

But if he does, so be it. We can save our cash on what is sure to be a short, pointless foray into and out of the first round of the playoffs.

*PHW Three Stars
3-Brandon Dubinsky - one goal.
2-Alex Auld - 28 saves.
1-Ryan Shannon - one goal.

Scotty Hockey Three Stars
3-Ryan Callahan - Best Ranger on the ice, bar none.
2-Chris Phillips -Solid defense from a solid player.
1-Shannon - Playing in front of friends and family, he showed more exuberance than the entire Ranger roster and went on to score the game-winning goal. Good for him.

29-20-5: No Effort In Newark

Sitting in the bar after wasting my time and money to go to Newark, I asked my buddy Ben, "how the hell am I going to come up with something good to talk about after this one?" His reply was "Good? There's nothing good to say about tonight."

It is hard to disagree but I did come up with two things - the Rangers didn't give up 10 goals and Colton Orr fedoruk'ed Mike Rupp. So that was good. But that was pretty much it.

The lines didn't click, the players didn't skate hard, they couldn't complete more than two passes in a row, they didn't win a single loose puck, they were outchecked, they didn't forecheck, they had no discipline, their vaunted defensive scheme completely failed to cover Bobby Holik on the first goal and the power play ... well, is there anything about it that I haven't said before? It bah-lowwwwwwws.

This is one time that I wish I was wrong and wish I can't say I told you so but while everyone was etching the Rangers on the Cup after their hot start, I said that this team just wasn't that good and they aren't. They are showing their true colors: overpriced, overpampered stars who play without motivation, a coach doesn't hold anyone accountable except for Petr Prucha and a general manager who sits in his ivory tower and counts his money. It is simply atrocious and sadly it appears we are doomed to six or so more years of it with Drury, Gomez and Redden dragging the team down like an anchor and Renney and Sather safe as long as Garden revenues stay up, which they will since it is New York.

Odds and ends:

*It is comedic that because it was a light night in the league, the NHL Network spent a segment airing a clip from their Captains show focusing on Drury. Amazingly the woman interviewing him didn't ask why can't he score, why can't he lead and does he feel like he is ripping off the Rangers by taking home that huge paycheck.

*Nice to see Shanny collect an assist. It is surprisingly easy to root for him, even while in red and black. That man gave his all for the Blueshirts, something no Ranger is doing right now.

*Why is this Reitz kid getting a regular shift while Corey Potter was sent back to Hartford? Is it because Reitz is willing to fight? He gets himself out of position chasing after hits and then gets into fights and loses. I can't see how that is a better contribution than a legitimate Ranger prospect getting to play.

*Speaking of the kids: there was no reason for Prucha not to play, Nigel Dawes disappeared, Renney limited Korpikoski to seven minutes of ice time and for all of his skating, Ryan Callahan couldn't make anything happen.

*That Cameron idiot who the Devils hire to jump around like an moron and throw tee shirts around during every break is annoying. I kept praying he would trip down the stairs. Sadly, he didn't.

*Scott Clemmensen skated away with a shutout by making 27 easy saves. The Ranger "offense" never really challenged him and I don't think they got to a single rebound. Not that they tried ...

*Nik Zherdev pulled another disappearing act, but that is to be expected from a heartless Russian. You would think that he would step up his game to start playing for his next contract but I guess he realizes he can get a big money deal back in the motherland without breaking a sweat here.

*I couldn't tell who was booing more when the Mexican't Gomez had the puck, the Ranger fans in the building or the Devil fans. Maybe I couldn't tell because I was one of the louder ones booing. BOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

*Wade Redden. No. I think the only thing left to do is hope for a career-ending injury. When you take his contract and add his stupidity and softness, you have someone far more infuriating than Christian Backman, Marek Malik and Tom Poti ever were. Well, maybe not Poti. Not yet.

*Hank played decently. So add that to the two things up top that was good about the Rangers.

*Johnny Oduya was credited with five blocked shots. Really? And if so, don't you think the Rangers would have learned not to shoot with him right in front of them? No, they probably wouldn't have. They don't learn or adapt because they don't have to - they are still guaranteed their paychecks and are guaranteed ice time (unless they are Petr Prucha) so why should they worry their pretty little heads over something like, say ... scoring?

*PHW Three Stars
3-Zach Parise - two goals.
2-Bobby Holik - one goal.
1-Scott Clemmensen - 27 saves.

Scotty Hockey Three Stars
3-Colton Orr - Yet again he seemed to be the only player wearing a Ranger jersey to actually care about the team's fortunes. He looked like he was ready and willing to take on the entire Jersey team after sending Rupp to lala land.
2-Jamie Langenbrunner - The Devil captain always plays a motivated game against the Rangers and he did on this night - he created chances with his physical play and collected two assists for his efforts.
1-Zach Parise - A constant scoring threat who netted a pair of goals while constantly worrying Hank and the Ranger D. He was picked 17th in 2003, Hugh Jessiman was 12th. And Glen Sather still has a job ...

So the Devils, huh?

The Devils appear to be the only team doing anything today, naming Larry Robinson, John MacLean, and Tommy Albelin as assistant coaches, Jacques Caron as goaltending coach and resigning Cam Janssen and Grant Marshall along with some other prospect types.

Its nice to see that Larry and Johnny Mac continue to have no pride, having been unceremoniously ditched in Larry's case and passed over in Johnny's. Both were great players who had honourable careers but the Devils ... well Puppetmaster Lou ... have not exactly done the right thing by either.

As for the players they resigned, whatever. Marshall is a depth guy and Janssen is a pain in the ass. Just to refresh everyone's memory, here is him trying to look all tough after Sean finally gave Marty what he deserved ... its two minutes in but the whole scenario is worth rewatching:



And one last note on the Devs -- I just saw that they are going to have a indoor soccer team named the Ironmen share the Prudential Center (The Rock). The scary thing is that the soccer team could very likely draw more fans in Newark ...

Is the NHL that dumb?

The league is boasting "Another year, another increase in the online sale of NHL merchandise. The National Hockey League announced Monday that sales on its website (shop.NHL.com) increased for the 10th straight season and that this year was its biggest ever. Online sales of NHL-licensed products were up 47 per cent compared to last year, according to the league."

Hmm, could that possibly be because its harder and harder to find NHL merch in brick-and-mortar stores in people's own neighborhoods? I know that Sports Authority cut down on the amount of merch they sell and a number of rink pro shops that I know have either closed or cut down their inventory. Big department stores don't carry that kind of stuff anymore and the big chain variety stores like Target don't carry jerseys. To the best of my memory, over the last two years or so, no stores in the large Smithhaven Mall on Long Island carried jerseys (they just opened a Dicks Sporting Goods, which may or may not - the one in Binghamton didn't have NHL merch when I was there 10 years ago). So where else are people going to turn? The non-internet savvy person isn't going to hunt down deals on ebay, sportsk.com, rivercitysports.com, etc. -- they are going to go to NHL.com. So sales obviously go up ... and the league feels the need to trumpet that?

The league is opening a flagship store in midtown this fall and I have a hunch that the sales there will be less-than-stellar unless they cut prices to below what New Yorkers already get at Cosbys and Modells and somehow I don't think they will with estimated price tags on the new jersey designs looking to be in the $400 range ... definitely looks to be quite unfan-friendly to me ... maybe they should just stick to sending out press releases about on-ice happenstance - that way its cut and dry and you don't have to read between the lines and see the bullshit ...