Frozenrubber over on the HFBoards pointed out this really cool link..

I definitely suggest you visit the site and take a look, but for the really lazy people, here is the analysis on the teams you might be interested in. Again, I did NONE of this work, all credit goes to the site linked above, and yes, I have got permission from the site owner to hotlink these images here.

AVERAGE

Lundqvist	Brodeur	Dipietro
Miller	Niittymaki	Luongo
Kiprusoff	Fleury	Vokoun

In terms of these goalies relevant to us Ranger fans, here is where Henrik Stacks up.

High Stick Side: 2nd
High Glove Side: 4th
Low Stick Side: T- 2nd
Low Glove Side: 5th
5-Hole: 2nd

Not too shabby considering A)The defense playing in front of him and B)The quality of goalies I elected to narrow it down to.

The site has a few goalies with far too small a sample size to really compare Henrik to. For example Thibault has a ridiculous .950 low stick side save percentage, and yet Henrik has made 5 times as many saves to that zone. Give Thibault 5 times the amount of shots there, and I guarantee those numbers drop substantially.

Thomas Pocks’ review will come tomorrow.

-Inferno

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As you have all heard by now, it looks like Assistant GM Don Maloney will be headed over to the catastrophically run Phoenix Coyotes. Despite everyone feeling Don was “pushed out” with Mark Messiers comments, I personally don’t see it that way. The guy obviously wants to be a GM. He was one before, and his career decisions show he wants to be one again. Therefore in a league where there are only 30 jobs of this kind available, sometimes you take what you can get. Don got an offer, and he took it. It was probably the right move for him as he gets the chance to mold the club in his personal image of how the franchise should look (despite their front office by committee) . Good for him, good luck to him, and now it’s time for us to move on.

Everyone….EVERYONE and his grandmother is expecting Mark Messier to be announced as the new assistant GM to Glen Sather. My view? Not so fast there everyone. Heres how I see it shaking out, and how I would do it if i were Sather. I would promote Jim Schoenfeld to Assistant GM as he already has a plethora of knowledge of our system, what kind of kids we want, how we want to play the game, and he is already familiar with the kids we have. Then hand over the GM of Hartford role over to Mark Messier. Giving him a chance to instill some of his hockey knowledge in these kids, and to have him learn how a front office is run in the minors. Its a win-win for everyone, and most importantly, the club shouldnt suffer a hitch. Of course if there is a chance to bring in a guy like Kevin Cheveldayoff as the assistant GM, then I would run with it, but I have a feeling Kevin is probably looking for a GM job, not just an assistant GM.

Either way, the sky isn’t falling in Rangerland.

P.S. For those of you who think Glen Sather is just an afterthought in how the club is run, think again. The man is very much involved in running the club, and takes his duties as GM very seriously. He is also a major reason the club was able to turn things around and make the run that they did at the end of the season. I trust Glen Sather (something you wouldnt hear me utter 3 years ago). I know we are in good hands.

Maloneys’ greatest moment as a Rangers assistant GM…


-Inferno

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Blair Betts	Games	Goals	Assists	Points	+/-
Regular Season	82	9	4	13	-4
Playoffs	10	0	0	0	-5

An elite penalty killer with excellent faceoff abilities is what you get with Blair Betts. He was one of the more maligned players this year, but as many others, grew on me. Lets make sure we don’t over-rate, nor under-rate what Betts brings to the table. Like I said, you’ll get an excellent faceoff guy who posted a respectable 52.3% in the regular season and an even better 54% in the playoffs, a guy who might be the best penalty killing forward in the game, and a guy who is very defensively aware at all times. Another thing you get with Betts is probably the worst passer on the team. He is really, really, really bad when it comes to finding the open man. Which is one of the reasons I really scratched my head when Tom decided to pair him up with Prucha and Shanny earlier this year.

Just how bad a passer is Betts? In 148 games in the past 2 seasons he has a combined 6 assists. In his NHL career of 5 years, he has NEVER had more than 4 assists in a season. To put it another way, it took Betts 148 games to get to 6 assists, it took Jaromir Jagr 4 games to get to 6 assists. In fact the only players with fewer assists on the Rangers who played in 55 or more games (Betts played in all 82) was Ryan Hollweg. There are 16 players on the Rangers who played fewer games than him, and registered at least the same amount of assists or more.

Granted, Betts does not play the power play and averages about 14 minutes of ice time per game generally on the 3rd or 4th line. However it is unfathomable for an NHL center to have such a low assist total. Despite his low assist total though, Blair is a fairly productive 4th line player. The other regular 4th liners, Orr, Hollweg,and Ortmeyer (I am not including Hossa in this because the vast majority of his goals was scored when he was on the first line) had a combined 5 goals, to Blairs’ 9. He actually has a REALLY good, hard, accurate shot. The problem is he takes them from very very very low percentage zones. If Blair had better vision (obviously he doesn’t given his assist total) he would get himself into better places to shoot. Of course we have to give him the benefit of the doubt, in that his 4th line linemates have very poor offensive instincts, and also that Blair is a defense first player so he does not take a risk out there, EVER.

While I may have been thrilled with the prospect of being rid of Blair at the beginning of the year, I no longer think that way. Yes, I just spent several paragraphs trashing the guys offensive instincts, but the truth of the matter is that he is an invaluable player to have out there. The thing is though, he might be better off at left wing. This way his lack of vision won’t compromise the team, and a kid like Brandon Dubinsky, who actually has fairly good vision, could help form a much more effective, 2-way line. Perhaps something like Betts-Dubinsky-Orr. Either way, Blair will be back next year as he got a much deserved contract extension, so he should help the Rangers and their 12th ranked penalty kill to improve.

-Inferno

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Taking a quick 1 day hiatus from my reviews…A few days ago the greatest Ranger in the history of this original 6 club called it a career. Easily my favorite defenseman ever, and amongst the greatest hockey players in the history of the game, Brian Leetch will forever go down in history as 1 thing.

A Ranger.

Blair Betts’ review tomorrow.

-Inferno

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Sean Avery	Games	Goals	Assists	Points	+/-
Regular Season	29	8	12	20	+11
Playoffs	10	1	4	5	-3

How important was Sean Avery to the Rangers this year? Let’s first look at the most important stat there is, Wins-Losses-OTL/SOL. The Rangers were 25-24-4 without Sean in the lineup. They went a remarkable 17-6-6 with him. To put it another way, in games they had him they earned 69% of the points they could have taken, without him they earned a paltry 51% of all possible points. 1 player, 18% increase in point production. That is not just amazing. It is MIND BOGGLING. You’ll notice that Sean Avery will finish with the highest overall metrics rating. This isn’t as misleading as it seems. His worth is accurately reflected in how well he played in every single facet of the game. Offensively, defensively, aggression, heart, grit, everything you could ask for. The guy plays on the PP, plays on the PK, scores big goals, drives opponents nuts, and can win games single handedly without every putting a point up. When we got Avery I was pretty happy. Not berserk happy, just pretty happy. I figured we added Ryan Hollweg with hands. But thats not true at all. This guy is an invaluable player.

Perhaps the single most important thing that Sean did though was to change the overall attitude of the team. They went from turn the other cheek to hit you in the face with a sledgehammer, overnight. Its scary really how pansyish this team was pre-Avery. What more Seans antics actually helped Jagr, and Shanny. Not only did he help further balance the lineup (it needs more still though) it also made guys focus on him instead of them. If hes getting all the attention, then a guy like Jagr is flying (relatively) under the radar, and if Jagr is flying under the radar…boy oh boy are you in for a world of hurt.

Sean also seemed to step up in the leadership role. After losing the final game against the Sabres Sean went on the record taking the loss as his own. It takes a big man to do something like that, and frankly hes not that far off. Sean had so many chances against Buffalo but just couldnt bury them. And therein lies what Sean needs to work on this year. The guy got at least 4 breakaways in the playoffs to my recollection, and didnt buy a single one. Thats not good. He needs to work on those because I have a feeling we will see more of the same.

Another problem Sean has is that he is playing as a 2nd liner. The problem being that if he isnt scoring, then it can be looked at as a negative, whereas those of us who have seen him on a daily basis knows he has far more value than just his scoring. Ideally we would be another players to push Sean to Cullens line, giving us 3 legit scoring lines, and moving more talent onto the fourth getting us closer to having 4 scoring lines.

If I am the GM of the Rangers, Sean is getting a 4 or 5 year contract extension, and I would LOVE to see this guy in Ranger blue till the day he retires. Its rare for a player to be as popular, overnight, as this guy, without being an offensive or defensive juggernaut.

-Inferno

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Brad Isbister	Games	Goals	Assists	Points	+/-
Regular Season	19	1	4	5	+5
Playoffs	4	0	0	0	-3

Brad Isbister will probably be the shortest writeup I have. In fact I wasn’t even sure I was going to do a writeup on him at all. After all he didn’t play 20 games during the regular season, which was pretty much the minimum I was going for….But yet, I feel he is a player worth spending a few minutes talking about.

Brad Isbister pretty much is a what you see is what you get kinda guy. The guy works his tail off out there, is willing to drive the net, dig it out in the corners, skate back hard to cover up on plays, and brings size and grit to the lineup. While his metrics are relatively high, they are rather misleading. The guys overall average is a rather obscene 81 for a guy so low on the depth chart. But really this is because he does a few things very very well, most of the things rather well, but the most important things, very poorly. Lets face it, the guy cant shoot, cant pass, cant score, cant stickhandle well, and has poor offensive instincts out there. He makes up for it in other aspects which raise his overall score, but those things probably should be weighted more (maybe next year ill write up a complicated formula).

Brad would probably be best off being the captain of the Wolfpack for us next year, and most likely won’t sniff NHL ice with the big club. This isn’t a slight against him, its more a praise for the depth this team has, and the fact that we have enough cap space to make a splash if we want to.

I like Brad as a player, hes a good guy to have on the club, but sometimes you can have too many minions, and not enough generals, that is the case with the Rangers, and should be something remedied by giving his roster spot to a minion above him, and having everyone pushed down with the signing of a real big name free agent.

-Inferno

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Brendan Shanahan	Games	Goals	Assists	Points	+/-
Regular Season	67	29	33	62	+2
Playoffs	10	5	2	7	-5

Ok, I wanna come clean about something. If Brendan Shanahan wasn’t on the Rangers, and you were to ask me, name my favorite players during my lifetime without favoritism for ex or current Rangers my list would go:

Wayne Gretzky

Joe Sakic

Brendan Shanahan

Yes, I am talking all of the NHL, since I have started watching (about 15 years). Yes, higher than Messier, Richter, Leetch, Lidstrom, etc. That is the level of admiration and respect I have for this man. The way he plays the game, I wish every single player in the NHL emulated, because if they did, I have NO DOUBTS that the NHL would be a legitimate top tier sport.

The reason I brought all this up is to point out how hard it is for me to say anything bad about this man. If you go through the archives, I would be shocked if there is one negative word about Brendan except for the possible, “he missed an assignment there” or a “Brendan looked a step slow in this one”, in other words, typical stuff thats not a big deal, and is more the exception rather than the norm. Although a great deal of that is the fact that Brendan does play such an exceptional game that it is hard to find things wrong with him on the ice, but some of it is just my favoritism towards the guy. With all that said, I will try my best to be as unbiased as possible.

Brendan basically carried this team on his back the first quarter of the year. In the first 22 games of the year Brendan had 17 goals and 11 assists for 28 points. He more than helped Jaromir Jagrs slow start by bringing a legitimate 2nd line threat to the team. He showed a hustle unseen by Ranger fans from a veteran in over a decade. He basically embraced the city, and they did the same in kind. However Brendan definitely slowed down the rest of the year, hurt big time by the collision with Knuble that scared the living crap outta me.

The negatives in Brendans game aren’t tiny though. He definitely has lost a step since earlier in his career, and, like most older players, starts of strong, and has trouble later in the year. He also is not creative enough with the puck to create his own plays. He needs the guys around him to get him the puck, in a position to unleash that devastating shot he has. He also started to shy away from high traffic zones post-concussion. I dont blame him at all for doing that, but it was noticable.

However all those things were, in my opinion, completely dwarfed by the presence, leadership, and heart I saw every shift out there. I saw a guy willing to fight one of the best enforcers in the league to protect his captain. I saw a guy willing to throw his body in front of shots on the PK, a guy who would dive face first to try to nudge the puck that extra inch to get out of the zone. Did I mention the guy has over 600 career NHL goals and is a sure fire first ballot hall of famer? Not many guys in the history of the game brings this guys almost absurd combination of heart, skill, finish, and desire.

It is also worth noting that Brendan really did not play with a true center this entire year. The Rangers are absurdly weak down the middle after Nylander. Cullen is really a winger forced to play up the middle, Betts has probably the worst vision for a center in the entire league, and Straka is definitely more of a winger than center as well. Shanny had to deal with the relatively new experience of playing without a playmaker for the whole year. Instead we used a patchwork combination of players to try to get the most out of each line we could. If Brendan had a guy like…oh say…Peter Forsberg (don’t worry, I will be addressing this guy after I do player evaluations) I think Brendan would probably have finished with over 40 goals easily.

So, the 4 million dollar question. Do you bring him back? Do you take away a potential roster spot from a kid to bring in a guy who would be a perfect mentor for kids? Its like having a teacher with fewer students, or having more students with no teacher. Lose-lose to be honest. With that said, absolutely I bring the guy back for 1 (and only 1) more year. By the time that year is up, we’ll have kids who are ready to graduate. Right now Korpedo needs another year, Bourret 1, possibly 2, and Dawes, well, if hes going to make it, hes going to have to have a helluva camp. The question you have to ask yourself is. What is best for the team long term and short term? To me, its having this guy here, helping to continue our rebuild, preferably getting us deeper into the playoffs, and to have our kids get some big minutes in Hartford (Assuming they dont move the team) than to have kids getting tiny minutes on the fourth line.

With all that said, there do need to be 2 changes unequivocally to get the most out of this guy.
1)Take him off the friggin penalty kill. Yes, he is an exceptional penalty killer. He uses smart, size, and anticipation to score short handed goals, to kill penalties, and to help the team. But it comes at the expense of gas in the tank later in the year. I would play him the minutes he plays now, but just take out the PK minutes. This past season Shanny averaged 19:49 minutes per game, 2:30 of which were spent killing penalties. Those 2 and a half minutes he probably spends twice as much energy than at even strength or on the PP. From a simple point of view, every 8 games he plays not on the PK, youre adding about 1 game extra to his gas tank at the end of the year, or about 10 games total to the end of the year. This is VITAL in keeping this guy as a legitimate threat all year long.

2)Get him a playmaking center. Although I am steadfast against getting Gomez, Drury, or Briere, I would love to see this guy play with Peter Forsberg up the middle. Although old, they would be a force to be reckoned with. Either way, he needs a guy to set him up, to create time and space, and to get him the puck when he is ready to unload the bomb.

Ok, thats enough, keep Shanny, make some changes in how he is deployed. Isbister in a day or so…

-Inferno

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Marek Malik	Games	Goals	Assists	Points	+/-
Regular Season	69	2	19	21	+32
Playoffs	10	1	3	4	+6

Marek Malik can be a SOLID defenseman in this league. Now wait a second, before you hit the x in the upper right hand corner because you think I have lost my mind, please at least finish reading this paragraph. Marek Malik CAN be a solid NHL defenseman but frankly isn’t. There, hopefully youre still with me.

So, why the grandiose statement followed by a backtrack? Because its really how I feel about the guy. Look, he was probably our best defenseman 2 seasons ago, and suddenly became the team pariah. The guy that causes the entire stadium to collectively groan when he has the puck. But why is that? Well, before we start on the negatives, lets cover the positives.

Marek Malik can be one of the best positional defenseman when he is on his game. He uses his size effectively to angle out forwards along the boards. He uses a superior stick check, and smarts to maneuver guys into low risk areas of the ice. He is pretty good at closing guys off on the boards, and hes an excellent first pass.

However on the flip side, Marek is extremely slow and falls victim to rookie mistakes at least once every 3 games. So what exactly is a rookie mistake? Why do we use that phrase so much? It’s simple really, a rookie is generally a young player, who still has a lot to learn. This learning generally means improvement in his game, decreasing obvious mistakes, and increase in team value. Marek Malik makes rookie mistakes, and makes them often. The guy does blind passes up the middle. The guy pinches when three men are already below the net to try to keep the puck in. The guy leaves his partner out to dry so often, it is scary, and yet somehow he is a +32….Huh?!

How do you explain the +32. Well the cynic says, simple, the guy plays only when Jagr and company is on the ice, which raises his +/- and also decreases chances against since that 3-some has the puck for so long. But that really is only part of the story. As I have said earlier, Marek really does have an excellent first pass, WHEN HE AVOIDS ROOKIE MISTAKES. As long as the guy doesnt try to pass through 3 people to hit the home run outlet pass, he makes smart, tape to tape passes. And yet, he forgets to do so just often enough to make him the whipping boy of the fans. Malik further distanced himself from the fans by proclaiming that he will not change his game to suit the fans. He plays his game for his teammates. However therein lies the problem. The fans do not hate Malik because he doesnt do enough good things. I dare say that most Ranger fans, if they dont have so many glaring negatives to look at, can spot the good in his game enough to make him a fan favorite. However what they cannot stand for are unforced turnovers, sloppy and overstickhandling, and a refusal to use the boards to get the puck out of pressure situations. Malik often tries to make a breakout pass when under extreme pressure, rather than pull a Girardi and make the safe, smart play out of the zone. Remember, he is a DEFENSEMAN, not a forward. He is paid to help keep the puck out of the net, not to help put it in the other guys net.

Now, if Malik could improve, and irradicate those rookie mistakes, and continue to improve upon all the pros we have just talked about, I feel he could be our #3 defenseman next year. But the likelyhood of this stubborn guy getting over himself, and sucking it up and playing smart, safe hockey rather than high risk, high reward hockey is doubtful at best. Mareks friction between himself and the fans is going to do nothing but grow next season. We can all see it coming. We see the improvement of Tyutin, the emergence of Girardi and Rozsival, the Messiah in Staal is on his way, all these things further shed a light on Maliks gaffes, rather than on his gems. When the group as a whole plays well, it makes the 1 bonehead play to really stand out. Malik wouldnt look as bad playing on a team like Phoenix or something, but here, he looks really bad. We are a team built around keeping pucks out of our net, and transitioning to offense after that. A more offensive version of the Devils imho. But if you play that style, you cant have guys like Malik on the team.

Malik has value, those of you looking to move him for a bag of pucks will be surprised at what he could fetch. My guess, a 2nd rounder, or a decent prospect, or as part of a larger trade to get a big name here. He has a relatively light contract, and a lot of pros in his game that I feel most scouts will be able to notice.

So that would be my suggestion, move Malik before he becomes a distraction, and a detriment to the team because of the fans hating him. There are a lot of kids who are ready, and able to take his place.

-Inferno

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Matt Cullen	Games	Goals	Assists	Points	+/-
Regular Season	80	16	25	41	0
Playoffs	10	1	3	4	-2

So, Matt Cullen would be the topic of discussion today, and what an interesting one it should be. As we can see from my metrics of him, Matt Cullen is a player who does a few things BRILLIANTLY, and a few things TERRIBLY, with the rest being somewhere in the middle. There is really no consistency in his game, in terms of being well rounded. He’s one of those guys you use that annoying phrase “he is what he is”. And what this guy is, is an incredible speedster, with a hard and accurate shot. Hes got explosive speed, tremendous penalty killing ability, and a rather high upside. However, what Matt Cullen really isnt, is a playmaking center. Hes a player that would be far better off on the wing, but has to play center by default. The guy is definitely defensively responsible, and doesnt give up very many times, but he is just handicapped by horrendous vision and passing.

It really only takes one thing to make you realize this. The guy put up 25 assists in 80 regular season games, despite playing with guys like Prucha (22 goals, 23 projected over 82 games), Shanahan (29 goals, 35 projected over 82 games), and Callahan (4 goals, about 23 projected over 82 games). It really is mind boggling that playing with that level of talent on the wing, this guy only puts up 25 assists. In a nut shell, that is the guys main weakness. Hes playing out of position, or his talent level just isnt up to par for his position. You can overlook it during the season when he is playing with Prucha and Callahan because the guys can individually create space for each other by their speed, but during the playoffs, his lack of vision really showed as the time and space that was there during the regular season, wasnt during the playoffs. Then your passers are a huge key to winning.

Matt will be the 5th highest paid forward on the roster next year, barring unforseen signings or raises. It is appropriate that he ranks behind all the guys in front of him salary wise in points, goals, and assists. every forward getting paid more than him, has produced more than him. But is that enough to be happy? Didn’t you think you were getting more than that when you signed the guy? I sure did. I was expecting a difference maker out there. A guy who steps up when the game is on the line and nets a big goal, who puts you over the top, who goes beyond the call of duty. However I dont think we really get that with Matt.

So my thoughts on Matt this coming year are as follows. I would move him if the right deal came along, especially if he is salary going back the other way to bring elite level talent on. Matt does serve some purposes, but honesty I feel one of our kids could do the job he does, at a cheaper rate (Jarkko Immonen projects to 30 assists, 6 goals, and 36 points, pretty close to what Cullen gives you at a fraction of the price). All in all I would hope Matt can put up bigger numbers next season, as I feel this one, was a relative disappointment.

-Inferno

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First and foremost, thank you for taking the time to review this section. I guess this can get quite tiresome for those of you who don’t appreciate someone being methodical and taking the time to rate, rank, and review each and every player, but for those of you who like that kind of stuff, this is for you. Right then, let’s start shall we?

Michal Rozsival	Games	Goals	Assists	Points	+/-
Regular Season	80	10	30	40	+10
Playoffs	10	3	4	7	+6

There you have, statistically, and observationally Michal Rozsivals season. However things are not really that cut and dry, as is usually the case. Let’s go back to last year when Michal was a free agent. I was clamoring to sign, then trade the guy as I felt his value would never be higher. Apparently, I was most definitely wrong. Doubling last years goal total, and putting up 5 more assists, Rozsival quickly became the Rangers #1 defenseman this year. He was strong, assertive in his own end, and worked very well in getting Jaromir Jagr the puck. But therein my friends lies the problem. Michal Rozsival is simply too submissive to Jaromirs will on the ice. I know it sounds kind of stupid, but Michal needs to be more of a selfish player out there. The guy has an absolute rocket of a shot that he can actually get on net, and yet he hesitates to unleash it all the time.

You guys all saw the post game interviews following his heroics in game 3 against the Sabres. To a man, his teammates were all commenting on how they urge the guy to shoot more. Well, I agree, he needs to shoot more. His hesitation in shooting not only hurts his own stats, but hurts the team as well. Let me elaborate even further on it. In the playoffs, Michal scored 2 of his 3 goals from the left circle on the powerplay. He got himself into a shooting position there, got Marty Straka to get him the puck, and he unleashed one-timers that Patrick Roy would have had hard times snaring. If Michal were to do that on a consistent basis, it would be like having Brendan Shanahan on BOTH power play units. What I mean by that is that it would stop the teams from collapsing 2 men to Jaromir Jagr on the right side because if they do, then youve got only 2 guys to guard the entire left side of the zone, AND when Petr Prucha is on his game, he can bang home some of those rebounds that would be available if Rozsival shoots more consistently. To be fair though, he always isnt on the left side of the PP, he tends to spend most of his time on the right side, and lets Straka play the left point. This however is a terrible formation for the Rangers since Straka can’t shoot one-timers off those cross ice, or center ice to the left side passes because he is a left handed shot. Rozsival should be on that left point at all times, and should be unleashing that canon he has.

If it were up to me, our formation would look something like this…

As you can see, this is a setup the Rangers do from time to time, but sadly not often enough. With this setup Jaromir Jagr is still clearly the focal point, but it opens up some more options because the positioning of the players actually suits their talents. Jaromir has all the options in his office, Nylander can try the backdoor pass to Prucha, or an outlet to Rozsival, or back up to Jaromir, or even a stuff-in. But most importantly Rozsival has to shoot. If he shoots, it keeps the defense honest, and opens up so much more. However more often than not, he doesnt, at least not with near enough regularity.

Rozsival had a meager 104 shots last year for the Rangers. That is just 4 more than Mara, and 5 more than Rachunek (who missed a large chunk of the year), NEITHER of who play the power play even a fraction as much as Michal.

If Rozsival would just shoot more, we would be a better team, end of story.

Michal is still an underrated defenseman, probably even by me. He is very good along the boards, rarely makes buffoon level turnovers (*coughMALIKcough*), and shows a remarkable poise for a guy I considered to be a #5 or 6 defenseman before the year started. With all of this said, what you have to ask yourself is, what is Michal Rozsival? Is he a true #1? To me, the answer is a big time NO. I consider Rozsival to be a good #2, and a great #3 in this league. It is a testament to him as a player that he played the amount of minutes he did, and against the level of competition he did, and still manages to be an effective player. However I do question how effective Michal would be if the bulk of his playing time didn’t just so happen to coincide with Jaromir Jagr and his extreme puck control line. Its hard to look bad as a defenseman (unless you are Malik) when your forwards control the puck for 75% of the time they are out there.

I think Michal is going to be an important part of the future of this organization. My once deafening shouts for his head, or for him to be traded are no more. I want him here as a Ranger for a long time, HOWEVER I want him to be in a more appropriate 2nd pairing role, and I want the guy to shoot more.

All in all, a very good season for Rozsival, and what I hope is a building block to even better things to come (once he is playing his proper role).

-Inferno

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