The Islanders picked up defenseman Rob Davison from San Jose and the Devils traded Cam Janssen to St. Louis for defenseman  Bryce Slavador.

Outside of the New York area, Brad Richards and Johan Holmqvist went to Dallas for Mike Smith and others and Brian Campbell moves from Buffalo to the Sharks.

Goalie Cristobal Huet was traded from Montreal to the Caps, who also got Sergei Federov. 

The Rangers, though, keep waiting and the Hossa to the Habs rumors are still out that. Marian that is.

More to come as it comes in….  

Towards the end of practice, some of the Rangers were hitting pucks off a piece of wood in front of the net to practice rebounds, which is something Chris Drury brought from Buffalo as part of his routine.

Tom Renney put Marek Malik back on the top pairing with Michal Rozsival, while Marc Staal skated with Jason Strudwick.

I asked the coach if these next two games, against division leaders Ottawa and Carolina, were a test and he said that they were and if they can compete with these teams, we may have better insight on how good the team is.

 

Playing on a team of stars in Colorado, he seems to be ready to be part of that atmosphere again in New York. He said he was ready to put the team first, even if it means less ice time for him. Drury said: “The deeper your lineup is, the more success you have.”  

As for locker room leadership, Drury thought about taking more of a back role as the season starts. He said when he was in Buffalo he had to immediately take the leadership because the roster was so young.

Much like Gomez, he also said he will wait and see where he is lined up with.

Finally he said he looks forward to playing with Brendan Shanahan because he “was an idol” of his growing up.

I will have more later today from practice. Feel free top leave a comment or two as I will be blogging from my Blackberry again today.

Also, you can check out NYSportsDay.com for an article about Henrik Lundqvist.

Talk soon….

“In the big picture, it was a positive season for the New York Rangers and their development,” said Brendan Shanahan “It was a great learning experience. Buffalo has been through it last year. It is incredibly valuable experience for our young players to go through what we went through this year.”

And next year may get better. With only Michael Nylander – who will probably be back – and Shanahan – who will be back or will retire – as free agents, the team that jelled at the end of the year will be more or less the same next year. 

That’s good, because the Rangers can be the team to control the year for themselves, while making the 2007-08 Stanley Cup run.

Henrik Lundqvist is a championship goalie, while Jagr and Shanahan are Hall of Famers. Add to that veterans who never had a chance to win a cup, like Marty Straka and Nylander and the Rangers have the pieces there for next year.

So all that needs to be done is to say good bye. The Blueshirt Scene will be still up and running all summer and giving updates from the offseason. Also we will have draft coverage and some further playoff features.

But right now the 2006-07 season has ended in New York. But as they said in Brooklyn all those years ago….

“Wait ‘Til Next Year!” 

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Can the Rangers catch up?

Stay tuned….

Anyway, Buffalo is playing their game, which doesn’t bode well for the Rangers. And it makes sense that it’s now 3-2 Sabres halfway through the second.

The Rangers have to slow this game down, so they will be able get the tying goal.

More later….

As for the Blueshirts, their kill is just as strong as before because they are taking away the passing lanes.

Now, both Marek Malik and Fedor Tyutin were hurt towards the end of the period. It’s imperative they stay in the lineup.

More later…

A good solid win by the Rangers, who proved once again they can keep up with the Sabres, shift to shift.

Now, I know the question everyone is wondering: Did Daniel Briere score with 13.4 seconds left?

Ok, I saw the call could go either way, meaning if the it was called a goal on the ice, then it would have stood, but it wasn’t so it was waved off.

It’s nice to see the Rangers catch a break here. Too many calls were going against them all series, so it was good to see one go to the Garden side.

How about that Garden? The crowd was into it as usual. And my friend John Amirante fired up the faithful, the way only he can.

Now they have to win one in Buffalo. Brendan Shanahan had these thoughts. “It is not a while new series. You always take little bits and pieces of previous games but certainly now it’s two out of three with two of those three games in their building. We have to win one on the road to be successful.”

That’s the question. Can they win in Buffalo? Most people were wonder if they could win period, and with that out of the way anything is possible.

That being said, the Rangers will need to play almost perfect on Friday to make it 3-2 and if they do, Game 6 will close it out at the Garden, where they won nine straight and 12 out of 13.

But can they do it?

Funny thing, this team looks great since Game 2 and needs this game, so will the final 20 hold up?

Remember Buffalo was not shut out all season, so it’s tough to see them just sitting back.

Let’s see what happens….

I don’t want to rant of the refs here since I do think they do a good job, but come on, two video replays against the Rangers and seven Buffalo pps? Maybe they are a little too strict.

But all of this will mean nothing if the Rangers score one in the OT.