Do it. Get him. This team is still, imho 1 more legitimate offensive weapon away from being a Stanley Cup favorite. You have the chance to get a multiple 30 goal scorer on a favorable contract who is just now entering the prime of his career, you do it. End of story. This is why the Rangers have these assets, to make moves when they are ready…and they are ready, now.

I’ve got 2 proposals and 2 corresponding lineups.

First:
Brandon Dubinsky OR Artem Anisimov
A first rounder in either of the next 2 drafts (Anaheims choice)
Ryan Bourque OR Michael St. Croix, OR Steven Fogarty OR Christian Thomas
Dylan McIlrath OR Tim Erixon

For Bobby Ryan.

Assuming they took Dubi the lineup for this season would be something like…

Anisimov – Stepan – Gaborik
Ryan – Richards – Callahan
Wolski – Mitchell – Hagelin
Fedotenko – Boyle – Prust

Rupp, Avery waive EC

When Staal is healthy…

Staal – Sauer
Girardi – MCD
MDZ – Eminger

Woywitka, waive Stralman

If they Picked Dubi You’d probably slide Ryan up to the top line, and move Dubi down to the 2nd.

My other proposed trade, which would be my preferred trade would be this…

Brandon Dubinsky OR Artem Anisimov
A first rounder in either of the next 2 drafts (Anaheims choice)
Ryan Bourque OR Michael St. Croix, OR Steven Fogarty OR Christian Thomas
Dylan McIlrath OR Tim Erixon
Wojtek Wolski

For Bobby Ryan & Lubomir Visnovsky

When everyone is healthy you’d have a lineup that looks something like this..

Anisimov – Stepan – Gaborik
Ryan – Richards – Callahan
Fedotenko – Mitchell – Hagelin
Rupp – Boyle – Prust

Avery waive EC

When Staal & Visnovsky are healthy…

Staal – Sauer
Girardi – MCD
MDZ – Visnovsky
Eminger, Waive Woywitka & Stralman

That lineup has it all. Toughness, scoring, passing, the big shot from the point, and of course the goaltending. You have a chance to add this guy, you do it!!!

Rangers Review | 2 Comments »

When the Rangers were reeling off 7 wins in a row, the debbie downers were constantly on the team about beating up on inferior teams. How the Rangers true test would be the 3 games we just played against the Caps, the Flyers, and the Penguins. Tough to do much better than the Rangers just did. 3 games, 3 wins, 0 points gained by the opposition. Just imagine if this club didn’t have that hellacious schedule to start off the season. I have zero doubts whatsoever that the Rangers would have at least 3 more points banked if they had started a normal schedule. With that said, the Rangers now find themselves only 3 points behind Pittsburgh for the best record in the entire NHL. Oh, and they have 4 games in hand.

Think that’s not huge? Home ice in the first round is enormous. Getting a weaker opponent is extremely important. You want to secure as high a seed as humanly possible simply because you always get the easier draw in every round. The later it goes the less thats important, but the key is getting to those late rounds. Let the other teams beat each other up while you get the easier schedule. I would LOVE to have Ottawa in a 7 game series to start the playoffs, instead of maybe Boston or Philly…wouldn’t you? Right now the Rangers have the best winning percentage in all of hockey. This is despite not having their #1 defenseman play a single minute of hockey thus far this season. Pretty damn impressive.

Getting back to this game, the Rangers really did play a damn good game. They gave up some scoring chances, but this was not the case of the Rangers goalie single handedly winning them this game. The Rangers played a pretty good game defensively, and if Marian Gaborik, Artem Anisimov or Derek Stepan could hit empty nets we would have won this one 7-3 instead of 4-3. Regardless, the boys in blue played a very good game tonight, and they should be proud.

Holy crap has Carl Hagelin and John Mitchell been a revelation or what? The speed, patience and all around game of these 2 are superb. You can’t underestimate how important the addition of these 2 guys have been to this team. Not only have they put up a point every game they have played thus far, but they have turned us from a 2 line team to a 3 line team, and that, my friends is what separates the fringe playoff teams, to the playoff lock teams. What separates the teams even further is having 4 good lines. I’m still not a fan of the Dubi, Prust and Avery trio. I think they leave a lot to be desired in terms of actually being able to score. All 3 are better setting people up than actually putting the puck home. I would revise our lines to be this:

Anisimov – Stepan – Gaborik
Fedotenko – Richards – Callahan
Hagelin – Dubinsky – Mitchell
Avery – Boyle – Prust

That’s my thought anyway.

How about #10 and John Tortorellas comments on him after the game. He made a point to say that Gabby outplayed Malkin, Crosby, Richards, everyone. He’s right though, without a doubt Gabby was the best player for either team. He scored a goal, picked up an assist, and really should have had 3 other points if his linemates could hit empty nets every once in a while….and if he could too.

That’s all for now, time to hit the sack!

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Special thanks to Dave over at the Blue Seat Blogs for helping me figure out how to get comments on this site without having to deal with the ridiculous amount of spam I used to get. 1 caveat here folks. I will NOT, I repeat, NOT be policing the comments. If something is posted that is questionable, you will be permabanned. If I have to deal with too much crap comments will go back to being turned off.

Have at it.

Here’s a preview of the 24/7 Rangers VS Flyers show:

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The Rangers were good tonight. Real good. In fact I’d have to say this was their best game in all facets all season long. Henrik Lundqvist was outstanding. The offense got tons of high quality chances only to be thwarted by an excellent performance by Bobrovsky. The defense was outstanding, limiting the nuclear hot Claude Giroux to very few chances at all (only 1 really comes to mind, a great glove save by Henrik).

Of course, you do have to put a slight asterisk on this game, as the Flyers were without Jaromir Jagr, Chris Pronger, and JVR, where JVR and Jagr have the same offensive equivalent as Gaborik and Richards, and Pronger has better numbers than any of our defenseman in a fraction of the games. We don’t have Staal, Wolski or Rupp, but I’d say they got the short end of that stick. You still have to play the team they ice, so it is what it is.

Regardless though, the Rangers played an outstanding game tonight, particularly in the defensive zone. While they did give up 29 shots, you’d have to say only 4 or 5 were good quality chances, especially Hartnells chance early in the game. Give Kudos to the Rangers top 4 defenseman. They were superb. MDZ in particular was very smart in what he did, you could tell a few times he wanted to do something risky, but instead changed his mind and went the safe route. While safe is death may be Tortorellas mantra in years past, it most definitely is not now. The Rangers really now play more of a, “Lazy is death” type of hockey. Where they know they can’t ever take even a shift off. They work hard, they get their work in, and they pick up points when and where they can. It’s a smart style, and as the Rangers get a little older (we still have one of the youngest teams in the NHL, something like the 2nd youngest group of skaters if im not mistaken). This was shown in spades tonight as the Rangers consistently outworked the Flyers, despite both teams having played just the day before. Kudos to the Rangers, those young legs sure to help.

I’m loving the duo of Mitchell and Hagelin. Both seem to play so well together. Mitchell is a very smart player, as you know, I value smarts over every other aspect a hockey player can have. So it’s great to see a guy who plays such a smart game out there. Hagelin just flat out works his butt off. Skates hard, never stops moving, reminds me so much of Ryan Callahan. Just great to see them, though I dont like Boyle in the middle of those 2. Right now I’d flip flop Brandon Dubinsky and Boyle to see if maybe that could help that line be even more effective.

Ok, thats all for now, I’m actually sick as a dog right now, hence the reason this is so late.

*sneezes*

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I find it very difficult to draw any conclusions, positive, or negative from this game. Simply put, the Washington Capitals were terrible in their defensive zone. The Oshawa Generals could have put up at least 3 goals against the team we saw today. Washington was guilty of some truly spectacularly bad passes and decisions. Both of Fedotenkos goals were a direct result of bad decisions, bad coverage, and just plain bad defense, as was Brian Boyles goal. The Washington Defense was caught looking all night instead of doing. It wasn’t just on the goals either, the Rangers had tons and tons of chances because of horrendous defensive positioning by the Caps. And still, you’d have to say the Caps badly outplayed the Rangers for long stretches, particularly in the first period, and were only down by 1 goal despite not really showing up for the 2nd period altogether.

This might be an example of take the points and run, because tomorrows game against Philly is going to be a helluva lot tougher. Granted Bryzgalov has not been very good, and also granted that the Flyers are mighty banged up, but that team can flat out play. Giroux is a legitimate superstar, and they still have depth galore.

Getting back to the game, a couple of players stood out. First and foremost I thought Ryan McDonagh had just a superb game. He was faced with having to play AO numerous times and was up to the task showcasing a solid pokecheck to go with some excellent physical play. McDonagh is quietly, before our eyes, turning into a star defenseman. I think within 2 years Ryan McDonagh will be playing in an All-Star game. This kid is truly something special. It’s in all facets too. Offensively he is very smart, defensively he is a rock, in the Neutral Zone he is flawless. Kid is a stud. It doesn’t hurt that he D-Partner, who was amazingly left off of the All-Star ballots, has played some truly spectacular hockey himself. If the rumors are true, that Marc Staal will be good to go sometime in January, this Rangers D could all of a sudden turn from very good, to one of the best in the NHL.

Another standout was Ryan Callahan, who played his usual Ryan Callahanian type game. Hitting, shooting, passing, doing all the little things that Chris Drury was supposed to do, but never really did during his tenure here…not that I’m fixating or anything. Fedotenko also had a pretty good game, although his goals were both gifts courtesy of the Washington defense. Henrik Lundqvist stood on his head for the first period, and you can’t blame him for either of the first 2 goals, though AO’s goal was stoppable, but I think he was a little screened by Girardi there.

Finally I wanted to talk about Carl Hagelin. Boy I loved what I saw out there from the kid. He played a rock-solid 2-way game for 10 minutes, providing exactly what a 4th liner should provide. Speed, physicality, forechecking, defensive awareness. He pretty much played like Ryan Callahan does, but without the hands. Of course, it’s his first game, and I have to admit I’ve only seen Hagelin play maybe 6 games in my life before the start of this years Traverse City Tournament, but if the hands are there, this kid could be something special. You can never have too many players like this, and as I’ve said numerous times, I find no need whatsoever for a goon in the lineup. Rupp isn’t a goon, but if he’s not going to provide some offense, I don’t see the need.

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You have to be slightly concerned. Not on the scale of the typical jump-off-the-bridge Ranger fan, no, but you should still be slightly worried about what unfolded tonight, coupled with the game against the Habs, and what has been going on for much of the season.

The troubling thing is NOT the lack of shots. I’ve never bought into that being a huge issue. It’s a little concerning for sure, but it’s not the be all end all. Let’s face it, shots get blocked, shots go wide, sticks break, etc. The thing that’s concerning is that the Rangers are not even getting into a position to get quality chances. They aren’t even able to connect on simple cross ice passes without fumbling the puck. They can’t seem to execute the most basic of plays. The back door pass isn’t even a thought in their repertoire. They get the puck behind the net but the wingers are out wide instead of one going straight to the front of the net. The defenseman pass when they should shoot, shoot when they should pass, and their decision making is just plain off….a lot.

Let’s not blow this up into a major fiasco. They lost by 1 goal to a damn fast team which play a style we know the Rangers have trouble with. The Panthers basically are the Habs 2.0. They pass the puck fast, with authority, and keep their feet moving the entire game. The Rangers are a slower more methodical team, they aren’t built to counteract that style unless they can get their cycle game going, and on the rare occasion that the Rangers were able to get it going, they never put a quality chance up on the board. It was just…possession, possession, possession, possession, lose the puck, reset, make a line change. Nothing was coming from it.

This is not the coaches fault. If anyone thinks that Tortorella is telling this team not to shoot then they are off their rocker. The fact of the matter is, the Rangers just seem to feel that unless they have the perfect chance, their shots aren’t going to go in. It’s a confidence thing. Even Gabby seems to be falling a little bit into this category, as he is looking for his teammates (as seen by his perfect assist to Stepan) more and more, and looking to shoot less and less. I like Tortorellas practice approach of hammering them with pushups for every missed shot, but it needs to go one step further. Plain and simple, if you aren’t shooting the puck, you sit your ass on the bench. Show them, shots on goal equals ice time.

For a team that is having trouble scoring,t he simplest way to break the funk is to simplify. Get pucks to the net. Get bodies to the net. Whack away. It’s not rocket science. It works at every single level. As their confidence rises, you can mix in the pretty passing plays, the puck possession wait for the perfect play type game. Because you still have the gritty lunch pail style sitting in your back pocket to fall back on.

The Rangers are doing a lot of things right, but their offensive zone execution needs to be taken back to the simplest form, and stressed to this team in a methodical fashion. SHOOT THE PUCK. Shoot it from anywhere, shoot it from everywhere, and crash the net. It may not be pretty, but it gets you goals.

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You must have seen this coming a mile away. I mean, as soon as I saw the schedule with us playing against Montreal, in Montreal, I knew this was where our winning streak would end. No questions, just a stated fact. We would lose this game. We will lose the next game in Montreal. And the one after that. And the one after that. And so on. Did I just start 3 consecutive sentences with the word “and”? Yikes!

But seriously folks, we were always going to lose this game. The Rangers can not play in Montreal. 4-0, 17-1, 3-2, it didn’t matter. There was no way we would win. The ghosts that haunt that building are simply too much for the Rangers to handle. Why? I have no idea. I think it probably is much the way I think in that the Rangers themselves know they can’t win there, so when they get there, they play to what they expect, terrible. It’s all about confidence, and as a fan I have none in this team when it comes to against the Habs in their building. Zero. I think the Rangers have a better chance of winning 7 games in a row in Joe Louis Arena, than winning 2 in a row in the Bell Centre. Yes, I am serious.

Regarding this game, the Rangers just didn’t generate any offense. Not sure what the final shot total ended up being, I thought it was somewhere around 17 or 19 or something, but whatever it was, there weren’t very many quality chances. Dubinsky had a chance but he missed his shot, and if memory serves right, it ended up in a goal a few minutes later. While Montreal was putting quality chance after quality chance up, showing impressive puck movement and patience with the puck, the Rangers were kept to the outside during their few moments of offensive zone pressure, with the quality areas of the ice guarded doggedly by all 5 Montreal players. This was the easiest shutout Carey Price will ever have to get in his career.

But, it happens. I don’t care. I was expecting a loss, and it happened. The Rangers will get back to work against the Cats on Wednesday night, and they can get things rolling again from there. By the way, I’m not sure if the rest VS rust argument isn’t at least partially to blame for this loss as well. When you are playing well, you want to play every other night. You want to keep on rolling. Given a few days off, and things that were clicking on all cylinders can come screeching to a halt.

Nothing to worry about though, the Rangers are still a damn good team. We’ll be back to our winning ways sooner rather than later.

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That’s gotta be the first time i’ve ever seriously thought the Rangers have had more fans than the actual home team. Not just a few more fans, but far and away more fans. It honestly sounded louder than at the Garden in favor of the Rangers, which is just mind boggling to the nth degree.

The Rangers should have learned their lesson from the previous time they played the Isles, but those competitive juices just keep flowing and that leads players to try to do too much, which in turn leads to players taking dumb, stupid, meaningless penalties. And it bit the Rangers in the ass big time tonight. Luckily #19 was there to blast home a puck off of a terrible turnover by the Isles to secure the Rangers 7th straight win. I believe the last time that happened was in 2009 if memory serves me right.

Sadly the Rangers next game is in Montreal. The house of horrors for the Rangers, which includes blowing a 5-0 lead a few years back, and god knows how many other epic failures. That arena is just awful for us to play in. I hope Henrik doesn’t play in that game because that club owns him in their building.

Getting back to this game. When the Rangers kept it at even strength they were clearly the better team. Dominating for long stretches at a time. Holding the puck, generating quality scoring chances, involving the defense, pretty much doing everything that coach John Tortorella talks about all the time. When they were a man up, they played pretty well also. In their 2 man advantage they had the puck in the offensive zone the entire time, with tons of great looks, and a goalpost too. So while this was a 1 goal game, the story was fairly simple, and easy to predict. When the Rangers were playing 5 on 5 or better, they were the better team, when the Isles were up a man, with Streit at the point, Moulson in front of the net, and Tavares roaming around, they were the better team. Stay out the box!

Ok, I should have been in bed 4 hours ago, I’m gonna pay for this tomorrow.

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Check it out.

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This game, to me, came down to 1 moment. It happened at 2:31 in the video above. I want to know how the hell Brad Richards saw Dan Girardi. Look at his head. He is facing the goalie, and Girardi is skating in from behind, out of his periphery (you would think). I seriously have no frikkin clue how the hell Richards saw Girardi. I’ve seen the replay like 20 times and I just can’t fathom how he could have seen him. It could have been an area pass, but a tape to tape area pass, that’s pretty damn rare. I just have no clue how anyone can see the game the way Richards did on that play. I guess that’s why he makes 60 million dollars on his current contract, and I blog for free.

The score in this game wasn’t really a reflection on how the game was played. Both teams had some damn good chances. Marian Gaborik should have had like 3 or 4 points tonight but his line was held off the scoresheet. Good thing this team is built to be more than just a 1 line team. Brad Richards, Ryan Callahan, and Brandon Dubinsky all picked up 2 points, despite not playing together for any measurable stretch of time. John Tortorella decided to play his merry go round with the bottom 9 players to try to find something that works. Turns out the thing that worked was an unbelievable no look pass, and then Cam Ward’s sudden and inexplicable change from Patrick Roy to Jason Labarbara out of nowhere. Yes, that’s right, I’m chalking some of our good fortune up to the opposing goalie just flat out playing poorly. The Richards goal he gave up was a joke, and his big juicy rebounds hurt him big time. But what caused Ward a ton of frustration was the Rangers constantly crashing the net. Avery did it, Callahan did it, everyone did it. That’s how you have to play to beat a goalie of that pedigree. Get in his face, make his life miserable, keep whacking away till the whistle is blown.

Don’t look now but the Rangers have won 6 in a row. More impressive than that is that they have only failed to collect points in 3 games this entire season thus far. That’s a feat only 1 other team in the NHL can currently boast.

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