Yardbarker: New York Rangers

Happy Thanksgiving…

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 08:44:00 -0500

Though it is cold and rainy, it is indeed Thanksgiving. I started to search for a pretty cool Hockey Thanksgiving image to put on here, but as soon as I saw pictures of those creepy fat birds that everyone else in America eats today, I decided not to. Yes, I’m scared of turkeys. Anyway, on a day that I’m thankful the Rangers gaining 4 points in 2 games for the first time since they beat LA and Toronto in back-to-backs in mid-October, I wish you the best today. (Sure, these 4 points came against 2 teams that haven’t won a combined playoff game since a 1997 series against Wayne Gretzky and the Rangers, but it’s still a good feeling.) As for me, I’ll be in sunny San Diego starting tomorrow, and while you would think hockey would be the last thing on my mind, I’ll be glued to my cell phone for text message updates for the 3 games I’ll miss. That Tampa Bay game is another big points, and if they can get 3 points against the Penguins, then that’s 9 out of 10 and a big step in the right direction. Of course, there’s a solid chance that Steven Stamkos will score 2 goals tomorrow, Marian Gaborik will score 1, and nobody else will score anything and they’ll lose 2-1. And taking 2 from Pittsburgh is more realistic (they can definitely win the home game on Monday, I believe). I leave this website in the hands of Bryan, whom I’ll be seeing for some Thanksgiving hockey in less than an hour. I know Bryan was all set to write something last night, but then his daughter threw up because Continue reading Happy Thanksgiving…

Giving Thanks - Rangers@Panthers Post Game Thoughts…

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 04:28:32 -0500

On the eve of Thanksgiving the Rangers played one of their better games all season. It was really rewarding to see the team bounce back after some truly awful performances over the past month. Don’t worry, no more equalizer metaphors here, just some general comments before I hit the sack. The Rangers were a lot more tenacious on the puck, not giving the Panthers much room to operate, the neutral zone especially was hotly contested, but I liked the fact that the Rangers puck pursuit was ...

Thanks For Giving Gilroy

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 02:20:00 -0500

After watching Matt Gilroy fight; it is a cinch that he is not a threat to Donald Brashear or even Aaron Voro's role as team enforcers but circle that moment because it could be one of the most important events of the Ranger season.

In it's own way what Gilroy did was just as important to the Ranger win as Henrik's saves or Parenteau's shootout efforts. But this moment might mean more down the road than even the 2 points the Rangers earned

That bit of blood that Gilroy shed in coming to what he felt was the defense of Vinnie Prospal just might be the turning point into bringing the Rangers closer as a team than anything else. That folks was old school hockey where it does not matter who it was "but you messed with my teammate and I am going to fight you."

That response is what should have happened anytime someone ran over Henrik, it should have happened when Drury got blindsided in Calgary and it should happen anytime someone appears to run a Ranger. Of course Gilroy picked a moment when Victor Oreskovich actually did hit Prospal cleanly but it was the appearance that mattered at the moment.

Gilroy as we saw in the fight also knows that he has no business being in a fight judging by his performance but his teammates saw the rookie stand up for a teammate. It is one of those events that can bring a team closer together in so many different ways.

You can start with Gilroy sending the message to the team that we need to stand together to protect each other. Toss in how it was protecting a key player as well as team leader in Vinnie Prospal and the message was sent loud and clear.

To the veterans on the roster, it helps build a bond with the younger players as what happened here can be used as a teaching moment. Guys like Brashear, Voros and Avery can give Voros some pointers on how to survive an NHL fight.

It will give the team some laughs as the fight was one in a way a rather ugly performance by Gilroy as if in the middle of things he realized he was in an actual fight and forgot what to do.

But hopefully the bigger lesson we hope the team gets is that they are in it together and that they need to stand up for each other. Give Gilroy all the credit in the world for wanting to protect his teammate as he saw the same player take out his defensive partner in the first period and said enough with hurting my teammates.

Hopefully the team will see that they need to protect their leaders as well as each other and put an end to the running of Rangers. If they do then the blood that Gilroy shed will be well worth it.

At the same time we also have to give John Tortorella some serious credit here too as in this situation the coach knew when to keep his mouth shut. Yes Gilroy's actions put the team in a bind, Gilroy's 17 minutes left the defense corp shorthanded.

It gave the Panther's a power play, it meant the team had only 4 defensemen for those 17 minutes but in watching Tortorella on the bench he deserves major credit for seeing how his players reacted and took the cue from it.

Tortorella saw the players loved what Gilroy did and did not ruin the moment even though you know inside that he was biting his tongue. Give the coach an assist here as he was smart enough to see how this could make his own life easier down the road.

Even being on the West Coast, we could still hear Mitch Beck of Howlings screaming "I told you so" after P. A. Parenteau scored his second game winning shootout goal in as many attempts.

Mitch has been saying for over a year that Parenteau deserved a legit shot by the Rangers as a reward for his hard work at Hartford. Parenteau has been proving him right since joining the Rangers with a 1-3-4 mark in the 6 games he has played.

If anything Parenteau is showing the Ranger Universe that hard work does deserve to be rewarded and it is hard for us to disagree. Parenteau has disproved every single knock that has been used to not give him his shot at making the NHL.

Parenteau has been responsible in his own end, in the games we have watched of him; Parenteau has stuck close to his check in the defensive zone and has not cherry picked at the blueline. Parenteau may come across as confident but in our eyes he is actually hiding his smarts as he has to know that he must make the best of this chance or else he might not ever get a chance at the NHL again.

We also love a player who forces the coach to use him because of his hard work not how fat his contract is. It is also hard to dispute that since Parenteau and Artem Anisimov became a line with Sean Avery that we are seeing a better performing Sean Avery on the ice.

It may sound crazy reading this but playing with the 2 more inexperienced NHLers is forcing Avery into playing the role of veteran on his own line which in turn is helping bring some badly needed maturity to Avery's game. We say that is a win-win for everyone here.

Except for us we might have to listen to Mitch pat himself on the back for a while (but he really earned it here as he was right and many of us were wrong).

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Just one prospect in action but his actions might cost him a game or two in the press box. Luke Walker (Traverse City) was held scoreless as his Portland Winterhawks got whipped by the Tri-City Americans 6-2.

Walker took a 5 minute major for elbowing along with the resulting game misconduct at 17:35 of the 3rd period which in the WHL tends to lead to a suspension. The Winterhawks as a team looked undisciplined here with 3 players earning 17-19 PIMs.

(Gilroy and Parenteau courtesy of the New York Rangers)

N.H.L. Roundup: Parenteau’s Goal Boosts Rangers in Shootout

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 00:06:18 -0500

Henrik Lundqvist stopped all three Florida shooters to give the Rangers a 2-1 victory in Sunrise, Fla.

Parenteau's shootout goal sparks Rangers

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 22:35:00 -0500

P.A. Parenteau scored in a shootout, and Henrik Lundqvist stopped all three Florida shooters to give the New York Rangers a 2-1 victory against the Panthers on Wednesday night.

Rangers beat Panthers 2-1 in shootout

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 22:33:49 -0500

P.A. Parenteau scored in a shootout, and Henrik Lundqvist stopped all three Florida shooters to give the New York Rangers a 2-1 victory over the Panthers on Wednesday night.

Roundup: Lundqvist, Rangers edge Panthers in SO

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 21:42:00 -0500

Wednesday's NHL roundup: P.A. Parenteau scored in a shootout, and Henrik Lundqvist stopped all three Florida shooters to give the New York Rangers a 2-1 victory against the Panthers.

Rangers' Voros has much to be thankful for

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 21:16:00 -0500

Having battled cancer while in college, Aaron Voros is lucky he can play hockey at all. Now he's playing for the team he idolized as a kid -- the Rangers. Count this Canadian as thankful, Wes Goldstein says.

Rangers' Voros has something to be thankful for

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 21:16:00 -0500

Aaron Voros is lucky he can play hockey at all since he was once diagnosed with bone cancer. Now he's playing for the team he idolized as a kid -- the Rangers. Count this Canadian as thankful, Wes Goldstein says.

Rangers hit Wild for 7 to match season's best output

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 22:03:00 -0500

Marian Gaborik again sparked the Rangers' offense with two goals and two assists, but this time he had lots of long-awaited help in New York's 7-4 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday.

Kundratek to The Rescue

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 21:21:00 -0500

Today's Star Tomas Kundratek

It was pointed out to us the other day that at times we are harder on Tomas Kundratek (2008 3rd) than we are most of the other New York Ranger prospects. It is hard to disagree with that because we see a ton of potential in Kundratek to become a top NHL defenseman.

We have said this before of all the Ranger defensive prospects, Kundratek is the one prospect who is perfect for the Tortorella system. Between his strong skating to his excellent passing skills to a very accurate shot; we see a player who could become a top 4 NHL defenseman.

The talent is there, the question is the willingness to put in the extra effort to elevate himself to the next level. Now Kundratek does play hard so we have no complaints there but we wonder about the decision making process as at times it does not always make the right choices.

We can understand the frustration about being sent back to the WHL instead of the chance to play at Hartford. We can understand that Kundratek could have jumped to Europe and got paid to play.

But what Kundratek has to understand is that he has to earn that spot in the AHL, that as good as he may think he is that it has to translate into performance on the ice. Kundratek has to learn how to play smart as well as hard and if he does then the Rangers will have a defenseman.

On Sunday we got to see what could happen when Kundratek puts everything together. Kundratek's Medicine Hat Tigers were facing the Red Deer Rebels; with the score 0-0 in the first period, Kundratek made a heads up play, diving to block a shot with his goalie out of position leaving the net empty.

If Kundratek does not make this save the Red Deer Rebels grab a 1-0 lead and the momentum of this game changes. It was a smart reaction play from Kundratek that prevents a goal and gets the crowd into the game.

Kundratek then earns a secondary assist on Emerson Etem's power play goal at 7:45 of the second period which gives the Tigers a 2-0 lead and eventually proves to be the game winning goal. Kundratek was on the ice for all 3 Medicine Hat goals in this game which as he did not get an assist on the first goal in the first period but he made the play that sprung the Tigers on the attack.

Until today Kundratek was the only Ranger prospect (besides goalie Scott Stajcer) who had not scored a goal. Kundratek finally got his first of the season at 12:59 of the second period as he read how the power play was developing then came down into the slot where Etem hit him with a pass and Kundratek had a wide open net to score into.

That gave the Tigers a 3-0 lead which they held onto for a 3-1 win. Kundratek earned the "Third Star" for his efforts as he played a nice smart all-around game.

Ethan Werek (2009 2nd) saw his 7 game scoring streak come to an end (7-4-11) as his Kingston Frontenacs lost their 2nd in a row to the Plymouth Whalers 4-1. In all fairness this was Werek's 4th game in 4 nights and that he had enough to play a decent game says a ton about his conditioning.

Mitch Gaulton (2008 6th) and the Erie Otters did not have to face Scott Stajcer (2009 5th) in the second half of their 2 game series in Owen Sound but the result was the same as the Otters lost 3-2 to the Attack. Gaulton was scoreless in this game and a -1.

Ryan Bourque (2009 3rd) was used as a center by his Quebec Remparts against the Montreal Juniors in the Rempart's 5-2 win. While Bourque did not play too badly: 1 assist, 9-10 on faceoffs, +1, 2 shots and 2 hits, it does not look like where the best use of Bourque's skills would be.

If Bourque was bigger than 5'9 then we could understand trying him there but as small as Bourque is then playing him on the wing remains the better choice.

Chris Doyle (2008 5th) was also used as a center on Sunday by his Prince Edward Island Rockets; Doyle was also not that bad at center as he too netted an assist, was 4-5 on faceoffs and had 3 shots as his Prince Edward Island Rocket won a wild one 6-5 in overtime over the Chicoutimi Saguenéens.

The game winning goal came at with less than 1/10 of a second remaining in the overtime period as the Rockets came back from trailing 3-1, 4-2, and 5-4 to win. The Rocket scored 4 goals in the 3rd period to force overtime with Doyle assisting on the Rocket's 4th goal of the game.

(Kundratek courtesy of the Medicine Hat Tigers)

One for Mr. Scott

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 01:38:00 -0500

It was another interesting evening to follow New York Ranger prospects as we really had a mixed bag of performances to show for a Saturday night.

Tonight's First Star Scott Stajcer

It was be a whole lot easier to get a clearer idea as to the NHL potential of Scott Stajcer (2009 5th) if he was not playing on a struggling team like the Owen Sound Attack. The Stajcer we saw last season gave hints of a becoming a solid NHL prospect but this season has been more about crossing our fingers and hoping.

Saturday evening was one of those nights where you saw Scott Stajcer the solid prospect as he put on a strong performance stopping 42 out of 43 shots to lead his Attack to a 3-1 win over Mitch Gaulton and his Erie Otters. When Stajcer gets defensive support from his teammates he can be very hard to beat.

Against Erie, Stajcer was rock solid as he came 4:56 from recording his first OHL shutout but settled instead for his 8th win of the season. Stajcer improved his record to 8-11-1-1 with a 3.66 goals against and a 0.904 save percentage.

Something we have noticed about Stajcer that keeps us on high on him is an interesting trend we noticed that with Stajcer is that he plays better when he faces more shots.

When Stajcer has faced over 40 shots in a game, his record is 5-1-1-1 on the season. Yet when Stajcer faces less than 40 shots then his record drops to 3-10 which we have no explanation for as the average number of shots an OHL goalie tends to face in a game is 34-35.

Second Star Craig Cunningham

Funny thing is that when it comes to Craig Cunningham (Traverse City) the first thing everyone seems to mention is that he is a mid-sized player. Here is something to think about Ryan Callahan was Cunningham's exact size at Cunningham's age (19) and he did not turn out bad.

For the second time this season, Cunningham had a 4 point night as his 1-3-4 evening put a 7-3 spanking on Luke Walker and his Portland Winterhawks. It was a solid performance for Cunningham who is in the midst of a breakout season at 13-24-37 in just 27 games which is way ahead of his numbers of last season (28-22-50 in 72 games).

Cunningham (8th in WHL scoring) got his evening going with his 13th goal of the season at 11:53 of the 2nd period to give Vancouver a 3-1 lead. After Luke Walker cut the score to 3-2, it was Cunningham who set up Lance Bouma for what proved to be the game winner at 18:50 of the second period.

Cunningham also had 2 secondary assists on Vancouver power plays as the Giants blew the game open late in the 3rd period.

Third Star Roman Horak

It is safe to say that Roman Horak (2009 5th) is trying to send a message to those who make the selections for the Czech Republic's Under-20 team that he wants on. Even though Horak's Chilliwack Bruin's lost in the shootout 4-3 to the Kamloops Blazers; Horak rightfully earned the game's "Third Star" to earn his 4th game star in his last 5 games.

Horak's 11th goal of the season tied the game at 3-3 at 15:29 of the third period and became the first (and only) Bruin this season to score on his shootout attempt. In Chilliwack's previous 3 shootouts they never got past the 2nd shooter so tonight Marc Habscheild went with Horak as his second shooter.

Horak over his last 5 games is now 5-3-8 +5 as he has risen to third in WHL rookie scoring. Prior to this season, Horak was an unknown to Ranger fans but that is changing very fast. How the Rangers were able to "steal" Horak with a 5th round pick is impressive as this is no one way player as Horak plays a rock solid 2 way game.

The Rest of the Ranger Prospects

As already mentioned Luke Walker (Traverse City) scored for the Portland Winterhawks in their 7-3 loss but what we did not mention was that it was a shorthanded goal (1st of the season) and his 15th overall. Something else to mention is last season Walker was a -17 and so far this season he is up to a +14.

That is a huge turnaround no matter who you play for and here is hoping the Rangers get him under contract before the NHL draft (if they can).

In the Owen Sound/Erie Otter matchup, Mitch Gaulton (2008 6th) was held scoreless ending a 4 game scoring streak (1-4-5). Gaulton's game has improved but we still want to see more goals from him.

Luke Pither (Traverse City) had an assist to extend his own scoring streak to 4 games as his Barrie Colts won their 11th straight game 4-2 over the Saginaw Spirit. Pither is now 18-18-36 which puts him in 5th in the OHL scoring race.

Daniel Maggio (2009 6th) had a rough night taking 2 different minors as his Sudbury Wolves gave the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors 10 power plays (3 that the Majors scored on) enroute to a 5-1 loss. The Majors outshot the Wolves 54-20 in a game that wound up getting out of hand due to the lack of discipline from the Wolves who had 21 penalties called on them.

Chris Doyle (2008 5th) did not score but went 6-3 on his faceoffs and was credited for one good hit as his Prince Edward Island Rocket jumped out to a 3-0 lead then held on for a 3-2 win over the Chicoutimi Saguenéens.

Carl Hagelin's (2007 6th) 5th goal of the season got the 15th ranked Michigan Wolverines going as they defeating Bowling Green 4-1 to end a 5 game losing streak. Hagelin's goal just 2:18 into the game helped give the Wolverines some jump as they ended their worst losing streak in 21 years.

Ryan McDonagh (2009 Trade) and Derek Stepan (2008 2nd) each earned secondary assists as their 16th ranked Wisconsin Badgers used their penalty kill to power themselves to a 4-1 win over St. Cloud State. The Badgers killed 7 out of 7 St. Cloud power plays and held the Huskies to just 19 shots on the game.

McDonagh recorded his 7th assist on the season while Stepan's assist was his 6th.

Chris Kreider (2009 1st) was scoreless as his 18th ranked Boston College Eagles settled for a 3-3 tie against the Maine Black Bears. Kreider had a quiet game for the Eagles who came away with 3 points from the 2 game set.

Max Campbell (2007 5th) and his Western Michigan Broncos on the scoreboard played top ranked Miami of Ohio to a 3-3 overtime tie (WMU lost the shootout 2-1 and did not get the extra point). Campbell did not score but went 7-4 on his faceoffs.

Campbell did miss on his shootout attempt.

(Stajcer courtesy of NHL.com, Cunningham courtesy of the Vancouver Giants, Horak courtesy of the Chilliwack Bruins)

Flyers lose Betts and Powe to injury

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:09:00 -0500

Just when you thought everything was looking up for the Flyers, they lose a pair of games and a pair of players in subsequent days. Philly had won 7 of their last 8 heading into Friday night's game with the Sharks, which they lost 6-3, then they headed to Phoenix on Saturday where they lost 3-1 to the Coyotes. A pair of losses on the road isn't necessarily a terrible thing but the team unfortunately also suffered a pair of significant injuries.Blair Betts has been an unsung player for...

Flyers Downed in PHX, Betts Off'd

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 23:42:30 -0500

We're not going to get too fired up about the officiating tonight because well, we don't feel like it. There was some yelling at the TV, which for some reason was ineffective in changing the outcome. Plus, any game where the Flyers only score one goal against an inferior opponent, the refs aren't the sole reason for the loss. They clearly didn't help our guys out much either, with questionable calls leading to two separate goals, including a phantom offside signal on the go-ah...

To Blind to See The Problem, Sather & Tortorella Need To Open Their Eyes

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:47:55 -0500

For the last past two decades the New York Rangers have went out of their way to hire some of the biggest names in the NHL and spend as much money as they can at the same time...Read the full article on Bleacher Report...

Ethan's Subways Tastes Great

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:34:00 -0500

If the World Under-20 Championships were to start today, there is a good chance that the New York Rangers would not have any of their prospects on the team. Ethan Werek (2009 2nd) is doing his best to change that though and we hope Team Canada gives him a chance to earn a spot.

As we talked about yesterday Werek has caught fire as of late with a 7-4-11 run in his last 6 straight OHL games. Werek has almost doubled his season numbers over the last 2 weeks and is now on a pace to score 47 goals this season if he stays healthy.

Werek was named to the Team OHL roster for just one of the two games in the Subway Super Series as these rosters were set before Werek got hot. They are important because Hockey Canada uses the 6 games played among the 3 Canadian Junior Leagues to decide who earns an invite to the final evaluation camp for the World Under-20s.

Since Werek did not get an invite to the first camp his chances of earning a roster spot or camp invite in all honesty are slim at best. It did not help Werek that last season he was playing on a weak Kingston team but Werek has been a key part of this season's turnaround and hopefully that will be taken into account.

Werek did not play badly against Team Russia as Werek got a primary assist on Taylor Beck's power play goal at 9:06 of the second period. The goal tied the score at 2-2 as Team OHL went on to win 5-2.

If Werek does not make it to Hockey Canada's roster this year then we fully expect him to be a part of it next year. Werek now returns back to his Kingston Frontenacs as they host the Kitchener Rangers on Friday.

It will be interesting to see how well Werek handles 3 games in 3 nights.

In other action, Danny Hobbs (2007 7th) and his 11th ranked UMass Minutemen continued their surprising season by
defeating 9th ranked Yale in a non-conference matchup 4-3 in overtime.

Hobbs had a quiet evening not scoring or even getting off any shots but played another solid game for the Minutemen. It is a huge turnaround for Hobbs from his freshman season where he spent half the season as a healthy scratch.

This season Hobbs has played in every game with a 1-4-5 stat count in 10 games. Hobbs has worked his way up the depth chart to where he has been used as mainly as the 2nd line left wing.

We do see though where his coach Don Cahoon is wanting to see Hobbs show more confidence in his offensive game. Hobbs averages under 2 shots a game and we know him from his days with the Columbus Junior Bluejackets so he should be shooting the puck a lot more than he has been.

It would be nice to see Hobbs continue to improve as he is a very really good young man who is majoring in legal studies.

(Werek courtesy of OHL Images/Aaron Bell, Hobbs courtesy of Dennis Peace)

Really is There Any Difference?

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 02:40:00 -0500

So the New York Rangers gave their fans what they wanted when they fired Tom Renney and replaced him with John Tortorella. Out with the bland and in with the fan favorite.

So are we really seeing anything different besides the talents of Marian Gaborik?

Honestly it is almost like a mirror of last season where we watched the Rangers jump out to a great start and then turn into the leaders of inconsistency. After a 7-1 start to the season; the Rangers have gone 4-8-0-1 ever since then.

We see a lot of the same questions surrounding this team that we did last season such as scoring problems, taking too many bad penalties and even worse Rangers getting run and nobody doing anything about it supposedly because they don't want to take a penalty.

The Tortorella quote that is getting a ton of coverage:

“I thought, for most of the game there, we played. Obviously our biggest weakness is that we are not getting any secondary scoring. We played in surges at times. We held them to 11, 12 scoring chances. We just aren’t creating enough with our secondary scoring.”

For starters you have created a team that has become totally dependent on Marian Gaborik, just like Tom Renney did when he had Jagr on the Ranger roster. Yes I know the Rangers are missing Drury and Dubinsky but as Andrew Gross pointed out neither was sorry when they were healthy.

It is funny how while people love to point out the differences between Tortorella and Renney that they are not seeing how the two coaches are too much alike. It is in this area why we are seeing the ugly side of Ranger's hockey.

Everyone complained that Tom Renney changed his lines around on an almost game by game basis; John Tortorella does it only worse as he will change lines almost every period. Now how exactly can one expect the team to develop scoring when they first need to develop some chemistry with each other.

When you have no idea who is going to be your linemate from one shift to the next then you are going to have problems getting scoring chances unless it is the result of an individual effort like Gaborik for the most part has been. Take away Gaborik and Prospal and this Ranger team is in deep trouble.

No team no matter how much talent they add is going to become a winner until they develop chemistry with each other. It goes back to this annual problem of the Rangers being dependent on free agents to stock their key roster spots not develop them on their own.

You are not going to purchase chemistry as every Ranger fan has seen that since 1997, chemistry is developed over time with players who grow up in the same system together. Until the Rangers learn that lesson we are going to keep seeing quotes about what is wrong from the coach.

Put together lines and give them 2-3 games to see if they can come together as units; swapping them out every other period is not going to work. We are seeing Ryan Callahan being turned into a checking forward after his 22 goal season last year WHY?

Yes it is nice that Callahan is leading the NHL in hits but sorry that is not why he got that bump in pay after last season. It is totally unacceptable that Callahan has just 3 goals in just 21 games as we should be expecting 25-30 this season from him.

Put him where he can be used as a scorer not as a checker as if you want some checkers use the 4th line more than 4 minutes a game. The Rangers are currently built as one scoring line, two very confused lines, and 3 guys who take up close to 3 million dollars of cap space just to have free ice level seating.

Remember how Tortorella told us how much we Ranger fans would love see Brashear protecting his teammates? How Brashear would be a deterrent from people running at the Rangers?

Tom Renney said he never believed in using enforcers but at least Colton Orr was used about 10-12 minutes a night. If Brashear is a better overall player than Orr was then how come we see him only being used for 3-4 minutes a night?

This is not a knock on Brashear cause he can't protect his teammates if he is sitting on the bench for all but 3:47. I may not like the guy but if he is dressed then use him or bring in people you are going to use.

We watched now in back to back games rookie mistakes cost the Rangers, unlike Renney would would never point a finger at the player we saw Tortorella finger point. Sorry coach but point the finger at yourself too because a good teacher of a coach would have already taught his rookies lessons on how to play at the NHL level.

That is why you have Schoeny as one of your assistant coaches instead of hiring a full-time one right?

Yes I know it is only a quarter of the season gone by but all the symptoms from the Tom Renney years are already rearing their ugly heads and Renney is not even here anymore.

There is no excuse for a coach who does a great job talking to get more out of this team. This team has much more talent as a whole that last seasons but it simply is not being used right and the finger there needs to be pointed at the coach.

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Only 1 Ranger prospect in action on Tuesday evening as Tomas Kundratek may have had a quiet evening but his Medicine Hat Tigers still won 4-3 over the Brandon Wheat Kings. The Tigers have put together 4 good efforts and despite all the strange things that have happened to them have found themselves with the 5th best record in the WHL at 13-9-2-3.

(Tortorella courtesy of the New York Rangers)

New York Rangers: From Godsends to God Help Us

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:23:53 -0500

Eighteen games into the Rangers’ season and this is what we’ve seen so far: the effort comes and goes, the scoring comes and goes, the forecheck comes and goes, the backchecking comes and goes and the defense comes and goes. And they’re not very physical, as we saw when no one stood up for Chris [...]