Take away Hollweg, Callahan, Avery, Shanahan, and Staal from this team, and you see why many of the past Rangers team failed. They didnt have the guys would would muck it up, and get in the faces of the other team.

Don’t worry guys, this is just a preseason game, and you only got to see half the team. With the best prospects matched with some good NHLers last night, and some good prospects matched with many great NHLers tonight, you saw very different games. They missed the north american-ness of some of these kids. It showed, a lot.

Anyways, here are my thoughts on what the Rangers should do next, besides forget about this game…

I would send down:
Baranka
Jessiman (he got his 2 games, played well, but I think its crystal clear hes not NHL ready)
Liffiton
waive Hutchinson and Kaspar

Id still like to see Byers, Anisimov, Dubinsky (who imho is your 3C), Dawes, Korpedo, Staal, and Sauer (am I forgetting anyone?) for 1 more game before you make more cuts.

I wouldnt be ticked if they also sent down Anisimov, Byers, and Korpedo, who I dont think have any shot at all at making this team, but I think have played well enough to get to see 1 more game at this level.

I’d like to see this lineup for the next game if at all possible…

Hossa Gomez Jagr
Avery Drury Shanahan
Anisimov Dubinsky Callahan
Korpedo Betts Byers

Rozsival Malik
Tyutin Girardi
Staal Sauer.

Rest Straka(nothing to prove, give him a day off), Prucha(one of the Rangers best tonight), Mara (who was NOT good at all tonight), and Dawes (play him in the game after next, I wasn’t too happy with what I saw)

-Inferno

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Want to see what a Rangers team looks like without Sean Avery in the lineup? Look no further than tonight. They looked super flat in the 2nd, with no jump, no energy, nothing good to talk about whatsoever. Even Hugh Jessiman, who has played pretty well in this game, lost a fight badly, and has looked to be lacking balance big time. If he is ever going to be an NHLer, he needs to work on that. He seems to lose his balance often (not just in the fight), and takes about 2-4 seconds to regain it. Those 2-4 seconds seems to create separation between himself and the man he is supposed to be on, which causes some bad plays the other way. Jessiman definitely doesn’t have a shot to make this team, but I think he’s going to be much better this year in Hartford.

This is why guys like Hollweg and Avery are important. Despite what my bretherin at the ECSF boards want to tell you, I say, they are BOTH important to the success of this team.

-Inferno

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The Good:

Hugh Jessiman, and Scotty Gomez. Both looked really solid when they saw the ice. Gomez was very creative and the play seemed to run through him, rather than through Jagr, which was quite bizarre to watch. Overall, offensively the Rangers looked very good. They moved the puck well, they had guys in front of the net, they got the puck to the high traffic zones, and they had a lot of movement. And oh yeah, Colton Orr broke Boulerice’s face, thats also a good thing.

The Bad:

The Rangers played mediocre at best in the neutral zone. They looked hesitant to dump the puck in at times, and they just flat out misconnected on some passes.

The Really Really Ugly:

The Rangers D looked every bit as bad as the “pundits” have been saying this offseason. I’m not sure what it is, but Pock, Rozsival, Baranka, Tyutin…All of them just looked flat out bad. Not to mention the forwards were vacating the zone WAY too quickly. This is what we saw early last year, when the forwards don’t come back and play D, the Rangers defense wilts badly. Jagr, Baranka, Rozsival, and Pock were guilty of some very bad turnovers.

I really didn’t like what I saw, but it looked correctable. The effort was there, they just weren’t playing smart hockey.

-Inferno

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