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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Well, we won. And we did so against a pretty complete Devils team with the exception of injuries to Langenbrunner, Jannsen, and I believe Colin White and Brodeur just not dressing. Other than that you had their whole team. The Rangers on the other hand didn’t play Jagr, Gomez, Hossa, Drury, Prucha, Lundqvist, Rozsival, Malik, Tyutin, and Mara. So basically 5 of your top 6 scoring forwards, and your #1,2,3, and 5 defenseman.

And they did so in a fairly dominating way for most of the game. I was however sad to see Big Vally play a relatively poor game in net for the Blueshirts. He looked very slow to react, and outside of a nice glove and blocker save on Parise and Gionta (I believe), he looked shaky. It’s still preseason, so don’t take too much stock in that. Also, the team in front of him played a lot worse than in front of Montoya. Still, there were some really positive things to take from this game, mostly surrounding the youth.

Hugh Jessiman played a fairly good game. He started off strong, then sort of tailed off and was invisible for large stretches (tough for a guy that big). I think he needs to put on more upperbody strength. You can tell his core and legs are very strong, but his upper body could use more bulk.

I only pray I can watch tomorrows game in its entirety. If not, I’m going to flip my lid.

-Inferno

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See, I’d love to give you some great amazing insight (not likely)….or, even useless opinions (much more likely), but I really can’t. As many of you probably know by now, DirecTV decided to blackout todays game right at the start of the 2nd period. Why? I have no idea, they really didn’t give me an answer that sounded right. First they told me it was because of a technical error, then they told me it was because MSG can decide to blackout a game anytime they want. Either way, I’m not happy.

However I am watching the game on Sopcast, but the quality is just brutal. Still, a few things I did notice… Dubinsky looks ready. I know I’ve said it a lot that he could use more time in the minors, but I think I’m wrong, he looks ready. He looks very much an NHLer, and he looks like a player who can make those around him better. Anisimov also doesn’t look out of place, but he needs a bit more time to get stronger. Kaspar, looks pretty bad at times. Hes in better shape, but he wasnt very good in his own zone, and as a defenseman, thats where you need to shine. He also hasn’t thrown a major hit yet, so with both of those being negative, he might not be an NHL player anymore folks. Its sad, but its very possible.

-Inferno

P.S. If you want to call up DirecTV and give your outrage to them, be my guest. The people I talked to were schmucks.

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Ok, the kids looked good. Real good. Really really good. Actually, Id say the kids looked better than the vets. In my personal opinion 2 of the more invisible players on the ice were Marty Straka and Brendan Shanahan, whereas the 3 best players were probably Dan Girardi (who was simply spectacular in my opinion), Marc Staal (steady, poised, very good) and Hugh Jessiman.

Speaking of Hugh, give him 2 big assists on both Rangers goals. He may have not actually touched the puck in either case, but his presence drew a crowd to him, allowing 2 of his teammates, Callahan and Byers to get relatively easy goals.

Regarding Weekes getting run over. Look, I feel bad for the guy, cause I really think hes a good person who never made waves…but that really wasn’t big time contact there. I definitely think Avery deserved the penalty he got, but the contact with Weekes looked very minor. Not sure why exactly he was knocked out and having trouble moving his feet, but from what I saw, it didn’t look like a particularly violent collision. I think he may have hurt his knees on the play falling awkwardly, and that may be why he was having trouble walking. Watch the play again, Kevin bends his knees badly before falling over. My guess is, minor concussion, and some knee damage.

Sean Avery….If hes on your team, you love him, if you’re playing against him, hes a scumbag. Im glad hes on my team, because if I were a Devils fan, I’d be pretty pissed at his antics out there today

-Inferno

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Today we look at the most important division in hockey for us Ranger fans, the Atlantic Division. Here were last years standings:

Team	Wins	Losses	OTL	Points	Goals For	Goals Allowed
New Jersey	49	24	9	107	216	201
Pittsburgh	47	24	11	105	277	246
New York Rangers	42	30	10	94	242	216
New York Islanders	40	30	12	92	248	240
Philadelphia	22	48	12	56	214	303

Here we go, by the way, I plan on doing the Rangers last for dramatic effect. I know, the suspense must be palpable on your end…

New Jersey

Unrestricted Free Agents: RW Alexander Mogilny, D Dan McGillis, LW Jason Wiemer, D Jim Fahey, C Jim Dowd, RW Erik Rasmussen, LW Dan LaCouture.

Re-Signings: D Andy Greene, F Mike Rupp (2-year, $1 million contract), F Cam Janssen, LW Grant Marshall, F Noah Clarke, F Zach Parise (4-year, $12.5 million contract), D Paul Martin (3-year, $11.5 million contract).

Notable Additions: C Dainius Zubrus (Sabres, 6-year, $20.4 million contract), D Karel Rachunek (Rangers), G Kevin Weekes (Rangers, 2-year, $1.375 million contract), D Vitali Vishnevski (Thrashers, 3-year, $5.4 million contract), RW Arron Asham (Islanders, 1-year, $700,000 contract).

Notable Subtractions: D Brian Rafalski (Red Wings), C Scott Gomez (Rangers), D Brad Lukowich (Lightning).

Outlook: The team that loses their #1 center, and their #1 defenseman should not be a playoff team. Not unless you manage to pick up probably one of the best coaches in the world in Brent Sutter. Brent is one of those coaches who not only gets the most out of his players, but plays a very team first game, where no player is irreplaceable, and no single player determines the outcome of the team. Sounds familiar? It should be, it’s the Devils philosophy for the past 15 years or so. Adding Brent Sutter to this group of players, to me, is the single best move made by any team in the NHL this offseason. Yes, he is that good. If you watched the Super Series at all, you saw what Brent is all about.

Here is a guy who makes his team hit hard, and he goes after the other teams best player with cheap shot after cheap shot. You’ll see the first time Jannsen elbows Jagr in the face or something along those lines. Don’t look for a clean game with the Devils this year, they will be as dirty as dirty can be, and they will be VERY good at disgusing it.

However with all that said, they still lost 107 points between Rafalski and Gomez, and only added 86 points. Thats 21 points gone from an already pathetic offensive total from last year. If Brodeur plays like he did in the playoffs last year, the Devils may be at the bottom of the division by a lot. I don’t expect that to happen though, I expect a very solid 3rd place finish in the division with a playoff berth as well.

Pittsburgh

Unrestricted Free Agents: LW Nils Ekman, D Josef Melichar, D Eric Cairns, LW Ronald Petrovicky.

Re-Signings: C Sidney Crosby (5-year, $45 million contract), D Ryan Whitney (6-year, $24 million contract), LW Gary Roberts (1-year, $2.5 million contract), RW Mark Recchi (1-year, $2 million contract), F Maxime Talbot (2-year, $1.35 million contract), F Erik Christensen (2-year contract), D Robert Scuderi (2-year contract), F Colby Armstrong (2-year, $2.4 million contract), D Alain Nasreddine (1-year contract).

Notable Additions: G Dany Sabourin (Canucks, 2-year, $1.025 million contract), D Darryl Sydor (Stars, 2-year, $5 million contract), RW Petr Sykora (Oilers, 2-year contract), G Ty Conklin (Sabres, 1-year, $500,000 contract).

Notable Subtractions: F Chris Thorburn (Thrashers), RW Michel Ouellet (Lightning).

Outlook: The Penguins will never win a cup with Marc Andre Fleury between the pipes. There, I said it. Are you happy now? I’ve said it before though, you just weren’t paying attention. Anyway, yeah, Fleury, not so much with the good play. These guys will utterly destroy the weaker competition because of their insane offense, but they won’t beat the defensive teams very often. That includes the Rangers, the Devils, and the Islanders. These guys will still contend for the division crown, but I expect their defense and goaltending will keep them from winning it. Expect Sidney Crosby to win all sorts of accolades once again, and to go home in the first round once again. Sorry folks, goaltending is huge, and Fleury, plays very small when the games matter.

New York Islanders

Unrestricted Free Agents: RW Eric Boguniecki, G Mike Dunham, D Joel Bouchard, D Tomas Malec, C Peter Ferraro.

Re-Signings: G Wade Dubielewicz (1-year contract), F Sean Bergenheim (1-year contract), D Chris Campoli (3-year, $1.9 million contract), LW Chris Simon (1-year, $800,000 contract).

Notable Additions: C Mike Comrie (Senators, 1-year, $3.375 million contract), RW Bill Guerin (Sharks, 2-year, $9 million contract), RW Jon Sim (Thrashers, 3-year contract), LW Ruslan Fedotenko (Lightning, 1-year, $2.9 million contract), G Joey MacDonald (Bruins, two-year contract), D Aaron Johnson (Blue Jackets, 1-year contract), D Andy Sutton (Thrashers, 3-year, $9 million contract), C/LW Josef Vasicek (Hurricanes, 1-year, $750,000 contract).

Notable Subtractions: F Richard Zednik (Panthers), RW Jason Blake (Maple Leafs), C Viktor Kozlov (Capitals), LW Ryan Smyth (Avalanche), D Sean Hill (Wild), RW Arron Asham (Devils).

Outlook: Your worst team in the league. Yes, I know, I praise coach Ted Nolan every other minute, and I say every few minutes how much I admire DiPietro’s goaltending. However this is your house of cards team. Once they get one injury, it will all spiral out of control. They won’t score a lot of goals. They will be incredibly tough to play, but when you lose the amount of offense they did, and then have to rely on Mike Comrie, an underachiever who you could place right up there with Yashin (Comrie might be worse than Yashin believe it or not…), Bill Guerin, a very old 36 year old, youre in trouble. Remember the Rangers teams of old? They lost because they lacked depth. This is a team just like that. They have very poor depth, and are placing a lot of pressure on DiPi to more or less steal a year for them. He won’t.

Philadelphia

Unrestricted Free Agents: G Robert Esche, RW Denis Hamel, C Mark Cullen.

Re-Signings: G Antero Niittymaki (2-year contract), D Lasse Kukkonen (2-year, $1.75 million contract).

Notable Additions: C Daniel Briere (Sabres, 8-year, $52 million contract), D Kimmo Timonen (Predators, 6-year, $37.8 million contract), F Scott Hartnell (Predators, 6-year, $25.2 million contract), D Jason Smith (Oilers - trade), RW Joffrey Lupul (Oilers - trade).

Notable Subtractions: F Mike York (Coyotes), LW Todd Fedoruk (Stars), F Geoff Sanderson (Oilers), D Joni Pitkanen (Oilers), LW Niko Dimitrakos (Senators).

Outlook: If you want to bitch about the lockout, do so to the Flyers management. They first give a good defenseman in Timonen, and a good forward in Hartnell 2 outlandish contracts which immediately killed the free agent market for everyone else. Then they sign Briere, a pretty damn good player, to an insane contract, which immediately raised the price on Drury and Gomez. However they may have made the worst trade in the year by getting rid of Joni Pitkanen. Yes, I know he had an off year last year, but you don’t trade stud defenseman like him away, even if you get the return they did. I think they will rue that trade for a long, long time in Philly. Expect the Flyers to take a while to gel, but when they finally do, look out. Playoffs are a high probability for this team, likely squeaking past Carolina by tie breakers.

New York Rangers

Unrestricted Free Agents: D Sandis Ozolinsh, D Martin Richter.

Re-Signings: D Jason Strudwick, F Petr Prucha (2-year, $3.2 million contract), LW Brendan Shanahan (1-year contract), G Henrik Lundqvist (1-year, $4.25 million contract), F Sean Avery (1-year, $1.9 million contract).

Notable Additions: C Scott Gomez (Devils, 7-year, $51.5 million contract), C Chris Drury (Sabres, 5-year, $35.25 million contract), D Andrew Hutchinson (Rangers - trade).

Notable Subtractions: C Michael Nylander (Capitals), RW Jed Ortmeyer (Predators), LW Brad Isbister (Canucks), D Karel Rachunek (Devils), G Kevin Weekes (Devils), C Matt Cullen (Hurricanes).

Outlook: Ok, so I have publically killed the Gomez and Drury signings, and I am going to do so once again. You don’t, I repeat don’t give contracts like that to guys with the numbers Gomez and Drury have put up in their careers. You might argue you could give that to Briere, but NOT Gomez or Drury. However Drury is a player with so many intangibles, and a winning pedigree that I won’t bitch too much about him. However Gomez does not have those same intangibles with the exception of the ability to carry the puck into the offensive zone. Gomez is slightly overrated by Ranger fans, but that is too be expected when you see him burn you so often. However, there is NO DENYING that the Rangers are the team to beat in the entire Eastern Conference. While they probably won’t win the Presidents Trophy, they probably are the best team. The problem is that they have to play in such a tough division that it will be next to impossible to get the points needed to win that trophy.

The question to me is which kid makes an impact this year? Smart money is on Dubinsky or Dawes, but look for Hugh Jessiman to possibly make some waves. While he has been considered a bust for much of his post draft career, the Rangers must be thrilled to see his play thus far in training camp. Hugh has the size, speed, strength, and skill to not just be a decent hockey player, but to be a real force to be reckoned with. The problems with him have generally been in his head. His inability to recognize the play and go to the appropriate areas has often led to people questioning his hockey sense, whether right or wrong. However one thing you can not question is his character, desire, or work ethic. He has them all, in spades. If he makes the team, and plays like he could play, you might see something special. Then again he probably will play for the WolfPack, but I hope either way, he makes some bigtime progress in his development.

Thoughts

Easily the hardest division in the NHL, don’t be surprised if the Islanders, who I have projected to be dead last in the conference, somehow vie for a playoff spot. The teams in this division are just that good. Could it be possible that every team makes the playoffs? It wouldn’t shock me. Whichever team can stay the healthiest should be the strongest, however the Rangers insane depth should make that a non issue for their team. look for the Stanley Cup Champs to come from this division, Rangers, or not.

 

Projected Final Standings

Team	Points
New York Rangers	102
Pittsburgh	100
Devils	97
Flyers	92
New York Islanders	55

Projected Final Conference Standings

Rank	Team	Points
1	Ottawa	110
2	New York Rangers	102
3	Washington	95
4	Buffalo	100
5	Pittsburgh	100
6	New Jersey	97
7	Tampa Bay	94
8	Flyers	92
9	Carolina	92
10	Florida	88
11	Atlanta	86
12	Montreal	81
13	Toronto	78
14	Boston	70
15	New York Islanders	55

 

 

-Inferno

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Enjoy:

-Inferno

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Today we look at the NorthEast Division. Here were last years standings:

Team	Wins	Losses	OTL	Points	Goals For	Goals Allowed
Buffalo	53	22	7	113	308	242
Ottawa	48	25	9	105	288	222
Toronto	40	31	11	91	258	269
Montreal	42	34	6	90	245	256
Boston	35	41	6	76	219	289

Let’s attack these teams one at a time.

Buffalo

Unrestricted Free Agents: RW Michael Ryan, D Timo Helbling, D Mikko Lehtonen, G Adam Berkhoel.

Re-Signings: F Thomas Vanek (signed 7-year, $50 million offer sheet by Oilers, matched by Sabres), LW Andrew Peters (2-year contract), C Michael Ryan (1-year contract), RW Adam Mair (3-year, $2.275 million contract), D Teppo Numminen (1-year, $2.6 million contract), F Dan Paille (1-year, $585,200 contract), F Derek Roy (6-year, $24 million contract), D Nathan Paetsch (3-year contract).

Notable Additions: G Jocelyn Thibault (Penguins, 1-year contract).

Notable Subtractions: C Daniel Briere (Flyers), C Chris Drury (Rangers), C Dainius Zubrus (Devils), G Ty Conklin (Penguins).

Outlook: Ouch. Looking at those notable subtractions makes you wonder how some of the Sabers fans made it through the offseason alive. It’s tough for any team, even one as canyon deep as the Sabers to lose that many upper echelon players. How would the Rangers be if they lost Jagr, Straka, and Nylander from last year? Probably up the creek. Well, I guess the Sabers fans are happy to know that their team won’t be up the creek, that they will make the playoffs. They are too well coached, and have far too many weapons, some we haven’t even seen much of yet. No, I think these guys will be ok. They won’t be the utterly dominating club we saw for most of last year, but they will still be good enough to secure a playoff spot, especially in this supremely weak division.

Ottawa

Unrestricted Free Agents: D Jamie Allison, C Serge Payer.

Re-Signings: LW Dean McAmmond (2-year contract), D Lawrence Nycholat (multi-year contract), F Ray Emery (3-year, $9.5 million contract), D Christoph Schubert (3-year, $2.65 million contract), F Chris Kelly (1-year, $1.2625 million contract).

Notable Additions: F Niko Dimitrakos (Flyers, 1-year contract).

Notable Subtractions: C Mike Comrie (Islanders), D Tom Preissing (Kings).

Outlook: Ladies and Gents, your defending Eastern Conference Champions. A team that went roughshod right through the Eastern Conference till they met those two mammoth defenseman Neidermeyer and Pronger. They really didn’t better their team, though they did lose Comrie and Preissing. Still, they should be more than good enough to easily win this division, assuming Emery is ok. These guys score a lot of goals, and they don’t give up a lot of goals, but what they don’t have is a good goalie. Ray Emery is an above average goalie at best that looks good at times because of some very, very, VERY solid defenders in front of him, and a team with enough offensive weapons to carry the play for minutes on end. I fully expect them to once again be beastly.

Toronto

Unrestricted Free Agents: C Jeff O’Neill, C Travis Green.

Re-Signings: F Mats Sundin (1-year, $5.5 million contract), D Staffan Kronwall (2-year contract), F Nik Antropov (2-year, $4 million contract), LW Bates Battaglia (2-year, $1.3 million contract).

Notable Additions: G Vesa Toskala (Sharks - trade), F Mark Bell (Sharks - trade), RW Jason Blake (Islanders, 5-year, $20 million contract), G Scott Clemmensen (Devils, 1-year, $500,000 contract), F Tony Salmelainen (Canadiens,1-year, two-way contract).

Notable Subtractions: C Mike Peca (Blue Jackets), C Yanic Perreault (Blackhawks), G Jean-Sebastien Aubin (Kings).

Outlook: The Leafs and Habs played an epic game to close up their season, one that ended up not mattering, but still, they were inches from making the playoffs. That ends this year. Not only will they not be inches from making the playoffs, I dont think theyll even be remotely close to making the playoffs. This team just doesnt frighten me. They have some good size on their top line, and as always are anchored by future hall of famer Mats Sundin, but they still have very little after that which makes me think they will win many games. They once again continue their revolving door of goaltending, one year after acquiring Raycroft they go out and acquire Toskala. He won’t make much of a difference, these guys should have torn it down and rebuilt.

Montreal

Unrestricted Free Agents: D Janne Niinimaa, LW Mike Johnson, RW Aaron Downey, D Jassen Cullimore (Blackhawks, contract bought out).

Re-Signings: F Christopher Higgins (2-year, $3.4 million contract), D Mike Komisarek (2-year, $3.4 million contract), C Tomas Plekanec (2-year, $3.2 million contract), D Josh Gorges, F Michael Ryder (1-year, $2.95 million contract).

Notable Additions: D Roman Hamrlik (Flames, 4-year, $22 million contract), C Bryan Smolinski (Blackhawks, 1-year, $2 million contract), F Tom Kostopoulos (Kings, 2-year, $1.8 million contract), D Jamie Rivers (Blues, 1-year contract), D Patrice Brisebois (Avalanche, 1-year, $700,000 contract).

Notable Subtractions: F Alexander Perezhogin (Salavat Yulayev Ufa - Russia), F Sergei Samsonov (Blackhawks), C Radek Bonk (Predators), D Sheldon Souray (Oilers), G David Aebischer (Coyotes), F Tony Salmelainen (Blackhawks, contract bought out and signed by Maple Leafs).

Outlook: Turnover, turnover, turnover. Looking at the comings and goings of this team it certainly does look like theyve made a lot of changes, though many of them are of the inconsequential variety. These guys will be about as good as last year. Even with a (one would suppose) healthy Huet, and up and comer Carey Price, I still don’t think this team is good enough offensively, or defensively to make the playoffs. They ranked 15th in the NHL in goals for last year with 245 only to lose all-star Sheldon Souray and his 26 goals from the blueline. Sheldon may have been as defensively inept as they come, but he anchored the Habs top ranked power play with 19 power play goals. Without Sheldon back there unleashing the howitzer, their attack becomes far more easier to handle. A team that would literally win most of their games on the power play just got a lot weaker. Expect a decent dropoff.

Boston

Unrestricted Free Agents: D Jason York, D Nathan Dempsey.

Re-Signings: F Brandon Bochenski (1-year contract), D Andrew Alberts (2-year, $2.5 million contract), LW Jeff Hoggan.

Notable Additions: G Manny Fernandez (Wild - trade), RW Shawn Thornton (Ducks, multi-year contract).

Notable Subtractions: LW Petr Tenkrat (Timka IK - Sweden), G Joey MacDonald (Islanders), G Hannu Toivonen (Blues).

Outlook: I’m surprised Boston won as many games as they did last year. With a crappy defense, and even worse goaltending they simply were…well…crappy. Yet they managed to put up 76 points and were in the playoff race for much of the season. Not this year. They added goalie Manny Fernandez, which should bring a bit of stability, and improvement in their putrid goals against total. But even he won’t help these guys. Say hello to the worst run franchise in hockey not located in Long Island..

Thoughts

If not for the presence of the Senators and Sabers this division would border on the AHL level. None of the bottom teams scare me, and should really be handled with relative ease. Expect the very good Senators and pretty good Sabers to put up big point totals in the standings, by beating up on some pretty crummy competition in the division. The Senators are your #1 seed in the East by a very wide margin., and possibly your Presidents Trophy winners, with Buffalo likely coming in 4th (in the conference).

 

Projected Final Standings

Team	Points
Ottawa	110
Buffalo	100
Montreal	81
Toronto	78
Boston	70

-Inferno

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Just a short post for now. I will be getting to my previews late tonight, probably midnightish.

I saw this and had to share. Check out this link. It has a bunch of stuff in it about the New York Rangers and all things related to the Traverse City Tournament. Besides some excellent player vids and the like, there is a 2-part video of Rangers Assistant Coach Mike Pelino giving a fairly rousing, and interesting speech to (one must assume) a group of prospects. This video is most definitely worth checking out, if for nothing else than hearing Mike say this:

Henrik is incredible, mark my words, he’s definitely going to be the best goalie in the NHL over the next few years, because no one works harder than him in practice, and no one is more competitive than him as a goaltender.

UPDATE:
Apologies, had to go out tonight, didn’t have time to get to the preview. I’ll do my best to get to it sometime in the afternoon tomorrow (technically today).
-Inferno

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Let’s ignore for a second that our team is the strongest it has been since 1994. The New York Rangers prospect squad is seconds away from going a perfect 4-0 in the Traverse City Prospect Tournament, en route to a dominating championship performance.

You may recall this post here where I list the prospects and put the ones I am most interested in, in a nice bold font. To refresh your memory, here was the list…

Anisimov
Barnes
Bourret
Dubinsky
Dupont
Hillier
Korpikoski
Owens
Pyatt
Busto
Potter
Staal
Sauer
Sanguinetti
Lafleur

So, how did the team do? Here are the official stats:

Player	Games	Goals	Assists	Points	Plus/Minus
Dubinsky	4	3	4	7	+3
Bourret	4	3	4	7	+5
Owens	4	3	0	3	+1
Anisimov	3	2	1	3	+2
Sauer	4	1	2	3	+5
Skokan	3	0	3	3	0
Staal	4	2	0	2	+6
Korpikoski	4	2	0	2	-1
Sanguinetti	4	1	1	2	+1
Kveton	4	1	1	2	+3
Dupont	4	0	2	2	-1
Hillier	4	0	2	2	+1
Zaborsky	4	1	0	1	0
Barthel	4	0	1	1	-2
Lee	3	0	1	1	-2
Potter	4	0	0	0	+1
Pyatt	4	0	0	0	+1
Busto	3	0	0	0	-3
Barnes	2	0	0	0	-1
Bohunicky	2	0	0	0	+1

Player	Games	Wins	Losses	GAA	SV%	Goals Allowed
Lafleur	2	2	0	2.00	.892	4
Wiikman	2	2	0	3.00	.850	6

As you can see, the key players not only delivered in spades, but flat out dominated. With the exception of some shaky goaltending (The save percentages are putrid, though there is no way to know what that means since its possible they faced a high percentage of quality scoring chances, or that they just sucked) the Rangers squad dominated offensively and defensively.

Next, how about Shots on goal?

Opponent	Rangers Shots	Opposition Shots	Difference
Tampa Bay	31	25	+6
Atlanta	30	19	+11
Detroit	24	15	+9
Columbus	32	18	+14
Total:	117	77	+40

Now that is the telltale sign of excellent coaching. When you not only get a lot of shots on goal, but when you are giving up very few yourself. Excellent numbers there folks, excellent for sure, and don’t take your eyes off of that +6 for Marc Staal for a second, I am sure that is a huge reason the shots allowed are so low for the other teams.

The final stat I want to look at are the quality of penalties taken. How many were majors, how many were aggression penalties (roughing, boarding, charging, etc), and how many were “lazy” penalties (too many men on the ice, hooking, holding, interference, tripping, etc)

Opponent	Rangers Major Penalties	Rangers Aggression Penalties	Rangers Lazy Penalties	Opposition Major Penalties	Opposition Aggression Penalties	Opposition Lazy Penalties
Tampa Bay	0	0	6	0	0	7
Atlanta	1	2	3	2	3	2
Detroit	0	3	3	0	0	7
Columbus	1	3	1	1	3	5
Total:	2	8	13	3	6	21

There is another great stat guys, the Rangers took far fewer “lazy” penalties, than the opposition. That is a very important, and telltale stat that these kids know how to play, and are listening to their coach. Give credit to Ken Gernander, he has these kids playing well, playing as a team, and playing within the Rangers system.

Update:
Ted from the blueshirt bulletin comments section here, had some more interesting stats…

Tied w/ Blues for most goals (19)

Fewest goals allowed (10) next had 12

Largest goal differential (+9) – next largest was St. Louis with +5

Scored in every period of play

Never lost a period

Only outshot in two periods: in 3rd period of Thrashers game (8-6) and 1st period of Tampa game (11-9)

Fewest Shots Allowed (77) – Next Fewest was the Blue Jackets with 106!

Biggest differential in shots taken to shots given up with +40 – next closest were the Wild with +26

Best power play percentage of any team (30.77%) and most power play goals scored (8) – next best power play percentage was 17.86% (Thrashers & Blues) and next most goals scored was 5 (Thrashers, Blues & Wild)

Fewest times short handed (20)

Tied w/ Blues, Thrashers, and Red Wings with the fewest short handed goals allowed (3) – in spite of this only had 85% penalty killing percentage, due to giving up so few power plays.

Out of 16, our goalies ranked 8th (LaFleur) and 11th (Wiikman) in SV% – 0.892 and 0.850 respectively

Ranked 3rd (LaFleur) and 6th (Wiikman) in GAA – 2.0 and 3.0 respectively

Pumped up for training camp yet?

Northeast preview tomorrow.

-Inferno

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