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 […]
3-0 To Start The Season
The Rangers are 3-0 for the first time since the 1989-90 season, but will have their work cut out for them tonight against the Flyers (7:00pm – MSG) in Philadelphia’s home opener. Brandon Dubinsky lead the way (a goal and two assists) and linemate Adam Voros (a goal and an assist) helped out in the 4-2 win over the rising Blackhawks, overcoming a sloppy […]
A Season Of Change
Well I’m finally back from a long summer that finished up with a two week trip to Europe and the back to back games in Prague. I certainly apologize for not having everything ready to go for the start of the season, but as you can imagine there are things in life that sometimes take […]
Home Opener Tomorrow
Even though one of the games in Prague was classified as a “home” game for purposes of faceoffs and line changes, the real opener at MSG will come tomorrow night against the Blackhawks (7:00pm – MSG). One of the players who will make his debut on MSG ice is defenseman Wade Redden…a player that The Daily News says […]
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 […]
Rangers Looking To Even It Up
The Rangers have a shot at redemption today (2:00pm – NBC) in Game 2 of their series with Pittsburgh. While it’s not a must win, going back to New York down 0-2 would be a tough situation. If they are to put Game 1’s fiasco behind them, then it will be up to their defense to improve. The […]
Playoffs Start Tonight!
Well my friends, the 2008 NHL Playoffs kick off tonight, and the Rangers will of course face the Devils in Newark (7:00pm – MSG). It looks like Bendan Shanahan will be back with Scott Gomez and Sean Avery, with Petr Prucha replaced in the line-up by Ryan Hollweg (though we will likely not know for sure until game time). On defense, the Devils will […]
Rangers More Playoff-Ready This Time
by Mark Owens Since last season, the Rangers have improved more than 25% of their roster: 1. Chris Drury and his incomparable playoff resume is clearly a better option than Matt Cullen, despite Cullen’s excellent performance in the 2006 playoffs with the Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes. Ranger fans await Drury’s first pressure goal. 2. Marc Staal is a huge […]