Hank and Team Defense Carrying the Team
by Mark Owens Only three NHL defensemen have a worse plus/minus than Dmitri Kalinin. At -10, Kalinin leads the team in this category. He also seems to bring the worst out of whichever defenseman he is paired with. Aside from Sunday’s team-wide malfunction, is it any surprise that Michal Rozsival‘s play improved immensely once he was reunited […]
Dawes And Prucha On The Outer
The Rangers finished their season last year, loaded with draft picks and prospects that they had developed. Lauri Korpikoski made his NHL debut in the final game, and joined Petr Prucha, Ryan Callahan, Brandon Dubinsky, Nigel Dawes, Fedor Tyutin, Marc Staal, Ryan Hollweg and Henrik Lundqvist on a team that featured nine Rangers’ draft picks, and a tenth player (Dan Girardi). Over the summer, Glen Sather took the opportunity […]
Turnover, Speed, and Leadership Void
by Mark Owens Chris Drury and Scott Gomez, along with Henrik Lundqvist, take over as the team’s leaders. Jagr’s offensive production ‘ hopefully ‘ will be replaced by the speedy, enigmatic, underachieving, high first-round pick Nikolai Zherdev (sounds a little like Alex Kovalev, doesn’t it?). Replacing Shanahan’s 23 goals, theoretically, will be Markus Naslund, whose production the past two seasons has […]
Pennywise And Pound Foolish
Going into today’s annual free agency period, I was relatively calm. The Rangers had several key players free to sell their services to the highest bidder, but the Rangers appeared in a relatively decent position cap-wise and had some room to make some deals to improve the team. On top of the wish list was […]
Progress Made, Changes Needed
by Mark Owens Despite bowing out in round two again and perhaps wasting their final season with Hall-of-Famers-to-be Jaromir Jagr and Brendan Shanahan, the Rangers’ season was mostly successful, due to the development of rookies Marc Staal, Brandon Dubinsky, Nigel Dawes and Ryan Callahan. Lauri Korpikoski scored a goal in his NHL debut Sunday, and is one of several rookies with a chance to make […]
Loss Puts Home Ice At Risk
The Islanders’ season is over, but not before they put a kink in the Rangers’ playoff plans. A shootout loss (and a loss by the Devils) means the Rangers now will play Sunday for a chance at the 4th seed, but they could fall as low as 6th if they fail to get a point and the Bruins win […]
Fritsche On Waivers
According to Steve Zipay, the Rangers have placed forward Dan Fritsche on waivers. If he is claimed, or if he is reassigned to Hartford, the Rangers will save approximately $360,000 in cap space. The Rangers are back in action tonight against the visiting Carolina Hurricanes (7:00pm – MSG) and Stephen Valiquette will be in net. The Canes have struggled with […]
Influx Of Youth
by James DeBerardine We have certainly seen a lot of the Wolf Pack this year, that is, the former Wolf Pack. Numerous players which we did not figure would fit into our plans this year have stepped up and made a big difference, while even more are banging at the door in Hartford, what should […]
Training Camp – Defense
Going into camp this year, the Rangers blueline corps are largely unchanged from the same unit that finished out the season. Karel Rachunek (free agency) and Bryce Lampman (trade) were the only two blueliners with NHL experience who won’t return, while the addition of Andrew Hutchinson (trade) appears to be for depth rather than impact. Of the six starting spots, five […]
Risky Business
‘m not sure how others feel, but I always seem to get a flat feeling after sitting through the Rangers draft. This year was no certainly no different, although for sure it appears that this year the Rangers went all out to try and find players who might have that top end talent that the […]