Jared Trumpetto's New York Rangers fan blog

Tonight the Rangers will honor long time Ranger great Adam Graves for his role in the 1994 Stanley Cup run as well as his outstanding community service that has endeared him the the City of New York over the past 20 years. Graves scored over thirty goals five times in his ten year career with the Rangers including his memorable 52 tallies in the '94 run to the cup. It wasn't the stat line however that made Graves a revered member of the Blueshirts, rather it was his grit and toughness that the Garden faithful came to expect from the Rangers during those magical runs into the postseason. Graves brought the heart and soul to the once feared ice between 7th and 8th avenue. He helped make the Garden what it is and will always be remembered as a champion on Broadway. 

Continue reading "Stacked to the Rafters -"

Happy 2009 Hockey Fans and welcome to the 3 month home stretch that will take us into warmer weather and Stanley Cup Playoff Hockey. What does this mean for our Broadway blueshirts? Nothing you didn't already know. The Rangers welcomed in the new year the way the left it by dropping a heartbreaker to the Washington Capitols on gasp! a short-handed goal by Alexander Ovechkin. The loss dropped the Rangers to third in the Atlantic and sixth in the Eastern Conference. The Rangers sit in a virtual tie with New Jersey and remain only seven points ahead of the struggling Penguins who seem to have a case of finals hangover. If you watch the games, you don't need me to tell you the problems for the 325897023498 time so let's call this Jared Trumpetto's Recap/Projections....

1) A miserable power play will continue to separate the Rangers from the elite teams in the league. At this point, I can't see this problem getting corrected. It has been a nagging issue since the lockout and the idea that the Rangers coaching is going to turn this around is far fetched. Either the system is flawed or the players aren't executing the system - the only constant has been the coaching. They just better hope that short handed goals don't keep compounding.

Continue reading "New Year, Same Problems"

I want this column to be as positive as the Rangers Tuesday night win in Anaheim so I'll get the jokes out of my system. Can a power play be anymore pathetic than giving up two quality short-handed opportunities before breaking an 0-19 slump by scoring a goal without the puck actually trickling over the goal line? If you didn't watch the game last night, then you missed Nikoli Zherdev getting taken down on a breakaway and being credited with a power play goal. Good Lord...I guess beggars can't be choosers.

Anyway... 

Just as soon as I finish ripping the Rangers for not putting forth a full and focused 60 minute effort they come out of the gate on their three game road trip with a fantastic road effort. We finally got a glimpse of what this talent can be capable of. The Ducks (17-11-3) were 7-3 in their last ten games going into last night's game and had been playing some solid hockey. Additionally, they are just the kind of team that torments the Rangers. They play tight defensive hockey with the ability to turn defense into excellent transition offense in a flash. These are typically the type of games that have the Rangers down early after they have pressed and pinched for goals only to get burned on a quick rush up the ice by the opposition. Last night however, they looked like a polished playoff contender.

Continue reading "Do You Think They Heard Me?"

First it was the power play, then is was occasional lapses in defense, now it is simply pervasive. While the Rangers continue to register shootout victories, having not registered a regulation win since Nov. 6th against Tampa Bay, they've also begun to lose focus from night to night. They consistently allow teams to open up early advantages and proceed to claw back from these deficits to either lose in regulation or win in a shootout. With the big contracts and top line talent on this team you have to start looking at the coaching. It's one thing to get outplayed, it's another thing entirely to look sluggish and unprepared. I see a team tripping around the quarter pole of the season. The Rangers have managed to develop very little chemistry in their offensive and defensive pairings, a direct result of Renny's insistence on shuffling the line-up card. His same philosophy based in rotation has managed to suffocate what should be an explosive power play, a unit that has struggled all season long, especially over the last month going just 2-24 with the man advantage in December. This isn't a new problem either, if it was just this month, or even the first few months, you could chalk it up to the prolonged draughts that plague all hockey teams at one point or another, but this problem dates back seasons. The power play is, and will continue to be the number one factor keeping the Rangers stuck in the second round of the playoffs.

Continue reading "Lack of Consistancy and Poor Focus Point to Coaching"

A little past the quarter pole and the landscape of the Atlantic Division has changed drastically. Suddenly, the division is wide open and the Penguins and Devils are well within the Rangers rear-view mirror. CAUTION: OBJECTS IN MIRROR ARE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR. If you blinked you missed it quicker than a Rangers Man Advantage.

The Broadway Blueshirts are 4-5-1 in their last ten games, the worst ten game stretch of any team in the Atlantic Division. They've dropped the last two contests to Vancouver and Ottawa and have proven that they can't finish teams off in regulation. Should I harp on the Power Play again, or go over Tom Renny's line match-up mishaps? Sometimes teams need to prove that they can go through prolonged stretches of offensive woes and defensive let downs, but the Rangers are beating themselves.

Continue reading "Hate to Say I Told You So........"

The Rangers are 17 games into the '08-'09 season and their identity has yet to be cemented. Are they the complete 60 plus minute effort displayed in their gritty, cardiac comeback against the Penguins? Or, are they the lazy, offensively incompetent group that conceded 2 shorthand goals to the Islanders at home? If there is one single characteristic displayed by all championship teams it is consistency. The same determined effort night in and night out. Championship teams will make mistakes, have off nights, and occasionally be outplayed - but they consistently give a three period effort and always stick to what makes them good. There is a constant game plan, focused on team strengths, that is followed to the letter from the preseason to the Stanley Cup. The Red Wings even celebrated their victory that way, with the Cup starting out in the hands of Lidstrom, the defensive soul of the team, and methodically moving to the forwards - just like the puck did, consistently, for 82 regular season games and a solid playoff run.  

Continue reading "Who Are The Rangers?"

I didn't get a chance to watch the majority of last nights game - I was in the car for Naslund's goal and I spent a majority of the next two periods doing menial tasks and writing emails. It looked decent enough for my liking considering the fact that the Rangers were coming off a stretch of 7 games in 11 days.

The Rangers continue their offensive struggles against quality competition. I don't like the fact that Chris Drury seems to be uninvolved in the Ranger offense. This is perhaps the most telling statistic of the year for the Rangers. His lack of production directly correlates to the inconsistency in the Ranger offense. Drury's career has been a product of right place, right time meaning that he has made a living banging home loose rebounds and creating problems for defenses in front of the net. His lack of production points to the overall lack of scoring opportunities produced by the team. The absence of Jagr was supposed to generate a quick paced game that resulted in young speedsters flying to the net and creating chances. Thus far, this type of game has not been played. Perhaps the offensive units need to come into their own, maybe Tom Renny's defensive brand of hockey is limiting scoring, whatever the case may be Drury needs to be involved.

Continue reading "Stars Edge Rangers in Avery's Return to Garden"

Whats really, really good Rangers fans?

How about one of the hottest starts in recent memory. The Rangers are out of the gate quickly and, because they manage to keep registering points, have kept me from being too overly critical. However, now 8 games into the season there are already signs of lingering problems that Tom Renny and the coaching staff cannot seem to rectify. Let's start with the obvious - mental errors and an anemic power play. The absence of Jamir Jagr had many, including myself, believing that the team's defensemen would freely throw the puck to the net during man advantages. Unfortunately, this has not been the case. The Rangers continue to register low shot totals on the power play, not to mention the lack of clear scoring chances. On the flip side, their penalty kill is still a quality unit, but not when overused through terrible mental mistakes that result in awful power play opportunities for the opposition. The Rangers continue to take horrific penalties in the offensive zone, the kind of forechecking calls that demonstrate a lack of discipline as well as the markings of a team being outworked for the puck. Usually, these types of calls have come on the heels of neutral zone giveaways that continue to highlight the Rangers inability to sustain the type of puck possession that leads to quality rushes and scoring chances. And on and on goes the Tom Renny era of defensive minded hockey.....

Continue reading "Big Start, A Few Trepedations"

Hey Hockey Fans-

Well, I think alot of my concerns and questions about these new look Rangers were at least addressed over the weekend. Since I am an historically glum fan (compliments of my father's sports pessimism) let's start with the negatives.

Maybe it has something to do with getting back into shape, maybe it was jet lag, or maybe it is just the process of getting their skates under them - whatever it is, the Rangers continue to take senseless and lazy penalties. Normally, because of what looks to be another quality penalty kill, I would look the other way on an excess of penalties. However, the Rangers are taking penalties in the offensive and neutral zones...again. And, again, it seems to be the result of poor puck possession between the blue lines. While over all, the Rangers seemed to skate fluidly led by the puck control of Scott Gomez, the stat lines show too many giveaways. These sloppy neutral zone turnovers lead to lazy recovery penalties and while our Penalty Kill looked sharp, let us not forget how badly Crosby and Malkin pounded us on the PP in the playoffs. Teams like Tampa Bay won't kill you - playoff teams and cup contenders will make you pay. Lastly, and I know I'm nit-picking, but how many times are we going to put up heavy shot totals only to play close games? This happened constantly last year, the Rangers would post 35+ shots and hold the opposition under 20 and yet we would barely escape and sometimes, inexplicably, lose. It seems as though, for some reason, when Lunqvist handles huge shot totals he is unbreakable - yet how many times can you remember him giving up four goals on seven shots (or something in this neighborhood)? The answer, my friends, is scoring chances. All shots are not good shots - 40 shots from the point are not as good as 5 shots from the crease area. This could be where my Jagr - attachment syndrome comes from. The idea that, when Jagr was here, for all he did wrong, you could always count on his strength to provide at least 2-3 hard scoring chances from point blank range. Alas, we're two games in let's stay positive.......

Continue reading "Weekend Wrap-up"

It's been awhile - a summer filled with post graduate job searching (to little avail) has kept me from the blog page. I have been keeping a watchful, and sometimes critical, eye on the Ranger's off season acquisitions and departures. The last time I checked in I talked a little about my wishes to retain the rights to Jamir Jagr, well, that didn't happen. What also didn't happen was any attempt at restructuring Avery's deal, instead the Rangers foolishly let him slip out the door and into the Dallas Stars locker room. I don't know why - the Rangers are above .500 with Avery in the line up and below .500 without him - you do the math. For what it is worth, keep your eye on the Stars. The last few seasons have seen them make early exits but Avery brings the perfect amount of tenacity to put Modano and Co. over the top in the West. I'm not saying Finals I'm just saying watch them.

Continue reading "Hello 2008-09"