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Rangers Review | Comments Off

Rangers Review | Comments Off

Come on now, let’s be real guys. Do you honestly think these guys made it all the way from mites, to juniors to the AHL to the NHL without being able to bury the kind of chances they missed tonight? Come on now, you guys are smarter than that. We know what the problem is with the Rangers. It’s NOT, I repeat, NOT, because they are unable to bury the chances they got tonight. It’s because they are so overthinking and squeezing their sticks that they can not do ANYTHING right.

It’s all part of the systemic problems from Tom Renneys system that has leaked over to Torts’ first few games. I’ll say it again, do you honestly think Ryan Callahan made the NHL when he is incapable of elevating a puck 1/2 a foot off the ice? Do you think Rozsival did too? Do you think Scott Gomez made the NHL when he absolutely drew a blank on what to do with a wide open net staring him in the face? Do you think Brandon Dubinsky made the NHL while being able to execute a toe drag, but not being able to make contact with the puck on a shot?

It really has gotten to the point of almost comical absurdity as the Rangers severely outplayed the Panthers tonight. They looked like the Harlem Globetrotters playing against 6 year olds. They were everywhere, had the puck on a string, and could do everything they wanted out there….except score. Nobody can be that unlucky for much longer. It’s a simple law of probability. The pucks will eventually go in if they continue to get these chances. They played a very good team tonight, who had a goalie on top of his game, and they just couldn’t finish. There is no explanation that really can tell you why. Voodoo, Ouija boards, et al make about as much sense as anything. But I have a feeling that once those goals come, like 1 or 2 of them in a row, the flood gates will pour open.

It really all comes down to sticking with it and believing in the work they are doing.

Now, with all that said, I still feel that this team needs to become sellers at the deadline. Their single biggest problem is they are cap sunk for the foreseeable future, and no matter what they do in the playoffs this season, their future is royally screwed. We also have a surplus of unproductive players who aren’t making that much money, and unproductive players who are making a lot of money.

In a perfect world where GM’s do what I tell them to do, this is what I would do if I were GM of the Rangers.

Trade Nigel Dawes for whatever you can get for him.

Release/Trade Aaron Voros

Pick up Sean Avery through re-entry waivers.

Trade Markus Naslund for a 1st rounder. I feel he can definitely fetch that much to a playoff contender, if not more.

Trade Wade Redden to Columbus or Calgary (both of whom wanted him badly) for whatever you can get, preferably draft picks. Redden has played brilliantly as of late, and its the perfect time to try to unload him.

Trade Scott Gomez to the Minnesota Wild for the rights to Marian Gaborik along with a 24 hour signing window, and lock up Gabby to a similar contract that Gomez got.

It is a very risky move to trade Gomez for Gaborik, but when healthy, Gaborik is one of the 5 best scorers in the game, and can play a 2-way game. He may be healthy, he may be a lost cause, but if hes hurt, you at least rid yourself of Gomez’s contract, because Gaborik on LTI doesnt count against the cap.

Then I would strip the captaincy away from Chris Drury and give it to Brandon Dubinsky. I know it sounds like a rash move to make, but in my personal opinion, Dubinsky is already the leader of this team from everything I have seen out there. He shows heart, he talks to the press, he stands up for his teammates, he does whatever it takes to win. Dubinsky is the captain of this team, just make it official.

Then I would run these lines out there.

Gaborik Dubinsky Zherdev
Avery Drury Callahan
Prucha Anisimov Korpedo
Sjostrom Betts Orr

Staal Rozsival
Mara Girardi
Kalinin Reitz/Potter/Sauer

It’s no worse than what we already put out there, and its at least 10.5 million dollars cheaper.

You can then offer Marian Hossa a 7 year 56 million dollar contract in the offseason. And have a team like this next year…

Gaborik Dubinsky Hossa
Avery Drury Zherdev
Callahan Anisimov Korpedo
Sjostrom Betts Orr

Staal Rozsival
Sanguinetti Girardi
Mara Sauer

Rangers Review | Comments Off

Ok, I got a little bit of rest under me so I feel like I can make some coherent thoughts on tonights game. First and foremost, I was really happy with what I saw out there by and large. The Rangers pressed the attack, got more quality chances in 1 period than they have in the last 2-3 weeks combined, and looked like they were built for this kind of an attack game. However the 3rd period came along and the boys started to really suck wind. They looked exhausted. They probably skated more in that game than they have in the last 2 or 3 combined.

But it all comes down to 1 thing…territory. In Renneys system territory was ceded even before the game started. While you have the puck, that 1/2 of the ice is yours, once you get past center ice, we then try to stop you. In Torts’ system, every single square inch of ice is fought. You want to move an inch, you’re going to have to get past me. You want to move another inch? You’re going to have to get past my linemate…and so on.

There were times, all night long, where their inexperience in playing the system was hideously aware, as defenseman pinched, but the proper rotation didn’t come around to help. But by and large we looked amazing out there.

The goals will come, it’s the same “market effect” that I have been talking about for years now. When you play the right way, and you get chances, eventually they will go in, it’s just a law of probability. Right now they are snake bitten, are trying to learn a new system, and are having to deal with a new coach. These things can cause you to not score some goals. But if you keep playing like this, they will go in. The quality chances…for once. Were there. It’s one of the first times all season where I can truly say, the Rangers out-chanced the opposition…..wow.

2 players in particular looked quite bad to me. Markus Naslund looked ill prepared to play this up-tempo of a game. He was sucking wind big time after his first shift, and looked a step slow. Scott Gomez might have had his worse game as a Ranger…ever. He couldn’t skate 5 feet without making a terrible play. It was turnover, after turnover, after turnover….and these were unforced. He just looked utterly and completely lost. On the back end, Michal Rozsival was a complete disaster, often getting beat out wide after taking poor routes to the puck.

On the flip side I felt Marc Staal and Wade Redden was absolute beasts out there. Redden in particular looked built to play this style of hockey. They kept the puck in, they got the puck on net, and they were decisive with what they were doing.

There are way too many positives to look at in this one. Whereas in previous games we may have been winning, but the negatives made the wins seem like losses, tonights loss really feels like a win because of all the positives I saw out there.

With that said, I would still look to become sellers at the trade deadline. I think we need to gut the leadership of this team and start fresh. Im not happy with Gomez, Redden, and Drury, especially at their salaries. Sell if you can, and look to reload this summer with some youth…and Marian Hossa.

Rangers Review | Comments Off

Rangers Review | Comments Off

Posted this on the HFBoards earlier tonight, felt it was worth sharing…

Just some thoughts. By the reaction of some posters, youd think Renney was diagnosed with cancer of the puppy rather than losing his head coaching job.

Ill go on record, Im HAPPY the guy is gone. Good bye, see you later, dont let the door hit you on the way out.

People are confusing his classy nature with his ability to coach, and I see a major distinction there.

In my personal opinion, Tom Renney was a HIGHLY overrated coach here who had rode the coat tails of Jaromir Jagr these past years. Without Jagr his complete ineptitude behind the bench really showed in spades.

Chart the Rangers success and youll see a 1:1 correlation to Jaromir Jagrs production.
3 years ago, Jagr goes apeshit out of the gate, Rangers are in first place. Jagr comes back from the olympic break a little hurt from the hit from Ruutu, doesnt continue his torrid pace, Rangers start losing. Jagr gets hurt, Rangers get swept.

2 years ago, Jagr is “OK” for most of the season, and as a direct result, the Rangers are unable to do anything, they are spiraling out of control out of the playoff picture. Sean Avery is brought in, Jaromir Jagr suddenly starts to score again, and the Rangers claw back in and make the playoffs..barely, where they meet a green team that has never made the playoffs in their franchise history, that is immediately swept out. Rangers advance to the 2nd round, where they are dismissed by the Sabres in 6 games.

Next season Jaromir Jagr is completely unable to function with any of the players brought in, he is completely unable to be Jaromir Jagr. The Rangers plummet down the standings, till Jagr is united with Brandon Dubinsky and goes apeshit again, on pace for 97 points during his time played with Dubinsky. The Rangers dispatch the Devils who badly outplayed the Rangers, but are unable to get past a red hot Lundqvist, and Brodeur is AWFUL between the pipes letting the Rangers get by, the Rangers play a Pittsburgh team that is far more than a 1 man show in Jagr, and are absolutely dominated by that team. In that span Renney manages to play Ryan Hollweg who takes one of the most boneheaded boarding penalties in the history of the game…which shouldnt be surprising considering Hollweg has already done this exact same thing 3 times during the actual season.

This season, no Jagr, and the Rangers are just a 1 man show. Renney is completely unable to do anything…because he has CONSISTENTLY been able to do NOTHING with the players he has been given. He depends on Lundqvist to win every game 1-0, Lundqvist plays damn near God-like with an inhuman start to the season, the Rangers rocket up the standings, but Lundqvist is unable to play like a god for more than a few weeks, and the cracks begin to show in Lundqvists armor. Rangers start to lose games, are unable to score, and there is no Jagr to bail them out. Lundqvist is still there to keep the games close, to get them to the shootout where he can dominate, but he can’t put the puck in the net. Rangers start to spiral out of control. No Jagr there to save our asses

Don’t feel bad for Renney, feel bad for Jagr who was treated so badly by this organization on his way out when HE, and Henrik Lundqvist are the 2 sole reasons this franchise has pulled itself out of the decade of despair.

Save me your sanctimonious lectures about a man needing to feed his family. This is a business, and in business if you dont perform, you lose youre job end of story.

Renney has been given ample talent and ample opportunities to better the results that he has been given. Last season I said something I stand by now more than ever. No coach has ever gotten so little out of so much talent than Tom Renney did with last years team. Gomez, Drury, Straka, Dubinsky, Jagr, Shanahan, Avery, Prucha, Dawes, Callahan, Sjostrom, Betts, Orr….and yet we were 25th in the NHL in terms of offensive production. You can not seriously expect me to believe that there were 24 more “talented” teams out there than that group right there. Add to that Tyutin, Mara, Staal, Girardi, and whoever for that last spot, and you have a more than competent defensive backfield. That club should have ripped through the eastern conference. Im sorry but there is no excuses, NONE for those guys being unable to score.

And yet the excuses continued to mount, Renney doesnt have enough talent, ok lets get him talent, we still cant score, well Renney doesnt have enough leadership, ok lets get him leadership, ok well Renney had Jagr holding him back and doesnt have a roster hes comfortable with, ok lets get rid of Jagr and give him a team that he has 100% either had a hand in drafting, signing, or traded for. Ok, now Renney doesnt have enough talent again.

Say What?

Excuses, thats all the guy ever gets. Hes a nice guy so people want to pull punches with him. Thats unacceptable to me. Thats a loser mentality that can perpetuate itself for YEARS. Its why I was so sick and tired of hearing the Dominic Moore and Jed Ortemeyer apologists. Accepting mediocrity because a player (or coach) shows a lot of heart or class is absolutely unacceptable. I demand more. We have more talent on this team now than we did in Renneys first year.

Unquestionably, unequivocally this team is more talented than the one he had coming out of the lockout. Theres a reason that roster was picked to be dead last out of the gate. Nylander, Straka, Jagr, were all “past their primes” (same excuse i hear for Naslund and Shanahan), Rucinsky? are you kidding me?

We had a roster with Ryan Hollweg, Jason Ward, Blair Betts, Jed Ortmeyer, and Colton Orr for crying out loud. Dubinsky, Callahan, and Korpedo have more talent in their pinky fingers than those guys have combined. What we do not have now that we had then is Jaromir Jagr to hide all of coach Renneys deficiencies. Jagr loved Renney because Renney never told him what to do. With Renney it was always, here ya go Jagr, do what you gotta do! and we did.

It also showed when Kevin Weekes was in net just how bad that team was defensively as well. We would consistently get blown out in games he started because our defense wasnt all that great either.

2 man team. Never a great defense, never a great offense, just 2 great players playing out of their effing minds carrying this team on their backs. Get rid of 1/2 the equation, and the house of cards all comes crumbling down. Renney had to go, and IMHO they couldnt have picked a better man to replace him with. Tortarella is a guy who gets what it is to be an NHL coach, he gets accountability, he gets offensive game plans, he gets playing to your strengths. I dont expect miracles overnight, but I feel strongly that this club has taken one monumentally huge step forward today.

Rangers Review | Comments Off

John Tortarella is the PERFECT choice to coach this Rangers team, but we need to do this the right way. Don’t think Tortarella is going to be the bandaid to fix this sinking ship. I say go the whole 9 yards and get Torts the team HE needs to win. Consult with him, see what players he wants gone, what players he wants in, and make it happen. I’m not expecting miracles here, but Tortarella is the kind of coach that can win you a championship, he’s already proved that. Now go get him what he needs to make it happen.

Rangers Review | Comments Off

Renney and Pearn out, Tortarella possibly in…Yes, I am in heaven, despite being sick out of my mind at the moment.

I’d be doing cartwheels if I was physically able.

Rangers Review | Comments Off

What happens when the leagues worst offense plays against the leagues worst defense? Let me give you a hint, the leagues worst offense scored lower than their league average, whereas the leagues worst defense allowed fewer goals than their league average. In short, our shitty offense sucks more than the Leafs shitty defense. We proved that even a garbage goalie with a garbage defense can be made to look superhuman against us. If not for a last minute goal by Rozsival on a scramble play, we don’t even pick up a point out of this shit-ka-bab. Instead we have another 1 pointer and the schedule ahead keeps looking more and more daunting.

As it stands now the Rangers are 2 minuscule points from being out of the playoffs. How sickening is that?

Ok, I can’t say much else. Remember how I said watching the Rangers made me sick yesterday? Well the sickness has stayed all day with me, and playing hockey didn’t make it better…on the contrary. Im not feeling well, so I’ll just leave it at that, we suck, and nothing will change as long as that idiot is behind the bench.

Oh, and one last thing, I really did like the Dubinsky-Gomez connection. Great tandem.

That’s it, the Tylenol night time caps are starting to sink in….zzzzzz………..

Rangers Review | Comments Off

The Rangers have played like absolute GARBAGE for the entire season, they haven’t scored goals, they haven’t been able to keep goals out of their net, they can’t seem to beat anyone with ease…in short they are their own worst enemy.

Yet again the Rangers came out absolutely FLAT (outside of the first 4 minutes of the game) against a team they absolutely had to beat. This was a playoff game folks, and the only reason it wasn’t 10-0 was because Henrik was outstanding, and Gomez took out Miller when he should have been penalized.

Want to know something else? Watching this team makes me sick. No, seriously. Before the game started I felt fine, totally a-ok. Right now I feel nauseous, light headed, and just a general since of “sickliness”. If any team in the NHL can make their fans feel sick just by forcing them to watch their garbage display on ice, it would be the New York Rangers. I am sick and tired of watching this Epic Fail of a team. Keith Tkachuk won’t make a bit of difference. What we need is a complete overhaul. New coach, new GM, new stars. Everything needs to be gutted. Until then we will continue to see the sorry sack of shit hockey that we’ve been watching for 3 years now.

I’m seriously feeling sick, so I think I’ll head to bed…maybe a good nights sleep will make me feel better. God damn Typhoid Rangers.

Rangers Review | Comments Off