Last season, when the Rangers were on the verge of self-destructing, it was the February acquisition of agitator-extraordinaire Sean Avery that ignited the team on a run that secured them a playoff spot. Avery may be having a similar effect on the team this year, making it all the more important that the team locks up the unrestricted free agent-to be long before he hits the open market this summer.

For much of this season, the Rangers struggled despite the addition of big name free agents like Scott Gomez and Chris Drury in the off-season. Over the last few months, though, the team has been among the league’s elite, going 18-5-5 over their last 28 games. The team’s success can be attributed to several factors. The emergence of the team’s youth, such as Brandon Dubinsky, Ryan Callahan and Nigel Dawes, has been complimented by Drury finally settling in as a Ranger.

Equally as important, however, has been the re-emergence of Avery. Avery battled injury problems all season, missing 25 games and playing hurt in many others through the first half of the year. Since the All-Star break, however, Avery has been on fire. While Avery was a -2 with just 15 points, including four goals, in 26 games before the mid-season classic, the 27-year-old is a +10 with 11 goals and seven assists in 26 games since.

After an altercation earlier this season during a game against the Maple Leafs in Toronto, the NHL came down hard on Avery and made it clear that it would no longer tolerate his antics. The move caused Avery to rely less on his pest-like abilities and more on his hockey skills.

So far, it doesn’t seem as if the change has hampered Avery’s play as he continues to prove that he’s a better hockey player than his reputation would lead most fans to believe. Avery has managed to spotlight his quickness, excellent positioning and deadly wrist shot while curbing his dramatics. It’s even fair to say that, despite his occasional distractions, Avery has become a leader of sorts for the Rangers.

Re-signing Avery won’t be easy, though. Avery’s contract situation was messy to begin with as he and the team went through an unattractive arbitration battle last summer. The arbitrator awarded Avery a one-year deal worth $1.9 million, which Avery took in stride, looking to prove his worth this season.

Things got even uglier earlier this month when Avery and the Rangers were “far apart in each other’s view of his worth as a player.” Avery is looking for a contract of around $4 million per season while the Rangers are only interested in paying him $2.5 million for each campaign.

The Rangers’ point of view on the situation is, in many ways, understandable. For one, Avery has still never scored 25 goals in a season. Yes, he may very well have accomplished that this season if not for his injury problems, but, at the same time, his pesky and hard-nosed style of play makes it very likely that injuries may be par for the course later in his career. His well-known attitude problems are probably still in the back of Sather’s mind somewhere, even though Avery has managed to handle himself professionally of late. Worst of all, the large contracts that Sather gave to Drury, Gomez and Henrik Lundqvist have hampered his maneuverability under the salary cap.

Still, Avery has made it clear how important he is to the Rangers. While $4 million a season may be a bit much, if the Rangers can whittle him down to somewhere between $3-3.5 million per year it would be a sound investment for Sather to make.

Update, 3/29 – Yes, I still stand by this, despite Avery’s most recent off-ice debacle, with him being an alleged customer of high-priced madam Kristin Davis. Avery is denying it, but the bottom line is, Avery isn’t Eliot Spitzer, he’s a hockey player. A good one that has, for the most part, been a much bigger positive for the Rangers than a negative. Sign him, Slats. You won’t regret it…probably.

Posted under 2007-08 Regular Season, Feature

Well, at least it wasn’t boring, eh?

Apparently, Sunday afternoon’s game at the Garden between the Rangers and the Flyers was replaced with a match-up between a bunch of angry 14-year-olds.

That’s the way it looked, at least.

This was as sloppy and irresponsible a game that I’ve seen two teams play in the “new” NHL, especially when it comes to Tom Renney’s monstrously defensive post-lockout Rangers. I really thought Renney was going to have a heart attack during the first intermission. Luckily for the team (and the bench boss’ health), the Blueshirts came away with both points, though it sure would have been pleasing to deny the Flyers the point they got.

You do have to give the coach credit, though, because it was his decision to replace Henrik Lundqvist with Steve Valiquette at the start of the second period that probably settled this team down enough so they wouldn’t discombobulate.

Renney didn’t replace Lundqvist because the King was playing that bad, although it wasn’t Henke’s best performance, but rather because he knew that inserting Valiquette would cause the rest of the team to, at the very least, be a tad more responsible. It didn’t hurt that the backup played pretty well, though.

Still, the irresponsibility on the part of the Rangers, especially their defense, was at times jarring. I’d be remiss if I, once again, didn’t point the first finger at the Garden faithful’s newest whipping boy, Christian Backman. The guy was being booed in his second game with the team. What an achievement, huh?

I think the real reason the Rangers got this guy wasn’t to add depth because of Paul Mara’s injury. The secret strategy is to throw this guy to the proverbial wolves, increasing Marek Malik’s standing with the crowd and thus his confidence, simply by default. By the way, Malik’s been a lot better for the past few weeks, though he had a couple of brain farts against Philly, too.

Back to…Backman, though. Now, to be fair, he did score his first as a Ranger and was even responsible for one or two very nice rushes up the ice. His play defensively, though, was once again quite poor. I try watching the guy for an entire shift and its like the guy hasn’t learned the first thing about a defenseman’s job in terms of positioning. Backman again took a couple of stupid penalties, one of which cost the Rangers a goal against.

Speaking of first goals, Freddy Sjostrom made a much better impression in his first home game as a Ranger than he did on the road. His debut goal wasn’t pretty, but his willingness to go to the net, battle and not give up on the play was certainly a welcome sight. Most importantly, he seems like he can add that offensive punch to that fourth line that has been missing from this team all year. Even the fourth line has to chip in offensively, at least once in a while. Sjostrom made a couple of decent defensive plays throughout the game, as well.

The guys who really stood out for me today, though, were Ryan Callahan and Nigel Dawes. This was a game right up Cally’s alley, since he plays a fast-paced, hit anything that moves game every night, but Dawes isn’t always as aggressive. He was in this contest, though. Dawes finished all of his checks and created a lot of scoring chances. His goal in the shootout was a beauty. Go watch the highlights again. The move he made on Martin Biron was subtle but, in my opinion, one of the nicest I’ve seen all year.

I’ve harped as much as I can about how great Dubinsky, Avery and Jagr have been playing lately, so I won’t go into it too much, but let’s just say they didn’t let up this game, either. They didn’t show up on the score sheet aside from a Jagr assist, but they were all flying. Jagr continued to make the kind of moves he hasn’t shown until lately. They had a few really excellent forechecking shifts, too.

Bottom line, the team can be happy they walked away with two points after such a wild game, but with a home-and-home against the Fishsticks coming up, now is not the time to get sloppy.

Posted under 2007-08 Regular Season

It was a good sign for the New York Rangers that the craziness of the trade deadline didn’t change the team’s mindset when they took the ice Thursday night in Carolina. Sticking to the same philosophy that has led the Blueshirts to an 11-3-2 record over their past 16 games, they dominated much of their 4-2 victory over the Hurricanes, despite a supremely horrible debut from newcomer Christian Backman.

Backman aside, the team gave an inspired performance against a depleted, but surprisingly hot ‘Canes team. Even without key players like Rod Brind’amour, Justin Williams and Tim Gleason, Carolina had gone 6-1-1 before the Rangers rolled into town.

The Rangers, though, quickly set the tone for the game, led by their red-hot first line.

Brandon Dubinsky and Sean Avery continued to play incredibly well, using their speed and skating to outwork and out hustle the opposition, while Jaromir Jagr has maintained the willingness to adapt to their styles and do what is necessary to compliment their game.

On the team’s first goal, aggressive forechecking from the trio paid off when veteran Carolina blueliner Brett Hedican turned the puck over right to #68. Jagr made an absolutely perfect behind-the-back pass to Dubinsky, who deked forehand and pulled the puck back to his backhand and lifted it past a beaten Cam Ward.

You could almost see Jagr glowing and his confidence rising every time something he’s done in recent games has paid off. Similarly, Dubinsky has had this look on his face every time he’s scored of late, as if he can’t quite believe that what’s happening to him is real. It’s a facial expression, I’d be willing to bet, that has graced the faces of many a Ranger fan of late.

Everything seems to be going right for this trio. Avery, on the team’s second goal, fired a picture-perfect wrister right after coming off the bench and just skating to the blueline. The line played so well this game that any highlight package of this contest is dominated by their names.

Their success was only highlighted further by the fact that the other lines continued to contribute. On the Rangers’ third goal, Chris Drury executed his job perfectly on the power play, skating right to the top of the crease just as Dan Girardi fired a shot from inside the blueline. Ward made the save, but Drury was there at the perfect time to bury the rebound.

Even when the team faced adversity in this game, with Carolina’s Erik Cole netting a pair of fluky goals, the Rangers answered right back. Scott Gomez, leading a rush, dropped the puck off to Nigel Dawes, who continued to show flashes of brilliance by feeding a beautiful pass to Brendan Shanahan. Shanahan doesn’t seem to be able to do much anymore, other than shoot, that is. His shot off of Dawes’ pass was just the insurance marker the Blueshirts needed.

About the only negative for the Rangers in this game was the play of Backman. Paired with Marc Staal for his first game with the team, Backman was, frankly, horrible. Apparently, those Marek Malik comparisons were rooted in truth.

Backman made a number of turnovers in his own zone as he either took too long to make a play or simply mishandled the puck. Backman was given six penalty minutes in this game, also guilty of a double minor for high-sticking that was awarded to Staal. To be fair, Backman did serve a holding minor that should have gone to Blair Betts.

In general, when the Hurricanes were able to build momentum in the second half of the game, it was in large part due to Backman’s ineffectiveness in his own zone. Almost every time he stepped on the ice in the second and third period, the Hurricanes were able to keep the puck in the Rangers’ end. He was often caught out of position, forcing his teammates to scramble and forcing Henrik Lundqvist to work harder than he should have on this night.

All that said, it must be noted that this is the guy’s first game with a new team. He was probably under a lot of stress and pressure and even a performance this bad is forgivable under those conditions, assuming his play improves in the coming weeks.

It’s tough too complain about the other newest Ranger, Fredrik Sjostrom, who skated with Betts and Ryan Hollweg on the fourth line. Sjostrom was largely invisible, though he did show off his impressive quickness in one rush, driving to the net before being stopped by Ward on the doorstep. Defensively, he seemed more or less responsible, in his limited ice time. Tom Renney gave him the opportunity to skate with some other lines when players like Avery were serving extended time in the box.

I’d venture to guess that Backman and Sjostrom would stay in the lineup on Sunday against the Philadelphia Flyers, though Renney better hope Backman settles down. A loss against a division rival that’s still in the thick of the playoff race is not what the Rangers need right now.

Posted under 2007-08 Regular Season

I really believe that this season, the Eastern Conference is wide open, to the point where I can see anyone of six or seven different teams representing the East in the Stanley Cup Finals. Based on that, I, like a variety of others, expected the Rangers to do what was necessary to address their biggest need today by acquiring a top-notch puck moving offensive defenseman.

Now, several hours after the trading deadline has passed…clearly, they did not.

Instead, the Rangers dealt one of their supposed top prospects, former first round pick Al Montoya, along with Marcel Hossa to the Phoenix Coyotes. In return, former Rangers Assistant GM and current ‘Yotes GM Don Maloney sent back forward Fredrik Sjostrom, winger Josh Gratton and goaltender David LeNeveu.

Rangers GM Glen Sather also sent a fourth round pick to the St. Louis Blues, while former Ranger goalie and color commentator and current Blues GM, John Davidson, sent defenseman Christian Backman to New York.

Interestingly enough, the Rangers traded two former first rounders away today and acquired two former first rounders, as well. It’s a lot less glamorous then it sounds, though.

There is no doubt that the Montoya deal will go over quite badly with virtually all Ranger fans. Montoya was the sixth overall selection in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft, chosen ahead of such already-successful players like Rostislav Olesz, Alexander Radulov, Travis Zajac, Wojtek Wolski, Andrej Meszaros, Mike Green and even Brandon Dubinsky. The Rangers chose Montoya then even though they were already fairly confident in Henrik Lundqvist, still a prospect at the time, while their prospect pool was virtually bare of any significant scoring forwards.

Still, the Rangers chose to select Montoya. Since then, Lundqvist has become one of the top goaltenders in the league while Montoya has struggled with injuries and consistency playing for the Rangers farm team, the Hartford Wolfpack, although he has shown flashes of the talent that made him such a coveted prospect.

Marcel Hossa was a former first round pick of the Montreal Canadiens. They clearly were hoping that Marcel would follow in his brother Marian’s footsteps as an elite scorer, but that never happened. The Rangers traded grinder Garth Murray for him before the start of the 2005-06 season, hoping to make something out of him. After all, at 6’4” and 220 lbs., Hossa certainly has the frame to be a useful player.

The Rangers coaching staff put a lot of effort into trying to mold Hossa over the last few years and to their credit, they did manage to make Hossa into a very solid defensive forward. He is very difficult to knock off the puck and he can open up the ice for his linemates. Unfortunately, one brief spurt playing with Jaromir Jagr aside, Hossa just did not improve offensively.

Sjostrom was the 11th pick in the 2001 draft, but he too has struggled to live up to expectations. He’s actually become quite similar to Hossa. In Phoenix, head coach Wayne Gretzky was using him in a defensive role. He’s almost as big as Hossa, but has more speed. Unfortunately, he hasn’t done much offensively, either, although he is on pace to have his best NHL season, with 10 goals and 9 assists in 51 games.

LeNeveu was the Coyotes’ second round pick in 2002 and was supposed to be their goaltender of the future, but after a few call-ups, he’s spent this entire season with the Coyotes’ farm club. Following the deal, Sather claimed that Rangers goaltending coach Benoit Allaire believes he can revive LeNeveu’s career.

Gratton is nothing more than an enforcer, a typical goon, though an effective one. Still, with Tom Renney’s infatuation with Colton Orr, Gratton likely won’t see much time in New York, unless Orr’s current injury is worse than the team has led the public to believe.

Losing Hossa is no big deal, as its highly unlikely he’ll ever become more than a fourth liner, while Sjostrom should be a more-than-adequate replacement for him. What remains to be seen is what happens when Ryan Callahan, Nigel Dawes, Petr Prucha and Sjostrom are all healthy? Maybe this may finally prompt Tom Renney to sit Ryan Hollweg and add a guy like Sjostrom to the fourth line, since the Rangers could really use at least some minor offensive contributions from their bottom trio.

The trading of Montoya, however, is tough to swallow. Rather, it isn’t the fact that the team dealt Montoya, but how little they got back for him, that is the problem.

This trade clearly points to several things. For one, signing Lundqvist to a six-year contract a couple of weeks ago probably hurt Montoya’s already diminishing trade value. Montoya’s difficulty sustaining good play, along with his inability to stay in the lineup, was probably the biggest factor in why the return for him was so small. Likewise, it doesn’t seem like there is much of a market for goalies. Just look at what the Washington Capitals had to give up to get Cristobal Huet from the Montreal Canadiens. A 2nd round pick, that’s all. Granted, Huet is an unrestricted free agent, but that isn’t much to give for a goaltender of his caliber.

Other factors to consider include the surprising play of Ranger prospect goalie Miika Wiikman in Hartford, as well as Sather’s somewhat disappointing habit of only dealing with general managers that he has a personal relationship with. Look, maybe Don Maloney really was the only guy with any interest in Montoya, but maybe there were a couple of other teams that were interested, maybe even giving slightly better offers. Whatever the reason, Sather practically gave Montoya away to Maloney.

The acquisition of Backman isn’t really something to complain about, as he only cost a fourth round pick, but I’m still not particularly sure what purpose he serves. Yes, technically he qualifies as an offensive defenseman, but he’s not much of one. In his fourth year in the NHL, Backman has never recorded more than 18 points, nor has he ever played even close to a full season without suffering injuries.

Pretty much everyone around the hockey world expected the Rangers to trade Marek Malik, so unpopular with his refusal to play physical defense despite his size. Well, not only did the Rangers keep Malik, they added Backman, who despite being 6’4” and 210 lbs., also doesn’t play physical defense. Backman has one more season left on his contract after this one. His cap hit will be $2.3 million, way too much for a guy with his numbers.

The bottom line is neither of these trades really hurt the team, in fact even though none of these players are stars, they will probably provide helpful depth. What is hurting is the team’s pride, at least for the Ranger fans. It’s one thing when your team doesn’t make a significant move to upgrade before the playoffs, but it’s another when they deal a guy they’ve been telling you is a future star for another team’s loose ends.

At least the day’s two main acquisitions, Backman and Sjostrom, are both Swedes who played for Henrik Lundqvist’s old team, the Frolunda Indians. Maybe a few fellow countrymen will prompt the King to return to form.

We can hope, can’t we?

Posted under 2007-08 Regular Season

Some more thoughts…

This is purely my own speculation, but even though Tomas Kaberle has insisted that he will not waive his no-trade clause, with Dan Boyle out of the picture, teams like the Rangers and the San Jose Sharks, who are desperate for a high-quality offensive defenseman, may continue to try and push the issue. If the offer is good enough, perhaps Toronto’s interim general manager Cliff Fletcher can persuade Kaberle to move.

Kaberle would be far and away the best option for the Rangers, or any team looking for an offensive blueliner, for that matter. Only 29-years-old and signed for three years after this one at $4.25 million per, Kaberle has a very cap-friendly contract. Considering he’s also better defensively then Boyle, Brian Campbell, or Bryan McCabe, he’d certainly also cost a bit more.

It’s a price worth paying, in my opinion. An offer of the Rangers 1st round pick in a deep draft, Nigel Dawes or Petr Prucha, Marek Malik and a solid prospect is a fair and sensible offer from the Rangers. Depending on how the Leafs view Dawes or Prucha, they may expect more for Kaberle.

Aside from Kaberle and McCabe, the Leafs also have Pavel Kubina. Kubina also has a no-trade clause, but may be the easiest of the three to move. He’s not a bad player, but at $5 million per year for two more years, the Rangers should not be considering him, although he would be an improvement over the likes of Malik or Mara.

Also, thanks to the posters at Rangerland.net, who pointed out that Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch has reminded us that one name that has been connected to the Blueshirts all year long is winger David Vyborny. The 33-year-old Czech has flown under the radar his entire career, but is having a mediocre season. With just three goals in 54 games this year, he wouldn’t cost much. The question is, how much would he add?

Posted under 2007-08 Regular Season

Well, according to tonight’s NHL broadcast on VERSUS, the Tampa Bay Lightning have re-signed Dan Boyle to a six year contract extension. Word is he’ll make a total of $40 million, which would work out to about $6.6 per season.

Look for the Rangers to intensify talks with the Sabres about Campbell and the Leafs about McCabe.

The Lightning also traded forward Vaclav Prospal to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for young blueliner Alexandre Picard and a draft pick. Good deal for both teams. Prospal could work well with a guy like Briere, much as he did with Marty St. Louis down in Tampa.

The re-signing of Boyle indicates that the Lightning are going to trade former Conn Smythe winner Brad Richards by tomorrow afternoon.

Posted under 2007-08 Regular Season

Let’s make one thing clear. Before the 3 PM trade deadline comes on Tuesday, the New York Rangers will make something happen.

What that is, we can’t be sure of just yet.

A season ago, the Rangers acquired Sean Avery from the Los Angeles Kings a few weeks before the deadline and then got Paul Mara from Boston and prospect Alex Bourret from the Atlanta Thrashers at the deadline itself.

As they were last season, it seems the Broadway Blueshirts are primarily concerned with acquiring a defenseman this season, perhaps because Paul Mara hasn’t exactly provided all that general manager Glen Sather and head coach Tom Renney hoped he would. He’s been decent defensively, showing a consistent willingness to use his size and strength in his own zone, but he’s provided virtually nothing offensively, especially on the power play, despite possessing one of the strongest shots from the point in the league.

Unfortunately for the Rangers, a puckmoving blueliner with experience as a power play quarterback just happens to be what a ton of other teams around the league are coveting right now, as well.

The Rangers have been attached to rumors regarding Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Dan Boyle for a while now, rumors that seem to be intensifying as the deadline approaches.

Boyle is 31-years-old, but he’s still one of the best offensive defensemen in the league. He’s also headed toward unrestricted free agency this summer, unless the Lightning or the team they trade Boyle to re-signs him. Word so far is that the Lighting have a potential contract extension in place with Boyle if they decide to keep him, but that hinges on the possibility of them trading one of their other top stars, center Brad Richards.

If the Lightning are unable to deal Richards, they will be forced to deal Boyle. The Rangers, according to the New York Post’s Larry Brooks, are intent not only on trading for Boyle, but for holding on to him. Boyle will certainly command a salary of around $6.5 million per season and probably wants a deal for at least 4 years. He’s probably worth the price, but with the team already obligated to devote significant space under the salary cap to the contracts of Henrik Lundqvist, Scott Gomez and Chris Drury, tying up that much money to one more player may seriously hurt the team’s financial flexibility.

Boyle is certainly attracting other suitors, as well. The Philadelphia Flyers and the Boston Bruins might be the Rangers’ biggest competition for acquiring Boyle.

If Boyle falls out of play, the Rangers may turn their attention to Brian Campbell of the Buffalo Sabres, although that seems unlikely. Campbell, or Soup, as he’s known in Buffalo, is also heading into unrestricted free agency and will likely command the same kind of deal Boyle would. The hot rumor for weeks has been that Campbell is headed to the San Jose Sharks, but the Montreal Canadiens, Flyers and Rangers may also be factors.

All of these teams would prefer to make a deal for Tomas Kaberle of the Toronto Maple Leafs, but Kaberle, like many of his teammates, possesses a no trade clause, one he doesn’t seem intent on waving. The case seems to be the same for his teammate Bryan McCabe. The former Islander draft pick has been at the center of rumors claiming that he’d be willing to wave his no-trace clause if he were dealt to the Islanders, Rangers, Devils or Flyers, as he maintains a home on Long Island, where his wife’s family is from. McCabe to the Rangers, in particular, became the hot rumor for some time yesterday, but it seems that has died down, for good reason.

McCabe is a solid offensive d-man with an excellent shot and is not afraid to be physical, but defensively, he is lackluster. He is prone to huge brain cramps and often takes stupid penalties at the most inconvenient of times. Still, most teams would certainly be interested in him, except he is under contract until 2011-12, making $5.75 million a season. That would probably end up being less than the Rangers would have to pay Boyle if they acquired him and signed him, but McCabe is worse offensively and defensively than Boyle.

The Rangers were also rumored to be interested in renting Barrett Jackman of the St. Louis Blues, who would have been a free agent had he not agreed to a four-year contract extension on Monday night.

There are still ancient rumors going around involving the Rangers and the Phoenix Coyotes, with the Rangers interested in either Ed Jovanovski or Derek Morris. But ‘Yotes GM Don Maloney is probably not interested in making any significant trades with his team finally making some headway as they begin to emerge from the league’s basement, led by Wayne Gretzky behind the bench.

What’s more, Jovanovski has long denied any interest in waving his own no-trade clause. Morris might be the best, most affordable fit of all the potential choices for the Rangers, as he makes just under $4 million a year and has one more year after this one remaining on his deal, but seeing him in Ranger Blue by tomorrow is unlikely.

Another possible target for the Rangers is Colorado Avalanche defenseman John-Michael Liles. Liles is not having a good season and his name has popped up in rumors from the start of the year, but with Colorado having signed Peter Forsberg for the remainder of the season on Monday night, indications are that Avs GM Francois Giguere is going for it this year. Liles likely won’t be moved unless the Avalanche can get a return featuring players who can step into the lineup and contribute immediately.

Originally, the Rangers seemed heavy on Los Angeles Kings’ defenseman Rob Blake, but the 38-year-old, also heading into free agency, has reportedly told the Kings that if he were to agree to waive his own no-trade clause, it would only be to a Western Conference team.

The Rangers may also make a move that will shore up their group of forwards, but if something like that happens, look for Sather to pull something out of left field here. The Rangers are not going to be players for any of the big name forwards like Marian Hossa, but they may swoop in and use their deep prospect pool to upgrade one of their forward slots.

Early Monday, the Rangers were mentioned as a possible destination for Calgary Flames’ sniper Alex Tanguay, with names like Martin Straka and prospect Artem Anisimov mentioned as possible trade bait. Calgary general manager Darryl Sutter, however, told the media that he was planning on keeping Tanguay, which makes a lot more sense for Calgary at this point.

Brooks has also reported that the Rangers have talked to the Edmonton Oilers about Robbie Schremp, a 2004 first round pick who some may classify as a bust, although in reality, the jury is still out. Slats is apparently interested in sending one of his own potential busts, Hugh Jessiman or Alex Bourret in exchange, but Oilers GM Kevin Lowe is likely to ask for more than either of those guys in return. Schremp was once considered a top-5 pick, but slid down draft boards because of attitude problems, problems that many around the league believe have been overhyped.

More on the deadline later…

Posted under 2007-08 Regular Season

Interesting, how life works out sometimes.

It figures that just when the New York Rangers are finally coming together and playing their best hockey of the season, the trade deadline looms. Just when the Broadway Blueshirts are showing the kind of offensive prowess that many of us expected them to from the start, the pressures of modern-day sports reach their boiling point.

This was quite the impressive weekend for this club, no matter what happens on Tuesday.

On Saturday night, the Rangers played a very important game against a team with whom they are neck-and-neck with in the standings. They played a solid game, as did their opponents. At the end, though, they found a way to win. I’m certainly not the first to say that good teams find ways to win in the clutch and that’s what they did against the Buffalo Sabres in a 4-3 win.

Then, on Sunday night, they faced a lackluster team with serious injury problems, and guess what? They did exactly what a winning team does against opposition of that caliber: they dominated them. That’s what a good team should be doing against an injury-riddled cellar dweller like the Florida Panthers.

Much like some of the team’s players said after Sunday night’s s 5-0 domination over Florida, aside from the 3rd period debacle in Montreal a week ago, this team has been playing very, very well for several weeks now.

For most of the season, it felt as if the Rangers were lucky if on any given night, one of their four lines could provide an offensive spark. Now, with three lines consistently contributing on the scoresheet, all of a sudden it becomes a lot easier to believe that this team can not only make the playoffs, but win some of those post-season games, too.

It all starts, of course, with that first line. The maturation of Brandon Dubinsky has been fun to watch. They say that when you just start learning to play hockey, for a while you’ll notice no difference, but then, all of a sudden, you’ll see a big change, a big improvement. Well, I guess that doesn’t apply just to beginners. For half the season, Dubinsky seemed like a kid who was a little bit uncomfortable, a little bit unsure of himself, maybe trying to do too many things at once.

Come January, though, and out of nowhere, Dubinsky has played like a different man. The guy is doing everything right. He fights for every loose puck, he stands up for his teammates and he shows tremendous hockey sense. Watch him move without the puck. He’s always putting himself in the right position on the ice to be effective. Most importantly, though, he never stops moving his feet. Dubinsky never stops skating, which is one of the biggest reasons why he’s constantly beating opposing players to pucks, especially around the net.

Many of those qualities have also been evident in the play of Sean Avery lately. Avery had a lot of problems early this season, first with a shoulder injury and then with wrist injuries that forced him to miss patches of time. He was probably struggling to get into a groove. Now, however, Avery has been in the lineup for a while and his injuries have been given enough time to heal. He’s showing the kind of hands and puckhandling skills that he showed when he first brought his act to Broadway last February. Like Dubinsky, Avery has also done a great job of moving his feet.

What’s been more impressive than anything is Avery’s ability to turn it up a notch and bring his quickness to another level whenever he sees an opportunity for a scoring chance. If he keeps playing this way, he may get the salary he was hoping for this off-season, after all.

It hasn’t hurt either Dubinsky or Avery that they’ve been skating with a Jaromir Jagr that finally seems to have figured out the way he needs to play to be most effective, based on what he can and can’t do at this stage in his career. So maybe his shot isn’t what it was two years ago, and maybe he can’t weave his way through defenders with the same perfection that he could even last year (although he did make some nice moves against the Panthers), but that doesn’t mean that Jagr can’t be effective. Is he still the same player he was? Probably not, but he can still be a benefit to this team.

More often then not recently, it isn’t Jagr who is making the play, it’s Jagr who is starting the play. Notice some of the really quick small passes he’s been leaving for Avery and Dubinsky lately. He still has the mental aspect of the game so he still understands the game offensively. He’s making some of the less glamorous, but still integral plays that have allowed Dubinsky and Avery, or whoever else has been on the ice with him, to finish. That kind of a Jaromir Jagr is certainly better to have than the one we saw for most of the season.

Right now, the way the Rangers are playing, they’ve certainly convinced me they can lock up a playoff spot. The only chink in their armor is that power play, which still needs improvement. One would have to guess that before the puck drops on Thursday for the Rangers next game in Carolina, something will have been done to address that. Ranger fans should hope that general manager Glen Sather makes as shrewd a move this time around as he did last year, when he acquired Avery.

I’ll have more on the trade deadline tomorrow, when business should really pick up.

Posted under 2007-08 Regular Season

When the NHL returned in 2005 following a season-long lockout, most expected the New York Rangers to be a last-place team with a declining superstar. The Rangers, though, created a different identity and returned to success behind a revitalized Jaromir Jagr. As the 2007-08 season has progressed, however, it has become clear that that identity, the “Jagr” era, isn’t destined to last very long. Fortunately for the Rangers, it seems that a new identity is well on its way to being forged. A new era is on the way for the New York Rangers.

Earlier in the season, any flashes of greatness from this squad usually involved Jagr or Brendan Shanahan, but the team has failed to sustain any consistency from any of their minor runs this year. It’s too soon to tell if this current streak of strong play will last, but it’s a good sign that it isn’t Jagr or Shanahan leading the way, but rather the new blood. This past weekend, the Rangers played six straight periods of excellent hockey, led not by Jagr, but by Chris Drury, Henrik Lundqvist, Brandon Dubinsky, Ryan Callahan. This weekend’s 5-1 and 3-1 victories over the Buffalo Sabres and the San Jose Sharks, respectively, were the work of the future of the Broadway Blueshirts.

The end of the 2003-04 season saw a momentous change occur for the Rangers organization, when general manager Glen Sather cleaned house and traded Brian Leetch to the Toronto Maple Leafs. As unpopular as the move may have been, it accomplished something that the team was sorely in need of: a cutting of all ties not only with nearly a decade’s worth of losing, but a cutting of ties with the 1994 Stanley Cup championship team, a success that the organization had been clinging to for dear life ever since. After the lockout, Sather and head coach Tom Renney, along with Jagr, managed to carve out a new niche for the team. Surrounding Jagr with a bunch of his Czech countrymen, a bunch of hard-working young players and a surprising young Swedish goalie, the all-new Rangers formed an all-new identity. The next year, with a few tweaks and the valuable addition of Brendan Shanahan, the “Jagr” era Rangers achieved the franchise’s first playoff success in ten years.

As pleasant as that was, though, Sather realized two things last summer. For one, he correctly guessed that after Jagr’s numbers slid a year ago, it was likely that the 36-year-old’s impact would lessen even more this season, signaling that the “Jagr” era wasn’t destined to last very long. By signing free agents Drury and Scott Gomez and not resigning Michael Nylander, Sather also realized that he had a chance to essentially reshape the team’s identity and future in one fell swoop.

Now, it hasn’t been uncommon to see detractors of the Gomez and Drury signings, which isn’t surprising, with the team fighting just to remain in playoff contention for much of the season. At this point, though, it’s no longer an issue. The Rangers are committed to Gomez and Drury, for seven and five years, respectively, whether anyone likes it or not, so it would behoove the team to do what’s necessary to win with them.

After some early struggles, both Drury and Gomez have found their games, which is good. What’s more encouraging, though, is that they’ve hit their stride just as the building blocks of the team’s future have hit their collective strides as well. Sather banked on the hope that the organization would continue to benefit this season from what has become one of the deepest and best-prepared prospect pools in the league, after too many years of negligence. Evidently he was right.

Dubinsky, Callahan and Nigel Dawes seem to have finally secured spots in the lineup, no longer seeing sparse fourth line minutes and the situation on defense is similarly positive. Marc Staal has been consistently solid on the blueline all season long in his first NHL campaign, while Dan Girardi and Fedor Tyutin, a pair of solid young defenseman that both received contract extensions this weekend, continue to mature. Then there’s Blair Betts, who has become the dependable, defensive-minded center that is synonymous with most successful teams, even if he isn’t much of a provider offensively. Oh yeah, there’s also that Henrik Lundqvist guy. He’s pretty good and he’s going to be here for a while, too.

The Rangers of today and the Rangers of two, three, four years from now will obviously have their differences. There are still the likes of Alexei Cherepanov, Bobby Sanguinetti, Artem Anisimov, Mike Sauer and a bunch of others to look forward too, after all. And certainly, there’s no guarantee that all of the current young Blueshirts will still be here then. Most of them will be, though, so Ranger fans better get used to them and hope that the way they played together this weekend is a preview, rather than an anomaly.

Posted under 2007-08 Regular Season

In the 2000 NHL Entry Draft, the Rangers struck it rich in the 7th round when they chose Swedish goaltender Henrik Lundqvist. Now, they’re returning the favor.

Kudos to New York Daily News writer John Dellapina, who broke the story earlier today that the New York Rangers have reached an agreement with Lundqvist on a contract extension. Scheduled to be a restricted free agent after this season following his decision to sign a one-year deal last summer that allowed the team to pursue free agents Scott Gomez and Chris Drury, Lundqvist is now apparently going to be making slightly more than $6 million dollars a season for the next six years.

Kudos also needs to be given, in this instance at least, to the team’s general manager, Glen Sather. For all the talk about trade deadline rumors and what the team’s future holds next season in regards to some of the top players on the team, Sather correctly realized that the most important aspect of this team’s future is the man minding the nets.

In Henrik Lundqvist, the Rangers have one of the best goaltenders in the National Hockey League and at only 25 years of age; Lundqvist should remain one of the NHL’s elite goalies for at least a decade. This is a goaltender that, in his first two NHL seasons, was nominated for the award given to the player best at the position he plays, the Vezina trophy. Oh yeah, there’s also that little bit about leading Sweden to an Olympic gold medal.

Lest Ranger fans forget, for all of the great contributions made by the likes of Jaromir Jagr and Brendan Shanahan and others to this team since the lockout, the biggest reason the Rangers were able to return to respectability is because they’ve had Lundqvist between the pipes.

It’s certainly fair to criticize the deals that were given to both Gomez and Drury. Even though both are playing well at the moment (better than they did at the start of the season, at least), in the salary cap era, tying up so much salary cap space to two players might hurt the team’s roster flexibility over the next few years. However, the same criticism can not be applied to the deal given to “King Henrik.”

Ranger fans shouldn’t find it too hard to remember how uncomfortable the team’s situation in goal had been for the years between the “Mike Richter era” and the “Lundqvist era.” Those last few seasons of Richter’s career, when injuries were taking their toll, were some difficult times in net for the Broadway Blueshirts. Recall names like Guy Hebert, Kirk McLean, Mike Dunham, Jason LaBarbera, or even the unfortunate case of young Dan Blackburn. Blackburn likely had the potential to be a solid NHL goalie but was thrust into the wrong situation at way too early a time and suffered an unlucky injury that ended his professional hockey career before it really had the chance to begin.

That’s not to say that all of those guys or the various other goalies that had brief stints with the Rangers in the few seasons before the lockout were bad. No, some of them performed admirably, playing behind some pretty terrible teams, while others didn’t do so great. None of them, though, were serious long-term solutions, Blackburn aside. None of them were as good as fast as Henrik Lundqvist, either.

Lundqvist has had goals against averages of 2.24 and 2.34 in his first two seasons, while winning at least 30 games in both. He’s well on his way to having similar numbers this year. Is Lundqvist perfect? No, of course not. In each of his three NHL seasons, counting this one, he has had consistency problems. That’s not enough of an issue to discount his role in this team’s future, though.

This was priority number one for Glen Sather, just as it should have been. If he makes no moves for the rest of the season, he’s still got a coup in this deal. Nothing could have been worse for this team than finding out this off-season that Lundqvist had been signed to an offer sheet by another team after what happened to the Buffalo Sabres with Thomas Vanek last summer.

At least there’s one less thing to worry about in July.

Posted under 2007-08 Regular Season, Feature