I know everyones first reaction after tonights win was to jump for joy, to proclaim us as a contender, to label every new player as a future star. The fact of the matter is, we didn’t really beat the Detroit Red Wings tonight. Just like we should have been pumped when our AHL team beat the NJ Devils starting lineup, we shouldn’t read too much into our starting lineup beating the Red Wings sans Lidstrom, Holmstrom, Zetterberg, and Datsyuk.

The only thing I will take out of this win was that Henrik Lundqvist looked exceptionally sharp, and should be in for another huge season. I also was very happy with the way all the kids played, and feel strongly that Todd White should be cut. Other than that, I really can’t make any other observations as this game wasn’t really against an NHL caliber team.

Whats worse is that the Rangers were dominated for large portions of this game, they just made all their shots count. Something we aren’t used to seeing from this club.

The Rangers plan on making about 4 cuts today, my guess is that Todd White is a gonner, along with Sauer and Valentenko. Despite how well both played, I still think that the Rangers plan on going with Gilroy and McDonagh. Having Sauer as the backup VS having Eminger as the backup is an interesting discussion, but I feel in the end this team is already very young, an experienced defenseman might just be the way to go.

It’s going to be very interesting to see who the eventual cuts are.

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This was another game I expected us to lose, much like yesterdays. However I was pleasantly surprised to see the Rangers keep themselves in it, and be somewhat competitive out there. While the top line of Gaborik, Frolov, and Stepan were completely shut down, the supplemental scoring was there as Avery, Anisimov, and Christensen all put in goals. That certainly bodes well for the future because the Rangers will most definitely not be able to survive this season without some supplemental goals. In addition when you watch the game you couldn’t help thinking that Henrik Lundqvist, Marc Staal, Michal Rozsival, Vinny Prospal, and Ryan Callahan would have made a huge difference in the final score. Henrik alone would have nullified at least 2 of those goals.

Couple of things worth mentioning. MZA looked worlds better tonight, being far more active in the offensive zone, and generating a good forecheck with some speed and tenacity. His decision making was also much much better. Michael Sauer continues to be unimpressive to me, which is a shame because I felt he was one of our best defenseman in the preseason just a year ago. Kid may need another game or 2 to settle down, if he even has that much time left. Evgeny Grachev too was underwhelming, but he’s still a kid, still needs time to develop, and there is no rush here. He was also playing with players who lack creativity, and he himself is not the most creative player, hes more of a, find himself open, and rip a shot kind of a guy.

I really like what I see from this Pavel Valentenko kid. He’s got some nastiness in him, and a nice hard shot. Hes a complete cluster**** in his own zone, for sure, but he’s got a lot of things you can work with. A year in Hartford may do him a world of good. Also Derek Stepan looked a little less like he belonged today, as he didn’t really accomplish much out there other than playing a fairly solid 2-way game. On the flip side Artem Anisimov continues to improve his game, scoring another goal, and he could have had more, all the while playing a rock solid elite level defense. Mark my words, AA is the kind of center who wins you championships…if only we had the other pieces to the puzzle…

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I DVR’d this game but didn’t watch it live. Really, I didn’t expect much from the Rangers when looking at the lineups on paper. Basically you had the Rangers put out the Hartford Whale-pack and a few regulars (Cally, Anisimov, MDZ, Avery, and Lundqvist), VS almost the entire Devils opening night roster sans Uncle Daddy, Langenbrunner, and a few others. You had to figure this one was going to be ugly, and with the Devils scoring early in the game off of a gorgeous individual play by Ilya Kovalchuk, you had every right to feel so, I know I did. But somehow, some way, the Rangers were able to eke out a 5-4 OTW. I must admit, I was shocked.

Really this game came down to 1 thing. The power play. This is the way the NHL is played nowadays. Play them even at even strength, and win the specialty teams battle. If you can have a strong power play and a strong penalty kill, you will be a lethal team. End of story. All the other crap, the hitting, the defensive schemes, the goaltending, etc, it all goes out the window as long as you can win that specialty team game on a consistent basis. The Rangers showed it tonight, killing of a 5 on 3 for nearly a full 2 minutes after the Devils got one of the most ridiculously lopsided and unfair calls of this very early preseason, while at the same time being lethal on the Power Play to boot.

It’s remarkable how hungry this team seems, and I think it speaks volumes to the quality of kids we have coming up through the system, as well as the foresight that Glen Sather (say what!) had with regards to bringing in a lot of people to battle for some spots. We have already seen that Exelby is clearly not going to make this team, but we also have seen that a guy like Fedetenko may just defy the odds and do it, as he was absolutely outstanding tonight. A guy like Kennedy probably shouldn’t make the team, but a guy like Grachev may just do it.

Speaking of Grachev, I felt he had an up and down game. He set up a few glorious chances, but wasn’t able to do much on an individual basis. His fellow Russian teammate, Artem Anisimov, was absolutely outstanding all night long. AA proves that even if you aren’t scoring goals (which he actually did), you can be an effective player by playing a smart 2-way game. Anisimov will win be a Selke finalist in his career, mark my words.

Ok, that’s all for now. Let’s see how the boys do in Detroit tomorrow night.

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As I’m sure you’ve heard by now, the Rangers have waived Wade Redden. I was honestly a little surprised by how quickly the team did it, literally putting him on the second the option was available to them. I figured he was going to get a preseason game to maybe showcase himself for a team in case they were interested in picking him off of waivers (I’m thinking a cap floor team that needs to take on the salary, a-la Islanders), and since worse comes to worst you still just waive him, the Rangers would be in no different a position than they are today, except maybe some poor sap decides to take pity on Wade and give him a shot on their club. But, I guess if the Rangers felt that there was no possible way that anyone would claim him, then getting rid of him right away and seeing as many kids as possible in the preseason does make a lot more sense.

Look, Wade isn’t the worst defenseman in the NHL. He’s not even the worst defenseman on our preseason roster. He’s better than Exelby, Semenov and Eminger, by various degrees. But, they do not carry a 6.5 million dollar cap hit attached to their name, and that’s where Wade has his contract working against him. My guess is, if Wade was making about 3 mil a year, he would still be on the team, and wouldn’t be near as big a goat as he currently is. But, with great power comes great responsibility, or so Spider-Man tells me, and that ridiculous contract that Wade has gives him a hell of a lot of responsibility. He needs to play as good as Chris Pronger, as good as Mike Green, as good as Duncan Keith, and he’s not even the 4th best defenseman on the Rangers, let alone in the NHL.

It’s a shame that it had to come down to this, but it had to be done. It will be interested to see if the Rangers now try to acquire Brad Richards from the Stars. I honestly would not be surprised one bit if they try to trade Michal Rozsival and Brandon Dubinsky, or something like that, for Richards. It would be an interesting lineup though, wouldn’t it? I think if the Rangers do pull off a trade for Richards, that is something like what I said here (granted that probably isn’t enough going back the other way) the Rangers might just be a playoff team, perhaps even as good as a 6 seed.

As you can see, the numbers all work, with us being about 100k over the cap which would roll over next year thanks to bonuses. This can be resolved by sending down one of the waiver eligible players like MZA for a few games to start the season.

This team also has a legitimate powerhouse top line, and a ton of youth with Ryan McDonagh, Michael Sauer, and MZA all on the team as rookies. It also has a lot of upside for next year with Derek Stepan and Evgeny Grachev getting to play on the same line in Hartford and can come up as a tandem next year when Prospal, Kennedy, Boyle, etc are gone.

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Ahhh, NHL hockey is back! While it is still just the preseason, and these games are really beyond meaningless, they do give you a chance to gauge certain players, and see how effective they can be against NHL level talent.

First and foremost, let’s start with the good. I was dead set against the Frolov signing. Absolutely hated it. But in one fell swoop Frolov really changed my mind. I know it’s just 1 meaningless game, but Frolov was an absolute monster out there. He was unstoppable with the puck along the boards, using his size, and remarkable balance to shield the puck while constantly having his head on a swivel to find open players. Frolov played on the boards the way I so desperately want Brandon Dubinsky to play along the boards. Kind of like Jagr used to do for us, use his body to shield the puck, use his strength to stay on his skates while a pretty good defenseman in Anton Volchenkov is hammering away at him, and find the open man. Likewise the two University of Wisconsin kids were outstanding. Derek Stepan centered the first line like he belonged there. Never scared to be creative with the puck, never panicking, kid was cool as ice, and extremely heady. I’ve seen a lot of Stepan over the past year, and I know what hes capable of. My only fear with him, as with all college players, is the schedule, and the length of the season. Stepan may benefit from a year in Hartford getting used to these things. Or he may be good enough to learn on the fly centering 2 tremendous wingers who can cover for him when he makes a mistake simply by their presence. Similarly Ryan McDonagh was a rock back in his own zone. Showing tremendous strength, and some good heads up passing as well. A few times he was beaten by the speedy Devils wingers, but that was unsurprising either. He’s still learning the game at this level. Similarly another standout (besides Gaborik who really isn’t worth mentioning because, well, we already know how awesome he is) was Brian Boyle. I was ecstatic with his play tonight. Brian was playing mean. He needs to play mean. He’s got the size and speed to not only catch up to the smaller players, but to run them through the wall, and he did that frequently tonight. He also used his superior size to shield the puck along the boards, to take the puck to the net on his goal, and to create time and space to make plays. Granted he didn’t have much to work with on his wings with that lumbering oaf Boogaard on one side, and Dale Weise who I was thoroughly unimpressed with.

On the flip side, there were some negatives. You can start with Chad Johnson who almost gave away a game with a really soft goal, but its tough to come into a game that way, and play ice cold against a group of forwards that the Devils can throw at you, so I’ll give him a pass. I thought Mats Zuccarello-Aasen (who I will call MZA from now on), was absolutely awful. It’s just 1 game, and he hasn’t spent any time whatsoever learning systems here, but his decision making always seemed to be wrong. He was trying to force passes all night long, and just looked downright clumsy with the puck. When you play for the first time at MSG, and for the first time in an NHL game, that’s not surprising, so again, I will give him a pass without much though. I also was unhappy with the play of Michael Sauer. One of my favorite sleeper prospects, I thought he looked flatfooted all night long. Was constantly beaten to pucks, and didnt look…for lack of a better word…hungry. I wanted to see a lot more from Sauer, and I was disappointed. It’s still just 1 game, but Sauer played much better last preseason, so let’s not give up on the kid just yet.

Ok, that’s all for now, lets see how the B team does against the Devils on Saturday.

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courtesy of TrueBlueJoe89 on the HFBoards.

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Apparently they invited him to camp. Nice to see the kid get another chance, but you guys know my stance. You can’t fix stupid. Maybe I’m wrong, who knows, but Lisin has got to the stupidest hockey player I have ever seen.

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Unfortunately due to the NHLs stupidity there is no way for us to watch the Traverse City tournament…I had thought about going there this year, but I couldnt make it work. Fortunately the Rangers have a live look in for us to constantly hit refresh to. Looks like Stepan and Grachev had monstrous games for the blueshirts.

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