Now this is just getting stupid
-
- March
- 10
“This team is in a bad way, folks. There’s no sugarcoating it.”
That was me on Jan. 20, after the Rangers dropped a clunker at home against Boston, and the growing sense was this team was going nowhere in a hurry. Now the point streak is at 13 games after tonight’s shootout win in Buffalo, and the Rangers are tied with Ottawa for fifth place.
This all leads to an important question: Why do I even bother covering this team the first three months of the season?
Look, I will make no proclamations or predictions about what lies ahead. The playoffs are goofy, and the Rangers aren’t even there yet.
But yes, to answer your question, you officially have reason to be excited.
This entry was posted
on Monday, March 10th, 2008 at 8:51 pm by Sam Weinman.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. | | 
Email
Josh Thomson Josh, who is 26 and a native of Carmel, graduated from Boston University in 2002 and began working for The Journal News the following March. 
Beer Me-
The NHL Organization should be embarassed if they decide to fine Avery for the water bottle toss, from my understandind the New York Post yesterday had that article and stated that Avery felt bad and gave the guy a stick. The NHL Organization always has a bone to pick with Avery.
Last Night was the perfect example that just like last season the officials and the opponent are out to get the Rangers.
Rob L.-
You are right about that call, I believe it was Lydman shoving Sjostrom into Miller.
Sam, I’ve got my own problems right now, but do you ever get a scoop? How come Brooks always outscoops you guys?
leetch2 – I thought that was over and done with too. It’s not like he intentionally threw anything AT someone. I was at the game and saw it happen, though I was 200ft away. So my perspecitve was a little off. But never the less, it doesn’t warrant a fine.
How come nobody has mentioned that awesome hit by Avery on Paetsch (sp?) to get the puck to Dubi to then get it back and feed Jags beautifully in front for a goal. That play right there personifies how a left wing should play the game. Paetsch looked like a new born baby horse trying to walk for the first time after that hit.
Buffalo just signed McCreary to a 10 year extension.
I’m surprised McCreary didn’t call a penalty on Avery after that hit.
Doodie are you out of your mind…Drury an overpaid penalty killer…HAHA…you must have him confused with another player cause Drury is not just a PKer…HAHA
Are your new to the Rangers?
drury played well last night but not great. I didnt think he was worth 7 mill when we go him only because he’s a 50-60 point kinda guy. He still does it all so its cool.
As for avery, he should get fined since its in the rulebook. Sundin got a suspension a couple years back for tossing something into the stands so its not like the NHL is picking on avery.
Re: Avery’s hit. I thought it was within the rules. However, right on that line where Sean is known to play. I know that Avery gets a bad rap from the officials, and deservedly so. But if that were Hollweg, he’d be suspended. And if that hit were on one of our guys, we’d probably be looking for a call. It’s just in that 5ft danger zone near the boards.
Not much too add to what has already been said. Great to see Jagr get on the board last night after that terrific hit by Avery. Is there anything Avery doesn’t do? I hope as his game gets cleaner, he gets less reputation calls against him…that remains to be seen. All I know is that he’ll be a joy to watch in the playoffs again.
This team has the look of one that is built for the playoffs. They’re able to survive games where their legs are a little sluggish, mostly because of Hank.
As much as I hate the schedule this year with all the back-to-back and lengthy breaks, it seems that the Rangers are okay with it. This three-day break is really nice as everyone can get a chance to recover from a tough, emotional 8 or 9 day stretch. I think they’re gonna take 3, if not all 4 points this weekend against the crappy Florida teams.
Buckmeister:
“stuart: Good organizations expand their pick influence in the draft and do not squander them lightly. The problem with trading a #4 pick for Backman is compounded by his acquision holding-up the promotion of a more talented young D from within the organization. This organization goes outside too often to fill the gaps. Promoting from within is much more intelligent and steamlines the replacement process.”
The Ranger’s would have loved to recall Hutchinson or Poke. However, becasue they are the top two defensemen down there, I don’t think it is realistic to think that Backman is taking a young guy’s spot, because you can’t expect a bottom half minor league defensemen to be able to step in and play effective bottom half NHL minutes.
Backman hasn’t played well, and that may be becasue he isn’t very good. But that is mostly relative. He is clearly an upgrade on Strudwick, and is still one of the top 180 defensemen in the world. His positives outweigh his negatives relative to the alternatives. The margin, we can all agree, is small.
I don’t know if HIS positives outweigh HIS negatives. But I’d agree that HIS positives outweigh Struds positives. On the ice anyway. Thus being the right (available) player in the lineup this past week.
But Struds has him beat in the ‘stache & rockband categories!
That hit on Paetch was the real cause of the goal since he was imitating a new born horse on the ice (funny) when he should have been covering Jagr in the slot.
I think the NHL owes the Rangers an explanation
I don’t often agree with Drury, but he really is just an overpaid penalty killer. I’m waiting for one of his “big” goals to come through, but until then I hope he keeps rocking the PK at $7.35 million a year.
The Rangers played like crap the last two games. The forwards aren’t bad, besides Shanahan who’s stopped skating until the shootout, but the defense is atrocious! Hank has had to be miraculous the last two games and without him we lose both.
The officiating, especially on the Sjostrom and Dawes (interfence) penalties was awful. I hope Campbell watched this game and fines McReary and Peters – I’m not sure who the bigger baffoon was last night.
All-in-all, they’re finding ways to win and that’s a good sign. BUT as the Hockey Rodent points out, they’re not playing sound hockey. They’re sloppy and it’s starting to get scary.
Sorry, meant to say “don’t agree with Doodie” and some of his opinions…
Gomez is a 7.35m cap hit, Drury is 7.05.. just to clear it up
Gotta love Jagr…. (from Zips’ blog)
Asked about the possibility of playing an outdoor game at Yankee Stadium against the Bruins or Islanders next Jan.1—-a few months after the Rangers open the season in Prague, Jagr said. “I’ll be watching on the internet.”
Staal, I was responding to what New Newman said about Drury. He mentioned the 5 on 3 in support of Drury, and what I was saying is that a penalty kill doesn’t make him worth his money.
Beer, yes, he is tied for the team lead in goals, but it’s because the rest of the team, cough JAGR cough, has grossly under produced. The man has 22 goals. That’s second tier offensive talent. Which is fine. I’ve got no problem with his production if he is the second offensive fiddle. Those players can go for up to 4 million. Fine. He’s also a great two way player, so he is worth another million. 5 million. And his leadership, which has come through a lot more recently than it did through the first half of the season, another million. 6 million. tops. 7 million? He better have an amazing playoffs.
So, something that concerns me about our recent string of good play is that we’re having a hard time finishing games in regulation. 4 out of our last 5, and 6 of our last 13 have gone to OT. They’re 3-3 in those games, but 5 were decided in the shoutout, where they are 3-2. We all know there is no shootout in the playoffs, so is anyone else a little concerned about how this team fares in the playoffs if the games all go to OT? Two reasons why this is concerning:
1) We don’t know how they will fare in an indefinite overtime as opposed to the 5 minutes then shootout. I’d like to think we have enough grit and clutch scoring to win those games, but I’d much rather have the security of regulation wins.
2) If they go to OT a lot in the playoffs, they might burn out. The same applies to this season. They just played two OT games on back to back days. They must be tired. If this continues down the stretch, you have to wonder how much gas will be in the tank for the playoffs. And once they’re in the playoffs, if they go to OT on a regular basis, those games will run even longer because of the sudden death format. How long until the team just runs out of gas?
So, I’m happy that they’re winning and with the surge in the standings, I just wish that they could finish more wins in regulation.
What a game….
Let’s back up a bit. The Rangers have taken 23 out of a possible 26 points. Against teams like Boston, Philly, and the Sabres.
They played a ton of games lately, including the last two back to back. Which explains Shanny, Rozzy, and other players getting tired/sore. Rozzy plays a lot of minutes every night, and is rock solid most of the time. I have no complaints about his toughness or abilities.
McCreary gets away with making bad calls because everyone is too busy looking at his stache. (Which still has crumbs on it from the dinner the Sabres treated him to.) Whatta joke. That Peters situation was unacceptable. I hope he doesn’t officiate the playoffs b/c of this game… Then again, his stache will probably get him out of this.
P.S.
In light of Eliot “I need a New York whore when I’m in Washington” Spitzer’s recent mess, I am going back to my “official name” jagrforgovernor. Although he may lack the confidence to get things done, at least when he goes to Atlantic City, we’ll know what he’s doing…
Doodie:
One point missing from your thourogh calculations is the extra 1 million to keep him from eliminating us from the playoffs again. Drury playing not on the Sabers or any other eastern conference team is worth 1 million at least.
Not to mention his is like the fourth best selling jersey.
Its a business, and add your production calculations, to mine, and he is a break even at this point. Everything else is bonus.
Some of you have pointed to the Freddy goalie interference as a joke. I ask, where have you been??? That’s been happening for ages, along with 5 minute majors and hooks on breakaways not getting called on the opposition. We have the best player in the world, and he has no confidence simply because if he were on any other team, he’d draw at least 4 PIM a game, but I dont think he’s drawn a penalty in the last 50 games, despite getting draped all over and strangled every time he touches the puck. How many times have you heard Rosen or Davidson and this year that bum Micheletti say “I guess they missed that one”. It’s always Mcreary, but there’s another one, Kerry Fraser. We honored that loser’s 1500th game or something, and he decided to cheat us in that one too. I originally started recognizing the refs years ago when then NYR Lindros got highsticked, his face gushing blood everywhere, only to have a diving penalty called on him.
Feels good to vent!
again the rangers traded for backman and gave up a 4th roundpick. all you couch GM’s argue over every minor detail.
is backman neidermayer? No, but at $2.3 mill next yr he is a decent 6th D man with some upside the guy is less then 25. If Sauer and others deserve to get promoted they will, Pock and Hutchinson will not be Rangers next yr. and Staal is a future superstar for 12 yrs….....
they have 3 24 or younger D men that will be on the blueline for the forseeablefuture and 1 nugget in the minors(Sanguinetti) and then some question marks…
Again the buffoon Sather seems pretty smart to me, hopefully that statement is not too blasphemous for all the experts on this site…....
RE: Avery/waterbottle
I actually skated with the guy Avery “hit” with the water bottle last night. He said it was no big deal at all, and that the media came to him looking for some juicy story and that he told them to get lost (he’s friends with Pelino and didn’t want to give the media anything to spin). Said at the end of the game someone ran down with the waterbottle and tried to “trade it” or something and Avery sent a stick up to the guys wife or whatever…. strange though that it was actually that guy…and you guys are still talking about it.
doodie – I didn’t mean to disguise the fact that our ‘goal scorers’ aren’t scoring goals. But Dru is right no his career pace, more or less. Whether that’s worth $7mil is another story. But there’s no point in singling him out as being overpaid. Even Jags is at just the Rangers portion of his salary. There’s very few guys on the team that AREN’T overpaid. In all of professional sports IMO.
And to discuss your interesting point about OT/winning in reg… Not only should it be a concern for the playoffs, but to look even before that… Those last 10 games vs the div too. We can’t be giving out an extra point to those teams at that point of the season.
I give up, Doodie
You’re complaining about the team because they are not winning in regulation?? This is not EA Sports here. These are humans winning at least one point in 13 games not to mention that 10 were the wins that you desire.
When they win the Cup in six, you are going to complain that it should have been 4.
... right ON his career pace that is.
timay – I don’t think it was too much of a complaint as much as an observation. It’s actually cause for concern later in the season. see my last post.
I hate to blame the officiating – I’ve never done it before because I believe GOOD hockey teams persevere through the officiating and still:
1) win nonetheless,
2) in the end start drawing penalties.
The first point is obvious and moot. The second point I believe is because a team who passes well and skates well can’t help but draw hooking, tripping, and interference penalties.
But last night I watched Dawes and Sjostrom play cleanly for the puck and get penalized. The past two games I’ve seen Dawes and Callahan skate hard with the puck and get tripped (at least twice each) while the opposing player gets nothing but their skates – with no foul whistled.
That’s too much. The fouls are too obvious. And when I watch a game where Micheal Therien signals “4 to 3” to the refs (counting the number of penalties he’s killed to the number of powerplays they’ve had…after which, they did get another 2 powerplays) I realized the NHL is just about whining and harassing the ref’s as it is about sportsmanship and hard-work.
This NHL, although better than it was in the past, seems to be going the route of variability (in officiating) and unaccountability. It’s disheartening.
Doodie’s not complaining about not winning in regulation; he’s just concerned that if we get in the playoffs, will we be able to score in OT when defenses clamp down or will we get burned out from too many or too long OTs.
this team has some serious chemistry working.. who cares about how much so and so makes.. just wait till this offseason and you will notice that the gomer, drury and hank deals are not that bad… maybe hank can use some of his newfound money for a stickhandling coach..
maybe we can shave mccreary’s stache and have the stache be the referee..leaving mccreary weak and insignificant
Not to mention his is like the fourth best selling jersey.
WOW… I can’t believe someone actually had the gumption to come out and say it… WOW
Yea Salty – the road to glory is built on players who’s jerseys sell 4th best. Bet you didn’t know that?
That’s why Mike York has played so well for every team he’s been on…. haha
True Fans Bleed RW&B
How can a team persevere through bad calls and win nonetheless when the team is doing everything right, creating scoring opportunities and playing physical defense, only to not get calls in their favor but get cheap calls against them. Last night, our team did persevere and win, but when it comes playoff time and referees are cheating us more and more, eventually players are going to think to themselves, what else can we do, at which point they’ve given up on fairness. When you start to see the unfairness, you lose motivation to try and get those scoring opportunities, etc. If we go down by more than a goal, or by a game in a series, what happens then?
The game that I saw on Sunday and watched on Monday was a game played by a very tired Ranger Team, but still got 4 points. I can only see the glass as half full a this point. I think we hit 8 posts in those two games, I concede. We should have won in regulation last night because the call on Sjo-Joe was ridiculous. we should have lost the game on Sunday in regulation but Lundquist stole won. If I was Renney I would have chartered a plane for FL today and have them sit on the beach today and a round of golf tomorrow followed by Client 9, 10, 11,12, etc.
Mike,
You’re pointing out the exact argument I was making. Although, I still believe good teams should win despite poor officiating, the Rangers are fighting a battle which seems slightly more tilted in their opponents favor each successive game.
Why? Who knows…
But the Rangers ARE doing the things which typify a team that works hard and should be drawing penalties, even from biased ref’s…but the ref’s have become completely blind to the hooks, trips, and interferences…unless the Rangers are the ones committing them, and sometimes even when the Rangers don’t they still get penalized. This is some of the worst officiating I’ve seen in my life.
Truefan – I’ve always said the same thing. I know and understand exactly what you’re saying too.
“When you start to see the unfairness, you lose motivation to try and get those scoring opportunities, etc.”
Mike – That happens when you let it get the best of you and start throwing little bitch tantrums like we usually see from Ruff & Torts. Play above the officials. Play YOUR game and don’t shy away from the plan b/c you aren’t getting calls.
Maybe its me, but I can easily see how Dawes got called for the penalty. Even though it wasn’t that bad, it was interference and he did knock the player down. The Sjostrom call on the other hand was a joke because he had nowhere to go. BTW, that trade for him was a pretty awesome deal. His offensive game is showing here and there in the chances he gets, but if he played on a 2nd or even 3rd line, I could see him getting a lot more points. He just never stops skating and I love that. Too many people worried about Backman, who has played better as of late, instead of watching how well Sjostrom plays in the corner and really just all over the ice. Plus when he skates he has crazy legs since it looks like they fly everywhere. haha.
Bure and Lindros sold a ton of jerseys too. We won how many cups with them?
In Bure’s case, we won how many GAMES with him? 10?
Timay, Mike and Beer hit my point about OT on the head. I’m not complaining that we’re moving up the standings, but I’m concerned with the long term issues the team might run into if they can’t start putting the games away in regulation.
Beer, that’s an interesting point about the divisional games going to OT, but that hurts us only in our position within the playoffs, and not so much in whether or not we actually make the playoffs. Since it seems that 4 teams from the Atlantic will make it, we’re in great shape to make the playoffs even if we give away a point in every one of those games. But you can forget about winning the division then.
No Jonny, I could possible see that Dawes shove as a penalty, but other teams do that and much worse to us and rarely get called. Somebody else mentioned it, but what’s also disturbing was seeing Shanny laughing with that loser Mcreary. I would’ve loved if in the middle of a play, he highsticked him, while making it look unintentional. The only way for the unfairness to stop is for there to be consequences for them. What better way than to send Hollweg in to body check refs as part of the gameplan.
Doodie you make a good point about OT. But your general berating of the team for various things on one day to the next has me convinced you are a glass-half-empty guy. That’s fine. Is what it is.
Whomever keeps talking about Thomas Pock as a potential D-man on this team, I wish you’d just save your energy. I think Pock is decent. But he is probably 10th man on the depth list right now, at very best. And the fact that he passed waivers once with no one claiming him means that the rest of the NHL doesn’t think that much of him either. Give up on Pock please.
When Mara gets back, I think Wally Backman takes a seat. Beer Me! gave him the benefit of the doubt and so did I, to be honest. But he is just more of a liability than anything else.
This AM Brooks’ article mentioned that Hollweg and Prucha should get some ice time in FL to keep their legs fresh. I kinda agree with that. Then Brooks mentioned that he thought Dubi should sit because he is getting too cute with the puck or something? Did anyone catch that and what did you think? Curious.
LGR.
Newman, It’s not a glass half-empty thing so much as just keeping my feet on the ground and looking at the big picture instead of fellating the team every time they get a point. I want perfection and so should they. Anybody who demands less, especially if they’re on the team, is settling for too little.
Now, I understand they won’t be perfect, and I’m sure they do too. But that doesn’t mean it’s wrong for me to ask of them to try for it, and in fact, that’s exactly what I expect them to aspire for.
As for Pock, passing through waivers means nothing. It is reetnry waivers that would determine if any team had an interest. I guarantee you that if he went through reenetry waivers that he would be claimed. Same for Hutch.
But the fact is, with Mara down, they needed help on the right side, not the left, which is where Pock plays. So even if they did want to recall someone from Hartford, and there were no reentry waivers, it wouldn’t have been him because he plays the other side of the ice.
Two last things:
1) If I’m Pock, I demand a trade during the summer.
2) I disagree with Brooks’ article without getting to the merits. Sitting Dubinsky for Prucha or Hollweg makes no sense since Dubinsky plays center and those guys are wings. As for whether he has been too cute, I didn’t see it in any game leading up to the game last night, and I didn’t get to watch too much of last nights game so if he’s doing that, it was last night only.