Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Sunday, April 26, 2009
RANNNT!
Has nothing to do with the outcome of last nights game, hell it barely has anything to do with the incident that took place during the game.
I expected the tool bag Caps fans to act like a bunch of douches over what transpired midway through the third period of last nights game, what I didn't expect was a wave of Rangers fans to act like a bunch of whiny dumb fucks.
Its not a coincidence that a majority of them are Sean Avery fanboys who were already pissed at Tortorella for benching him in game 5 - Guess what - not only did Avery deserve it (not saying it was the right decision, but he did deserve it), it wouldn't have helped us at all if he was in the line up. So seriously, shut the fuck up about Tortorella not setting a good example for this team - hes dealing with grown men, not a bunch of five year olds (though he could probably get a better effort out of a group of 5 year olds than most of this team, but thats besides the point), If they can't decipher whats right and whats wrong or let an incident like this which is a complete non issue when it comes to on ice performance (unlike Avery's two penalties in game 4), disrupt their play then they dont deserve to be here and we've got bigger issues on this team than a coach who throws water bottles, like for example, where the fuck has Scott Gomez been since game one? where the fuck is Nik Zherdev? and of course, where is the mother effin' passion? If anything, I'm sorta glad that Tortorella acted the way he did, maybe it'll rub off on some of the players (with out being overly stupid ala avery in game 4) and take this team out of the pussified lull its been in for pretty much the entire season.
Also, the suspension shouldn't have happened. I understand you cant go around throwing water bottles at people, but in a heated situation where he was provoked, what the hell did you expect him to do? Caps fans are the lowest of the low when it comes to the scum chart of NHL fans. Yes, below Habs fans and yes, below the tool box known as the New Jersey Devils fan base. Still, that doesn't make it so. A heavy fine would have been justifed a suspension is just the NHL trying to hard to make an example.
The game itself was beyond a trainwreck. If you saw it, you know that it needs to explaination. Tomorrow is a MUST WIN for this team. If we lose game 6, we lose the series. Hope our fans give the Caps fucking hell, and I'd still love to see someone dress up as a peanut and tackle Tom Poti on the ice. I expect our best fucking effort of the season tomorrow so we can wrap this up and let all the Caps fans put away their Caps jerseys and dust off their DC United jerseys (I know nothing about the MLS, so if they aren't playing now fuck you, thats not important)
Lastly, I'm going to throw a water bottle at the next person who says the name Braylon Edwards or Anquan Boldin.
I expected the tool bag Caps fans to act like a bunch of douches over what transpired midway through the third period of last nights game, what I didn't expect was a wave of Rangers fans to act like a bunch of whiny dumb fucks.
Its not a coincidence that a majority of them are Sean Avery fanboys who were already pissed at Tortorella for benching him in game 5 - Guess what - not only did Avery deserve it (not saying it was the right decision, but he did deserve it), it wouldn't have helped us at all if he was in the line up. So seriously, shut the fuck up about Tortorella not setting a good example for this team - hes dealing with grown men, not a bunch of five year olds (though he could probably get a better effort out of a group of 5 year olds than most of this team, but thats besides the point), If they can't decipher whats right and whats wrong or let an incident like this which is a complete non issue when it comes to on ice performance (unlike Avery's two penalties in game 4), disrupt their play then they dont deserve to be here and we've got bigger issues on this team than a coach who throws water bottles, like for example, where the fuck has Scott Gomez been since game one? where the fuck is Nik Zherdev? and of course, where is the mother effin' passion? If anything, I'm sorta glad that Tortorella acted the way he did, maybe it'll rub off on some of the players (with out being overly stupid ala avery in game 4) and take this team out of the pussified lull its been in for pretty much the entire season.
Also, the suspension shouldn't have happened. I understand you cant go around throwing water bottles at people, but in a heated situation where he was provoked, what the hell did you expect him to do? Caps fans are the lowest of the low when it comes to the scum chart of NHL fans. Yes, below Habs fans and yes, below the tool box known as the New Jersey Devils fan base. Still, that doesn't make it so. A heavy fine would have been justifed a suspension is just the NHL trying to hard to make an example.
The game itself was beyond a trainwreck. If you saw it, you know that it needs to explaination. Tomorrow is a MUST WIN for this team. If we lose game 6, we lose the series. Hope our fans give the Caps fucking hell, and I'd still love to see someone dress up as a peanut and tackle Tom Poti on the ice. I expect our best fucking effort of the season tomorrow so we can wrap this up and let all the Caps fans put away their Caps jerseys and dust off their DC United jerseys (I know nothing about the MLS, so if they aren't playing now fuck you, thats not important)
Lastly, I'm going to throw a water bottle at the next person who says the name Braylon Edwards or Anquan Boldin.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Heavy is the head that wears the Crown...
RANGERS - 2 caps - 1
The outcome of the game was not indicative of the way the teams played tonight. The caps were the better team for a majority of the game, and have been for the majority of the series . One thing became perfectly clear.
The Rangers have the best goalie in the Conference - King Henrik Lundqvist.
Cam Ward is a great goalie, Marc Andre Flurey is very good when hes on, Tim Thomas gets the job done efficiently,If throwing tantrums was a recorded statistic then Marty would be #1 all time in that too.
Ranking the Goalies
1. Henrik Lundqvist
2. Cam Ward/Marc Andre Flurey
3. Marc Andre Flurey/Cam Ward
4. Tim Thomas
5. Bump-A-Marty-Party
6. Matry Biron
7. Simeon Varlamov
8. Carey Price
If any of these goalies were tending our net in this series, we're most likely in the position the caps are in right now or if we had Price, we would have just played our last game of the season.
Its tough to say that Hank is far and away the best goalie left in the playoffs since Roberto Luongo is also playing pretty fucking well right now for the Canucks. That said, The Canucks were the better team in their series and were expected to win , The Rangers are the underdog here and Lundqvist is one game away from stealing the series and sending the Caps home much earlier than they anticipated.
Outside of Hank, the team played just OK tonight. I was pleased to see that the three forwards with the highest TOI were Ryan Callahan, Brandon Dubinsky and Lauri Korpikoski. Tortorella has a much better feel for his bench than Tom Renney did and played these guys in key spots (I love that hes sending Betts out there to take almost every big face off that we have) and with all the money we've spent on free agents the past few years, its nice to see the home grown core get it done tonight.
Of course there were things I didnt like about tonights game. We continue to give up the blueline way too easily. I understand not wanting to give up odd man rushes in such a tight game but the caps are just as deadly when they get a chance to get their fore check going.
Averys penalties were stupid. I was pissed that the first one got called not because I thought it wasnt worthy of a penalty (it was) but because the Caps got away with so much shit in the 2nd period (and how many pick plays are they going to get away with in this series? this isn't the fucking NBA) but the 2nd penalty he took was in excusable. Hes lucky he didn't draw blood on that high sticking penalty because that would have had us on the PK for the rest of the game which would have eventually been a 6-4 where anything would have been possible. He actually had a pretty good game besides that stuff tonight and is one of the few guys who can actually get a decent cycle started.
Other stuff not related to the game: Michael Del Zotto played his last game of the season as the London Knights were defeated 5-4 in OT and lost the series 4 games to 1 to the Windsor Spitfires who advance to the OHL finals. All 5 games of the series went to OT. Del Zotto is free to sign an ATO and suit up with the Wolfpack for the playoffs. Most of the season had been up and down for Del Zotto but hes been a rock the last two months and arguably London's best player in the playoffs. Recent Rangers signee Matt Gilroy was at the Rangers game tonight. When asked why he signed with the Rangers over other teams who had comprable offers he looked around at the garden crowd and said "this." Gilroy is expected to make his Rangers Debut early next year, probably out of camp.
Next game: Friday @ Washington. Lets wrap this up.
The outcome of the game was not indicative of the way the teams played tonight. The caps were the better team for a majority of the game, and have been for the majority of the series . One thing became perfectly clear.
The Rangers have the best goalie in the Conference - King Henrik Lundqvist.
Cam Ward is a great goalie, Marc Andre Flurey is very good when hes on, Tim Thomas gets the job done efficiently,If throwing tantrums was a recorded statistic then Marty would be #1 all time in that too.
Ranking the Goalies
1. Henrik Lundqvist
2. Cam Ward/Marc Andre Flurey
3. Marc Andre Flurey/Cam Ward
4. Tim Thomas
5. Bump-A-Marty-Party
6. Matry Biron
7. Simeon Varlamov
8. Carey Price
If any of these goalies were tending our net in this series, we're most likely in the position the caps are in right now or if we had Price, we would have just played our last game of the season.
Its tough to say that Hank is far and away the best goalie left in the playoffs since Roberto Luongo is also playing pretty fucking well right now for the Canucks. That said, The Canucks were the better team in their series and were expected to win , The Rangers are the underdog here and Lundqvist is one game away from stealing the series and sending the Caps home much earlier than they anticipated.
Outside of Hank, the team played just OK tonight. I was pleased to see that the three forwards with the highest TOI were Ryan Callahan, Brandon Dubinsky and Lauri Korpikoski. Tortorella has a much better feel for his bench than Tom Renney did and played these guys in key spots (I love that hes sending Betts out there to take almost every big face off that we have) and with all the money we've spent on free agents the past few years, its nice to see the home grown core get it done tonight.
Of course there were things I didnt like about tonights game. We continue to give up the blueline way too easily. I understand not wanting to give up odd man rushes in such a tight game but the caps are just as deadly when they get a chance to get their fore check going.
Averys penalties were stupid. I was pissed that the first one got called not because I thought it wasnt worthy of a penalty (it was) but because the Caps got away with so much shit in the 2nd period (and how many pick plays are they going to get away with in this series? this isn't the fucking NBA) but the 2nd penalty he took was in excusable. Hes lucky he didn't draw blood on that high sticking penalty because that would have had us on the PK for the rest of the game which would have eventually been a 6-4 where anything would have been possible. He actually had a pretty good game besides that stuff tonight and is one of the few guys who can actually get a decent cycle started.
Other stuff not related to the game: Michael Del Zotto played his last game of the season as the London Knights were defeated 5-4 in OT and lost the series 4 games to 1 to the Windsor Spitfires who advance to the OHL finals. All 5 games of the series went to OT. Del Zotto is free to sign an ATO and suit up with the Wolfpack for the playoffs. Most of the season had been up and down for Del Zotto but hes been a rock the last two months and arguably London's best player in the playoffs. Recent Rangers signee Matt Gilroy was at the Rangers game tonight. When asked why he signed with the Rangers over other teams who had comprable offers he looked around at the garden crowd and said "this." Gilroy is expected to make his Rangers Debut early next year, probably out of camp.
Next game: Friday @ Washington. Lets wrap this up.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
His boy Gilroy
Ok, so this one kinda sorta came out of left field though if you know Glen Sather, it really shouldn't be a surprise...
Gilroy ,24, an undrafted free agent and Long Island native drew interest from nearly every team in the league and received six serious offers before choosing to take the Rangers 2 year, 3.5 million dollar offer.
I personally have seen Matt Gilroy play a grand total of one time - and that was the national championship game against Miami of Ohio. He left one hell of an impression on me and everyone else when he made a hell of a play to set up the game tying goal with less than 30 seconds left which you can see 1:35 into this video.
Poise, awareness and tremendous vision - thats a tough play to make in a regular game, but to have the presence of mind to pull that off in a championship game with the clock dwindling down is special. Most guys would have just closed their eyes and blasted it.
Aside from that, there is no question that he can skate and pass the puck. He killed penalties and Quarterbacked the power play at BU. He was also the captain of the team and has tremendous leadership qualities (cut from the same deck as Chris Drury, another BU alum, in that regard.)
On draft day last year, I preferred John Carlson over Michael Del Zotto because Carlson to me, was an extremely well rounded player who didn't really excell at one single thing but was above average in everything. I'm hoping the Rangers found that with Gilroy.
Perhaps the most comforting thing about this whole deal is that John Tortorella actually pushed for it to happen. Tortorella was able to evaluate Gilroy during a camp for Team USA last year prior to the World Championships and really liked his game. After seeing what Tortorella did for Dan Boyle, its hard not to get excited here.
Whats interesting is look at the types of defensemen we've added the last few years.
Bobby Sanguinetti - can skate, can move the puck
Michael Del Zotto - can skate, can move the puck
Tomas Kundratek- can skate, can move the puck
Matt Gilroy...
You get the picture.
This was after adding two guys in Marc Staal and Michael Sauer, who are more shut down types in the same draft, and signing Dan Girardi who has shown to be a very solid 4-6 guy.
We're building one hell of a dynamic blueline. I think that with this signing, one or perhaps even two of our defensive prospects can be moved for a good draft pick or forward prospect that we really need (Outside of Grachev and Anisimov, we don't have much there though Derek Stepan is a pretty good prospect.)
The best part of the deal? while Gilroy will get his money regardless of what happens, if he doesn't play a certain amount of games, he doesn't count against the cap! Thats right, if we find out that the dude can't hack it in the NHL, he plays a couple of years in Hartford while adding a few digits to his bank account courtesy of Dolan. If he does work out we'll have a top 4 guys signed for two years at the rate of a bottom pairing player. This is a win/win situation as far as that is concerned.
Heres to hoping that Gilroy becomes this teams Dan Boyle, lord knows we could use a player like that.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Playoff Edition! Rangers - 4 Capitals - 3
Rangers - 4 Capitals - 3
I said it before the series and I'll say it again - the Caps are going to need to average more than 3 goals a game this series because the Rangers will do the same. The Caps got to the three mark but could not find that fourth goal, despite being the better team for a majority of the game. There were two players who contributed to the out come of this game, Henrik Lundqvist and Jose Theodore.
Lundqvist, despite giving up three goals was excellent tonight. He faced a ton of heat in the first period and held the caps scoreless and was beaten on shots that he had little to no chance on. Jose Theodore on the other hand gave up an extremely soft, Carey Price esque type goal to Gomez which allowed us to get back into the game once they scored and was out of position on both the Antropov and Naslund goals. The Brandon Dubinsky goal wasn't on him at all, but still, he needed to make a big stop for his team on atleast one of those goals and he wasn't able to, I have a feeling that will be the story of this series.
That said, we played an awful game tonight. Whats with this passive shit? Did Tom Renney put on a John Tortorella costume and get behind the bench tonight? We made it way to fucking easy for the Caps to gain the blue line and get their cycle going. The offense flashed some signs of life at times, but not often enough. One thing that became evident to me is that we need to generate most of our offense in this series via the transition (guess how we scored 3 of our 4 goals tonight?) The Gomez goal? came off a turn over where we took it the other way, got an odd man rush and scored. The Nasulnd goal? Gomez caugh the caps in a bad change, created a partial odd man rush and we scored. The Dubinsky goal? Caught the Caps D on the ice after a long PP shift and scored. The Caps continously get all five of their players in on the offense. When you stand them up at the top of your own zone and most of those guys are either at the same level or behind you guess what? You'll have the oppurtunity to create a bunch of odd man rushes the other way. If we pull that off in Game two, we'll go back to the Garden up 2-0 in this series.
My keys to the series were...
Henrik Lundqvist - Check
Capitalize on mistakes and score on them - Check
Stay the fuck out of the penalty box....
Ok, so we didn't get much help from the Refs on a few of those calls but they weren't all bad calls. We are not going to win many games where we give the Caps seven chances on the power play. The worst thing the Refs did today was miss the elbow/charge on Sjostrom by Mike Green, that was an extremely dirty play that should be reviewed by the league and really reinforced my desire to draft Zack Kassian in this years draft. All in all we played a sub par game against the third best home team in the NHL at their barn with shoddy officating and without or captian... and won.
3 up 3 down
1. Brandon Dubinsky - What a move on that game winner. Scored 3 goals in the last two games and looks like hes found his game. He was a very good playoff last year, hope he continues to build on that.
2. Wade Redden/Michael Rozsival - This tandem scared me the most going up against the caps and they were our strongest pair tonight, well done.
3. Henrik Lundqvist - We'll go as far as he takes us. If this is what we have to look forward to, we'll go pretty far.
3 down
1. Nik Zherdev - where the fuck were you tonight?
2. Marcus Naslund - Three awful penalties and just a really dumb behind the back pass on a 2-1. He had 2 points today but that doesn't reflect how this game was for him, he was terrible.
3. Mike Green - The Marcus Naslund of the Washington Capitals (atleast for this game.) He had 2 points but was also a minus 2. I dont think I've ever seen him look worse.
Next Game: Saturday @ 1 PM EST. We win this game and the series is pretty much ours.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Happy Playoff Birth!
Rangers -2 Flyers -1
Once we got this close I knew we'd get it done...
Though it wasn't as easy as I expected it to be.
For one day, you can say that the hockey Gods were on our side. The first goal should have been waved off because there is no doubt Biron had control of the puck (Maybe the refs were giving us a sample of what it feels like to be the Pittsburgh Penguins) and Daniel Briere rang a shot off the cross bar late in the third period which would have tied the game. The Flyers outworked us for 60% of the game which was way to much.
Between the gifts from the Gods was a spectacular save by Lundqvist that maintained the Ranger lead. Hank was as focused as hes been all year tonight. The performance he had tonight is what gives me hope that maybe we can do something special in the post season if he can string together a few months of play like that.
I'm still waiting to see this team hit that extra gear. Maybe they'll decide to turn it up come playoff time. Maybe Nik Zherdev is just like Alex Kovalev and is money in the post season, maybe Chris Drury does to some other team what he did to us two seasons ago, mabye Wade Redden is forgiven for showing us a level of suckitude that we aren't to fond of seeing by scoring a few big goals.
The Stanley Cup playoffs are easily the most unpredictable post season of any of the major sports, though huge shockers are extremely rare, and the Rangers getting as far as the Eastern Conference Finals would be a huge shocker.
Getting to the Stanley cup Finals would be nearly impossible.
But hey, you can't get laid if you aren't at the party.
3 up
1. Chris Drury - Hes been awesome the last two games. Notched two assists tonight and was visible on the PK.
2. Ryan Callahan - Its no coinsidence that Drury's played better since Callahan has been moved to his line. Scored his 22nd goal of the season tonight and had the primary assist on the other goal. Hes easily been our best forward for a long while.
3. Henrik Lundqvist - I feel that sometimes hank gets voted as one of the three stars of the game just because he is Hank. He deserved it tonight. That save he made on Carcillo sprung up memories of Mike Richter.
3 Down
1. Florida Panthers - Its a shame, I thought they'd sneak in and the Habs would choke. Now they're going to lose Jay-Bo for nothing.
2. Montreal Canadiens - What a bunch of fuck bags. These guys might be the worst team to ever make the NHL playoffs (no I'm not series, I just really don't like the Habs)
3. Jim Dolan - Id hate for this asshole to get more un deserving dollars than he already does. He'll make a few extra bucks in a weeks time.
Next game: At Philadelphia. Expect Vally to start. expect mild intensity. Expect Orr to get PP time. Hopefully the pens take care of the Habs in PP fest 2k9 so we don't have to get a point to finish 7th.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Rangers - 3 Habs - 1, a post dedicated to Callahan
Prior to the game, Ryan Callahan was awarded with the Steven Mcdonald extra effort award which is given to the player who goes above and beyond the call of duty on the ice.
His performance in this game showed why he deserved the award.
Drury got first star honors but he doesn't score either of his goals with out the work of Callahan. I've tried to temper my expectations on Callahan. When he was signed to a pro contract I wasnt too thrilled since he was an OHL overager who never really put up serious points until his overage year. He put up 30+ goals as a rookie in Hartford and got the call up to the NHL late in the year but I thought he was one of those guys who score because he was too fast for the AHL.
What I learned about Callahan over the last few years is that he is one of the few players you don't have to worry about showing up - he is going to bring it every single time hes out there. I never thought it'd happen but...
His point production is starting to match his effort.
Its no secret that Tortorella had a favorite player in Tampa who he took under his wing and well, turned into a fucking awesome player - that guy was Brad Richards and it seems like Callahan has been adopted into that role. Now Ryan Callahan does not have Brad Richards upside, but what he does have, In Tortorella's mind, is 30-35 goal upside.
Forget the number 35 for a second and just think about 30 - on the surface that sounds like it'd be on the pretty optimistic side for Callahan right?
Now think of the way hes scored this year.
Does he Drive to the front of the net? Yes
Has he sniped from between the Circles ? Yes
can he score off the rush? Yes
Has he produced with everyone hes played with? Yes
These things have all been visible under Tortorella.
Even though its a pretty small sample size, Ryan Callahan has been producing at a 38 goal, almost-point-a-game pace under Tortorella.
It'd be unrealistic to expect that to hold up for a whole season, atleast the points part. Callahan isn't a visionary wizard on the ice. The way he gets his assist is by doing hard work and grinding (as evidienced by both his assists tonight.) its really tough to rack up 45+ assists that way in this league.
But whats stopping him from becoming a 30-30 guy? Tortorella sees it in him, and if its there, You can bet Callahan will work his ass off to make it happen.
As for the game itself: one thing that was obvious to me is how much the Habs suck. How the fuck is this a playoff team? They're soft in goal, they're soft up front... they're a fucking paper Tygress...
thats right, they're a bunch of pussies.
Other Notes: Rangers need 1 win or a Panther regulation loss to clinch playoff spot. Montreal closes their season with games at Boston and at home against Pittsburgh so the 7th spot is not out of the question. Evgeny Grachev had a goal and an assist in a 4-3 loss to Missisagua in the OHL playoffs. The series is tied at 2 and will conclude on Sunday at the latest. An exit for Brampton and we'll see Grachev in Hartford next week.
Next Game - Thursday Vs Flyers. The Garden will be rocking and I'll be shocked if the Rangers do not win this game. The Flyers have something to play for (Home Ice) but there is just too much at stake in this game and the team will feed off this energy. Hell. I'll be shocked if this game is close.
Though if we lose and Florida wins against Atlanta, I'm still down with operation draft as high as we can.
If/when we clinch a playoff spot, I'll do a playoff preview/draft preview shortly afterwards.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
A Moment of Clarity...
There were a few things that became very visible after the Rangers lost to the Bruins yesterday...
1. Glen Sather did a really shitty job putting a Roster together
2. Tom Renney was kept around wayyy to long
3. We're better off missing the playoffs this year.
Now I will never willingly root for my team to lose, I leave that to the poor Islander fans who desperately want to land Tavares despite the fact that they will no longer have a team to root for in the not so distant future.
But lets get real here. Can the Rangers give a team like the Bruins, Capitals or Devils a series? Sure they can. Could they win a series against any of those teams? You Betcha...
Are they going to come out of the East?
I have a better chance of getting a hand job from Jessica Alba while Megan Fox sucks my nuts and Hayden Panetierre sits on my face.
Even if we make it to the 2nd round, our run most likely ends there. If we were to some how make it a round further than that we'd get pasted by who ever is left (unless it was Montreal.) My point is, by making the playoffs we'd be playing the role of spoiler on a bigger stage but thats pretty much it.
And we want to become one of those teams that we'd be trying to spoil the party for right? Thats not even a question, of course we do.
Best way to do that as it stands right now is through the draft and SMART free agent signings. Glen Sathers free agent signings have been as logical as masturbating with sandpaper glued to your hands and just as painful.
So if we aren't going to get that right, we might as well hit a home run through the draft.
Our drafts after the lockout have been a surprising success, even if it is just a mild one. Every single one of our first round draft picks since 2005 should see time with the Rangers except for our pick in 2007, who of course was Cherepanov (RIP.) Our drafts from 2005-07 saw us take guys like Artem Anisimov and Michael Sauer in the 2nd round, showing that our scouting staff was willing to take a risk on first round talent that fell in the draft for one reason (Russian transfer agreement) or another (Injuries)
Though, a mild success isn't nearly good enough when you're fucking up with free agents as much as Slats has/is.
Heres the one positive - the 2008 draft was one of the best we've had in a long time, maybe ever. Our top pick, Michael Del Zotto, is currently leading all defensemen in scoring in the OHL playoffs (even outscoring the God of Islander fans idolatry and teammate John Tavares so far), 2nd round pick Derek Stepan finished up a very strong freshman season at the University of Wisconsin and has drawn comparisons from Head Coach Mike Eaves (Dad of Former BC Golden Eagle Ben Eaves and current Carolina Hurrican Patrick Eaves) to Former Badger Joe Pavelski (2nd liner on the Sharks) and selected Evgeny Grachev with their 3rd round pick who has taken the OHL by Storm and projects to be a first line impact winger (Please be our Jeff Carter.)
In a few words, our 2008 draft rocked.
We have to keep that trend going. Its not an option, If Sather is going to throw money around like a wanna be wall street hot shot then we better be able to develop some of our own cost controlled talent.
Finishing out of the playoffs in what would probably be the 9th spot in the east (maybe 10th if we really tank it and Buffalo wins a few) and that would give us the 14th pick in the draft. That should be plenty high enough to select one of five or six guys I really like (Kassian, Holland, Ellis, Morin,Ferraro) but the best thing to do would be to trade up a few spots to get Scott Glennie who has drawn comparisons to Mike Gartner and Teemu mother effing Selanne.
I'd also love to find a way to get another first round pick in this years draft so we could select one of the other guys on my list (Kassian if you want a Lucic type, Morin if you want to add a potential of 80 goals to our top 6 one day) but the point of all of this is....
We NEED to draft well, and it starts by drafting as high as we can in what is the deepest draft since 2003 where every single teams first round draft pick made the NHL except for one team and that was...
Yeah, ours. But we've gotten our shit straight since then, now lets take full advantage of that.
1. Glen Sather did a really shitty job putting a Roster together
2. Tom Renney was kept around wayyy to long
3. We're better off missing the playoffs this year.
Now I will never willingly root for my team to lose, I leave that to the poor Islander fans who desperately want to land Tavares despite the fact that they will no longer have a team to root for in the not so distant future.
But lets get real here. Can the Rangers give a team like the Bruins, Capitals or Devils a series? Sure they can. Could they win a series against any of those teams? You Betcha...
Are they going to come out of the East?
I have a better chance of getting a hand job from Jessica Alba while Megan Fox sucks my nuts and Hayden Panetierre sits on my face.
Even if we make it to the 2nd round, our run most likely ends there. If we were to some how make it a round further than that we'd get pasted by who ever is left (unless it was Montreal.) My point is, by making the playoffs we'd be playing the role of spoiler on a bigger stage but thats pretty much it.
And we want to become one of those teams that we'd be trying to spoil the party for right? Thats not even a question, of course we do.
Best way to do that as it stands right now is through the draft and SMART free agent signings. Glen Sathers free agent signings have been as logical as masturbating with sandpaper glued to your hands and just as painful.
So if we aren't going to get that right, we might as well hit a home run through the draft.
Our drafts after the lockout have been a surprising success, even if it is just a mild one. Every single one of our first round draft picks since 2005 should see time with the Rangers except for our pick in 2007, who of course was Cherepanov (RIP.) Our drafts from 2005-07 saw us take guys like Artem Anisimov and Michael Sauer in the 2nd round, showing that our scouting staff was willing to take a risk on first round talent that fell in the draft for one reason (Russian transfer agreement) or another (Injuries)
Though, a mild success isn't nearly good enough when you're fucking up with free agents as much as Slats has/is.
Heres the one positive - the 2008 draft was one of the best we've had in a long time, maybe ever. Our top pick, Michael Del Zotto, is currently leading all defensemen in scoring in the OHL playoffs (even outscoring the God of Islander fans idolatry and teammate John Tavares so far), 2nd round pick Derek Stepan finished up a very strong freshman season at the University of Wisconsin and has drawn comparisons from Head Coach Mike Eaves (Dad of Former BC Golden Eagle Ben Eaves and current Carolina Hurrican Patrick Eaves) to Former Badger Joe Pavelski (2nd liner on the Sharks) and selected Evgeny Grachev with their 3rd round pick who has taken the OHL by Storm and projects to be a first line impact winger (Please be our Jeff Carter.)
In a few words, our 2008 draft rocked.
We have to keep that trend going. Its not an option, If Sather is going to throw money around like a wanna be wall street hot shot then we better be able to develop some of our own cost controlled talent.
Finishing out of the playoffs in what would probably be the 9th spot in the east (maybe 10th if we really tank it and Buffalo wins a few) and that would give us the 14th pick in the draft. That should be plenty high enough to select one of five or six guys I really like (Kassian, Holland, Ellis, Morin,Ferraro) but the best thing to do would be to trade up a few spots to get Scott Glennie who has drawn comparisons to Mike Gartner and Teemu mother effing Selanne.
I'd also love to find a way to get another first round pick in this years draft so we could select one of the other guys on my list (Kassian if you want a Lucic type, Morin if you want to add a potential of 80 goals to our top 6 one day) but the point of all of this is....
We NEED to draft well, and it starts by drafting as high as we can in what is the deepest draft since 2003 where every single teams first round draft pick made the NHL except for one team and that was...
Yeah, ours. But we've gotten our shit straight since then, now lets take full advantage of that.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Fantasy GM
Had some down time today and did a little fantasy GM for next year.
here is how i break it down if my name was glen sather, based on what the cap is now, whether it goes down and how much we'll see...
10 players on the current roster are under contract for next season for a grand total of 42.059 million dohlers.
Scott Gomez=7.357
Chris Drury=7.050
Henrik Lundqvist= 6.875
Wade Redden=6.5
Michal Rozsival=5
Markus Naslund=4
Sean Avery=1.9
Dan Girardi=1.55
Aaron Voros=1
Marc Staal=.827
My plan would be Voros to Hartford unless you can find someone to take him. Trade Rozy because he is the only tradable guy from those top 6. That would free up 6 million total which brings us now to $36.059 million.
Now lets take care of the more important RFAs first.
Nikolai Zherdev is currently making $2.5....say he gets $3.5 to be fair.
Lauri Korpikoski is currently making $1.018...say he gets about $1.1.
Fredrik Sjostrom is currently making $.840...say he gets $1.0
Brandon Dubinsky is currently making $.633...bump that up to at least $2.5
Ryan Callahan is currently making $.575...same as dubi...$2.5
That now brings us to...$46.659 with just 13 players
the UFAs:
Derek Morris is currently making $3.917....adios, nothing against him but there is no room for a 6th defenseman making almost 4 mil
Nik Antropov is currently making $2.05...I say he gets a minimum of $4 unless he goes open market i bet someone takes him for more.
Paul Mara is currently making $1.95...he seems to want to stay and will take less like last year
Stephen Valiquette is currently making $.75...he takes the same or less or he's gone, you can get plenty of backups to play 10-15 games a year for less
Blair Betts is currently making $.615...he seems to be getting noticed around the league more and i say someone pays him over a mil and he's gone, if not $1 for him to stay.
Colton Orr is currently making $.538..600k for him no problem.
that now gives us $54.959 for 18 players
add michael sauer & Corey Potter as the 5th & 6th d-man to bring it to 20 players and $56.349
Of course you might have sanguinetti at .883, grachev at .875, anisimov at .850, and delzotto
so i guess we'll see what happens
Id do anything I could to move Naslund. He has a NMC so that could really be the big factor that causes him to stick in NY but hopefully Slats can convince him to waive it. Finding a team that wants him is probably the bigger issue, but I'm sure someone out there is looking for 20 goals. His contract isn't a must to clear this year, but It'd be really nice if we could move him.
Rozsival shouldn't be that tough to move. I'll take what ever anyone is willing to give up for him as long as little to no salary is coming back the other way.
I don't think Dubinsky or Callahan will get 2.5. A good comparable for Dubi would be someone like Alex Burrows (4 years, 8 mill) and I'd venture to say that Cally would probably be signed for about the same if not a little bit less (for all the talk of how big of a slump Dubinsky is/was in, hes still out producing Callahan points wise this year.) 4 year contracts for both would be great.
I take Zherdev to arbitration with the risk of losing him to RFA/KHL. I'd do this for the sole reason that I don't think he will get too big of a raise and Id say there is a good chance he wouldn't se a cent over 3 mill. If a team wants to give him an offer sheet I wouldn't match it, I'll take the first and third round pick - It'd probably come from a team that isn't that good to begin with. I'm on the same page as you with the other RFA's.
For the UFA's.
Antropov is the one MUST sign on the list IMO. That may change over the next few weeks/months but from the way I see it, I do everything I can to keep him. I'd try to get him at 3.5 per a year but the 4 you listed him at is probably more realistic.
I'd bring back Mara at the same rate or a slight raise from what hes being paid this year (not a cent over 2.1) if not I'll let both he and Morris walk. There are going to be plenty of solid bottom paring guys out there who can be had for less (Steve Montador would be a great replacement, perhaps even an upgrade)
I have a feeling both Betts and Orr will be gone. Vally will be here as long as Benoit Allaire is here.
Now here is what Id like to see happen, and its atleast some what realistic, though some things would have to break right - basically its pretty optimistic but not impossible.
Lets assume for a second that Rozsival and Naslund are moved with no salary coming back (9 mill cleared) and none of our UFAs or RFA's have been resigned - as you stated we'd stand with 8 players signed for a total of 31.059, giving us some decent room to work with.
Add Dubinsky at 2 mill
Add Callahan at 2 mill
Korpikoski at 1.1 mill
Sjostrom at 1 mill
Thats 6.1 mill and the salary is up to 37.159 for 12 players
a bottom paring guy (Mara, Montador, etc) is signed at 2 mill per a year
Both Sauer and Del Zotto make the team next year (.883+.625)= 1.508
The defense is set at an addition of 3.508, bringing the total to 40.667 for 15 players.
We'll give Antropov his 4 here, and re up orr and vally at .600 and .750.
We're up to 46.017 for 18 players.
As it stands our lines would look like this
?-Gomez-?
Antropov-?-Drury
Avery-Dubinsky-Callahan
Sjostrom-?-Korpikoski
Staal-Girardi
Redden-Sauer
UFA-Del Zotto
Vally
Lundqvist
Ex Fwd - Orr
We have about 8-10 million (depending on what happens with the cap) to fill 4 spots and here is where it gets interesting. Those ?'s left on Gomez's wings were left there purposely, ditto shifting Drury to wing. I'll do two hypothetical lineups after im done filling in the spots.
Under Tortorella, the 4th line barely plays any minutes and as good of a penalty killer as betts is, its pointless to keep him around just for that reason alone. You can fill that spot with a number of kids in Hartford who can play there for around .575 (Tom Pyatt?)
Total 46.592
Grachev finishes this year on a torrid pace and makes the team next year (.833) and a total of 47.425.
Artem Anisimov, who is a fantastic face off guy slides into the second line center roll. Its also possible that the dude ends up playing on the third line. I kind of worry about how much of a chance Tortorella will give him since he isn't a very fast skater but he does great work down low and his size should open up even more space for Drury. Anisimov is due .850
48.275
Now we're left with some options here. We can re sign Zherdev at the 3 mill hes probably going to get in arbitration and finish with a total cap of slightly over 50 mill, which gives us a ton of flexibility and hope that he finally puts it together...
Or we can really roll the dice and give Gomez another fast, high scoring winger by signing Gaborik for one year (he won't get more than a 2 year deal I assure you) at 7 mill, which would bring our cap up to 55.275 giving us virtually no room. What I do know is that Gaborik, Gomez, Grachev would give Gomez two guys who can keep up with him (they're both faster than him North-South) and shoot the puck on his wings, a deadly fast north south line that would be hell to play against. I'd bite the bullet and even give Gaborik a 2 or 3 year deal if the Rangers are set on buying Redden out after the 2009-10 season.
Hypothetical lineups
Grachev-Gomez-Gaborik
Antropov-Anisimov-Drury
Avery-Dubinsky-Callahan
Sjostrom-Pyatt-Korpikoski
Ex. Orr
Staal-Girardi
Redden-Sauer
Mara/Montador/UFA-DelZotto
Lundqvist
Vally
Or...
Grachev-Gomez-Gaborik
Antropov-Drury-Avery
Dubinsky-Anisimov-Callahan
Sjostrom-Pyatt-Korpikoski
Everything else would be the same.
Audio - Why I want to sign Gaborik, This sort of ties the whole post together so give it a listen!
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Carolina - 4 Rangers -2
I might as well have had high expectations for this game because the outcome let me down as if I did.
I said in my last entry that I didn't expect to win this game - That didn't change. When the game was tied 2-2 going into the third I was just hoping for a point. When we got through the 10 minute mark of the 3rd I thought we'd accomplish that.
I should have known better.
That third period was pretty much indicative of what third periods have been under Tortorella. I don't think its a coaching thing as much as its a conditioning issue (which is why Torts runs the most physically taxing fall camp in hockey) and these guys were playing Renney hockey for almost the whole year - its hard to adjust this late in the year.
The only sliver lining of this game - alteast the 4th goal wasnt the one that broke the tie.
3 up
1. Ryan Callahan - Again, he was around the puck, got an assist, could have scored like 6 goals tonight but came up with nothing.
2. Blair Betts - Excellent job on the PK and broke up 3 plays by himself after an awful giveaway by Orr (why does he ever play in the third)
3. That blonde behind Tortorella - if you watched the game you know what im talking about
3 down
1. Nik Antropov - Worst game as a ranger yet. 1.5 of the goals against were on him
2. Wade Redden - the other .5 of the third goal was on him. I dont think hes ever looked slower
3. Kluivert4ever - no explaination needed.
Next game - Saturday at Boston. I can see this one going either way. I feel better about playing the Bruins than playing the Hurricanes. Thank God there is virtually no way we'll see the Canes in the playoffs (if we make it) in round 1.
I said in my last entry that I didn't expect to win this game - That didn't change. When the game was tied 2-2 going into the third I was just hoping for a point. When we got through the 10 minute mark of the 3rd I thought we'd accomplish that.
I should have known better.
That third period was pretty much indicative of what third periods have been under Tortorella. I don't think its a coaching thing as much as its a conditioning issue (which is why Torts runs the most physically taxing fall camp in hockey) and these guys were playing Renney hockey for almost the whole year - its hard to adjust this late in the year.
The only sliver lining of this game - alteast the 4th goal wasnt the one that broke the tie.
3 up
1. Ryan Callahan - Again, he was around the puck, got an assist, could have scored like 6 goals tonight but came up with nothing.
2. Blair Betts - Excellent job on the PK and broke up 3 plays by himself after an awful giveaway by Orr (why does he ever play in the third)
3. That blonde behind Tortorella - if you watched the game you know what im talking about
3 down
1. Nik Antropov - Worst game as a ranger yet. 1.5 of the goals against were on him
2. Wade Redden - the other .5 of the third goal was on him. I dont think hes ever looked slower
3. Kluivert4ever - no explaination needed.
Next game - Saturday at Boston. I can see this one going either way. I feel better about playing the Bruins than playing the Hurricanes. Thank God there is virtually no way we'll see the Canes in the playoffs (if we make it) in round 1.
Telfer Commits to USC
2010 TE Randal Telfer committed to the Trojans last night. That gives USC 3 commits for the class of 2010.
This is actually my first USC post in this blog which is pretty weird since they're the team I probably follow the closest out of the three this blog is dedicated to, though thats because its the off season and spring ball just got started.
On another USC related note - Fuck you Tim Floyd
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