Since the draft’s conclusion, most Ranger fans have been desperately trying to gain insight into what the team’s strategy was heading into Tuesday’s free agency period.

Then comes this article, from the Post’s Larry Brooks, on just that topic.

Brooks claims that, ideally, the Rangers would love nothing more than to retain Jaromir Jagr and pair him with Toronto captain Mats Sundinas the team’s top offensive duo, with Chris Drury moving over to the wing on Scotty Gomez’s line. Brooks also mentions that the team would like to retain the services of Sean Avery and Michal Rozsival.

This line of thinking is pretty close to what I’d like to see this team do myself, actually. Signing Jagr and Sundin to one, or even two, year deals worth around $5 million each would be a much smarter idea than overpaying a guy like Marian Hossa for the next seven years. With Sundin and Jagr in the lineup, the Rangers would be able to stay competitive for the next season or two, while continuing to groom young players.

If the Rangers could manage to sign both Jagr and Sundin, even to two-year deals, then by the time their contracts expired, the Rangers would be a deep team full of quality young players and with enough cap room to sign a franchise player, like Ilya Kovalchuk, for example, who will be an unrestricted free agent after the 2009-10 season. The Rangers would still have veterans like Drury, Gomez, Henrik Lundqvist and Blair Betts to go with a score of young players, like Brandon Dubinsky, Nigel Dawes, Dan Girardi, Ryan Callahan, Marc Staal, Bobby Sanguinetti, Mike Sauer, Artem Anisimov, Alexei Cherepanov and others, who have already either had some NHL experience at that point or are would be ready to step in.

Even if Sundin goes elsewhere, I’d stick with essentially the same plan. Signing Hossa won’t make the Rangers a contender, and he isn’t a franchise player. Hossa is a great, great player, but he’s more of a compliment than a main piece. Thanks to the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Rangers won’t have the opportunity to highly overpay for a player like Ryan Malone, after the former Penguin signed with the Lightning yesterday, but the Rangers must be sure to avoid similar temptation from the likes of Hossa and many of the other top free agents available this summer.

I’d much rather see the team go after a cheaper player like Michael Ryder. Give Ryder three years at $3 million per season and maybe he goes back to scoring 30 goals again. It’s a better risk than paying Hossa $8 million.

If there is one free agent from the top crop this season that I wouldn’t mind seeing in Broadway Blue next season, it’s Wade Redden. I’ve never been a big fan of Rozsival, and if teams are going to offer him $5 million (or even more), I’d rather pay a little more for a guy like Redden. His last couple of seasons in Ottawa weren’t great, but I believe he’s still got it. He’s only 31. I’d give him a 5 year deal at $5.5 million per, though I don’t know if I would go past that.

Truth be told, what I’d really love is to see the Rangers send a second or third round pick and a player to Anaheim for former Ranger Mathieu Schneider. Due to salary cap constraints, the Ducks are likely to move Schneider, who can still put up points from the blueline despite his age. Yeah, he’s 39, but he only has a year left on his deal, and he wasn’t bad last season. He’s still a solid offensive defenseman, and he could hold the fort until Sanguinetti is ready for duty.

I must take umbrage with Brooks’ claim that the Rangers want to keep Avery, however. Granted, I’m not an “insider,” but from what has been made public, nothing that the Rangers have done so far shows me that they want to retain the Annoying One’s services. Personally, I think they should, as long as he earns no more than $3.25 million per season. That figure is overpayment as it is, but anything more would be too much.

Obviously, we’ll see what happens on Tuesday, but I’ll be hoping that the Rangers resist temptation and go for the smart, affordable personnel.

Posted under 2008 Off-Season

Ok the Ranger Flu strikes again. Henrik Lundqvist is out with the flu with Steve Valiquette taking the start in goal. Lundqvist will be the backup

Marcel Hossa is out and will be replaced by Nigel Dawes. Greg Moore will be on the third line replacing the demoted Ryan Callahan and Jason Strudwick is on the fourth line replacing Ryan Hollweg.

That means Marek Malik is back with Michal Rozsival and Marc Staal will be with Paul Mara.

Confused yet?

Outside of Lundqvist none of these moves are too earth shattering as they take on the Phoenix Great Ones – I mean the Coyotes.

Speaking of the Great One. Wayne Gretzky has laryngitis and can’t address to the media.

BTW, a good friend is back. Hockeybird, who has been very helpful to me has returned and Bird is posting his daily posts again. He went offline back in October and now is back.

Posted under Blog

From Greenburgh, the Rangers has a light practice with everyone particpating except Sean Avery and Paul Mara, who sprained his shoulder in yesterday’s game.

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.

 

Posted under Blog

I know this is the moment all the Ranger fans are waiting for when Marek Malik returns, but according to Steve Zipay, Tom Renney may not want to put him back in the lineup on Thursday against the Isles.

Now, he will be coming back, so expect No. 8 to be back there over the weekend. The question is where he will play.

Expect Jason Strudwick to get scratched as Malik filters back into the lineup, but it’s questionable if he will be lining up with Michal Rozsival. Marc Stall fits very nicely at the top and deserves to stay up there, while Malik, who at times can be the Garden pariah, makes some mistakes which cost the Blueshirts.

Breaking up Dan Girardi and Fedor Tyutin doesn’t make sense, so that leaves Paul Mara. Now, Mara has played much better as of late and seems to be getting his stride on. Both he and Strudwick have chemistry together and will that translate with Malik? Or does Renney put Marc Staal back with Mara and Malik with Rozsival, so they can work together.

Believe it or not, the Malik – Rozsival pair worked well together over the past few years and Malik, who has a greak reach does make up for his speed deficiencies.

Also by showcasing Malik, the Rangers may look to trade him towards the deadline and let Strudick play or even bring up someone like Ivan Baranka, who played well last week against Tampa.

The bottom line, no matter how much the fans don’t like him, Malik is here for now.

And I will be at practice tomorrow, so there will be an update from there on this blog.

Posted under Blog

Ok now that baseball is over, I will be getting back to this more regularly.

Same lineup as Saturday with Jason Strudwick dressing in favor of Paul Mara and skating with Marc Staal. Renney said he liked Strudwicks influence on Staal on the ice and the bench.

Also this is Henrik Lundqvist’s first game back at the Coliseum since Ice Girl Gate last year…

More Later…

Posted under Blog

Blair Betts and Marty Straka scored for the Blueshirts while Dainius Zubrus and Zack Parise scored for Jersey as the Rangers lead 4-2 after 2.

Both netminders look good and the youngsters, like Marc Staal, High Jessiman, Artem Anisimov, Brandon Dubinsky, Ryan Callahan and Dan Girardi all are skating strong.

The key though are the netminders. Tom Renney is looking to keep one, which Valiquette leading the younger Montoya just because they don’t want the former first round pick to waste on the bench. It will be interesting to see what the coach has to say.

Let’s talk after the game.

 

Posted under Blog

Power play goals from Dane Byers and Ryan Callahan paced the Rangers to a 2-0 lead.

But more than that was the injuey to Kevin Weekes, who hit his head on the crossbar ad he went down after Sean Avery pushed Johnny Oduya into the former Ranger. After several minutes down on the ice, he was helpped off.

The Byers goal was scored off Weekes and the Callahan tally was off his Jordan Parise, Zack’s brother.

Otherwhise the Rangers look good as they have had a solid attack and Anisimov blends well with Avery and Shanahan.

Also Dan Girardi with 2 assists. Brandon Dubinsky and Marc Staal both with one.

More after 2…. 

Posted under Blog

The Rangers Just Announced two more cuts before the preseason starts tomorrow night at the Garden.

The team sent defenseman Bobby Sanguinetti back to junior and forward Tom Pyatt to Hartford.

The Rangers now have 37 players remaining in training camp, including four goaltenders, 13 defensemen and 20 forwards. 

Here’s the list:

Goal: Henrik Lundqvist, Al Montoya, Steve Valiquette, and Miika Wiikman

Defense: Ivan Baranka, Dan Girardi, Andrew Hutchinson, Darius Kasparaitis, David Liffiton, Marek Malik, Paul Mara, Thomas Pock, Michal Rozsival, Michael Sauer, Marc Staal, Jason Strudwick, and Fedor Tyutin

Forwards: Artem Anisimov, Sean Avery, Blair Betts, Dane Byers, Ryan Callahan, Nigel Dawes, Chris Drury, Brandon Dubinsky, Scott Gomez, Ryan Hollweg, Marcel Hossa, Jaromir Jagr, Hugh Jessiman, Lauri Korpikoski, Francis Lessard, Colton Orr, Petr Prucha, Mark Smith, Martin Straka, and Brendan Shanahan

Posted under Blog

The good ship Ranger started moving today when coach Tom Renney addressed the media up in Greehburgh.

Although I missed the first few minutes, thanks to traffic on the Hutch, during the final 20 minutes or so, Renney discussed the team chemistry and how it’s important for the Rangers to get a good start.

“You want get out good from the get-go,” said Renney as he addressed the media for the first time this season. “You want to your team to overcome those bumps along the way. You play with the cards you dealt and as a coaching staff have strategies in place to deal with those things. So we just want to improve everyday.”

With 51 players in camp [down from 58 last year], there may be some opportunity for the younger players, with the third center position open and maybe also on defense. Renney had a chance to see the young players Taverse City.

“I liked our goaltending. [On defense] Mike Sauer was really good, [try-out invitee] Clayton Barthel was a real surprise, Marc Staal was excellent, Bobby Sanguinetti was good. The forward group, we had different line combinations through almost every game and everyone seemed to click. Some youngsters are still in the need for more junior experience in terms of growing. But the usual suspects — Dubinsky, Bourret, Korpikoski you could suggest were the best line, Tommy Pyatt was good — it’s hard to single things out because it was such a strong performance by everybody. You read the stats, you can determine who did well.”

Staal has a strong shot to make the team and Dubinsky or Artem Anisimov could open at the Garden as the third line center. “But if that doesn’t happen, we believe we’ve got that covered,” he said. “There are other people that can play center ice in this organization and on the current roster [Avery and Straka]. We’re good at center ice right now with Chris and Scotty and Blair. I hope it provides the opportunity for someone else — that was part of the decision [to not sign Peca] for sure. We’re going to continue to look at the growth of this team. There’s a lot been said about where we are right now and where we should be in June. Where we need to be is to continue to galvanize our position in this league as being a contender. We’ll continue to do that by the acquisition of free agents and good drafting and the integration of young players when they’re ready. To me that’s what stands the test of time. We’re a work in progress and we hope to raise a Stanley Cup banner sooner rather than later.”

That starts tomorrow with all the veterans, including Scott Gomez and Chris Drury, reporting for physicals. As for the new Rangers, Renney will use training camp to find the right combinations.

“That’s just one of those issues of chemistry and we will see what guys go with each other,” he said. “I don’t think you want guys that have to think themselves in terms of getting it done and it prevents them from being successful. There’s no question Scottie Gomez makes our team better, as does Chris Drury.”

No doubt. As for the injuries, Renney reported no holdovers and Marty Straka seems to be healed from his knee surgery.

It makes for a very positive camp. After the physicals, the Rangers are set to hit the ice at 9:00 a.m. on Friday.

If you didn’t get season tickets, there are some singles going on sale Saturday, Sept. 15 at 10 a.m. on Ticketmaster via newyorkrangers.com, Ticketmaster charge-by-phone 212-307-7171, 201-507-8900, 631-888-9000, 845-454-3388, 609-520-8383, or Ticketmaster outlets. But forget about Jan. 24. Brian Leetch night is already sold out.

Posted under Blog