Messier to the Rescue?

Well, maybe that’s going a little over the top, but according to Sam Weinman’s Rangers Report Mess and his dad were at the morning skate today and did a little locker room mingling after.  Perhaps another guarantee is in the works?  Probably not, but you’d like to think that a few words by Mess to the right people could put things in perspective and shake this team out of its funk.  We’ll see.

Also, as per the Rangers Report and Steve Zipay’s Blue Notes tonight’s lines will have a much different look to the one’s we’ve seen the past few weeks.  They are as follows:

Avery-Gomez-Jagr

Dawes-Dubinsky-Shanahan

Straka-Drury-Prucha

Hollweg-Betts-Orr

What I like about these lines is that you spread around the energy.  On each line you have at least two players that always seem to be buzzing and giving it their all.  On the top line you’ve got Avery & Gomez, the second line’s got Dawes & Dubinsky (I’m not saying Shanny isn’t always giving 100%, but the injury seems to have slowed him considerably), on the third line you’ve got Straka & Prucha and the fourth line’s the same as its been.

The one thing I would like to see is Straka and Drury flip places.  Dru seems to be more of a finisher then a playmaker and may be better suited for the wing.  Because he’s a good face-off man, I’d still like to see him taking the draws, but then switch up positions with Straka during the action.

Also reported, Marek Malik will make his return to the lineup.  Coming out in his place…Paul Mara.  That’s right, dum-de-dum-dum, that means Jason Strudwick will once again take the spot in the lineup of an NHL caliber defenseman. 

Outside of that though, these new lines should inject some much needed energy into this lineup and the Rangers better hope that it does.  If not, the Rangers may find themselves in as low as 14th place at the all-star break.

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Some notes from around the NHL:

The Penguins announced today that star Sidney Crosby will be out for a total of 6-8 weeks with a high ankle sprain.

And after months and months of speculation John Ferguson Jr. was finally handed his walking papers by Toronto.