Well after the trade made news on Sunday, it finally went through early Tuesday morning. The Rangers traded Ales Kotalik (3 years at $3 million) and Christopher Higgins to Calgary for Olli Jokinen and Brandon Prust.
Kotalik started off a house on fire this year with 12 points in his first 12 games only to sizzle out. He's been a healthy scratch for 8 of the last 9 games. Kotalik wound up with 8 goals and 14 assists in 45 games. He was also a minus 18 which is stellar. Higgins worked hard but has been snake bitten all year. Just 6 goals and 8 assists to go with a minus 9.
Jokinen will be the first number 1 type center to play with Marian Gaborik this year. Gaborik is the whole team so you might as well build around him. Jokinen's $5.25 million dollar salary also is up at the end of the year. Jokinen has a pretty bad reputation of not being a team guy but he could put up number playing alongside Gaborik. It's hard not to except for the guys on this team. The underachieving Jokinen is now third in Ranger scoring with 35 points. GM Glen Sather has tried to fix ANOTHER one of his free agent signing disasters and something tells me he's not done. He wants Ilya Kovalchuk... who wouldn't?
To be honest I'm more excited about Brandon Prust, who is second in the NHL with 18 fighting majors... it's about time. Aaron Voros has tried to be the enforcer when he plays but he can't fight. Donald Brashear should retire so there pretty much has been no one to defend anyone the whole year. Prust is a good middle weight fighter who will hopefully infuse some life into this lackluster lineup.
Sather has built a disaster. Every free agent contract he's given out has been awful except for Marian Gaborik. Has there been another free agent signing in the last 10 years you can remember that was good? I can't... Eric Lindros, Pavel Bure, Bobby Holik... those were great ones. Scott Gomez, Chris Drury, Wade Redden, Michal Rozsival, Donald Brashear... the list goes on.
The greatest part of this story is that although no one in their right mind would have paid a player like Kotalik $3 million... Sather somehow did it AND gave a 3-team no trade clause. Are you kidding me? Calgary was on that list... guess that worked out for you Ales... have fun bud...
2.02.2010
2.01.2010
He's just the man...
It's no surprise the Rangers' five-game losing streak came in conjunction with them not standing up for each other as a team. Daniel Girardi stood by and let Marian Gaborik get pummeled by Flyers enforcer Dan Carcillo. The team lost that game and 5 more. Without Gaborik, this team would have 5 to 7 victories this year.
Gaborik came up with a natural hat trick to lead the Rangers over the Colorado Avalanche 3-1. He literally is the whole team. For the second straight night Henrik Lundqvist sat out while Chad Johnson made a strong bid for his first NHL shutout and ended up with his first win. He played very well especially during a 18 shot barrage in the third.
Ales Kotalik was sent home before the game as GM Glen Sather is trying to move yet another of his free agent mistakes. 3 years at $3 million per has been another disaster just a few months in. Aside from Gaborik's contract, Sather has not given out one that makes sense since before the lockout. It's a constant struggle for this guy to erase his mistakes but then he goes ahead and makes them again (See Donald Brashear, Wade Redden, Michal Rozsival, Chris Drury, and Kotalik to name a handful). It's ok though because he has a job for life.
Word on the street is the Rangers are getting ready to send Kotalik and Christopher (another disaster) Higgins to Calgary for Olli Jokinen and Brandon Prust. I'd rather see them trade Kotalik and Higgins for just Prust because he's a tough kid but that can't happen. This deal is in a holding pattern though. The Blueshirts are also heard to be trying to get in on the Ilya Kovalchuk sweepstakes. Not sure how that could possibly happen salary cap wise unless Jokinen and his over $5 million per is flipped.
Gaborik came up with a natural hat trick to lead the Rangers over the Colorado Avalanche 3-1. He literally is the whole team. For the second straight night Henrik Lundqvist sat out while Chad Johnson made a strong bid for his first NHL shutout and ended up with his first win. He played very well especially during a 18 shot barrage in the third.
Ales Kotalik was sent home before the game as GM Glen Sather is trying to move yet another of his free agent mistakes. 3 years at $3 million per has been another disaster just a few months in. Aside from Gaborik's contract, Sather has not given out one that makes sense since before the lockout. It's a constant struggle for this guy to erase his mistakes but then he goes ahead and makes them again (See Donald Brashear, Wade Redden, Michal Rozsival, Chris Drury, and Kotalik to name a handful). It's ok though because he has a job for life.
Word on the street is the Rangers are getting ready to send Kotalik and Christopher (another disaster) Higgins to Calgary for Olli Jokinen and Brandon Prust. I'd rather see them trade Kotalik and Higgins for just Prust because he's a tough kid but that can't happen. This deal is in a holding pattern though. The Blueshirts are also heard to be trying to get in on the Ilya Kovalchuk sweepstakes. Not sure how that could possibly happen salary cap wise unless Jokinen and his over $5 million per is flipped.
1.21.2010
Rangers-Flyers...
Well the boys have reverted back to getting pushed around embarrassed. The second period got really going when Dan Carcillo went after Marian Gaborik from behind him. Gaborik was just trying to push him back and defend himself but ended up having to drop the gloves and get the living shit kicked out of him by the Flyers' best fighter... hysterical. Gaborik didn't throw a punch but got 5 for fighting and the Flyers wound up with a power play somehow.
Joe Micheletti was going crazy that the Rangers will respond... my question was with who? Donald Brashear played two games and fought so he's out for a month. Sean Avery dropped the gloves with Scott Hartnell and his visor... Avery demolished in 3 punches.
Sam Rosen made the game almost unwatchable as he went on about how it's a one goal game with a division rival... this being a reason the Rangers should not go after Carcillo... and Joe SOMEHOW AGREED with him. Absolutely unbelievable. We all know Sam doesn't condone fighting but as a team can you stand there and do nothing when MARIAN GABORIK is getting killed by their best fighter? Dan Girardi could watch it and ought to be embarrassed. Sean Avery could not and thankfully he was not listening to Sam or Joe.
Right after the fight, Gaborik tried to stick check Mike Richards but that's not allowed anymore. Though the league knows these sticks break when accepting passes, if it breaks when another stick touches it, it's an automatic penalty. And of course, Richards scored with 2.5 left off of Marc Staal's Skate. You can't make this stuff up. Hope you enjoyed the 2 games of goals. Now watch them go get pushed around some more in the third... wouldn't want to go after anyone and take a penalty with this "important" game so close.
It's 2-0 Flyers but it might as well be 12-0. They showed support for each other and won... seems they forgot about that and are just afraid.
Joe Micheletti was going crazy that the Rangers will respond... my question was with who? Donald Brashear played two games and fought so he's out for a month. Sean Avery dropped the gloves with Scott Hartnell and his visor... Avery demolished in 3 punches.
Sam Rosen made the game almost unwatchable as he went on about how it's a one goal game with a division rival... this being a reason the Rangers should not go after Carcillo... and Joe SOMEHOW AGREED with him. Absolutely unbelievable. We all know Sam doesn't condone fighting but as a team can you stand there and do nothing when MARIAN GABORIK is getting killed by their best fighter? Dan Girardi could watch it and ought to be embarrassed. Sean Avery could not and thankfully he was not listening to Sam or Joe.
Right after the fight, Gaborik tried to stick check Mike Richards but that's not allowed anymore. Though the league knows these sticks break when accepting passes, if it breaks when another stick touches it, it's an automatic penalty. And of course, Richards scored with 2.5 left off of Marc Staal's Skate. You can't make this stuff up. Hope you enjoyed the 2 games of goals. Now watch them go get pushed around some more in the third... wouldn't want to go after anyone and take a penalty with this "important" game so close.
It's 2-0 Flyers but it might as well be 12-0. They showed support for each other and won... seems they forgot about that and are just afraid.
Let's fight..
Something may be happening with this team. Though we had no reason to think this was coming... the Rangers are scoring goals. They scored 8 goals for the first time since 2002 when they beat the Boston Bruins 8-4. The Tampa Bay Lightning were annihilated 8-2 at the Garden, which came on the heels of a 6-2 demolition of the Montreal Canadiens. And the outburst has nothing to do with Marian Gaborik scoring... well not goals anyway.
Gaborik tied a career high with 4 assists the other night but Brandon Dubinsky, Ryan Callahan, Vinny Prospal and even Chris Drury are all heating up. 8 goals from 8 different scorers the other night. This team needs everyone to be involved and that may be starting to happen. Of course they could come out in Philly tonight and score 1 goal again... but there's always hope and cautious optimism. More goals equals less pressure for Henrik Lundqvist, who continues to be stellar.
Anyone else find it interesting that since they started defending themselves and each other they started playing harder scoring? Anyone surprised Donald Brashear has NOTHING to do with it? I'm not. Aaron Voros dropped the gloves :10 in with Zenon Konopka and although he lost, the building was still electric. Voros, who has been good, was rewarded with some power play time late in the game and converted a beautiful feed from Brian Boyle. Ryan Malone kicked the shit out of him later but that's ok. Brandon Dubinsky also dropped em' with Jeff Halpern with under two minutes to go.
Bottom line and memo to Gary Bettman... Fighting works.
Notes:
The Rangers suffered their most embarrassing loss to the Flyers in the Garden 6-0 last time they faced each other... Gaborik has a goal and 6 assists in the last two... Dubinsky has 3 goals and 3 assists in the last 2.
1.19.2010
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.".
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.".
1.15.2010
Cassee Was Angry 2day...
Rangers got embarrassed on home ice by the Ottawa Senators 2-0 and here's why...
1.13.2010
Marrrr-tyyyyyyy.....
Vinny Prospal returned for the Rangers and the offense exploded on the Devils with a season high 51 shots. Unfortunately, Martin Brodeur was standing in front of them and nothing got by. I guess you can give them an "A" for effort though as they do salvage a point (9-1-3 in last 13).
Henrik Lundqvist and Brodeur were fantastic in this game. It was about as exciting as a 1-0 game could be. Back and forth action and spectacular saves at both ends. Brodeur was just better stopping every shot he faced all night and adding to his constantly growing NHL record of 107 career shutouts.
The difference for the Blueshirts this year is the shootout has become a weakness and is losing them games. You can almost feel every player sawing his stick off in his hand skating in. Erik Christensen, who is supposed to very good at it, didn't even get a shot off. I've never seen a team that doesn't get shots off in a shootout as much as this one (see Kotalik and Callahan the other day against Atlanta). John Tortorella continues to trot Marian Gaborik out there but he's been awful in his career and this year going 1 for 5 so far. But really who else can he send out there?
The problem remains scoring and where is it going to come from? Prospal played 21:14 in this one and Gaborik was good... but no goals. When will someone else step up for this team? It just can't be that they're running into a hot goaltender every time out... it just can't.
Notes:
The Rangers have lost 6 straight overtime/shootout games since beating Florida in a shootout November 25th... Fans chanting "Marrrr-ttyyyyy" before the shootout apparently didn't bother him.
Henrik Lundqvist and Brodeur were fantastic in this game. It was about as exciting as a 1-0 game could be. Back and forth action and spectacular saves at both ends. Brodeur was just better stopping every shot he faced all night and adding to his constantly growing NHL record of 107 career shutouts.
The difference for the Blueshirts this year is the shootout has become a weakness and is losing them games. You can almost feel every player sawing his stick off in his hand skating in. Erik Christensen, who is supposed to very good at it, didn't even get a shot off. I've never seen a team that doesn't get shots off in a shootout as much as this one (see Kotalik and Callahan the other day against Atlanta). John Tortorella continues to trot Marian Gaborik out there but he's been awful in his career and this year going 1 for 5 so far. But really who else can he send out there?
The problem remains scoring and where is it going to come from? Prospal played 21:14 in this one and Gaborik was good... but no goals. When will someone else step up for this team? It just can't be that they're running into a hot goaltender every time out... it just can't.
Notes:
The Rangers have lost 6 straight overtime/shootout games since beating Florida in a shootout November 25th... Fans chanting "Marrrr-ttyyyyy" before the shootout apparently didn't bother him.
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