Who Knew?

I'll be honest... I gave up on this team, this coach and this General Manager a long time ago. The first two are making me believe again. This team is starting to come together. The fourth line of Brandon Prust, Jody Shelley and Artem Anisimov has been amazing. They've brought excitement back. Coincidence that Sean Avery hasn't been playing for most of this 7-1-1 run?

The game and the team became very boring to me and I was actually rooting for them to lose so they could either get a good draft pick or get Glen Sather fired. I have since realized as Joe Benigno of SNY and WFAN says, Sather will be fired 5 years after he dies.

The Blueshirts battled last night, got the lead, lost the lead, but prevailed. They started down :40 in after a Marc Staal turnover (pretty much the only one I remember him making this year) was converted by Mike Richards. Chris Drury ($2 million per goal this season now) responded on the power play off a beautiful feed from Eric Christensen (Sather makes great moves... just has no concept of contracts). The fourth line then struck again off a faceoff with under 7 minutes left in the first. Brandon Prust battled through a check to feed Jody Shelley who scored his first of the season and first as a Ranger, igniting the Garden.

Marian Gaborik got the second period going with a brilliant rush and feed to Brandon Dubinsky for his 20th of the season and a career high 44 points. But you know it couldn't be easy. Danny Briere and Mike Richards then sucked the life out of the building with goals to tie it. It didn't look good... but then again... the Rangers have Gaborik. 2:13 after Richards tied it, Gaborik stole the puck in center and walked in on a semi-breakaway. His wrist shot deflected off Matt Carle and over Brian Boucher giving the Rangers the lead... the win... and life.

Sunday at 3 in Philadelphia... it's win and in.

Notes:
Marian Gaborik has hit his career high in goals, assists and points in his first year as a Ranger... Brandon Dubinsky also has set new career highs in goals and points...

(Sather Really Knows What He's Doing!)

*** Parenthesis means sarcasm from now on

The Rangers face the Penguins tonight in Pittsburgh. They're coming off a very disappointing 2-1 l0ss to Nashville the other night.

"We need to play hard. I'm not going to get into defining how. That's between the team and I," Coach John Tortorella said yesterday. They haven't seemed to listen to him all year. Let's see if the latest pep talk does anything.

The hits keep coming from GM Glen Sather as he continues to show he doesn't understand the value of players. $1.4 a year Donald Brashear has been placed on waivers. He's been utterly useless and still has another year on his deal, meaning it's not likely anyone picks him up.

*** Update: Brashear clears... (big surprise)

The Olympic roster freeze kicks in at noon today and the Rangers should be sellers. They're going nowhere and I'm not sure what anyone would want from this team other than Brandon Dubinsky, Henrik Lundqvist, Ryan Callahan, Marc Staal or Marian Gaborik and it's not likely any of them move. I would give up Dubinsky to a team provided they take Wade Redden or Chris Drury. They don't even have to give anything back... just take them.

We'll see if Sather can fix more of his mistakes today... but don't hold your breath. Updates throughout...

Notes:
The swelling in Gaborik's leg is down. He will test it in practice to see if he can go tonight. It doesn't seem likely being that he has 21 stitches in his leg... This will be the last regular season appearance for the Rangers at the Igloo.

Get it done...

Turns out my proposed deal would've gotten it done. Ilya Kovalchuck was moved tonight... to the Devils... for nothing. The Devils gave a bottom 4-6 defenseman with a third or fourth line forward, a prospect and a draft pick and that got it done. Niklas Bergforss, Johnny Oduya, Patrice Cormier and a draft pick is all it took to get one of the most explosive forwards in the NHL. They'll have him for a few months as there's no way he signs in Jersey.

For the Rangers, they continued losing. They finally figured out a way to score but their goaltender decided not to show up tonight. Henrik Lundqvist returned from being sick and gave up two questionable goals to Alexander Ovechkin and one to Tom Poti. The Rangers held a 5-3 lead late in the second only to lse 6-5. Simply unacceptable but for a team going nowhere... I guess it's par for the course.

The Blueshirts went ahead 2-1 in the first on a power play goal by Ryan Callahan and a goal by Vinny Prospal. Mike Knuble and Alex Ovechkin responded in the second putting the Caps up 3-2. The Rangers then responded with 3 power play goals by Olli Jokinen (first as a Ranger), Vinny Prospal and Brandon Dubinsky. A 5-3 stranglehold would be critical going into the third... but they blew it. With under :10 to go in the secong Michal Rozsival was simply afraid of Ovechkin, as was the King. Alex the Great put a one handed effort somehow over Lundqvist and won the game in the second.

I say he won the game because the Rangers didn't show up for the third. They simply waited for the game to be taken from them and it was. A 5-3 lead turns into a 6-5 loss in the blink of a eye. A season high 4 power play goals... completely useless. They skated with the best tonight but were clearly not on the same rink... and they won't be. Kovalchuk may have helped this team but he is gone. As is any excitement that may have been generated toward this team. They simply dont have the firepower to do anything this year.

Notes:
Vinny Prospal had 2 goals and 2 assists... The Rangers power play got going with 4 goals... Niklas Backstrom was incredible with a goal and 5 assists... the Caps have won 12 straight.

The Kovalchuk Kompetition...

There's are 5 or so teams that seem to be in on the Ilya Kovalchuk trade talks. The Rangers may be one of them and Devils may be another. The Islanders were also talked about. Thrashers GM Don Waddell wants NHL ready players and possibly a prospect or draft pick for Kovalchuk. Complicating matters, no team would can negotiate with Kovalchuk prior to him being part of their team. Quite a gamble considering he could just walk at the end of the season.

Kovalchuk already has turned down a 12 year deal for over $101 million according to a statement just released by Waddell:
http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=308935

TSN's Bob McKenzie is also reporting the Russian scoring machine wants the league max of $11.2 a year. That brings us to the Rangers and the salary cap disaster built by GM Glen Sather. The way I see it, if Chris Drury ($3 million tops), Wade Redden ($3 million) and Michal Rozsival ($2 million) were making what they should, that's over $10 million to work with. Would have been more if they let Rozsival go, which any team would have done with a player his age coming off hip surgery. But they didn't... so where's the money for this guy?

If we continue to dream, let's come up with a scenario. Waddell would demand one of Dan Girardi, Brandon Dubinsky or Ryan Callahan. I'd give two of them in Brandon Dubinsky and Dan Girardi. You may then be able to force Waddell to take Rozsival. If he wants a draft pick, throw it in there. The Rangers are going nowhere and have nothing but the same type of player on it (Drury, Dubinsky, Callahan... etc.). Those worried that Dubinsky could be a future Captain of this team... forget it. He's a second to third line player at best which I talked about all summer. Marc Staal is the future of the team.

This is the most boring team in the NHL. It sure would be nice to see Ilya Kovalchuk in a #17 Blueshirt. I'd give them whatever they want aside from Staal. Well it was nice to dream the impossible... but this financially cannot happen. Oh well... now I must prepare to watch an exciting team for once with Alex Ovechkin's Caps coming in. Maybe I won't fall asleep during the game after all....

Signs of Life...

The Rangers are reading and listening to the Blueshirt Beat. Two days after flipping out about how this team doesn't care about each other... they come out hitting and fighting for one another. They ended up blowing out the Montreal Canadiens 6-2 in the Garden Sunday. The Garden was packed and as juiced as it has been all year.

Sean Avery has been fired up and playing closer to himself lately. He went at it with Josh Gorges and knocked him down in the end... did a good job getting Gorges' face shield off before blasting him a few times in the face. The Garden exploded when Avery raised his hands on his way to the box.

How about Wade Redden? He was singled out by me the other day and all of the sudden he's ready to drop the gloves. He fought a much bigger Benoit Pouliot and what happened? The Garden went bananas especially because it was Redden stepping in for teammates.

The Blueshirts finally stepped up and defended one another. The building rewarded them and they rolled. Maybe there is a little life in this team but they need to build on it. As for the game Ryan Callahan was fantastic with 2 goals and 2 assists, including a great individual effort on Brandon Dubinsky's second period short-handed goal that tied the game at 2. Dubinsky added another goal and had an assist. Of course Marian Gaborik scored again, and added 2 assists.

Notes:
Rumors are starting to fly again about Vinny Lecavalier tonight with the Rangers facing the Lightning tonight. The Ottawa Sun recently had the Rangers sending Matt Gilroy, Wade Redden, and either Ryan Callahan or Brandon Dubinsky for Lecavalier. Tampa GM Brian Lawton called the rumors "complete B.S.".

A Garden win?

Somehow the Rangers won a game at MSG tonight beating the Boston Bruins 3-2. They did what they could to lose it though, including another 5-on-3 featuring Marian Gaborik and Ales Kotalik lined up incorrectly. The Blueshirts entered the third with a 2-0 lead but it unraveled quickly as Matt Hunwick and Blake Wheeler scored 1:26 apart to tie it.

A first period blast on the power play by Ales Kotalik put the Blueshirts up 1-0. It was Kotalik's first since November 5th which is not a bad stretch. Erik Christensen doubled the lead in the second on a beautiful backhand through the legs of Tuuka Rask off a brilliant breakout. Brandon Dubinsky assisted on both goals.

With 1:29 left, the last guy on the ice you thought would score did. Christopher Higgins caught Rask leaning and put the puck in on the backhand from the side of the net. It was Higgins' first goal at the Garden all year and proved to be the winner. This had all the makings of another home loss and you were just waiting for it to happen. Maybe a win like this can turn the tide at home.

Notes:
Watching Donald Brashear tonight in his 5:51 of ice time I realized he hasn't made one productive play all year. I could do what he does for $1.4 million a year. This guy even had the nerve to turn down Dan Carcillo who was challenging him in the 6-0 blowout to the Flyers last week. Brashear skated away as if he NEEDS to be on the ice for offense or something other than fighting, which he's also not very good at any more. I never thought I'd say this but Aaron Voros deserves to be out there more. What a joke... Rangers outshot the Bruins 35-28... Eric Christensen has 2 goals and 2 assists in his last 3 games.

Prospal out

Vinny Prospal had arthroscopic surgery this morning on his right knee, which was injured in Saturday night's loss to the Islanders. The Ranger's second leading scorer will be gone for 2-3 weeks. Just what a team struggling with scoring needs.

Christopher Higgins will get a shot with Brandon Dubinsky and Marian Gaborik. Ales Kotalik will move up to one of the top 3 lines and Eric Christensen will probably play. He's shown enough to make you want to see more of him but he hasn't gotten a chance to play. Not sure why you'd sign a guy like this if you won't even look at him for more than 5 minutes a game. The power play has been struggling and Christensen has a good shot... why not give him a try? Maybe he gets a chance now in the absence of Prospal.

We'll see where the scoring will come from but it wasn't exactly coming in droves with Prospal out there.

The Islanders just kept coming... well not really but Henrik Lundqvist didn't have enough. The Rangers lost to the Islanders for the second time in 10 days at the Garden, 3-2. The Isles were very good defensively in one of the most boring "rivalry" games I've ever seen. Brandon Dubinsky led the way for the Rangers with 2 goals including the game-tying goal with :47 left. But Kyle Okposo was just better than him on this night.

The MSG crew couldn't stop talking about Okposo's 18-game goal-less streak. They completed their objective of waking him up as he won it in overtime on a weak wrist shot from just inside the blue line. It was a shot that simply has to be stopped by The King. Okposo had a goal and 2 assists and was by far the best player on the ice.

The Rangers showed some good fight being 2-0 and seemingly out of this game. In the end they came up short but stole a point. It's hard to be positive about a loss especially when Christopher Higgins missed a wide open net in overtime. Wide open... unchecked... doesn't even get a shot off.

Notes:
Michal Rozsival had another 2 assists... Vinny Prospal made a huge play batting the clearing attempt out of mid-air at the blue line prior to the tying goal... Donald Brashear continues to be absolutely useless... Ales Kotalik embarrassed himself on Blake Comeau's short-handed goal taking himself out of position to throw a hit... that never landed. Somehow he was still on the power play unit later in the game... Rangers don't play again until Wednesday in Philadelphia.

Freefall...

Despite pumping a season high 48 shots on net against the Atlanta Thrashers, the Rangers only scored 2 goals... again. Marian Gaborik still is the only scorer on the team until you put him in a shootout (1 for 16 in career). The Rangers are now 7-17 after opening 7-1. Yeah I know technically they're 7-14-3 but who cares? Overtime/shootout losses are still losses.

Now enter the Islanders who are supposed to be horrible but have 31 points... just like the Rangers but with a ton cheaper payroll. They're rebuilding but competitive. The Blueshirts are competing sometimes but are not scoring or winning... nice combo. We shall see if the Islanders can bring something out of this team. Rivalries are pretty much dead in this game anyway and even if they weren't, there's no good fighters on either of these teams.

There is some good news in Rangerland in that Brandon Dubinsky is back and Ryan Callahan may be heating up. But a 4-game losing streak can very easily become 6 by tomorrow night if the Rangers can't find a way to score more than 2 a game.

Notes:
The record is 7-8-1 at home and 7-7-2 on the road.... They've lost 7 of 8 at the Garden and haven't won since Marian Gaborik beat Columbus 7-4 with 4 points... Henrik Lundqvist will start... Bobby Sanguinetti has been called back up.

Frustration...

It's frustrating to watch this team and it was again the other night in a 3-2 loss at the Garden to the Buffalo Sabres. The Sabres got 2 goals from fourth liner Patrick Kaleta (never had 2 before in a game), including the game winner on a short-handed breakaway. Henrik Tallinder's clearing attempt skipped past Ales Kotalik, who had an awful night against his former team. He took two penalties and failed to take a third that would have prevented Kaleta from walking in alone... much rather have him take a penalty shot.

It's frustrating because the power play was starting to work again... or Marian Gaborik was starting to work again. He assisted on Ryan Callahan's tying goal in the first and scored his league-leading 22nd shortly thereafter. But there's just not enough on this team. They can't score more than 2 goals. Sound familiar?

Sean Avery, Christopher Higgins, and Marc Staal have all been noticeably better... but they're not scoring. You just can't win if you don't score... period. And with the contractual problems you have on this team, you can't go out and get scoring. Brandon Dubinsky appears close to a return but guess what? He doesn't score either. It'll be interesting to see what happens with this team because right now the season appears over.

Same Old Song...

After starting 7-1, the Rangers are now 11-9-1. Not very good. It's the same problems that the team seems to have every year. They take penalties and they can't score. Every game they say they have to be aware of penalties and every game there's at least 2 lazy ones. You could also argue that John Tortorella's usage of players like Marian Gaborik and Vinny Prospal tires them out.

You look at the power play which started off blazing but has now cooled except for Gaborik. Yet Ryan Callahan continues to trot out there with the first unit. He has 6 out of his 7 points with the man advantage but he doesn't seem to fit with Gaborik and Vinny Prospal. He has 7 points in 21 games... anyone expect that? Nice to see P.A. Parenteau get a shot on it last night and he produced an assist on a good drive to the net.

The first line has had Enver Lisin on it for weeks and though he has some upside, he's done nothing. He has no points in the last 8 playing alongside Prospal and Gaborik... That's almost impossible. I know he hurt his foot but c'mon. Coach Tortorella ended up trying Ales Kotalik with them in the third last night.

Another reason for the lack of scoring could be the loss of Brandon Dubinsky and Chris Drury but let's be honest, they had 16 points between them before going down. Tortorella has said he has the players here to get it done but they haven't.

Why not take a look at Corey Locke (9-15-24 with 7 PPG in 17 games for Hartford this year)? He'd allow you to put Prospal back on the wing. Gaborik-Anisimov-Prospal sounds pretty good for a first unit. If Anisimov is offensive, put him with offensive players. Parenteau-Locke-Callahan as your second and Higgins-Avery-Kotalik/Lisin as the third. Putting Avery at center may wake him up from the invisibility cloak he's been wearing aside from the last 2 games.

On the defensive side, there's not one unit that appears cohesive. Not one pair that you say 'Oh we can't break these guys up'. I'd like to see Ilkka Heikkinen (4-8-12 in 17 GP) or Bobby Sanguinetti (6-13-19) brought up. If the coach really holds people accountable then he will realize that no matter what Michal Rozsival makes, he is just not the same player he was before surgery.

The bottom line is scoring. It has to come from somewhere and it's not coming from the guys on the ice every night.

Embarrassment..

The Rangers lost in every fashion tonight. First they lost their Captain :49 in when Curtis Glencross threw his body into Chris Drury's head. The great part about this play was the puck was nowhere near Drury, he was not looking, completely defenseless, and the Refs didn't call a penalty. Even funnier is this guy will be suspended and nothing was called. "I'm a guy old school believes you have to still have a battleship in the ocean when they don't have Donald Brashear out there somebody's gotta answer the bell. That is their Captain and it was a dirty hit," said Ken Daneyko in between periods. No one answered the bell and I am embarrassed to be a Ranger fan.

Sean Avery was asked about it and said, "You can't... you can't. If the game had been more lopsided something would've been done." That's ridiculous. This was your Captain. Avery has done nothing to help the team all year and doing anything would've gone a long way. The Rangers and Coach John Tortorella ought to be embarrassed because they did nothing. I mean no one even had words with or hit Curtis Glencross. Are you kidding me? How do you think Chris Drury feels that there was no response because his team was scared of penalties? The more I think about it the more it blows my mind and it is unacceptable.

The MSG crew continued in the second intermission and who better to sum it up than Mike Keenan who was asked by Dave Maloney if there should have been a response to Glencross. "The accountability has gotten out of the game and I don't know if we have to go back and take the instigator rule out of the rulebook and I know that the people running the league don't want that to happen". He continued, "You have to review what has happened in the past and what has worked and we did not have serious injuries like we have now that go unchallenged. The teams that I coached, most teams would have responded to that. Now teams are fearful to respond because they think they're gonna get the book thrown at them. The jurisdiction on the ice is taken away right now." This man knows how this game should be played.

Even though the four idiots on the ice somehow missed this blatant call, they picked up on an Ales Kotalik high stick call in the second period. Funny but they caught it after the Rangers controlled play for :14 and play was whistled down for a Calgary penalty. And woudn't you know a Ranger power play turned into a Calgary one as they called a double-minor on Kotalik. It resulted in Jarome Iginla's game winner... you just can't make this stuff up.

The Blueshirts also lost Brandon Dubinsky who blocked a slap shot with his wrist or forearm. The Rangers finished the game without Drury and Dubinsky who it looks like they'll be without for a while. Daymond Langkow and Dan Girardi traded first period goals. The Rangers had a chance to tie on a 2 on 1 late in the third but Kotalik missed Christopher Higgins' feed for a wide open net. Shortly after that Marc Staal turned the puck over in Calgary's zone resulting in a 3 on 1 Rene Bourque goal to seal it.

Notes:
Rangers lost in one more way... they got to watch Nigel Dawes assist on all 3 of Calgary's goals. Also Derek Morris, who was traded for Dawes and played a whopping 25 games for the Blueshirts, added an assist in Boston's win tonight.

You Get What You Pay For...

What an effort by Rangers at the Verizon Center against Alexander Ovechkin and company. The Blueshirts dominated at even strength... but unfortunately this is the NHL so there was no even strength play. I'm amazed they still can call this mess hockey. If someone skates by a stick and falls... penalty. And they wonder why no one watches their "big time" coverage, which takes place on a hunting channel that no one has ever heard of.

Embarrassingly bad calls to Brandon Dubinsky and Daniel Girardi (creating a 5 on 3) in the first provided some good laughs. Then an equally embarrassing non-call in the second when Brooks Laich water-skied off Michal Rozsival with a hook that was somehow deemed a clean play. It directly resulted in a quality scoring chance for the Caps. Rozsival's turnover in the first led to Alexander Semin's goal. He took a holding penalty 6:45 into the second... and didn't play another second. That's accountability.

Without Rozsival, the 5 man defense was incredible. Dan Girardi (24:04) and Marc Staal (23:57) were lights out holding Alex Ovechkin scoreless for the first time this season. He had been averaging 3 points a game coming in. Matt Gilroy was fantastic logging the most ice he has so far with 21:33. Wade Redden continues to be solid and logged 20:46. You just can's say enough about the poise and skill of Michael Del Zotto at 19 years old.

Ryan Callahan had an upper body injury earlier in the day and was questionable but played... and boy did he play. He was killing yet another power play in the second and was exhausted. With no gas in the tank he took the puck away from Alex Ovechkin and beat him and Semin down ice for a beautiful backhand goal through the legs of Jose Theodore. The penalty had just expired so it was not a short-handed goal.

The third line apparently has heard Sean Avery is coming back. With limited ice tonight, they were solid. They had great down low work in the second that resulted in a close quarters tic-tac-toe goal from Enver Lisin to Artem Anisimov to Ales Kotalik, who went back hand top-shelf. It was Anisimov's first NHL point. No one wants to sit on Sunday.

900 penalties in the game (2o minutes in minors through 2 or one period gone)... At one point Joe Micheletti couldn't even locate the Christopher Higgins penalty on replay. The Rangers were pressuring early in the second when Tom Poti stuck his stick through the legs of Dubinsky and blatantly took him down.. no call.

The Rangers handled adversity not only from the refs but from their goalie. Nicklas Backstrom got his first goal of the season with a harmless dump in that Henrik Lundqvist flat out missed. Backstrom later scored on... you guessed it... Washington's 90th power play of the night to put the Caps up 3-2.

Perfect excuse for the Rangers to collapse no? No... It's not a problem when you have Marian Gaborik. He responded :18 seconds later with a slap shot through the legs of Theodore. Gaborik scored again and essentially ended it 2:33 later on the power play after Del Zotto fed him perfectly through center. A wicked wrist shot through Theodore's legs again and the Blueshirts win 4-3. It ends up being as huge a win as you can have in October as this team continues to be resilient and build character.

Notes:
John Tortorella went with two forwards and one defenseman on 5 on 3 disadvantages... Donald Brasheer and Aaron Voros both took dumb penalties in the third... Chris Drury was amazing in this game doing all the things a leader should do (even though he's making $86,585 per game)... Christopher Higgins is getting stronger and more comfortable each game he plays... Vinny Prospal doing all the little things.

How's That For Openers?

The faithful got a glimpse of what John Tortorella's Blueshirts can be tonight at Madison Square Garden. The Rangers defeated the Ottawa Senators 5-2 in their home opener. Up and down the lineup, almost every player did their job and did it well.

Michal Rozsival played his best game in over a year. Wade Redden looked good for a second straight game (forget what he makes... we're taking baby steps here). 19-year-old Michael Del Zotto scored his first NHL goal. Matt Gilroy has not been as agressive as he was in preseason. Gilroy (3:09) and Del Zotto (1:33) didn't see much ice in the third. Dan Girardi continued his strong start after facing questions in the preseason.

The first line combination of Brandon Dubinsky centering Marian Gaborik and Vinny Prospal was electric creating chances almost every time on the ice. Prospal and Dubinsky opening the scoring in the second with two top-shelf rockets. Prospal's goal was his 600th career NHL point. A bad Ranger change left Matt Gilroy on his own against Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson with the former feeding the latter alone in front cutting the Ranger lead to 2-1.

Enter Ryan Callahan whose relentless work ethic is on display every night. In the last minute of the second period, he dumped the puck in and took two Senators out of the play allowing Christopher Higgins to feed Michael Del Zotto. His wrist shot through a screen with under a minute in the second was a huge goal for the team, as well as himself. His parents and brother were there to watch the moment, with his Mom moved to tears. And oh by the way, it was Ryan Callahan who after setting up the play from the corner battled his way in front to screen Pascal Leclaire.

A neutral zone turnover in the third allowed Enver Lisin to spring Dubinsky on a breakaway. He rang a laser off the crossbar but Marian Gaborik followed the play and pounded in the rebound. Gaborik has 2 goals and an assist in 2 games while Dubinsky has 2 gols and 2 assists. He added a short-handed empty netter outworking Alexei Kovalev.

Though he didn't score, Chris Drury played much better tonight then he did last, as did linemate Ales Kotalik. Promising effort from the fourth line particularly from Brian Boyle, who was fantastic on the penalty kill. Donald Brasheer and Aaron Voros both had fights though Voros

A good bet that last years weakness will not be this years. The power play did everything but score... and they will. They're generating chances, clanging posts and it's just a matter of time.

The Rangers were outshot 20-13 in the second period but outscored Ottawa 3-1. They tightened up defensively allowing only 5 in the third. Peter Regin scored for Ottawa with :06 left. Mike Fisher bodied Del Zotto off the puck feeding Regin in one of the only instances a Ranger was outworked tonight.

With all the new faces on this team it's easy to take Henrik Lundqvist for granted. Whenever there was an odd man rush "The King" was there. He was fantastic again particularly in the second period when he stopped 19 opf 20 shots. He closed the door on a breakaway by Milan Michalek :15 in and Ryan Shannon on one later. Lundqvist was named the game's second star.

Tonight, the Rangers took chances but the balance not to take reckless ones. Tonight, they did not get outworked, they supported each other. Tonight... this team gave you some hope.

Still There Are Questions...

The Rangers lost their pre-season finale 4-3 but did show some fight with 3 in the third. One of those was scored by Evgeny Grachev who admitted the first period was his worst ever. Despite a solid preseason there is just no room for the 19-year-old. There is for the other one though.

Michael Del Zotto has made the team. He's been solid and is only going to get better certainly with some growing pains. Expect to see a lot of him on the power play and possibly running it. Del Zotto is the first defenseman since Brian Leetch to play as a teen and the second youngest ever to play for the Rangers behind Dave Maloney.

Artem Anisimov capped his preseason with a third period goal against the Caps giving him the team lead of 4 goals and 2 assists. He also made the team but here's some questions:

1. Where will Anisimov play?
If Vinny Prospal is playing center than Anisimov will be on the fourth line where it's almost useless to have him. There is a better chance of him playing on the third line with Prospal sliding over to wing.

2. What are the lines? Here's a sample....
Prospal-Dubinsky-Gaborik
Higgins-Drury-Callahan
Lisin-Anisimov-Kotalik
Voros-Boyle-Brasheer

3. What happens when Sean Avery comes back?
The odd man out would seem to be Lisin. He's certainly not a fourth liner and you can't expect Tortorella to ask someone as invisible as Kotalik to go down there. Lisin has good speed, has played hungry and 3 preseason goals... he has much more of an upside than Kotalik but there is nowhere to put him.

4. What to do with Redden and Rozsival?
Let's hope they're pacing themselves until the opener... because hope is all there is with these guys.

5. Am I missing something with Prospal?
Everyone has been raving about Prospal's play so far and what a play maker he's been but I've seen no evidence of this. He's a pretty good player and he will contribute but is he more noticeable than Grachev? I didn't think so.

6. Sign Alexei Semenov?
He started strong but the more you see of him the slower he looks. Could give you options when/if Del Zotto heads back to Juniors and could be used now as a 6 or 7. Being that there has been no offer yet and his tryout expires tomorrow it seems the Sather may be waiting for a better option.

We'll see what transpires Friday night against Sid "The Winer"... it'll be great to see 8 minors in the first period.

The Waiting is Over...

Brandon Dubinsky has ended his holdout. Steve Zipay of Newsday is reporting he's signed for 2 years at $3.7 million. He'll get $1.7 this year and 2 next. Dubinsky has shown nothing but grit and determination in his stay as a Blueshirt and will get better. He'll get the chance to center Marian Gaborik allowing Vinny Prospal to move back to the wing, instantly making the Rangers deeper up front.

Dubinsky was the first Ranger to miss camp since Mark Messier in 1994. Quite frankly he deserved more than the $522,500 the Rangers qualified him at being that he made $635,000 last season.

This is a huge move to solidify the Rangers forwards. Not sure what you do with Wade Redden or Michal Rozsival but moving one or both would be a dream come true... maybe trade them for a couple of pucks and maybe a stick.

Rangers-Devils...

Here's tonight's roster:
Sean Avery-Vinny Prospal-P.A. Parenteau
Aaron Voros-Tyler Arnason-Enver Lisin
Evgeny Grachev-Brian Boyle-Ales Kotalik
Patrick Rissmiller-Matt Maccarone-Dan LaCouture

Wade Redden-Matt Gilroy
Michael Del Zotto-Michal Rozsival
Brent Henley-Corey Potter

Henrik Lundqvist/Chad Johnson

Looking forward to seeing Grachev and Lisin again. Would've like to see Ilkka Heikkinen but he played for Hartford this afternoon. Henrik Lundqvist should play half th game and Sean Avery is reported to be in great shape. His training regimen was rigorous even prior to Tortorella's demands. Take a look here at what he was doing before he left the Rangers last year:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8MwTA4bSZU

Brandon Dubinsky remains unsigned and the longer this goes the less of a chance he has to be a Ranger. He should take the $700,000 and prove himself this year... he'd get his money if he did that and it's silly to be holding out with no leverage.

Torts' Trials...

Camp Torts opened this weekend with some grueling aerobic tests but it's the Rangers fans who are trying to catch their breath.

First, there's unsigned restricted free agent Brandon Dubinsky. He's been with the team for weeks training and skating. Kurt Overhardt, Dubinsky's agent, flew in from Colorado last week in hopes of getting a deal done with Glen Sather. He's since left with no deal and Dubinsky has become the first Ranger to hold out of camp since Mark Messier in 1994. You know I'm not sure he's at that level just yet. Dubinsky said it's killing him not to be in camp but nonetheless, he's not. It seems John Tortorella is less than pleased about it. "It's stupid. He's a young man who needs to be in camp with his teammates and understand the process of becoming a pro. I'm hoping he realizes that." Torts also went on to call Dubinsky's agent "stupid". First camp of a coach who doesn't believe in excuses... yeah it might just be. The Rangers have offered Dubinsky $700,000 for this year and it's believed he wants twice that.

Next is Marian Gaborik. The explosive Slovakian winger who deemed himself fully healthy in the off-season after hip surgery and various groin problems over the years. He's apparently been skating hard at the Rangers training complex the last few weeks... which has left him sore... in the groin. He was held out of the first two days of camp. Everyone is saying it's precautionary but if you're a Ranger fan... you can't feel too great about it. If you're Glen Sather... even moreso. Sather took a chance and big dough on this guy being healthy. More as this progresses. The Rangers are supposed to have two scrimmages today and we'll see if Marian Gaborik is in them. The first pre-season game is tomorrow against Boston at MSG.

Get Ready For Hell... Dubinsky Burning?

Any hopes of this camp being fild with fireside stories and marshmallows will be smoked out first thing in the morning. Coach John Tortorella has been waiting for this camp to open since he took over for Tom Renney in late February last year. Camp opens with the emphasis squarely on conditioning... the players won't even touch a puck until the third day. The Rangers noticebly attacked more and dominated stretches of games under Tortorella but couldn't sustain it.

Vinny Prospal is the only one who's been through this camp calling it "the worst camp ever", as reported by Steve Zipay of Newsday. Prospal also addressed the clash he had with Tortorella that led to Prospal saying "in a way I hope to shove it up somebody's butt" in a post -game interview. He was angry after being benched and came back to score two goals in a come-from-behind win for the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2008. Prospal still thinks Tortorella always pushed the right buttons and got the best out of him.

Steve Zipay also is reporting that talks with Brandon Dubinsky's agent Kurt Overhardt and the Rangers over the last 2 days are going nowhere. Overhardt went on to say "expectations are not great" of the situation being resolved before camp opens on Saturday. If Dubinsky doesn't show up to the first Camp Torts... two words... not good. Two more more words... Phil Kessel. He's a name that was talked about on "The Beat" and could be the answer for the Rangers.