'Allo Vigneault

The decisions has been made, Glen Sather has made the call: Alain Vigneault is the new head coach of the New York Rangers.

Yet again, the Manhattan team has settled for mediocrity instead of reaching for something better. Vigneault has been to the Stanley Cup Finals just once in 10-plus NHL seasons, and lost that one time with the Canucks being bested by the Bruins. He has one career championship, coming a quarter-century ago in the QMJHL.

But we don't care about championships in New York, we care about corporate money and that will come with consistent regular season success - something Vigneault had in his seven seasons in Vancity. Unlike his predecessor, AV is affable and easy going, and an easy sell to the suits. And, frankly, that is all that the Blueshirt bosses care about nowadays. They need to grab as much big business money as they can to help pay off the fan-unfriendly renovation.

Like his predecessor, Vigneault stuggles to make strategy changes and is a big fan of line juggling. He leans heavily on his stars and his team goes as far as they will take them. In Vancouver he was primarily a three-line guy, so don't expect the Rangers to pull a page out of the recent Cup winners' playbook and suddenly be a four-line team. He will give the forwards more freedom, to be sure, but that could expose our atrocious bottom three defensemen even more then they had been in the last few seasons.

Vigneault's power play, despite the telepathic link between the Sedins, went a below-average 15.8% ... the Rangers went 15.7% and the teams were 22nd and 23rd overall. For fellow fight fans, who knows what we will get: Vancouver had 28 majors last year to the Rangers' 18, but the season the Canucks went the distance they were 23rd overall (with 29, the Rangers were sixth with 62).

This particular coach is not big on this generation of kids: of the 36 players drafted by Vancouver from 2006-2011 just seven have played in the NHL and just two are regulars ... both with other teams (Hodgson and Grabner). This last season just five Canucks 25 years old or under played more than three games in the big league. That being said, there were plenty of home-grown Canucks on the roster - the Sedins, Burrows, Edler, Bieksa, Schneider, Kesler, Raymond, Hansen, etc.

Frankly, the hiring of Vigneault just looks like the NHL coaching carousel is going around, rearranging chairs on the deck of sinking ships. Sadly we know that with Glen Sather at the helm, the SS Rangers is not aiming towards the tropical waters of paradise but sailing through known seas simply trying not to hit icebergs.

Big Decision, Big Decision

Lost amid the celebration that followed the firing of John Tortorella is the fact that these are dangerous times for the New York Rangers. We sit upon the very precipice of long term success or long term failure and the replacement bench boss will have a big say in which way the franchise heads.

Failure, by the way, includes mediocrity - the malady that infected the Blueshirts for season after season in the post-94 era. Sure the team has at least made the playoffs in recent history but, as Vin Scully has said, "good is not good enough when better is expected."

And better is expected. The bar was raised last season and, despite Dolan's virtual disinterest in the Rangers, he does care about his wallet. It is a fat wallet he opened to rebuild the Garden after his mouth ruined hopes of a new building. Nearly a billion bucks have been spent on an aesthetically pleasing, physically uncomfortable remodeling and now it's time to start making money again. They expect to recoup all of that cash in the next five years so where will that revenue come from?

Victory.

Nothing sold the Rangers and nothing sold the sport of hockey like the lone New York championship in the last 73 years. They made it to the Finals three times in the 54 years between Cups and have yet to get that far in the last 19. So there are veeeeerrry narrow windows for success in this town and, for all of the flaws and holes in the lineup, the players that make up the current core of the Big Apple are in or are entering their prime. Either they will take the next step toward Stanley, or they will wither on the vine.

There are no blue chippers coming to camp this fall, no saviours waiting in the wings. Glen Sather cut short the rebuild by buying Richard$ and selling three True Blue and a top pick for Nash, among other moves. Recent draft selections have been projects and are still years away. The kids contained in the current lineup are pretty much all that is in the cupboard and the new coach will have to look through it to figure out what he can make of the shattered pieces left by the last bench boss.

That being said, for all of Glen's failures - and there have been many over the dozen-plus years of his tenure - he has been accommodating of his coaches. Renney took the Czechs as far as they could go and wanted a more North American north-south team so Sather signed Drury and Gomez. Torts wanted familiar foot soldiers he could order around so Sather got Fedotenko and Richard$. So it can be certain that the new shot caller will have the mercenaries he wants to implement his philosophies.

Glen shouldn't hire an old buddy or someone who has some impressive hand writing. Taking someone off the coaching carousel brings expectations and baggage and the best of those candidates haven't had the best history when it comes to the Cup, i.e. Ruff and Vigneault. Speaking of history, it is easy to see Sather going the Gretzky or Messier route - not only are they old friends who had some success in a former life, but they also are 'names' that can sell Dolan on the thought they can sell tickets. Because fans pay to watch the guys behind the bench. /sarcasm

Dave Tippett has a nice track record, and everyone knows Glen's relationship with Phoenix. But who knows if the former Star is interested in leaving the desert.

The rebuild is over but that doesn't mean that young blood can't build this team into a winner. Just as Jeff Gorton has helped refresh the Rangers front office, someone outside of the OBN (Old Boys' Network) needs to bring new ideas behind the bench. Davis Payne and Guy Boucher weren't bad before being undone by abominable goaltending and the AHL guys out there - Dallas Eakins, Mark French (just went to the KHL), Willie Desjardins - have shown signs they can succeed in in the show.

But whoever Sather selects will have little time to implement his strategy. This team needs to win, and soon.

Or else. 

If I Ruled The World Roster

Summer, summer, summertime. Summertime. Enough with the damned Fresh Prince. Give me 40 degrees with a chance of flurries any day. I don't fare too well in the heat and - as you can see from the title - am getting a bit delusional. So while I dwell in a fantasy world where I bring back Jean-Guy Talbot's track suit and take the reins of the Rangers, I figured I would follow in Goal Line Report and Puck Central's footsteps and fill out my lineup card. I did this right before free agency and certainly will do it again once Sather is done tinkering, but for now let's take a look:

Avery - Dubinsky - Gaborik
Callahan - Drury - Kotalik
Higgins - Anisimov - Byers
Brashear - Boyle - Lisin

My roster will have Voros, Rissmiller and Arnason all waived or just banished to Hartford and, as astute eyes noticed, no Zherdev. Z is seemingly assured of being kicked to the KHL after the Rangers get up from the table so do pobachennya Nikolai.

Avery played well when placed opposite of Jagr and should be just fine across from Gabby. Plus, seeing as he gets constant attention on the ice, it will get some more room for Gabby to work his magic. Cally has shown some chemistry with Dru, so let the two Americans hustle and dig alongside Kotalik. Higgins, Anisimov and Byers make for one helluva checking line as all three are willing to throw their bodies around. The fourth line, well, who cares as Torts won't use them much. Lisin can get some spot work on special teams, if he earns it.

Torts claimed that kids will get a chance in an interview with Brooksie yesterday and has said multiple times that veterans aren't guaranteed positions. Taking that into account, here is my blueline:

Staal-Girardi
Rozsival-Potter
Gilroy-Heikkinen

No Wade Redden, that goes without saying. I like Sauer but he could use another season in Hartford to repair the ego that Renney destroyed with his idiotic re-assignment last season. Potter is quick enough to cover for Rozy and smart enough to dish him the puck when in trouble. As for the third pairing, both Gilroy and Ilkka Heikkinen are older than your average rookies and enter with solid resumes. Andrew Gross had the Finn pegged for Hartford in his camp wrap but with the North American game so much more open, perhaps he can make a quick transition in September. If not, perhaps Bobby will show up in shape and seize the job. That would be a nice turn of events seeing as so many other draft picks are being dealt away. Not that I feel that losing Korp, Dawes or Monty was any big deal, but it is always good to see home grown players added to our ranks.

Now, much like the aforementioned lineup I made back on June 30th, this may all be rendered moot by something Sather has in the works. So back to reality for now ... and yep, it's still summer. Dammit.