The Devil You Know

The season opened with Darren Langdon getting the game winner in Carolina and then Alexei Kovalev scored his second career hattrick against the Rangers back in January.   Just another example of a former Ranger coming back to bite his team.  But perhaps these were the exceptions rather than the rule, after all what other former Ranger has done what Kovalev has done?

Forty two former Rangers players and draftees have played against New York this season in a total eighty six games.  Nineteen of those players have had points against their former team, nine having scored goals, and three of those nine scoring two or more goals.  Not exactly mind-blowing numbers…

And who do you think has had the most success against the Rangers this season?  If you answered Kovalev you’d be close, but in actual fact Ulf Dahlen of the Washington Capitals edges the Penguins winger with a total of 6 points (2G, 4A) to Kovalev’s 5 (3G, 2A).  Still Alexei has two more opportunities to move into the lead, and chances are that he’ll do it.

The surprising Adam Graves rounds out the top three with 3 points (1G, 2A) and one wonders how he would do if he played New York more than the regulation two times for a Western Conference teams.  Other honorable mentions include Ray Ferarro with 2 goals and the defensive foursome of Johnsson, Miller, Pattrick and Zubov who each have 2 points (1G, 1A except for Zubov 2A).

Less of a surprise is Eric Cairns 60 penalty minutes in only four games against his former club (do you think the chicken dance had anything to do with it?).  Stan Neckar leads the former Rangers in +/- with a healthy +3 on a Tampa Bay team that has struggled at times.   Add in game winners by Langdon, Kovalev and Johnsson and you have pretty much the extent of the damage that former Blueshirts have caused.

As you can see, with the exception of a couple of players there has been little to fear from former team mates.  While Kovalev looks like the real deal, Dahlen’s stats have certainly been helped by the fact that he played on a line with Jaromir Jagr not to mention that he’s also a -3 against his former team.  Ray Ferraro too is a -3 and both his goals came in losing efforts and is joined by fellow Thrasher Chris Tamer to lead the former Rangers with the worst +/-.

So next time you here the media hyping up a meeting between a player and their former team…take it for what it’s worth, a way to promote the game and get you the viewer to watch.