This blog has not been in existence long enough for me to get into my patience with this team, my thoughts on making a change are actually a culmination of the past 5 games.? 5 games may be a short period of time in a grueling 82 game season, but it is more of an offshoot of the 97-04 Ranger teams.? They always looked good for 1 game out of every 4 or 5, just good enough to make you think that they could turn it around.

So let us look at the past 5 games.

Loss against the Preds 0-3
Shootout win against the Leafs 5-4
Loss against the Panthers 2-4
Win against the ‘Yotes 7-3
Loss against the Kings 1-4

On the surface it isnt horrible, they picked up 4 points in 5 games, certainly nothing to make you say”tear the team down”.? But lets look at those 5 teams, and games a little different.
Coming into tonight those teams records were 22-30-8 for a combined 52 out of a possible 120 points.? So in reality you are talking about some pretty poor teams, teams that shouldnt make the playoffs, teams good teams feast on, teams the Rangers are NOT feasting on.? Look at it even further, the opponents got a total of 7 out of a possible 10 points against us. OUCH.? How about another groin shot?? those 5 games encompassed 15 periods and one overtime.? If you overlook the shootout “goal” you get for the win, and the 2nd period against the Coyotes the Rangers have been outscored 18-10.

The nightmare gets worse believe it or not.? The Rangers now have to head in to Anaheim and San Jose, 2 of the best teams in the entire league on back to back nights.? In all if we manage to win even one, I will be shocked.

So, as I have eluded to, it is time for a change, and here is what I propose:

The first line shouldnt be tinkered with, inevitably they are reunited, so why even bother splitting them up.

The second line is missing a Center in the worst way, I like Cullens game on the wing a bit more than at center and Betts has been terrible as the Center.? I cant even begin to count how many times the guy got the puck and didnt even look to see what his options were, he just threw it at the net. Ordinarily I dont really care, I love guys who shoot, but you have to give yourself a chance to score you know? Hold the puck long enough to get a shot with guys in front, let your teammates create space for you, etc.? He just does not know how to pass, as seen by his grand total of 3 assists (2 Regular Season, 1 against the Devils in the playoffs)? as a New York Ranger in his career.? I say bring up Jarkko Immonen and plug him in at 2nd line center.? Although he hasnt exactly been tearing the AHL up so far this year, he HAS to be better than Betts, and he plays a 2-way game.

Trade Blair Betts and 1 or 2 defenseman, They are overloaded at D and Betts is simply not worth putting out there.? You can not point to his faceoff ability or his penalty killing ability as his face off percentage is a meager 48.2% and the Rangers on the PK are a whopping 81% on the PK, good enough for 22nd in the league.

The 3rd and 4th lines should be some combination of Ward, Orr, Dawes, Prucha, Hollweg, Hall, and Hossa.?

The Defense needs to be looked at, you can not seriously tell me the Rangers are playing the guys they want to trade, and are sacrificing wins so that they can move them.? I’m sorry but if that is true then management and the coach should come out and flat out apologize to their fans for not playing the best lineup they can.? Thomas Pock HAS to play.? Period, I dont care what anyone says, the kid has to play.? If the D is going to suck, I would much rather have it sucking because a kid is learning and making mistakes than a vet making the same mistake for the fifty millionth time.? With that said Kaspar has to go.? I was hesitant to see him in the lineup against the Devils after his preseason showing, but for that game he proved me wrong.? Since then he has been an abomination, his lack of speed and lack of taking the body is really hurting the team.? If he was out there throwing big intimidating checks, and pestering the opposing teams into taking penalties, then I could overlook his own zone play.? But this year he has been a shell of his old self, and is hurting the team.? Someone over at Sam Weinmans blog mentioned that Sandis Bozolinsh has been on the ice for 7 of the 11 goals scored against the Rangers since he has come back.? I havent confirmed that number, but it does sound about right.? The guy is just not worth having out there if he is going to cost your team everytime he is on the ice. Though to be fair, he was partnered with Kaspar today, and Kaspar was so bad out there it is hard to fault Bozo too much.? So I might be willing to give Bozo a few more chances, but he has to be paired with either Ward or Tyutin, preferably Ward, otherwise you are just asking for trouble.

So if I had it my way Rozsival, Bozo? and Kaspar would be gone, Malik? would be your 7th defenseman, and both Pock and Ivan Baranka would be playing.? If we are going to give up 4 goals a game, at least do it while developing your kids.?

Nigel Dawes has to play.? Period, end of story.? Marcel Hossa is a -7 so far this year with 0 goals, 0 assists in 11 games played.? Nigel Dawes in 7 games played has a goal and is only a -2.? I can not for the life of me figure out what Hossa has done to be in over Dawes.? Potential? Are you kidding me?

Colton Orr.? Look, I am not saying this guy is going to be a Todd Bertuzzi or something, but I certainly do not believe he is a detriment to this team.? I may not be an expert, but the kid looks like he can play 6 minutes a night without a problem, and actually serves a purpose as opposed to Hossa.? Let Orr play, and let Orr fight.? You know what the first thing I would have done after the Kings went up 2-0? Sent Orr out there and made him goad someone into a fight.? Win or lose it energizes a team, and when a team is flat, those are the thing a coach needs to to go get his team back into the game. Speaking of coaching…

Tom Renney.? I was a fan of Renneys all year last year, he had the team practicing hard, playing hard, and winning, but his personnel decisions, loyalty to undeserving players, and punishing of players not deserving it has just gone on long enough.? Tom should be “promoted” to another part of this organization, because I think he truly is a Ranger, he lives and dies for the team, and I like to see guys like that stay with the Organization, but he has made no sense with the moves he has made.? Maybe my suggestions won’t work, but to me, and I believe to most fans, they MAKE SENSE.? The biggest problem I have with Renney is what he does just doesnt seem to make sense most of the time.? Perhaps it is hockey naivete on my part, but reading message boards and other fan comments, I am not leaning towards that direction.? If I had my choice, Jim Schoenfeld would be the new coach, I think he is perfect for this team, is a winner, and has the attitude I like in a coach.

One last thing to chew on.? The following were the Rangers giveaway totals of tonight:

Jagr:4
Rozsival & Malik:3
Bozo & Prucha:2
Lundqvist, Straka, Nylander, Shanahan, Orr:1

When your top 5 man unit of Straka, Nylander, Jagr, Rozsival, & Malik have a total of 12 turnovers…you are in DEEP trouble.

Final Score: Kings 4 Rangers 1

Rangers 3 Stars Of The Game:

1)Brendan Shanahan.? He had a good game.? Was a -1 for the game, but did score the lone goal.
2)Ryan Hollweg. Credited with 3 hits in just over 7 minutes of ice time. The same amount of hits Kaspar had in twice the ice time.? Ryan was Even for the night, Kaspar -2.
3)Fedor Tyutin. Toots was solid out there, he threw a nice hit, and was Even for the night.

-Inferno

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Imagine if you will 2 big time heavyweight boxers…..hmm, actually since this is an analogy of the Rangers and Kings let me rephrase that.? Imagine if you will 2 high school nerds.? Nerd number 1 is just pounding away at Nerd number 2.? Wham, Wham, Wham, then all of a sudden Nerd number 2 gets a right hook to the jaw of Nerd 1.? Nerd 1 reels back in shock, to which Nerd 2 exclaims, WHAT YOU GOT!?? The 2 nerds stare at each other eye to eye for…oh say? 1 minute and 37 seconds after which Nerd one throws a right hook to the jaw of nerd 2, effectively knocking him out.? See where i’m getting at?

As soon as Shanahan scred that goal I was saying to myself, ok, now just hold this score till intermission, you can NOT give that goal back, you have to hold it, you have to hol…….UUUGGGGHHHHHHH.? I have seen this play too many times, Rangers get a goal, then give it right back within seconds.? It is heartbreaking, deflating, and more importantly infuriating.? Lundqvist with his 4th soft goal of the game, he has not been sharp, he had 1 great save all game, and the rest where run of the mill ones.? The goaltending and D is just killing this team right now.? I only wish Shanahan could be cloned and put out there playing every position.

I’m contemplating whether I should even watch the 3rd, you know you wont see any accountability from Renney as Kaspar and Ozo are both -2 with Kaspar looking particularly bad so far.? Really the only pairing that has looked pretty good to me have been Tyutin and Ward, the other 4 have not been good.

-Inferno

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Awful, just awful.? This may be the first time all season long where I can say the Rangers just showed no effort whatsoever.? Previous losses and games I have at least had that to fall back on… “Well, at least the effort was there, even if the result wasnt”… I could say stupidity was the reason for the loss, but not today, the Rangers are just sleepwalking (get the title now?) through this game, and are showing no effort whatsoever.? They look slow, tired, disinterested, and uncaring, and that is more infuriating than every other reason we have lost added up and multiplied by the amount of times Rozsival is beaten by a forward.

Lundqvist was not sharp, honestly he has looked downright bad for at least 4 straight games now, the low shot totals before were keeping his poor goaltending at least a somewhat secret, but today, comon Henrik, I can NOT accept 20 foot redirections as goals, especially when he saw it.? And the second goal…..wow, what was that?? I said before the game (on a message board) I would have played Weekes, it really was the perfect time for it, and really, I think that was the right call, Henrik has looked awful soft out there.

I hope Renney is chewing his team out, I literally could not think of a single good thing to comment about in that period.? No player stood out, everyone was turning the puck over (nobody more guilty than the captain who has at least 4 turnovers according to my count), and nobody was skating hard.? I havent even mentioned the penalty situation, which outta tell you how bad we really were.

Its only 2 goals, the Rangers are a high powered offense, so they can get back into this, but NOT without a serious change in their attitude.

-Inferno

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With the Rangers set to take on the Kings in a few hours, I wanted to chime in with this little post. Sam Weinman over at the Rangers Report (see blogroll for link) has a nice post about Ryan Hollweg, and in the comments people are talking about how he is unfairly targeted by the refs. Well, what I am about to tell you is neither substantiated nor endorsed by me, it is merely the information I am passing along, take it for what it is ok?? I dont want any hate mail or horse heads in my bed over the next few days ok people?

A? source of mine….if you want to call it that, has friends who are training camp refs (i guess thats what they are, i dont talk to this guy anymore), anyway, apparently the reason Hollweg has a big old bullseye on his sweater is not because of his playing style, but the way he mouths off at the refs from the box and on the ice. Apparently he is VERY vulgar and downright nasty to them. Insert Vinegar and Honey analogy here…

So there you have it.? supposedly it is because of his mouth, not his play that he has been targeted.? I am leaning more towards believing this than not, just from a little lip reading I have done, and the fact that honestly, Ryan isn’t really a dirty player.

-Inferno

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One thing I have noticed talking with hockey fans over the past few years.? They tend to be creatures of habit, and creatures who view 50 thousand hockey related sites on average per day…..Wait….so you’re saying thats just me?? Hmmm, well, anyway, as you noticed on the right hand side there is? a small little blogroll with the best of the best sites that I visit multiple times per day, but I just wanted to go over several sites that I like to go to.? Here they are in no particular order:

Rangers Report?
Blueshirt Bulletin
Hockeybird
Hockey Rodent
TSN
MSG
New York Rangers Official Website
Inside Hockey
The Hockey News
HockeyNutz (a great site debunking all those BS rumor websites)
Outside The Garden
and The New York Hockey Report.

Those are the sites I would consider must reads on a daily basis.?

I did want to comment on 2 things though.? The first is a big thank you to Sam Weinman of the Journal News who linked to me today on his blog.? Sams blog is the first one I have listed as required reading, but really its not just because of the fact that he linked to me.? To be quite honest I go to his blog at least 6 times a day, usually more.? Not only is it filled with information and some hilarious self flaggelating commentary, it also has comments by some of the smartest hockey fans you will find out there in response to his posts.? So not only do I suggest reading his blog several times a day, I also suggest reading the comments as they tend to be pretty well thought out and insightful.

The second thing I wanted to talk about was the HockeyNutz blog.? I realize it is a bit contraversial to advocate a site that basically calls out some of those so called insiders *COUGHeklundCOUGHcodeCOUGH*, but I did want to take a second to say, if you think these guys are legit, then think they are legit, nobody should tell you what to think.? But, as a person who actually knows a bit about one of the insiders….who actually knows a LOT about one of the insiders, I will just say, take everything they say with a grain of salt, and let me also say, I would NEVER pay to get access to their information.? I’m just going to leave it at that.

-Inferno

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Well, if you want to look at things objectively you really have to look at it this way.? For 2 out of the 3 periods played today, the Coyotes, one of the worst teams in the league, played the Rangers to a draw.? Of course the fact that the Rangers outscored the ‘Yotes by 4 in the other period makes the outcome a bit more rosey.

Still though, the Rangers really dominated this game for the first 45-50 minutes of this game, but after that they really just appeared to be content with finishing off the game.? They went through the motions, and as such gave up 2 goals.? Another thing that bothered me though was the play of Rozsival.? Probably the only player you can actually say who had a bad game.? He was absolutely brutal in his defensive coverage on the ‘Yotes 3rd goal, not to mention his first period foibles with the puck leading to some momentum killing turnovers.? How this guy continues to play game in and game out with no accountability whatsoever is just a complete and utter mystery to me.? It is amazing the guy continues to be in Renneys good graces despite costing the Rangers 2 goals in his last 2 games, and who has yet to play a “solid” game all season.?

Getting back to the pros though, you have to be happy with the way the Rangers backchecked, and how they used the boards to get the puck out of their zone.? How they pressured the neutral zone, and how they were relentless with their puck pursuit.? It really was an awesome thing to watch, and I truly believe the Rangers offensive potential is definately up there with any team in the league…they just gotta figure out that pesky defensive thing out.

Henrik had an OK game.? I thought he could have had all 3 goals that were given up, but really it didnt matter.? They could have played with just a 3rd defenseman and it wouldnt have mattered, the Jets..err….Coyotes didnt get many quality scoring chances, and Henrik was in position to make those saves easily., BBBUUUTTTT his puck control was really bad in this one.? I think he might have made only? 2 or 3? 100% clean saves all night (no fumbling of the puck, no rebound, etc). That is a very bad sign for the Rangers.? Maybe it was just a fluke, who knows, maybe Henriks vision was clouded by the awful Phoenix feed…oh….I guess that just reaches us fans, not him… (What was up with the feed though, very dark and blurry).

But, a win is a win, and a 7 goal eruption is a steeping stone for sure.? Good way to start off the road trip, but there are things that can, and should be improved upon.

Rangers Review 3 Stars Of The Game:
1)Matt Cullen-A solid game by Cullen with relentless puck pursuit and using his speed to wreak havoc on this ice.
2)Jaromir Jagr-Would have been first star if not for a horrible giveaway.? Looking more like Jagr of last year.
3)Martin Straka-2 goals, an assist, strong backcheck, but did miss a glorious chance at a hat trick.? Great game though.

Final Score: Rangers 7, Coyotes 3

-Inferno

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Ahhhh, at least I can feel a sigh of relief.? That period is what this Rangers team should be capable of on a nightly basis.? One where puck control leads to less chances against.? One where the multitude of playing styles all blend harmoniously to pick apart any defensive scheme.? We saw redirection goals off of point shots, we saw tick tack toe passing leading to tap in goals, we saw a penalty kill that basically looked like it was playing at even strength, and you had a goalie that could have been soaking up the rays on a beach somewhere instead of playing.? The D works best when the entire team comes back to help, and help they did.? You saw an absolute CLINIC by Matt Cullen who looked a lot like preseason Matt Cullen for the first time all year.? Cullen, if you recall,? during the preseason owned the ice everytime he was on it.? Thus far this year he was way more passive, and reactive.? Today we are witnessing something else, a more agressive team, a team willing to pay the price to help out Defensively.

Oh yeah, it doesnt hurt that the best player in the world is playing like the best player in the world.? If not for a few goal posts and some nifty goaltending this one could already be 7 or 8 to 1.?

However, lets also take into account we are playing a very poor Phoenix team that has basically played about as good as the Flyers have been recently (any opportunity to take a dig at the Bullies aye? ) and were very very passive in this game, basically letting the Rangers do almost anything they wanted.

Lets hope the effort continues into the 3rd, at about the 14 minute mark the Rangers had a 2 or 3 minute letdown where Phoenix controlled the play, but then they seemed to turn it back on towards the end.? A 60 minute effort will lead to more consistent 60 minute efforts which will lead to more wins.? Period…speaking of periods, the 3rd is almost 5 minutes away, back to the tube!

-Inferno

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Well, for those of you who know me, and are familiar with baseballnations.com you know how I tend to evaluate sports, and how it can be a bit roundabout, so bear with me if you will.

Well, the Rangers needed a strong period, and they got it for the most part.? The first goal give up by Henrik was especially aggravating because it appeared that Henrik never saw the shot, and didnt appear to be looking for viewing angles, just more or less standing there praying it will hit him.? It was a bad goal, and I dont like it one bit.? Henrik played a very “flubby” period.? He wasnt controlling rebounds, and that is his staple.? Still though the Rangers, with the exception of a few turnovers were very strong on the backcheck, and had excellent puck control.

Rozsival continues to be an absolute disaster.? Did anyone notice the 2 momentum breaking soft turnovers he had on the power play? Both times, the same thing, he has the puck, tries to get it on the boards to Jagr, instead passes it so softly he instantly turns it over.? They were just awful turnovers, and I cant for the life of me figure out why he is still playing everyday.

I think word is getting out on Tyutin.? Stay away from his hipcheck.? I saw 2 coyotes pull up, and avoid going into the boards in fear of said hipcheck.? See what physicality will do for you?

Did Colton Orr even play 1 second in that period?

-Inferno

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