Posts tagged ‘Pock’

When the Rangers reassigned Thomas Pock to Hartford last week they knew they risked losing him on waivers.  Today they did–and to the Isles no less.  

It’s a good move for all involved.  Pock certainly has shown that he can be a capable NHL defenseman and he should get the chance to prove it on an Islanders team that’s in a period of transition.  From the Rangers’ perspective it was clear that they had no interest in him playing for the team.  With a seventh backline spot still open, cutting Pock and, in turn, leaving him unprotected was pretty telling.

Good luck to Thomas–but not too much…

Breathe easy Ranger fans, the Petr Nedved experiment is over.  The center was among the cuts today, ending his attempted third stint with the Rangers.  That’s not to take anything away from Nedved.  Actually, I thought he played quite well in the pre-season.  But signing Nedved would have signaled a throw back to the dark ages otherwise known as 1998-2004.  To block the surplus of young kids vying for a spot, would have been going against the philosophy of the post-lockout Blueshirts.

Others reassigned included Artem Anisimov, Thomas Pock, Greg Moore and Dale Weise.

In other news, it looks as though the Rangers coaching staff has seen what everybody else has: Brandon Dubinsky is an absolute stud and deserves top 6 minutes.  In today’s practice Dubi moved up to the second line centering Zherdev and Dawes, while Drury moved into the first line wing spot formerly occupied by Zherdev.  Whether or not that’s the correct way to shuffle those six forwards remains to be seen, but moving Dru to the wing and elevating Dubi is the right way to go.

Thomas Pock was placed on waivers this afternoon. This doesn’t come as a whole lot of surprise, although it could indicate some more moves are coming on the defensive end. Steven mentioned that the game against Atlanta was Pock’s big shot to prove he should be playing over the likes of Marek Malik. Pock was -2 in that 5-3 loss at the hands of the Thrashers and his play was unimpressive at best. Personally I don’t mind the move. If in the days and weeks to come management makes a move to improve the defense that’s fine by me; it’s all about finding ways to make the product on the ice better. Thomas Pock was not helping this team and putting him on waivers shouldn’t ruffle too many feathers.

The second piece of news that comes out of Rangerville today is the injury of Ryan Callahan. Callahan has a knee sprain that won’t require surgery but will keep him out indefinitely. Hopefully, indefinitely means only a few games but it could mean many more. Add Callahan to the list of injured Blue Shirts that already include Martin Straka and Sean Avery and the Rangers find themselves in quite a hole. The Rangers Report today said that Callahan’s spot could be filled by a number of Wolf Pack players including Alex Bourret, Lauri Korpikoski, and Greg Moore. No matter who it is, the Rangers are going to be dealing with more young, inexperienced talent. Callahan has looked very good and it’s another unfortunate injury that is going to hurt this team. Hopefully both Avery and Callahan will be back sooner than expected. But until they are back, Rangers fans need to collectively knock on wood for the rest of this team’s health.

Nigel Dawes and Thomas Pock will, in all likelihood, make their season debuts for the Rangers tonight in Atlanta. For Dawes, it’s almost a sure thing that he’ll play, seeing as Marcel Hossa can’t go because of a hip flexor injury. For Pock, it’s not as certain, but following yesterday’s practice it seems probable. According to the Blueshirt Blog and Rangers Report, Pock was paired along side Michael Roszival in practice and Marek Malik was paired with Jason Strudwick. Although Tom Renney said not to read too much into it, look for Struds and Malik to be watching tonight from the Press Box. (If you’re quiet, you can hear champagne corks popping in the home every Rangers fan as we speak.)

For Dawes it’s a shot; for Pock it’s the shot.

When it comes to Nigel Dawes, it’ll be nice to see what he can do tonight. He’ll be playing on the first line with Jagr and Gomez (certainly different than last year when he got to play, but with the likes of Jason Ward and Adam Hall). But let’s be realistic. No matter how well Dawes plays, the road still leads back to Hartford. Even if he makes a case to be in the lineup over Hossa, Sean Avery is on the horizon. And when Avery comes back, Dawes will go back. So take tonight for what it is with Dawes, a possible glimpse into the future. But for Dawes, no matter what he does, the future is not now.

For Thomas Pock this is a completely different situation. For him, this is the be all, end all. Sure he’s been in the lineup before (he actually played 44 games last year). But in most of those games he was subbing in for an injured player and even though Pock probably deserved to win a lineup spot, he continually got scratched for a lesser veteran when the vet came back. This time it’s different. This time Malik is taking a seat because of poor play and Pock needs to seize the moment one more time. He needs to get into the lineup and stick; not allow the coaching staff to take him out. And whether or not it’s unfair, it has to happen tonight. If Pock doesn’t play well, he won’t get another shot on Saturday in Boston. Malik will be right back on the ice and Pock will be right back in street clothes. This is it. Pock knows it, and don’t be surprised if Pock takes advantage of it.

Now let me say this. No matter what happens tonight, it is becoming more and more evident that something has to give on this Rangers backline. Marek Malik, Paul Mara, and Thomas Pock are every day players fighting for two spots. None of them will stay content to be scratched for long periods of time. I’d expect a trade sometime in the near future.