The New York Rangers are in freefall. This much is clear. After yesterday’s embarrassing 5-2 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers, the team has won just once in its last eight games and is in danger of all but disappearing from the Atlantic Division race. Time to point the finger. Actually, first it’s time to play a little game called “I told you so.” Back on Feb. 2, my last appearance in this space, I cautioned that the season appeared to have suffered an unfortunate turn, from which the team might not recover:

“We can go as far as to pinpoint the precise moment when perhaps (though hopefully not) the fortunes shifted dramatically in the Rangers season: The start of the third period in Pittsburgh last Wednesday (Jan. 28).”

As it turns out, that loss in Pittsburgh turned out to be the start of its present slump (the “last eight games” referred to above). I point this out partly mainly largely because I want to demonstrate how brilliant I am and that you absolutely should stick with me here, even if I disappear for weeks at a time (not by choice but due to my various other obligations, including my wretched day job). More importantly, however, this demonstrates just how desperate the Rangers are for a change in momentum if they are to salvage the season. Can the current coaching staff deliver the goods? Tonight should give us an idea, but the signs are not encouraging. Many of the players, chief among them Scott Gomez, appear to have quit on Renney. With Sean Avery not yet available, management simply does not have many other options to provide a spark. If the Rangers lose at St. Louis tonight, the Renney era at Madison Square Garden could be over.

Lost in this equation is the fact that Renney is not the biggest culprit for the team’s current malaise. That honor goes to Glen Sather, who saddled the team with overpriced free agents (Gomez, Chris Drury, Wade Redden). Ironically, Sather will be the guy dropping the ax on Renney’s stint as Rangers head coach. I’m not saying Renney doesn’t deserve some blame (why oh why does he refuse to play Petr Prucha for example?) but the larger problems with this team are a reflection of Sather’s moves as general manager. If anybody needs to go, it’s him. But there’s no justice in this world. Everybody knows that.

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Today at Greenburgh another Ranger season comes to an end with the players getting exit interviews with Glen Sather and Tom Renney, while taking physicals.

Some key notes:

1) Brendan Shanahan seems to want to come back and said, “My instincts are that I will probably play but it’s something that I’m going to think over and you know as far as playing and coming here this year and being part of the Rangers., there’s nowhere else I’d rather play.”

2) Sean Avery was chirpy as usual and even blamed himself for losing the series. But he also felt that a second line center would be important. Specifically he mentioned Scott Gomez when names were tossed out.

Avery said: “I was going to use Patrick Marleau as an example, but I think Gomez would be, I certainly wouldn’t mind playing with him, that’s for sure. That would be big. That’s where the depth comes in. I think that’s the difference. As much as I can handle playing 18 minutes a night, a guy like that is a second line center or first line center, that’s his job. Then you just throw me on the wing to clean up all the dirty stuff.”

3) Jaromir Jagr was asked about his first year as a captain. His thoughts: “I was a captain when I was in Pittsburgh, but it’s kind of different. It’s a big city, and when you’re older, you’re more responsible for everything else. You kind of think more about the game, and about other people when you are older. You worry more about the young guys, and older players who haven’t won the Cup yet – you just want to make sure about the players who are free agents, because if you win, everything stays together; you don’t have to make any changes. If you lose, of course the organization might make changes. And if you have a contract, of course, you still have to work for other players who you play with. And when yhou were younger, you didn’t think like that. When you are older, you worry about other people, and you just want to make sure they got what they need.”

4) Marty Straka will not need surgery, contradicting a web blog report. He said he needs to rest it over the summer, since “it will do anything if I have the surgery.”

5) Jed Ortemeyer, who is a free agent, wants to be back, but hasn’t spoken to the team yet.

6) Michael Nylander, on the other hand, expects to get back into the contract talks with the Rangers in a week.

7) Tom Renney expressed his interest in a second line center, but also wanted to consult with Sather and Don Maloney before he started to name targets.

More later as I go through more tape.

 

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Although they lost, this season proved the Rangers are back as a force in New York. No longer considered a joke, the Blueshirts showed they could do the city proud.

“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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