by Matt Pennino

After initially hearing the Rangers acquisition of Dunham, I was ecstatic. I was beginning to get annoyed that Sather had yet to make a move to acquire a number one goalie to give Blackburn some rest. Constant rumors were tossed around about the team acquiring Jeff Hackett. However, I knew that prying him away from Montreal would cost the Rangers an arm and a leg. Although Theodore is starting to get hot, Jeff has provided the Habs with stellar goaltending all season. So the way I see it, if Montreal has two goalies playing well, why would they trade one of them?

Getting back to my statement about costing the Rangers “an arm and a leg”. A lot of fans thought the Rangers did just that in acquiring Dunham from Nashville. It did not surprise me that Kloucek was part of the deal. Did any of you actually think he’d have a spot on the team after all the injuries? As soon as he was sent down last season, I knew he had worn the Blueshirt for the last time. Over the last twenty years or so the Rangers have never rebuilt, nor will they ever, it’s the New York way. This may sound harsh but if you want to see prospects playing and a team not trading away its draft picks, then you are following the wrong organization.

I can deal with not having Rem Murray anymore. Though I liked him a lot, I think he is replaceable. They picked up a decent replacement in acquiring Josh Green from the Oilers. He is basically a younger version of Rem and will probably be no higher than a third or fourth line player.

Now that I’ve talked about the players who are gone, lets talk about the player who is here: Mike Dunham. There is no doubt that I’ll feel a little more comfortable watching the Rangers knowing that there’s a veteran goalie back there. It was clear that Blackburn was getting tired and it was an annoyance that the Rangers would have try and win after giving up three goals a game. A lot of Rangers fans have been complaining about Dan “flopping around” and going down to early and what not. The fact of the matter is that he’s too young to be a starter. It was nice to see him play but he still needs to work on his game.

Mike Dunham, a native of Johnson City, New York grew up watching the Rangers. His dad is a longtime fan and Mike himself watched the team as well during his childhood. I’m sure his dad is excited, perhaps even more so than Dunham himself. How cool would that be to watch your favorite team and have your own son starting for them? I really think Mike is going to put in a lot of good games for the Rangers. Mike, even though, on an expansion team put up some excellent numbers during his time with the Predators. Even though he was on a bad team, his GAA was frequently in the Top 10 in the NHL and is record was respectable. Granted, his numbers this year have been poor, the Predators went through a tough stretch to open the season that wasn’t all Dunham’s fault.

I really hope the veteran presence can lift the Rangers both mentally and in the standings as well. As I write this, the Rangers are out of a playoff spot with over half the season still remaining. The good news is that there is still plenty of time to make up for the awful start. The bad news is I hope we still aren’t waiting for the Rangers to get hot when it’s too late.