Our former coach is a head coach again. Congratulations Tom Renney on being promoted to replace good ol' Pat Quinn. Quinn is now going to be the Oilers senior adviser. Edmonton was 27-48-8 last season which put them 33 points below the playoff cutoff in the Western Conference. Good luck with that Renney. Tom Renney becomes just the 10th head coach in Oilers' franchise history.

I was glad to see him go when he did - but we all still have love for Renney. We could talk all day about how hard he worked to be not just a coach but a real support for the entire franchise. At least Larry Brooks misses him. =)

Source - Yahoo! Sports and the Oilers official NHL website

Brace yourselves. Here's the official NHL news here.

Terms are all but official right now. TSN and Andrew Gross report "Atlanta Thrashers receive John Oduya, forwards Niclas Bergfors and Patrice Cormier and a first round pick." Wow - I think that's much better for the Devils than the amount the Rangers were reported they had to bargain with.

I must say I was a little overwhelmed the last few minutes before he was traded. To be offered so much money by a team who's fans adore him, just to turn it down. He's that city's hero - many times the only hero they had on that team - and to be offered an absurd amount of money just to snuff it away. All those fans in Kovalchuk jerseys and he walks away.I hope that if I was ever in his shoes (skates I guess) I wouldn't be so selfish.

Of course, that's how teams get Gaborik too partly. And a big reminder of 'Welcome to Sports' on my part.

Reported by Puck Daddy here.

All the rumors and all the speculation can now come to an end. Ilya Kovalchuk has finally been traded. Atlanta sent the Russian sniper to New Jersey in exchange for a package yet to be announced after days of speculation that a deal would go down.

Kevin Allen of USA Today alerted the world earlier this evening that a deal would go down and it would happen tonight. At 7:30 p.m., Allen confirmed that it was the Devils who made the best offer to Thrashers GM Don Waddell. 

As Wysh broke down the contenders this morning, he noted that New Jersey has quietly been in the mix for Kovalchuk and with Thrashers associate GM Rick Dudley in attendance at a Lowell Devils game in New Jersey last night, signs began pointing towards Lou Lamoriello pulling the trigger on a deal. 

More information coming as the package heading to Atlanta is revealed.

After posting 4 points in 4 preseason games, the Calgary Flames decided against the former Ranger and released Theo Fleury in their latest roster cut.

Likely only partly surprised, Fleury will hold a press conference Monday to talk about his future, as to whether he will retire or continue his endeavor to return to the NHL. "I need a couple of days." He last played in April 2003.

He gave a spirited comeback and proved that he can likely still compete at the NHL level.

UPDATE - Seems Fleury was released because the bar set for him was a bit too high. GM Darryl Sutter said he was only interested in keeping Fleury if  he could "be one of our top six wingers..." There were no AHL intentions for him at all.

Monday, September 28, 2009

UPDATE - Fleury announces retirement, wanting to stay a Calgary Flame forever. "I could not sign with another team. I retire a Calgary Flame." Theo Fleury ends his NHL career with 455G 633A - 1,088pts in 1,084 games. (830 points in 791 games on Calgary - making him second on the Flames' all-time scoring list)

Retirement Story Source - TSN

Story Source - TSN     Image Source - RDMD Hockey

Needing to trim the roster down, the New York Rangers next cut was Evgeny Grachev, who no doubt did impress all in camp. He showed tremendous talent every preseason game, and finished his 5 preseason games going 1G 2A - 3 points.

Grachev scored a goal earlier today against the Washington Capitals, but knew his game overall was a disappointment. "The first period for me was the worst period for me, ever.I didn't think I'd get more ice time. I was way too bad in the first," Grachev said.

Evgeny Grachev has a two-way contract, unlike Aaron Voros - which means reassignment if done later on can be done without waivers. This leaves the Rangers with 13 forwards: Marian Gaborik, Brandon Dubinsky, Vinny Prospal, Chris Drury, Christopher Higgins, Ales Kotalik, Enver Lisin, Ryan Callahan, Artem Anisimov, Sean Avery, Donald Brashear, Aaron Voros, and Brian Boyle.

No other cuts today, which means Michael Del Zotto holds on longer.

Story Source - Andrew Gross     Image Source - NHL

Official link here - Rangers official release

New York Rangers President and General Manager Glen Sather announced today that the club has exercised its right to walk away from the arbitrator’s award to Nikolai Zherdev, thereby allowing him to become an unrestricted free agent.

Nikolai Zherdev

"With the additions we've been able to make this summer, we feel we've been able to add scoring and offense from the wing position," stated Sather.  "Following the arbitration process and subsequent award given, we feel it is in our best interest to walk away and continue to explore all available options to improve our roster."

Zherdev, 24, appeared in 82 games with the Rangers last season, registering 23 goals and 35 assists for 58 points, along with 39 penalty minutes.  He was held scoreless in seven playoff contests.
   
The 6-2, 203-pounder has skated in 365 regular season contests with the Rangers and Columbus Blue Jackets, recording 99 goals and 140 assists for 239 points, along with 203 penalty minutes.  The Kiev, Ukraine native was originally Columbus’ first round choice, fourth overall, in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft.

In the words of Sam Rosen - "THE WAITING IS OVER!" I must say I liked his playing, but the boy is clearly full of himself. Petr Prucha, Nigel Dawes, Dmitri Kalinin, Derek Morris, Nik Antropov, and now Fedor Tyutin gone with Zherdev, and nothing here in return.

Sather says he will continue to explore all available options to improve the team. Will he really do anymore looking at other teams at this point?

If somehow Zherdev does not get a deal, and does go back to the KHL, maybe that means Sather really broke his neck trying to trade? But why did he wait so long? Or did he? Time will tell. How long will Z be on the market...

Continue reading this post »

New York Rangers President and General Manager Glen Sather announced today that the club has agreed to terms with defenseman Corey Potter.

Potter, 25, made his NHL debut last season with the Rangers on December 7 against Calgary. He recorded his first NHL point with an assist in his next game on December 27 vs. New Jersey, and finished with two points (one goal and one assist) in five games.

Potter spent most of the season with the Hartford Wolf Pack of the American Hockey League (AHL), registering 10 goals and 22 assists for 32 points, along with 82 penalty minutes in 67 games. He established a career-high in goals and tied his career-high in points. He led all Hartford defensemen in goals, and ranked second among team defensemen in assists and points. Potter recorded nine multi-point efforts during the season, including his first career multi-goal game on February 13 against Lake Erie. 

In addition, Potter finished tied for second on the Wolf Pack in postseason scoring with four points, and ranked second on the club with three assists in six playoff contests with Hartford.

The 6-3, 200-pounder has skated in 177 career AHL games with Hartford, registering 17 goals and 57 assists for 74 points, along with 205 penalty minutes. He established career-highs in games played (80), assists (27), points (32), plus/minus rating (plus-33), and penalty minutes (102) during the 2007-08 season. Potter led the team and ranked second in the league in plus/minus rating. He also ranked third among team defensemen in points and assists, and tied for third in goals.

In 2006-07, Potter made his AHL debut with Hartford on February 7 at Providence, and collected an assist in the contest. He began the season with the Charlotte Checkers of the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL), recording six goals and 13 assists for 19 points, along with 56 penalty minutes in 43 games. Potter led all team defensemen in goals and points at the time of his recall to Hartford on February 5.  He notched his first professional point with an assist on October 26 at Florida.

Potter has also skated in 18 career AHL postseason contests with Hartford, recording two goals and eight assists for 10 points, along with 49 penalty minutes. He collected two assists in his professional playoff debut during the 2007 Calder Cup Playoffs on April 18 against Providence.

The Lansing, Michigan native was originally the Rangers’ third round selection, 122nd overall, in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft.

http://rangers.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=442618 

Last year he earned $535,000. Not sure about the new terms yet.

Taken from the Rangers website here. Preseason schedule announced as follows:

Camp - September 12th

Sept. 15 Bruins @ NY Rangers 7 P.M.

Sept. 16 NY Rangers @ Devils 7 P.M.

Sept. 18 NY Rangers @ Red Wings 7:30 P.M.

Sept. 19 NY Rangers @ Bruins 4 P.M.

Sept. 21 Red Wings @ NY Rangers 7 P.M.

Sept. 24 Capitals @ NY Rangers 7 P.M.

Sept. 27 NY Rangers @ Capitals 12 P.M.

7 games in 13 days.

I don't know why I always like to see the Rangers play the Red Wings. I guess that's when we see what we're made of, albeit pre-season.

This is all happening all of a sudden, so bear with me here. I originally brought out the story on Grachev because I didn't really know anything about how he played. Well, we just got this 2nd Round pick from the Phoenix Coyotes, and again, I don't know anything about him.

Think Nikolai Zherdev in a lot of ways, maybe just not as good. Enver Lisin is from Russia and was a 2nd Round pick in the 2004 NHL Draft. Think back to when we drafted Lauri Korpikoski and Al Montoya in the first round, and then Dubinsky in the second. Ironically, now it's our first round pick Lauri Korpikoski traded on Monday, July 13 for Enver Lisin.

Here's a highlight reel I found on YouTube by kuleminfan posted on March 05, 2009, so it's recent. I've made this embed bigger than the Grachev video.  You'll have the option for High Quality (HQ) once you start the video.

Who does he remind you of? He definately showcases some moves Korkiposki can simply not perform. Some signs of Zherdev, no? Maybe more than you think. When the Rangers acquired Zherdev, all signs pointed to an offensive enigma with absolute no defensive responsibility. Zherdev made strides to overcome that last year. Now we have Lisin, who has so far posted a -36 +/- in just 78 career games. We all know you can't take +/- at face value, but those numbers are certainly startling, although he did improve to just a -13 in his 48 games this last season. However, also packaged with Lisin may come an attitude. In the 06-07 season after being called up to the Coyotes, he was placed back down in the minors, but Lisin refused his assignment. Subsequently, he was suspended and Lisin left the country and returned to Russia.

Now he has since played in the NHL and AHL again, so maybe all that is behind him. What we do know is this young, 23 year old forward definately has an upside of offensive finesse (13g-8a-21pts in 48 games last season)and a downside of defense. He was considered possibly the fastest skater of his draft - a draft that included Ovechkin and Malkin. Does he remind you of Zherdev? What do you think about Enver Lisin? He's a blueshirt now.

Edit - Just thought I'd throw some of the Great One Gretzky's words in here. Right before the all-star break of this season when Lisin scored the goal on Detroit where he jumped (in the video), similar to a move Zherdev performed last year but didn't score on,

Gretzky said afterwards that if there is a faster skater in hockey, "I don't know where he is."

"We knew he had incredible talent. . . . He really had a hard time both on the ice and off the ice," Gretzky said. "Off the ice because of the language barrier. It's tough for a guy, but he stuck it out, he hung in in San Antonio. He could have went home for triple the money, but he wanted to be an NHL player."

Since his recall from San Antonio, "he's been nothing but tremendous for us," Gretzky said.

The story found here also went on to say Lisin actually played some time on the Coyotes penalty-killing unit. On the goal against Detroit, Lisin said,

"I tried the move in practice. I like this move, and if you do it in practice a lot, it's kind of like in a game. (Speed) helps a lot. It's one of the more important parts of the game, skating, and I focus on it. I'm very happy I have the speed."

This video was just posted by battalionmedia on YouTube on June 26, 2009. You'll have the option for High Quality (HQ) once you start the video.

 

 Battalionmedia provides this video discription -

Many people have been asking me for this.
So here is a best of Evgeny Grachev compilation for the 2008-2009 OHL season.

In this season Grachev set a new Battalion club record for most points in a season by a rookie, beating the old club record set by Jason Spezza back in the 1998-99 season.
Grachev also took home OHL Rookie of the Year Honours.

The video starts with Grachev's first OHL goal and ends with his final OHL goal which clinched the Battalion the Eastern Conference Title.

Enjoy him Rangers fans!

Personally I appreciate this video because I haven't ever seen him play. All I knew was that he is a top prospect that had an outstanding OHL rookie season this past year (40g-40a-80pts in 60 games). Come to find out, Grachev broke two previous Brampton Battalion records - Raffi Torres previous record of 35 goals, and, as quoted earlier, Jason Spezza's previous record of 71 points. He finished Fifth in the OHL for goals scored and 13th in points. Grachev went on to score 11 goals and 14 assists for 25 points in 19 playoff games. He wrapped it all up by taking the OHL Rookie of the Year award as stated earlier.

How does he feel about this? He humbled himself by saying he started the season at 18 years old where most players are 16 or 17. Despite this, he performed very well, and even seemingly had a slow start that he was coached out of by Brampton's head coach Stan Butler. Grachev was able to proudly say his English very much improved after having no Russians on the team for him to communicate with. He even typed a few blog entries to fans in English here.

Rangers fans on YouTube are already speculating on his hockey career. Will his NHL debut possibly come next year - the 2009-2010 season? Some fans speculate that maybe a European line of Grachev - Anisimov - Zherdev would be "sick". Another hopes to see a 4th line of Grachev - Anisimov - Brashear. Some see some of Jagr in Grachev's goals. Other's see Malkin or Kovalchuk with his quick release. One user responded with, "In my opinion he doesn't shoot hard enough to be like Kovalchuk, or playmake like Malkin at all. He's more a speedster stick handling winger, who can break down a defense and get pucks deep. Think Bure or Fedorov."

One thing is certain - this 19 year old is fun to watch and definately provides us with a good hope for our future.