New York Rangers

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....

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.

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 ..."

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.

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.

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.

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"

Also, I'm aware that this article/blog has really nothing to do with the New York Rangers, but like I said earlier, I really only posted it to touch on everyone's love of hockey. That having been said, the

Continue reading "Living a Dream"

There is one person on the UFA list that gives the Rangers the best chance to have a drink with Stanley in June.  His name?  Mats Sundin.  Surprised?  Hear me out.  There are essentially three main (and legitimate) arguments against signing Sundin: 1) he’s past his prime, 2) the Rangers are loaded at center with Gomez, Drury, Dubinsky, and Betts, and 3) money used for a Sundin contract is better spent elsewhere.  One at a time: 

Continue reading "Most important UFA...NHL"

Hey Rangers Fans.

Big news in the New York Hockey world. Lets start with the ugly. The NHL reportedly has threatened to sue Madison Square Garden, removing ownership of the Blueshirts from the MSG corporation. This comes in response to the Rangers suit against the NHL for trying to usurp complete control over promotional elements for the hockey club ( http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=3452292). In my opinion, this is the worst thing the NHL could be doing right now. It's no secret that the league has always depended on the success of markets like New York to spur on the ratings of games. For example, game three of the Stanley Cup drew a lower rating in New York than that evenings WNBA match-up involving the New York Liberty. Of course this moment was partially caused by concerns that Pittsburgh would not be able to mount a fight in the series and because of this most fans not living near Melon Arena or in Hockey Town, USA had checked out of the series. However, this is a fact that the NHL cannot ignore. In the post lock-out NHL, when televised games have been relegated to Versus and the occasional Sunday NBC game, the league needs the support of key markets - especially New York. If the NHL wants to pour resources into an endeavour I suggest moving to get hockey back on large networks like the ABC family which includes the ABC network and ESPN. Or, if nothing else, changing their terrible "Yo Momma" adds with Ryan Miller and Jean-Sebastian Aubin. The fact that AMP energy talked the league into this commercial exemplifies why the Rangers should keep control of their own promotions.

Continue reading "Uncertain Futures"

rk or want advice on trades, I’m here for you.  If you want to discuss the fact that the New York Rangers have a league low 2.13 Goals per game average, I’m here for you.  The only thing you will never find here is praise for the New Jersey Devils.  Admittedly, I might discuss Brian Gionta’s rebound from his early season slump or how Martin Brodeur has regained his stellar form; but never will I say I even remotely enjoy Devils’ hockey (except when the Rangers hand them a 1-0 overtime loss).

Continue reading "Welcome to a new era in Hockey blogging"