Blog Archives

I’ll start off by saying how pleasantly surprised I was with the Rangers play over the weekend.  In terms of back-to-back games, I think the Buffalo and Detroit games, was the best effort the Rangers have put up since they started out 7-1.  The two things that Erik and I have said need to happen for this team to win, happened against Buffalo.  Someone other than Gaborik found the net, and the defense held their own, only making Hank play excellent instead of god-like.

But, with that being said, it was still a win and a loss.  The Rangers are still the bottom dwellers of the Atlantic and are 11th in the Eastern Conference standings.  Tonight the Rangers go up against arguably the best offense in hockey.  According to Andrew Gross at Rangers Rants, they will do it without Dubinsky, Lisin and Voros on the ice.

In the last podcast Erik and I talked about the possibility of John Tortorella getting the axe as head coach.  Both of us said that we think he will get the entire year to shape the team and continue to make roster moves.  But, John Stevens getting fired in Philadelphia for having the same record as the Rangers might change that.  Again, I still think that Torts has a long leash, but I’m not sure how much further the team can fall before Sather starts thinking about making a change.

And so it begins.  C’mon, you didn’t think the Rangers brass was going to sit back and let all this losing continue without making some moves, did you?  The Rangers announced today that backup netminder Stephen Valiquette has been waived.  Hartford goaltender Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson has been called up from Hartford.  Also, the Rangers claimed Anaheim centerman Erik Christensen off waivers.

Big day.

According to Andrew Gross at Rangers Rants, the team hopes that Valiquette clears waivers and they can assign him to Hartford to retool his form.  This move isn’t that big of shock.  Vally has started 5 games this year, his record is 2-3 and his GAA is 3.74.  His cap hit this year is $0.725 million and he becomes a free agent next season.  I can’t see a way that Valiquette makes it through waivers twice.  If he did get to Hartford, a team could claim him on re-entry waivers for half of his salary.  While he is having a down season, he’s still a serviceable backup at a very cheap price.

Johnson comes in with a 10-6-1 record in Hartford, a 2.10 GAA, and a .926 save percentage.  According to Gross, it doesn’t seem like Johnson will be getting much playing time with the Rangers because the team is searching for a more experienced backup.

In my opinion, the Rangers have a pretty good idea of who that experienced backup is going to be.  I don’t think you put Valiquette on waivers if you don’t have a deal close to done for another goaltender.  It’s not like Vally’s salary was a burden on the Rangers.  And if Henrik’s going to play anyway, moving Valiquette signals to me that a new backup will be coming into the fold shortly.  Again, nothing to back that up, but I don’t think the transaction makes sense any other way.

Finally, bringing in Erik Christensen is a minor move that the Rangers desperately needed to make.  Not saying that a guy who hasn’t scored a goal in nine games this season is the plug in this sinking ship, but with all the injuries and lack of production from the center position, somethings got to give.  Christensen had 18 G and 16 A in 2006-2007…so we’ve got that going for us.

We’re still a ways away from the trade deadline, so you have to believe that this is just the beginning for Slats.  Erik and I are recording a show tonight, so be sure to check back for our takes on this move and more.

Update: Stephen Valiquette has made it through waivers and will be assigned to Hartford.  Still, I can’t see Vally making it back through re-entry when a team can take him for half of his salary.  If you haven’t listened to the latest episode of NYRangerscast, we have some discussion about what this move means if a experienced goaltender isn’t brought in to replace Vally.  Check it out and let us know what you think.

Who knew Tampa Bay was such an unfriendly place. That’s how you welcome back the coach that brought you a Stanley Cup? You spank his team 5-1 and send him on his merry way? So much for a successful homecoming.

Last nights loss to the Lightning immediately jumps to the top of the “Worst Games of the Year” list. After winning two in a row, the Rangers came out looking like they ate way too much turkey on Thursday. Henrik was pulled, the team was sleep walking, and Torts didn’t even get to enjoy his video tribute.

The three game road trip concludes tonight at the Igloo. It starts a brutal stretch of games for the Rangers. A stretch that I believe will make or break this teams season. Listen, I know it’s still early, but with the way the Rangers have played so far, they give you no inclination that they have a sustained winning streak in them.

That being said, the Rangers face the Penguins (x2), Sabers (x2), Red Wings, Blackhawks, and Atlanta over the next 7 games. Not to be a Debby Downer, but would anyone be stunned if this team went 2-5 or something close to that during this stretch? Right now, the team is tied for last in the Atlantic, 8-points out of first place. With how good the division is, a bad 7-game stretch could absolutely bury this team.

The shoot-out win against the Panthers gave us some hope. But it all came crashing down last night. Call it make or break, call it whatever you want, but I will tell you right now, come December 14th, we’re going to be talking about the Rangers being in it or out of it.

*****************************************************************************************************************

Also, as a side note, the talk around NHL blogs this week has been the story of Brendan Burke that was written on ESPN.com. It’s a really interesting take on gays in the sports world.  It takes a lot for a kid to work in sports at any level and be gay.  It’s nice to see that Brendan has been accepted for who he is by his Miami (OH) team.  Some of my best friends from Cincinnati are friends with Brendan at Miami and they say he’s working hard to break down homophobia in sports.  It’s a tall task, but it’s great to see that Brendan is taking his story to the masses and trying to change the culture as much as he can.

Alright everyone, unfortunately Live Blog is posing a few problems. Instead, I will be manning the Twitter for tonight’s game in Florida. Fire away with your comments/questions.

Follow @nyrangerscast and be sure to check out the brand new 140 Characters from Center Ice feature on the site. It’s a great way to keep a pulse on the Rangers, especially during and after games.

Let’s Go Rangers!

Well how ’bout that? What an emphatic response to our most recent podcast. 7 goals?! It wasn’t entirely pretty, though. Let’s not forget this team went down 2-0 and forced Torts to call a timeout to wake up his team. That still is an obvious cause for concern for me, but at least the team responded this time around.

Clearly one of the biggest themes we talked about in our last podcast was the lack of scoring production from anyone on the team outside of Gaborik and Vinny. Well, praise the hockey gods because the rest of the team finally decided to show up. Gaborik is still unbelievable and tallied four points to his name – that’s great. But how ’bout these names: Avery (twice), Del Zotto, Anisimov, Gilroy. I know we still don’t see Callahan, Higgins (to be fair he did have two assists), Lisin, Kotalik (just to name a few) up there in the goal scoring column, but at this point I’ll take ANY secondary goal scoring production. This just goes to show if the team can find a way to get goals from players outside of just Gaborik and Vinny, they can do some damage in Torts’ system.

While I’m excited to see such an offensive explosion, my optimism remains reserved. I still throw the caution flag out at the fact that it took a lackluster start and two-goal deficit for this team to wake up. Top-tier teams (i.e. Pens, Flyers, Devils) will bury a team if they jump out to an early lead like that. I’m also wary at the fact that the defense still allowed four goals. Call me greedy, but when you score seven unanswered goals to take a 7-2 lead, the last thing I want to see is allowing the other team to even sniff any sort of comeback. I’m not saying the Blue Jackets were coming back from 7-2 down, but it goes back to one of our other big points from the podcast about this defense being rather inconsistent this year. I’m still waiting for a complete game on the defensive end of the ice.

With that said, let’s not lose sight of all the positives. The other thing that really stood out to me, aside from the barrage of goals scored by the Rangers, was the fact that the Blue Jackets only had one power play opportunity. Despite a good PK unit, committing too many penalties has plagued New York all season long. It kills the flow of the game, especially for an offense that likes to fly up and down the ice. If the Rangers can keep playing 5-on-5 hockey, they should win a lot of games.

All in all, a win and goal scoring output like last night is refreshing. It cleans out some of that bitter taste we, as Ranger fans, have been stuck with of late. What comes next? The Rangers need to prove this was no fluke and string some wins together because they still haven’t won back to back games since the 7-game win streak last month.

As always, Let’s Go Rangers!

Make sure to check out the latest podcast from the boys at NYRangerscast. We talk about the Rangers struggles and how the next ten games may very well decide the Rangers season. Also, we are joined in studio by a very special guest, you’re not going to want to miss it.

I finally have my own account and I will start it off with a live blog! Big news at NYRangerscast!

Apparently there’s a memo circulating around the NHL telling injured star players that they should come back against the Rangers.  As luck, or conspiracy, would have it, the Rangers take on the Washington Capitals tonight with Alexander Ovechkin in the lineup.  But, Alex Semin might not play…so, we’ve got that going for us!

Either way, it’s not going to be the same beat up Caps that have been struggling the past couple of weeks.  Semyon Varlamov is in net, so the Rangers go up against the Washington goaltender that doesn’t have a cute nickname indicating how many goals he typically allows.  Apparently, Jose Three-Or-More has some personal business to attend to, so he’s not on the trip.

The Rangers are 3-7-2 in their last 12 games and are beginning to fade as the Devils, Penguins, and Flyers all continue to play winning hockey.  The team is now tied for least amount of points in the Atlantic with 23.   The month of November doesn’t end easily for the team either.  To close it out, the Rangers play two against Pittsburgh, one against Columbus, and one against Tampa Bay.  There are two games in there against Florida that are must wins, but other than that it’s going to be a bumpy end to the month if the Rangers don’t get their act together.

They’ve had two days of rest since their OT win against Ottawa, so hopefully some of the minor injuries have healed.  But, the Rangers had four days of rest before Atlanta and played flat, that can’t happen tonight.  The Rangers need to come out strong and not give A.O. a chance to acclimate himself back to the ice.  Early and often is the key for the Rangers tonight.  Oh, and it wouldn’t hurt to stick it to that Varlamov kid either.

If the Atlanta game shows us anything, it’s that you can’t fall asleep at the wheel.  The Rangers dozed off for most of the second period, but what really bit them last night was giving up two goals within thirty seconds after tying the game at two. 

Now, obviously that wasn’t the whole reason the Rangers fell last night and are now 3-7-1 in their last eleven games.  But, even though they were getting manhandled in the second period, they still could have escaped tied or down only one goal if they hadn’t given away two goals so quickly.

With that being said, the Rangers put up three goals last night, which is usually enough to win with Henrik in net.  But, it was the defense that lost the game last night.  I haven’t seen Michal Rozsival play that poorly in a long time.  He has to be in better position in front of the net.  He was slow on the first goal of the night and, although Hank should not have tried to clear the puck on the fourth goal, Rozi has to get back into position and get in front of Evander Kane.  Add to that the fact that Marc Staal seemed to be lost for most of the game, that’s not a great combination.

The injuries on this team are well documented.  While the Rangers are an offensive minded team, as they lose key offensive players to injury, the defense has to step up its game.  Ryan Callahan took a puck to the leg and hobbled off the ice last night.  Dubi is out for a month, and who knows when Drury will be fully healed.  This team cannot afford to give up two goals a game due to bone headed plays.  Those bone headed plays also include the penalties the Rangers took last night, in one word, inexcusable.  This team needs to screw it’s collective head on and focus for sixty minutes.

In other news, PA Parenteau comes up and replaces Dane Byers.  Can’t say that this will be enough, but hopefully PA can bring some punch in for a few games.

The new episode is available on the right side of your screen.  Hear Erik and I talk about the Chris Drury hit, the implication of Brandon Dubinsky’s injury and if Hank’s injury is as minor as they’re telling us.  Also, the emergence of Chris Higgins and a former Ranger sticking it to his old club.

Make sure to get your e-mails into hosts@nyrangerscast.com for our next episode.