Well This Is Interesting

Just arrived in my e-mail:

New York Rangers President and General Manager Glen Sather announced today that forward Evgeny Grachev has been recalled from the Hartford Wolf Pack of the American Hockey League (AHL).

Zipay is reporting that the lines will be the same as the last few games. So no Sean yet again. And, despite earlier reports that we would see Valley, the Newsday scribe went on to say that Hank will be back in net to face Three-Or-More.

Strange happenings. My guess is that Hank is feeling fresh so he gets the start against a top-tiered team, while Valley will wait until Monday to face the Leafs as it is the bumper game of back-to-backs (after Sunday vs. the Quack Attack).

But Grachev ... perhaps the Enver Lisin experiment is getting a rest? Put Geno back alongside Arty and you have not one but two motivated players? Or is Kotalik or someone else dinged up? Guess we will have to wait and see ...

Edit update: Gross and Zipay are saying that Cally is the one who is sore and may not be able to go. That could throw off the lines a bit - maybe see Kotalik up alongside Dru (Sabres underachievers ho!!!!!) and Grachev back with Arty and Lisin?

Yay Newsday!

While I feel that Newsday is inherently biased towards the Islanders - seeing as the Isles are a major advertiser and the Mausoleum holds the most viewed ads for Newsday - they do have Steve Zipay, who breaks most Blueshirts news before anyone else on his blog.

Today Steve had the roster for the Ranger prospect team that will play in the Traverse City Prospect Tournament. While they may not be good enough to win the championship again, it will be interesting to see how they play since there are a lot of questions there. Does Artem Anisimov or Bobby Sanguinetti have the skill to play in the NHL? Was Michael Del Zotto worth a first round pick? Did the wheels fall entirely off of last year's second pick, Antoine LaFleur? How has Tommy Pyatt and Ryan Hillier bounced back after injury-marred seasons?

We will certainly find out, and if not at Traverse City, then during the preseason, which Zipay found out will be broadcast in its entirety. That includes all six games over here and the two games in Switzerland, which is awesome news for us Ranger fans.

On a personal note, I will likely be attending those games in Switzerland, but not the season-opener in Prague which I spoke about so much in the past. The Rangers aren't making game tickets available for the NHL Premier games, just ridiculously-priced packages that cost more than season tickets. I'll have to pass ...