New York Rangers 2008/2009

[SandraC]

OK so the season starts tomorrow, and I haven't been this pessimistic since the first year after the lockout...when I agreed with Sports Illustrated and had us ranked 30th out of 30. We did make the playoffs that year, only to get embarassed Ohio State-style by the Devils, so hopefully I'll be that wrong again.

Losing Jaromir Jagr is quite likely a necessary evil. It was nice having a talent like him that the other team had to center their game plan (and their best defensive forwards) around, but his lazy habits were a lot harder to take when he scored 71 points. Two years ago when he scored 123 points you lived with his deficiencies.

Losing Martin Straka will hurt too, he did all the little things that don't show up in the scorebook except for the 'W' column.

But losing Sean Avery...me oh my is this gonna hurt. You cannot put a price tag on taking the other team off their game. And his speed, great hands, and occasional lazer-like wrist shot will be missed as well.

How painful is it to have your team go to the league quarterfinals, the final eight, then come back five months later looking like an also-ran. Of course we're one of the many teams who, with some breaks, some luck on the injury front, some newcomers stepping right in and contributing, and some newly -acquired veterans rebounding with a change of scenery, can qualify for the playoffs, but goodness that's not where we were in May.

And the Edmonton Genius chomps away on his cigar and laughs at all the stupid Ranger fans who pay his salary. Doesn't even have the decency to grant an interview.

I love to laugh at the Islanders, traveling comedy show that they are, but at least their fans know their team stinks and expect their team to stink for many years to come, so they're not disappointed.

Everyone laughs at their front office but lays off Sather, the guy who has won NOTHING for 25 years.


Sandra

 

[SabresRule]

Sandy, I am also highly skeptical about the Rangers.

They dumped team-player Sean Avery for the soft-as-warm-chocolate-chip-cookie-dough Wade Redden and brought in the past-his-prime Markus Naslund.

You better hope that

A. Drury explodes offensively

B. Henrik Lundgvist singlehandedly can win games for his team

On the bright side, you can look forward to the uniform number retirements of Adam Graves and Andy Bathgate.

 

[patrickpiteo]

OK so the season starts tomorrow, and I haven't been this pessimistic since the first year after the lockout...when I agreed with Sports Illustrated and had us ranked 30th out of 30. We did make the playoffs that year, only to get embarassed Ohio State-style by the Devils, so hopefully I'll be that wrong again.

Losing Jaromir Jagr is quite likely a necessary evil. It was nice having a talent like him that the other team had to center their game plan (and their best defensive forwards) around, but his lazy habits were a lot harder to take when he scored 71 points. Two years ago when he scored 123 points you lived with his deficiencies.

Losing Martin Straka will hurt too, he did all the little things that don't show up in the scorebook except for the 'W' column.

But losing Sean Avery...me oh my is this gonna hurt. You cannot put a price tag on taking the other team off their game. And his speed, great hands, and occasional lazer-like wrist shot will be missed as well.

How painful is it to have your team go to the league quarterfinals, the final eight, then come back five months later looking like an also-ran. Of course we're one of the many teams who, with some breaks, some luck on the injury front, some newcomers stepping right in and contributing, and some newly -acquired veterans rebounding with a change of scenery, can qualify for the playoffs, but goodness that's not where we were in May.

And the Edmonton Genius chomps away on his cigar and laughs at all the stupid Ranger fans who pay his salary. Doesn't even have the decency to grant an interview.

I love to laugh at the Islanders, traveling comedy show that they are, but at least their fans know their team stinks and expect their team to stink for many years to come, so they're not disappointed.

Everyone laughs at their front office but lays off Sather, the guy who has won NOTHING for 25 years.


Sandra

You are soooo right, it's gonna be a long, long year.... Even worse the owner is Little Jimmy Dolan. He ran the Knicks into the ground and the Rangers are next..

 

[SandraC]

You are soooo right, it's gonna be a long, long year.... Even worse the owner is Little Jimmy Dolan. He ran the Knicks into the ground and the Rangers are next..

I would love to blame this on Dolan, but the truth suggests otherwise. There is no reason whatsoever to suggest Dolan is running the Rangers into the ground.

In fact, he's doing what owners should do...giving the GM all the money he wants, staying out of it and leaving all the hockey decisions to the GM. That's a great formula, except...

OUR GM IS AN IDIOT!!!

Credit where credit is due...Sather has drafted well, really well actually (Lundqvist, Dubinsky, Prucha, Callahan, Dawes, Staal, Girardi, Tyutin, Korpikoski, Sanguinetti, del Zotto).

His trade for Jagr a few years ago was a stroke of actual genius. He got the Capitals to pay more than half his salary, and more importantly manipulated it so that the amount the Caps paid went against the Caps salary cap, not ours.

His signing of Shanahan was the right man at the right time. His signing of Avery was even better. Drury and Gomez were no-brainers, but at least Sather used his brain.

And now this. This off-season set us back four years, I'm afraid, with Sather doing everything wrong after he did so many things right. I don't know what happened.


Sandra

 

[bleedblue23]

The plus about this year atleast, is that the team has some well needed youth. To be honest, they looked very old and very slow against the Pens. There is alot of young talent with their forwards that could pan out to be the shot in the arm this team has needed. Avery was my favorite player on the Rangers the past 3 seasons and losing his grit and ability to drive to the net will be missed. But, as you guys said, Drury and Gomez have more space to create, especially when Jagr held onto the puck for too long trying to dodge defenders.

Maybe this year won't be a cup contending year but they can certainly make the playoffs with their roster as is.

P.S. I thank my lucky stars that Sather doesn't coach anymore. That was his smartest move as a GM

 

[darrencp22]

I'm sorry Sandra, but you are crazy. Set back years by not resigning a 37 year old offensively selfish player? He was done. At this point in his career, his poor defense caused almost as many goals as he scored.

Addition by subtraction. Rangers will be better this year than last. The offense was all screwed up as it was geared around a 37 year old player. There was no balance and every team focused on jagr. He made the power play predictable and ineffective. Avery caused lockerroom issues. Defensively they should be just as good as last year, if not better. The young guys on D should mature a bit more. The question is offense. This team will have a better power play and more speed. In theory they should be able to net more goals. The big question is: will Zhevedev (sic) produce.. what of Dawes and Dubinsky? I dont see this team scoring less than last year.

 

[SandraC]

I'm sorry Sandra, but you are crazy. Set back years by not resigning a 37 year old offensively selfish player? He was done. At this point in his career, his poor defense caused almost as many goals as he scored.

Addition by subtraction. Rangers will be better this year than last. The offense was all screwed up as it was geared around a 37 year old player. There was no balance and every team focused on jagr. He made the power play predictable and ineffective. Avery caused lockerroom issues. Defensively they should be just as good as last year, if not better. The young guys on D should mature a bit more. The question is offense. This team will have a better power play and more speed. In theory they should be able to net more goals. The big question is: will Zhevedev (sic) produce.. what of Dawes and Dubinsky? I dont see this team scoring less than last year.

Please re-read my post, I didn't say losing Jagr would set us back years, I said losing him was a necessary evil.

It's Avery I didn't want to lose, and I agree he did cause locker room issues...in the opponents locker room, because he took them off their game. In New York he was such a locker room issue the team's record when he was in the lineup was shockingly better than when he wasn't. We should all have those kind of locker room issues.

It's the questionable signings of Redden and Kalinin that really annoy me though...


Sandra

 

[darrencp22]

Redden you may have a point, but Kalinin, dont worry. It's only a one year deal. We can dump him fairly easy if needed.

 

[SandraC]

OK we're only two games in, but the season did not start out like the disaster I feared. Hank played well in Prague, there was lots of hustle from everyone...including the players I was most worried about, and they severely out-played Tampa in five of the six periods.

No doubt the Bolts may not be the best barometer at the moment, but hey, four points is four points, and hopefully something to build on.

Very much looking forward to the atmosphere at the Garden tonight. I still think we're going to miss Avery not only for the (mostly) good things he did on the ice, but for the mojo he created in the crowd as well. Despite the loss of Avery, however, win or lose this seems like the kind of team the fans will greatly feed off.

Despite some negative connotations of New York fans (mostly espoused by people who know nothing about the City), all we really ask of our athletes is for hard work and an honest effort. Give it your best and we'll do our best to support you. This isn't Philly we're the fans always have a love/hate relationship with their teams.

We'll take John Starks going 1 for 18 in game seven of the finals, because John Starks epitomized hard work. We'll take the Yankees not making the playoffs this year, since they've given their all and made the playoffs the last dozen years. We don't care about payroll...that's for the rest of the country to obsess about. People are having a hard time dealing with the Mets recent collapses, because there is a feeling they didn't do their all to win (Are you listening, Tom Glavine?).

After game four of the Devil series three years ago, when we were totally destroyed and humiliated in four games, Ranger fans gave the team a long and loud standing ovation after the handshake on Garden ice. The feeling was that the team gave us a great season after seven years out of the playoffs, and we didn't hold the sweep against them. Henrik was hurt, Jagr hurt himself trying to punch a Devil in game one, and the rest of the players did what they could.

I have a feeling the crowd is really going to take to this team, and quickly. Wins will help in that regard, but win or lose this seems like a team that will work hard for 60 minutes, is young with a lot of speed, and will create a lot of excitement. Of course if some of the players I've mentioned in past threads play uninspired hockey the crowd will turn on them in a hurry, so let's hope that doesn't happen.

There is nothing like Madison Square Garden when the Rangers are playing well and playing hard...


Sandra

 

[lern4483]

Go Rangers!!! As a transplanted New Yorker living in South Florida I follow them very closely.
I brought in Direc tv just for the Rangers!!!

Not happy about the loss of Avery and Shanahan though.
Sean is exactly the kind of guy to put a spark in our team. Plus annoy the hell out of the other
guys.

Not liking the non moves by Sather? Shanahan is twisting in the wind...Whats up with that??
Not a classey move by Sather.

 

[lern4483]

OK we're only two games in, but the season did not start out like the disaster I feared. Hank played well in Prague, there was lots of hustle from everyone...including the players I was most worried about, and they severely out-played Tampa in five of the six periods.

No doubt the Bolts may not be the best barometer at the moment, but hey, four points is four points, and hopefully something to build on.

Very much looking forward to the atmosphere at the Garden tonight. I still think we're going to miss Avery not only for the (mostly) good things he did on the ice, but for the mojo he created in the crowd as well. Despite the loss of Avery, however, win or lose this seems like the kind of team the fans will greatly feed off.

Despite some negative connotations of New York fans (mostly espoused by people who know nothing about the City), all we really ask of our athletes is for hard work and an honest effort. Give it your best and we'll do our best to support you. This isn't Philly we're the fans always have a love/hate relationship with their teams.

We'll take John Starks going 1 for 18 in game seven of the finals, because John Starks epitomized hard work. We'll take the Yankees not making the playoffs this year, since they've given their all and made the playoffs the last dozen years. We don't care about payroll...that's for the rest of the country to obsess about. People are having a hard time dealing with the Mets recent collapses, because there is a feeling they didn't do their all to win (Are you listening, Tom Glavine?).

After game four of the Devil series three years ago, when we were totally destroyed and humiliated in four games, Ranger fans gave the team a long and loud standing ovation after the handshake on Garden ice. The feeling was that the team gave us a great season after seven years out of the playoffs, and we didn't hold the sweep against them. Henrik was hurt, Jagr hurt himself trying to punch a Devil in game one, and the rest of the players did what they could.

I have a feeling the crowd is really going to take to this team, and quickly. Wins will help in that regard, but win or lose this seems like a team that will work hard for 60 minutes, is young with a lot of speed, and will create a lot of excitement. Of course if some of the players I've mentioned in past threads play uninspired hockey the crowd will turn on them in a hurry, so let's hope that doesn't happen.

There is nothing like Madison Square Garden when the Rangers are playing well and playing hard...


Sandra

Sandra, What a great post!! You are right on the money!!!!

Dont forget Patrick Ewing. That guy was a true warrior. Too bad they ''really'' did n't surround him with a Pippen type player. Ewing deserved a ring for all his efforts.

The Knicks have been an embarrasment ever since hes been gone. Rather post Van Gundy.
Yes, there is hope with the new coach D antoni..But im not sure he has the best players to run his style of basketball.

 

[SabresRule]

Rangers don't exactly have an easy draw in their home opener- they face a Blackhawks team that is a sexy pick to be a playoff threat.

Kane, Toews, Campbell, Seabrook, Keith- Sandy, good luck stopping those weapons!

 

[SandraC]

Rangers don't exactly have an easy draw in their home opener- they face a Blackhawks team that is a sexy pick to be a playoff threat.

Kane, Toews, Campbell, Seabrook, Keith- Sandy, good luck stopping those weapons!

I'll do my best!!!


Sandra

 

[SandraC]

Well, here we are, five games into the season...and I'm not ready to proclaim the Rangers as President's Trophy winners yet...or even a Stanley Cup team.

We all know the NHL landscape is filled with teams that started out on fire and didn't even make the playoffs. There is also a history of teams starting well and winning the Stanley Cup, so obviously anything is possible.

What must be stated, however, is that after five games I can say so far the score is Glen Sather 1, Sandra 0. Or Sather 5, Sandra 0, depending on how you want to look at it...or maybe 6 or 7.

The players I was worried most about, Redden, Kalinin, and Zherdev, have varied from solid to terrific the first five games. I wanted to keep Avery, and not pick up Voros. And I thought we would seriously miss Fedor Tyutin...amongst other things.

Say what you want, the five-game sampling is very small, and the Rangers obviously haven't won anything yet. But after missing the playoffs seven years in a row, I also know these ten points we picked up in the first five games will come in handy in April, whether we're battling for first overall in the conference or league, or a playoff spot.

I reserve the right to change my mind, of course (being a girls and all ), but so far I owe an apology to the Edmonton Gen...or, I mean, our esteemed GM.

Oh, and did I mention Aaron Voros is really cute? He looks like he could be Mike Modano's younger (and much bigger) brother. And both of those are a good thing!!!


Sandra