The Rangers once again iced a team that wasn’t near what their opening lineup will be, and had 2 in game injuries to what figures to be 2 regulars on top of that to make an already shorthanded squad that much weaker. Missing from the opening night roster (not necessarily all starting) was Gaborik, Richards, Callahan, Wolski, Rupp, Fedotenko, Prust, Stepan, Staal, and Eminger off the top of my head. That’s a tremendous amount of firepower, and huge parts of this team. Granted guys like JVR, Pronger, Hartnell among other weren’t in the lineup for the Flyers, but I think our players who were missing were more significant than theirs…especially since our entire top line and our captain were out of the lineup.

Still though, the Rangers played the Flyers tough, losing by 1 goal plus an empty netter in a feisty affair. The Rangers inability to stay out of the penalty box was appalling, as were the Flyers penchant for running players in exposed positions. Expect Sestito to get a long suspension, and don’t be surprised either if Talbot gets a game or 2. The guys just never understand, when a guy is vulnerable you can’t hit them. It’s Ryan Hollweg syndrome….get it through your heads.

Several players had stand out games, and not all in the positive way. Tim Erixon was a train wreck tonight. Taking stupid penalties, and getting caught flat footed all night long. Frankly Michael Del Zotto carried him like a sack of potatoes the entire game. Speaking of MDZ, he had an outstanding game. I thought he kept everything simple, and picked his spots on when to jump into the play. I definitely liked what I saw.

Christensen had an up and down game, sometimes looking brilliant out there, and sometimes doing his best impersonation of Nigel Dawes, the invisible man himself. John Mitchell had a pretty good game, but at times he struck me as kind of lazy. I saw a few instances where the puck was there, and he just seemed too damn lazy to skate to it, allowing Flyer players who had weaker positioning to beat him to those pucks. Neither player struck me as putting the other away, and EC’s shootout ability can not be forgotten.

MZA also had an up and down game, but I’d say more up than down. He looked outstanding when he had time and space, but several times he was very easily shoved off the puck by the bigger stronger players. He does not look any faster than last year, but again, the talent this kid has is undeniable.

Brandon Dubinsky and Artem Anisimov did not impress. They should have been the leaders of this club tonight, and were remarkable only in their ability to be completely unremarkable out there.

Brian Boyle on the flip side was superb, setting up a goal, and just playing a solid game in all 3 zones. I liked what I saw from the big man.

Ok, that’s all for now, off to bed!

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It’s tough to feel strong about the way the Rangers won today because everything looked sloppy. The passing, the forecheck, the defensive and neutral zone coverage, everything just looked…off. With such a big team, and a big talent differential you would have liked to see more from the Rangers tonight, but it took a pretty mediocre performance by Uncle Daddy for the Rangers to squeak this one out.

The top line definitely looked strong though. A goal a piece from Gaborik and Richards, and a fairly decent performance by Wojtek Wolski rounded out a good game by the top line. However it was rather shocking to see such a pedestrian performance by number 24. Ryan Callahan really didn’t do much at all, quite frankly rookie Carl Hagelin outperformed the captain in every facet of the game, killing penalties, forechecking, offensive zone presence…pretty much everything. One has to wonder if the C will effect Ryan Callahans game at all, or if it was simply the preseason and Callahan not taking it too seriously. It could also be that Artem Anisimov and Brandon Dubinsky didn’t suit up for this one, because the trio seem to play quite differently when any 1 or 2 are apart from the other(s).

Michael Sauer and Ryan McDonagh both had pretty good games, on the flip side I felt like Tim Erixon had quite a poor game, and was constantly being covered for by a very heady Michael Del Zotto who only had 1 noticeable gaffe tonight. Pavel Valentenko did not show the snarl one would have expected from a kid who has run out of options. Valentenko needs to show more if he’s going to secure a spot. I was very disappointed.

I did want to touch quickly on Marian Gaborik. I have been an ardent supporter of #10, and will continue to be till the day I die. You couldn’t help but see the refocused look in his eye. Gabby was absolutely flying out there tonight, playing in all 3 zones, and showing some terrific chemistry with Brad Richards even though the 2 of them were a little off here and there. One play in particular really caught my attention. Richards slowly schlepped the puck up the ice, and all of a sudden Gaborik just put on the turbo boosters and rushed into the zone, and in a flash the puck was off of Richards stick and juuuuusssttt missed Gabby for what would have been a clear breakaway. It happened so fast you would have to think the 2 of them were either reading each others minds, or had practiced that play quite a bit. This is going to be a fun season watching these two play together.

In the end though, the Rangers won a game they most definitely should have. They won it in regulation, but they did not play well. I guess this means things can only get better from here right?

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Its really tough to make any assessments after this game. the Rangers were only icing 4 guys who will sure fire have spots on their team this season…Dubi, Girardi, AA, and Lundqvist (for half the game)…starting goalie, 1 defenseman, and 2 2nd line players….hardly a fair matchup against Elias, Parise, Kovalchuk, Volchenkov, Talinder, Clarkson, etc, etc, etc

it seemed like 70% of the Devils that played tonight will be on the opening night roster, whereas only 7 guys MAX tonight will be regulars on the team….thats Avery, MDZ, Erixon, Girardi, Dubi, AA, and Henrik…with EC & Eminger as backup players.

Frankly, if the rangers had as many regulars as the Devils had, we would have likely killed them. They didnt impress me whatsoever, frankly their inability to bury such a substandard opponent was shocking. The Rangers had more players destined for Junior level hockey than guys destined for the NHL in the lineup tonight.

Let’s talk about some of the Rangers forwards briefly. Sean Avery played an outstanding game. Easily the best Ranger all night, he threw the body, skated as fast as anyone on the ice, was a pest with his mouth, drew penalties, worked his ass off, and just plain played like the Sean Avery of old. I loved what I saw. Dubi and AA were solid as you expect, but you could tell they were missing Cally, because Weise is a poor substitute for the captain. JT Miller looks like he could play in the NHL right now on the 4th line, however he definitely needs some work if you want to see him in a top 6 role going forward. Kid has talent. Christian Thomas was disappointing in that, when he didn’t have the puck on his stick, I didnt really notice him out there, but when he did have it, he did some pretty amazing things with it. I think he’s going to need to play on a top position going forward, because a 3rd line role simply would remove him from circumstances that would make him successful.

Carl Hagelin was flying out there, creating a lot of turnovers and playing an outstanding game. As disappointed as I was with his Traverse City Tournament, I was equally happy with his performance tonight. Ryan Bourqe did a few nice things out there in the defensive zone, and penalty killing, but other than that, he didn’t do much, which was frankly disappointing since a younger, slower player in JT Miller really shined out there. EC was terrible, I hardly even realized he was on the ice at times, it wouldn’t shock me at all to see him waived to Hartford come the start of the season.

On the defensive side of things Dan Girardi was outstanding, playing like a true #1, he consistently shut down whatever forward had the unfortunate task of trying to beat him. What a game by the other half of our top pair. Michael Del Zotto looked shaky out there at times, and scared to make a play. He was making safe plays most of the night, which isn’t really his game. He did however jump in on the offense, and you love seeing that from the kid, and recovered when he was caught with the play coming the other way. Tim Erixon looked ok. Calm, cool, collected as usual, but not as obviously good as he looked at Traverse City. He didn’t do much with the puck the way he did in Michigan, but played a pretty decent game. Dylan McIlrath, at times, looked amazing, and at times looked so terribly ordinary. I guess for a 19 year old kid, thats probably what you should expect to see (as opposed to what we saw in TC where he was simply average at best on most nights). He played positionally better than he did in TC, and threw a few nice hits out there. I wish he would have dropped the gloves once though, to get the Rangers crowd into it.

Henrik Lundqvist looked like Henrik Lundqvist, ’nuff said. Cam Talbot though looked outstanding, including several jaw dropping saves. I was fairly shocked at how well he played.

All in all, you’d have to call this game a BIG TIME win for the Rangers. Although technically speaking they lost, you have to be impressed that a lineup filled mostly with kids under the age of 22 hung in there toe to toe with some big time NHL players on the other end. You have to think a lineup with Richards, Gaborik, Callahan, Stepan, Wolski, Boyle, Rupp, Prust, Staal, McDonagh, Sauer, etc would have annihilated the Devils, and that is a very, very good thing.

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I didn’t get a chance to post my thoughts for either of the final 2 games due to scheduling issues, so I’ll just throw out a quick review of all the players of note.

Tim Erixon: Tim Erixon looks mighty close to being NHL ready. A very cerebral player he seems to never make a poor decision with the puck, whether it’s just dumping it out along the boards when no pass is there, or threading the needle to set up a scoring opportunity. He seems to be very adept at looking one way and passing tape to tape in a completely different direction. While he doesn’t seem to be afraid of the physical contact, he looks pretty scrawny out there, and underdeveloped in terms of muscle mass, and it’s not like the lack of muscle makes him a blazing skater, far from it, he’s simply an average skater. He’s going to need to be quicker, and to get stronger, but the brains and hands are most definitely NHL ready.

Dylan McIlrath: An utter disappointment in nearly every facet. I wanted to see hitting. I saw him get outmuscled consistently. I wanted to see the supposed booming shot, I saw no such thing. I wanted to see the excellent skating, I saw a kid with horrible balance. The only aspect of McIlraths game that seemed polished is his fist punching. And he’s not going to use that as an entry point to the NHL. This kid is at a minimum of 3 years away, and he may be more like 4 or 5 years away if ever.

Blake Parlett: He was injured the last few games so it’s not fair to judge him on those, but in his other games he looked outstanding out there. Very smart player in all zones, excellent puck carrier, good vision, good offensive instincts, good defensive instincts. Kid looks like he’ll be a top pairing defenseman in Hartford almost guaranteed.

JT Miller: Absolutely outstanding. Aside from Ryan Bourque and possible Christan Thomas, no other Ranger forward even remotely stood out the way this kid did. I can see why the Rangers love him so much. He seems to be equal parts Ryan Callahan and Brandon Dubinsky. Even though he’s just 18, he actually looked the most ready for the NHL game with his size, speed, and offensive instincts. Honestly it wouldn’t surprise me one iota if he was a late camp cut. But the Rangers will probably play it safe and send him down right away.

Ryan Bourque: If he was 3 inches taller, and 15 lbs heavier he would be a top 3 prospect in the Rangers organization. Hustle, hockey IQ, hands, instincts, it’s all there. This kid has the entire package…..except for his body. It would not surprise me if Ryan never plays in the NHL, and that’s a crying shame, because the kid is very talented, and plays the New York Rangers style of hockey to a T. However against the bigger, meaner defenseman, he’s going to get ROCKED, and he already has a history of concussions.

Carl Hagelin: By far and away the most disappointing forward. He was one of the oldest forwards in the tournament and didn’t really do all that much except for 1 really nice wrister. He’s a smart player, but I dont see anything in his game that leads me to believe he’ll make this club this year. I’ll have to say I was dead wrong thinking he had a spot to lose. Based on this tournament he isn’t even on my radar.

Shane McColgan: Superb offensive instincts, and is feisty as hell. I really liked what I saw from him. Looks to be good in the offensive zone, but once again, size my be the issue.

Michael St. Croix: Didn’t show much at all in any of the zones. Kinda had a Nigel Dawes type series in that I honestly had no idea he actually suited up and played.

Christian Thomas: Probably would have been the leading point scorer if his teammates could learn to finish off his passes. His 1 goal was fairly disappointing, actually his lack of shots on goal was the most disappointing thing, but his playmaking, speed, hustle…it was all there. I think him being a liability in the defensive zone is very overstated. Sure he had that giveaway at the end of the Carolina game, but that was really just a fluke thing, don’t put too much stock into it. Thomas may have an outside chance at making the Rangers depending on his camp….he does need to get bigger and stronger though, that much is clear.

Andrew Yogan: Very impressed with his game. Looked like a pretty talented kid there, with some good hands. Kind of reminded me a little of Frolov to be honest. Strong on the boards, finds himself in good scoring position, and was unable to finish. Too bad he got injured, would have liked to have seen more.

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First and foremost, a big old congratulations to Ryan Callahan who was named the captain of the New York Rangers a few minutes ago. Equally congrats to Marc Staal and Brad Richards for getting the A’s…though I am surprised Richards gets one before Dubinsky.

Getting to the game last night, it was a pretty well played game between 2 of the better teams in the tournament. Granted the Rangers ran away with it in the 3rd, but the first 2 periods were hotly contested and actually you could say the Stars outplayed the Rangers for long stretches.

Once again the standouts were pretty much who you would expect, Erixon, Thomas, Bourque, and the kid I’ve been just thrilled at watching, Parlett, who was once again outstanding in all facets of the game. On the flip side though, Dylan McIlrath had a mediocre at best showing last night. Once again having problems with his gap control, and showing very little in the way of offensive ability except for jumping into the play once and not putting the puck home when dished a perfect pass. Don’t get me wrong here, I am NOT one of those McIlrath haters. Far from it, I think he does serve a purpose that the organization needs, however I am not going to be an apologist who just gives him a free pass whenever he messes up. He messed up a few times, and you gotta call a spade a spade. On the other side though, he did have a fight last night, and you can see why they call this guy the undertaker. Holy crap did he ever beat the living shit outta the other guy in the fight. It looked like one of those fights you wanted the refs to break up before it went too far because you knew McIlrath would just kill the other guy. Thankfully, that’s exactly what they did.

I was very impressed by the goaltending in these first 2 games, especially since, when looking at them on paper, you HAVE to figure Jake Allen and Jack Campbell have to be the overwhelming favorites to win their respective matchups, but instead the Rangers ran through them like pudding, and their own backstops held the fort mighty well, especially during the surges that inevitably happen. Though it does help when a Stars player misses the chance to tie the game by shooting a puck wide with quite literally an entire net to shoot at.

Erixon has been particularly impressive with his poise and puck movement. He seems to have mastered the art of looking one way, and putting the puck right on the tape of a player nowhere near the place he’s looking at. I don’t know how the hell he does that, but it’s pretty damn cool to see. Though, for all of you thinking this guy is going to replace Michael Del Zotto, I disagree with that, they bring 2 very different styles of play, in fact, the more I watch Erixon, the more I think we should see pairings with Erixon-Sauer and McDonagh-Del Zotto. Might be the youngest bottom 2 pairings in the NHL, but the talent there is undeniable.

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Ahhhh, it’s New York Rangers hockey again! Sorta.

I’m a prospect junkie so this kind of stuff is right up my alley. Great to see MSG finally realize the value of televising this tournament and send out a crew, though the viewing angle is pretty mediocre, you have to be happy to be able to watch these kids play against some of the best prospects the other teams have to offer. And the Rangers really stood out as being the superior team tonight. Not just better, WAY better.

Several players stood out in particular. First and foremost there was Petr Ceresnak who was just downright painful to watch. Slow, immobile, awful decision making. Just not a good looking player there whatsoever. He was directly responsible for both of the Blues goals, and you have to think that if not for him, and Andrew Yogan this would have been an 8-0 massacre. Why Yogan? Because he played a tremendous game tonight, except the dude couldn’t buy a goal to save his life. 3 gimme goals, 1 a short side tap in, one a point blank chance from the low slot with the entire net to shoot at, and 1 a 2 on 1 rush with a perfect pass right on the tape which he shot wide. Youch ‘Drew, you gotta bury those.

On the flip side of things I felt that Blake Parlett really stood out as the Rangers best player tonight. He’s a very surprising players in my eyes because I expected pretty much nothing from him. Frankly he wasn’t even one of the players I was looking to focus on because you figure Hagelin, Thomas, McClogan, McIlrath, Erixon, Miller, St. Croix, Yogan, etc all are much higher on the depth charts. But Parlett looked outstanding out there. Showed tremendous decision making with and without the puck. Jumped into the rush at opportune times and showed outstanding hands and the ability to slow the pace down while still maintaining a firm control of the puck so his teammates can join him. In the defensive zone I would say he was borderline flawless. I believe he was paired with Niemi, and the fact that the Rangers were on the power play seemingly the entire night, of which he got the lions share of the point time, probably helped make him look so damn good out there, but regardless for a so called “no namer” to really catch my eyes like that outta the blue, you have to raise your eyebrows a little. Let’s see how he does tomorrow night.

Tim Erixon also looked outstanding out there. I definitely see the McDonagh comparisons because he plays that same kind of, smooth, simple, game with all aspects being solid. He never seems to sacrifice defense for offense, which I find to be very important in a defenseman, but when the opportunity is there, he seems willing and able to jump in. His defensive partner, Dylan McIlrath also played a good solid defensive game. He didn’t wow me at all with a first pass, or his offensive game or anything (and you have to think the people who say he has a canon of a shot exaggerated that a bit) but he was steady, played a nice physical game, and deftly complemented Erixons game out there.

Getting to the forwards, the players you expected to be good, were. Bourque to me stood out as the Rangers best forward tonight, using his speed, and fearlessness to cause havoc, generate chances, and getting himself a very nice goal. Christian Thomas didn’t get to unleash his devastating shot tonight, but his vision looked outstanding, setting up Yogan for a gimme goal, and moving the puck very well, though he did seem to get caught in other peoples areas on the power play, and pretty much refused to move, causing other players to have to shift to adjust to him, rather than the other way around. Weird, but I guess power play specialists know what they like, and they know what works for them. Carl Hagelin showed a very nice shot with his goal, though I was a little disappointed in some of his decision making. His legendary 2-way play wasn’t really on display tonight, as a few times he turned the puck over with blind passes into areas where nobody is home. That’s not what a defensively responsible player does.

JT Miller however looked like an absolute gem out there. Extremely skilled for such a hard working player, and he looks to be very strong on the boards as well, with some nice legs and excellent vision. Very nice looking player. McClogan and St. Croix weren’t very good, though they are what, 18 years old? That’s hardly surprising.

OK, that’s all for now. Tomorrow’s game won’t be watched till fairly late for me, so I’m not sure when I’ll get a chance to do the recap.

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First off, here is an excellent read on Chris Kreider, and his future plans with the organization, and this coming year.

Finally, I wanted to give a little explanation as to why it’s been so quiet around here. Frankly it’s 2 fold. First off, there really hasn’t been much to talk about in the Ranger world, but I could have found something to do about the team, like report cards or something, but the fact of the matter is this…I am a business owner. It’s what I’ve done for the past 4 years, and what I want to do for the rest of my life. Business has been AWFUL the past 6 months. Not bad, AWFUL. So I have had to redouble my efforts into my company, and that has caused me to simply have little to no extra time to spend on this site. When the Rangers season starts in 9 days with Traverse City, I’m sure I’ll be back to normal, but at this juncture I wouldn’t be saying no to anyone wishing to use the “Donate” link to the right—->

Thanks everyone for understanding.

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