The Best Defense Is A Good Offense

One of the issues last season was undoubtedly the Rangers’ power play. Ranked second last in the league during the regular season, they not only managed a pitiful 13.9 percent – Detroit lead the league at 25.5 percent – but they also gave up the second most shorthanded goals of any team, an embarrassing 14 […]

Rangers Sign Paul Crowder

The Rangers announced yesterday that they have signed University of Alaska – Anchorage forward Paul Crowder to a professional contract. The Seawolves season came to an end last week when they were eliminated from the WCHA playoffs by Denver University. The 6-3 200lb forward will likely start his professional career in Hartford, though whether he remains at […]

Have The Rangers Kept Up

Many of you no doubt were like me, and watched the “opening night” games last night. For me it started out with an aged Def Leppard performing in Detroit, followed by a scrappy win by a Toronto Maple Leafs line-up that would (on paper at least) seemingly rival any for worst in the league. For […]

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 […]

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 […]

Rangers Must Dump Malik NOW

by Mark Owens The Rangers had every reason to get rid of Malik before he disrespected one of his biggest allies, who just happens to be the team’s head coach and bench leader. Malik’s play has rapidly deteriorated, with the home fans’ relentless abuse playing a role in his demise. But now that Renney’s already […]

Rangers Getting It Together in Time for Road Games

by Mark Owens The recent run of success starts with the continued sizzling play of Henrik Lundqvist, the NHL’s third-best penalty killing, the return of Sean Avery, the steadily improving play of Scott Gomez, and, finally, timely goals. Also important has been the emergence of Marc Staal, who may be in the process of replacing Marek Malik as one of the […]

23 Things Wrong With The Rangers

by Mark Owens The Rangers’ record now stands at 2-4 after Thursday night’s miserable loss to the lowly Thrashers. Until this game, the team had tidy excuses for each of their three previous losses: two were to the Cup-ready Ottawa Senators and the other was a 2-1 loss to the Islanders in which Rick DiPietro […]

A Mixed Bag

by James DeBerardine Five games into the season, the Rangers are 2-3-0. While this might not be the start most had hoped for, I certainly anticipated it. The combination of two new centers and defensive lapses by one person in particular has lead to a lackluster showing. However, I feel that the end is near […]

Game On!

Just three weeks since training camp opened for the Rangers. 151 days since the Rangers last played a meaningful game. Some 813 days since the NHL and NHLPA announced that they’d reached a tentative agreement to end the lockout. 1127 days since the Rangers completed a purge that changed the face of the organization. And […]