I preface this by stating that the hard work was done many years prior to penning this post by the guys at Behind The Net and Hockey Prospectus.  I also directly leverage some additional work performed by Glen Miller of SNYRangersBlog.com.  All credit goes to them.  The stat I created was simply an easier way for me to judge a player’s worth in terms of goals, points, and wins.  

This is a stat I created about a month ago, and posted it on my blog. It is very Rangers-focused, as I am a Rangers blogger, but the theory and the formula (simple formula) is universal.

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I preface this by stating that the hard work was many years prior to penning this post by the guys at Behind The Net and Hockey Prospectus.  I also directly leverage some additional work performed by Glen Miller of SNY Rangers Blog.  All credit goes to them.  The stat I created was simply an easier way for me to judge a player’s worth in terms of goals, points, and wins.  

This is a stat I created about a month ago, and posted it on my blog.

Since I started reading River Ave Blues many years ago, I started to “distance” myself from counting stats (goals, assists, etc) and tried to learn metrics to better quantify a player’s real worth to a team.  However, as readily available as metrics were to baseball fans, it was equally unavailable to hockey fans.  The guys at Behind The Net have done a great job at keeping track of a lot of advanced stats like GVT (Goals Versus Threshold), which was created by the guys at Hockey Prospectus, but it has been tough to really combine everything into one stat, like WAR in baseball, to really give you an idea about how useful a player it.

Then along comes Glen Miller of SNY Rangers Blog, who took GVT to a whole new level, and made it into a quantifiable statistic that we can use to see how many wins a player really brings to a team.  First, Miller does a great job at truly defining GVT (here), and gives readers a way to really compare it to the Rangers:

…GVT…represents a player’s value above a “replacement” or “threshold” player in a term (runs for baseball or goals for hockey) fans are familiar with. A “threshold” or “replacement level” player would be defined as the top AHL/minor league player in the organization or the highest ranking free agent on the market in-season (not a prospect) and carries a GVT or RAR value of zero. Basically the guy a club would go get in the event one of their regular players went down to injury or something to that effect. For Rangers fans think Chad Kolarik, Andre Deveaux or Kris Newbury.

In essence, you really find out a player’s worth to a team when he is replaced by someone like Newbury or Kolarik (like we saw last year).  Miller then takes the GVT of each Ranger from last year (courtesy of the guys at BTN), and with the assistance of Tom Awad (hockey metrics guru), created what he is calling Wins Above Threshold, or WAT.

Essentially WAT is just GVT/6, where 6 is the number of goals equivalent to a win in the standings.  You can check out the full Rangers list of WAT by checking out Miller’s article, but suffice it to say, the results really shouldn’t surprise you.

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Let me start this by thanking Jim and Joe for allowing me to write on the Banter for as long as I have.  It has been a pleasure.

Anyway, I'm going to be stepping down as a writer here.  Between work, life and my blog (Blue Seat Blogs), I found that I wasn't able to contribute unique content to the Banter anymore.  For a while, I had been syndicating my own content, and while I had always made a promise to find time to write original articles, work and life got in the way.

I took a step back and realized that I really only had one decision to make, and that was writing for the Banter or writing continuing with Blue Seat.  They were mutually exclusive options for me, as I simply don't have the time to contribute unique content to both blogs.  In the end, I took a selfish route, and I wanted to continue with something that I had created from scratch, and see where that took me. 

I've had a great time writing here, and although I'm not going to be writing here anymore, I'm not exactly disappearing into nothingness.  Blue Seat will be updated at least daily in the offseason, and tri-daily during the season (by a combination of myself, Chris, Mike,  and The Suit). I will still be around on Twitter, and I will still be commenting on posts here.

So thank you all for reading my ramblings here, it's been a helluva ride.

To those that listened to last night's blogger round table, this may be a bit of a re-hash, but I felt it was worth posting.

There seems to be a common misconception with this year’s edition of the Washington Capitals, especially post-trade deadline. That misconception is that this team plays no defense, is lazy, doesn’t play without the puck, has no leadership, and the Rangers will walk away easily with a series victory. It seems that many are overlooking the Caps as a serious first round opponent, despite the fact that they finished first in the Eastern Conference. This mentality is, well, wrong. The Caps are completely different this year, and if there is one year where they put it all together, this can be the year.

Don’t get me wrong, I think the Rangers can pull the upset. They have the goaltending, the defense, the grittiness, and the leadership to pull it off. But these are not the same Caps that the Rangers took three out of four from, and won two of those games by a score of 13-0. These caps made significant moves at the deadline, and perhaps the most overlooked is the acquisition of Jason Arnott from the Devils.

Per Elliotte Friedman, Arnott has complete control of that locker room. After his acquisition, he was "shocked" at how they played:

8. For all the talk about Washington’s improved system, Jason Arnott admitted he was shocked at how the Capitals looked without the puck during his first game with them. "I turned to someone and asked, ‘Is this the way we play?’" he said last week. "I was new, but I decided to say something. You don’t win the Stanley Cup like that."

9. A few other Capitals pointed out Alexander Ovechkin really pays attention to Arnott, but that’s not what surprised them. "Even Semin listens," one said.

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This should come as no surprise to anyone, but with the NCAA Frozen Four over, the Rangers have officially signed LW Carl Hagelin. Hagelin was drafted by the Rangers in the sixth round in 2007, and has had four great years playing with Michigan. In those four years, serving as a captain in his senior year, Hagelin finished with a line of 61-91-152 in 171 games. Hagelin will report to Connecticut on his ATO, and play in the Calder Cup playoffs. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed yet.

Looks like Mats Zuccarello’s trip to the CT Whale was short lived, as he was recalled today by the Rangers. The Rangers haven’t filed the paperwork yet, so the transaction as of the composition of this post hasn’t hit the transaction log on the AHL website. Zuccarello was demoted one week ago, after a rough few weeks which saw him as a healthy scratch or a fourth liner for a few games. At the time of the demotion, it was the right thing to do to make sure he received enough playing time to develop and adjust to the North American style of play.

In the three games Zuccarello played since his demotion, he finished with four assists, nine SOG, and a +2 rating.

It is impossible to replace Ryan Callahan in the lineup. He brings more to the table than his stat line, which says a lot considering his stat line makes him a top-two scorer on the team in goals and points. The hits, blocked shots, power play points, and short handed minutes are what makes Callahan one of, if not the most important Ranger skaters. His loss is going to hurt this team in the playoffs, but it also provides an opportunity for two veterans to step up and lead this team during it’s potential run.

The first player that needs to step up is Marian Gaborik. The Rangers most skilled player, Gaborik has underwhelmed this season, with a line of 22-25-47 in 60 games this year. He was almost a ghost in the beginning of the year, but has really turned up his game lately. He has started to take control of the play, and create opportunities for his teammates. Unfortunately, this isn’t leading to goals for the sniper, as his last goal was on March 20th, seven games ago. Gaborik needs to start putting pucks in the net, especially on the power play. Callahan had ten power play goals this season, Gaborik has seven. It’s not that big of a difference, but one extra goal with the man advantage in the final two games can be the difference between the playoffs and playing eighteen.

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The rumors of the injury to Ryan Callahan were rampant, and as optimistic Ranger fans, we were inclined to not believe them. However, they are true. It’s being reported on Twitter and on WFAN 660 that Cally broke his ankle blocking the Zdeno Chara slap shot with under two minutes remaining in the third period, and will be out indefinitely. The injury is a huge blow to the Rangers, as Cally has been one of, if not the most important players all year. He is clearly their on ice leader, and is their second leading scorer (23 goals, 48 points).

Kris Newbury, who was recalled yesterday as a precaution and sent back down before the game, was re-called immediately following the game. He will play until Chris Drury returns, which may be sooner rather than later. If I had to guess, Marian Gaborik will slide up to replace Cally on the Brandon Dubinsky-Artem Anisimov line, and Drury/Newbury will slide in to the fourth line RW role, with Drury taking critical face offs.

Update: Kris Newbury has been returned to CT.  It makes me believe that Drury is ready to go for Thursday.

Per the AHL Transaction Log, the Rangers have recalled goalie Cameron Talbot from the AHL. This is a bit surprising. I can only think of two things: either there’s an injury that we don’t know about; or he’s being called up to work with the guru of goaltending coaches Benoit Allaire. I’m betting there was an injury to The King that we will hear about shortly. Talbot has a 2.56 GAA and a .913 SV% in 19 games with the CT Whale.

The Rangers have agreed to terms with Tommy Grant, an unrestricted free agent forward out of the University of Alaska-Anchorage. Grant, an undrafted free agent, played four seasons at UAA, registering at least 25 points in his final three seasons, with a career-best 32 points in 37 games this past season. These 32 points (16-16-32) were tops for his team, so it’s not like he had strong offensive talent surrounding him. He registered two assists in his first game with the CT Whale. Grant is 6’2, and 175 lbs, and played the point on UAA’s powerplay while also killing penalties. He was clearly UAA’s best player. In 134 career games in college, Grant has a line of 45-45-90 and 176 PIMs.

IF YA SMELLLLLLLLLLL…..

In a year where Brandon Dubinsky, Ryan Callahan, and Artem Anisimov are dominating games, where Derek Stepan is the rookie making all the noise, and where highly touted Ryan McDonagh is playing solidly after his mid-season call up, Michael Sauer is often overlooked as one of the key cogs that makes this Rangers team go. I must admit I was wrong when I said (in the beginning of the year) that Sauer would likely just rotate with Steve Eminger and Matt Gilroy as the sixth/seventh defenseman. Sauer’s strong play throughout the season has not only moved the rookie up from rotating spare part, but it has made him one of the Rangers top-four defensemen, and a main reason why the Rangers aren’t missing Marc Staal that much.

Sauer’s road to the Rangers was a rocky one. The young Minnesotan was drafted by the Rangers in 2005 (2nd round – 40th overall), and joined the Rangers organization for the 2007-2008 season. Injuries plagued him throughout his AHL career, and although many deemed him to be NHL ready, his injuries and the Rangers overpriced free agents crowded the blue line. Following the expulsion of Wade Redden to the AHL this past summer, a roster spot was ripe for the taking. Sauer beat out McDonagh for that final spot, and he has earned every minute of ice time following.

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The 2011 offseason is going to be an important one for the Rangers. They have six (five key) NHL roster players headed to restricted free agency. There are another 11 players in the minors that are headed to restricted free agency as well. As per CapGeek, the Rangers have 25 players under contract for next season, with these 17 headed for restricted free agency. Add Dylan McIlrath and Carl Hagelin to this, and the Rangers have 44 players either under contract or in restricted free agency. The maximum allowed contracts for any team is fifty.

Qualifying offers are a way of ensuring that the Rangers receive any offer sheet reward if another team poaches a RFA. For example, if the Rangers do not qualify Brandon Dubinsky (hypothetical situation here), and the Islanders sign him to an offer sheet, the Rangers would not receive the draft pick compensation. If they do give him a qualifying offer, they would receive the draft pick compensation.

Monetary amounts for qualifying offers are as follows:

• Salary < $660,000: The qualifying offer must include a 10% increase on the base salary.
• Salary between $660,000 and $1 million: The qualifying offer must include a 5% increase on the base salary.
• Salary > $1 million: The player does not have to receive an increase in salary for a qualifying offer.

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This year, the World’s Most Famous Arena began massive renovations that will transform The Garden into a more up-to-date arena to watch a game, be it basketball or hockey. The renovations are already underway, and have made using the bathroom in the 400s a 25 minute excursion. With the renovations costing MSG its entire summer revenue (MSG will not host any events from May through August), and the renovation funding coming directly from the Dolans’ pockets, the money had to be made up somewhere.

The Dolans will be recouping their money with a ticket price hike for both the Rangers and the Knicks in the upcoming season. While not unsurprising to see a ticket price increase, the news and severity of the increase still shook some fans. The average increase in price for season tickets went up a whopping 23%, but that number is slightly misleading. The largest price differences (5-hole has a great layout of the new prices) come in the 100 and 200 level seats, or those just above the purple seats. Those of us who sit in the 400s, be it for the price or for the atmosphere, see only a $2 (5%) increase in the ticket price.

While the immediate price increases may not affect us in the 400s, they will create a Yankee Stadium-esque desertion of the lower bowl. We all saw what happened with the overpriced Yankee Stadium lower bowl, no one sat there because no one could afford to. And this is with baseball being slightly more popular than hockey these days. The average price of a purple seat (not including the VIP seats) in the lower bowl will be roughly $275 per game. If you thought those seats were empty this year, just wait until next year when no one can afford to sit there.

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The General Manager’s meetings are underway in Boca Raton, Florida, and the biggest topic was how the league is going to deal with concussions doled out by illegal (and legal) hits. Commissioner Gary Bettman unveiled his five-step approach for dealing with concussions, which sounds very reactionary, and less preventative than most had hoped or expected.

• Step 1: Brendan Shannahan will work with clubs to improve equipment to help prevent concussions. In other news, Mark Messier developed a helmet as a part of the Mark Messier project to tackle this issue. The difference is that Messier did this two years ago. The Captain is always a step ahead of everyone else.
• Step 2: If a player is suspected of being concussed, then he must be removed from the bench and moved to a quiet area to be further evaluated. This means that next season, when Marian Gaborik gets another concussion, he can be moved to the lower bowl in MSG. No one is going to be able to afford to sit there now.
• Step 3: Penalties will be assessed to the coach of repeat offenders for illegal hits. Right, because that stopped Marc Crawford…
• Step 4: Safety engineers will evaluate all 30 NHL rinks for appropriate padding and safety measures, which result in more padding on the stanchions. Also, each corner will now be baby-proofed.
• Step 5: A panel will be assembled to look at this issue going forward. So basically, this step cancelled out the first four steps, because it’s clear that these won’t help at all.

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As I posted earlier this week, my school’s roller hockey team won their regional tournament, and has qualified for the national tournament in April. Eric Greenberg from Authentic Sports Memorabilia Collection contacted me today and is running a great promo to help the Bearcats get to Nationals. If you buy an item on ASMC, in the Paypal note you can add "Binghamton Roller Hockey", and 10% of that sale will be donated to the club to help them get to Nationals. There are a lot of great items on the site, and you get a certificate of authenticity with each purchase.

If you are interested in memorabilia, I would recommend checking out ASMC. If you happen to find something you like, please make sure to include "Binghamton Roller Hockey" in the receipt so that 10% of the purchase price is donated to the Bearcats attempts to get to Nationals.

Thank you Eric for being so generous to help out a team in need. It is greatly appreciated.

Tim Thomas is going to win the Vezina trophy this year. There is no doubt about it, barring an epic collapse that would make the New York Mets blush. However, the other two finalist spots are still up for grabs, and as we close in on the final month of the regular season, there are a few goalies in the discussion to finish #2 and #3 behind Thomas. A hot streak (or a cold streak) to end the season could swing the voting either way, but it is without any hesitation that Carey Price, Pekka Rinne, Jonas Hiller, Roberto Luongo, and Henrik Lundqvist are vying for those other two finalist spots. Look at the numbers for each below.

The table is put in that specific order, because that is how I think the voting will finish at the end of the season. Thomas is the clear cut #1, his numbers trump all of the other players listed above. Looking at Rinne, the Vezina would be his if Thomas wasn’t doing his best Hasek impression this year. He is clearly the reason why Nashville is even remotely close to a playoff spot this season.

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As many of you know, I am an alumnus from Binghamton University (both undergrad and graduate), and I played roller hockey there for five seasons. This year, the team is back on top of ECRHA, a sub-conference of the NCRHA, by beating Pitt 3-2 in the Finals. The format of the league is simple, ECRHA is the eastern region of the national league, and winning ECRHA means an automatic qualifying bid for the Nationals. Unfortunately, the Binghamton Athletics Department does not fund the roller hockey team very well, thus almost 90% of the expenses come straight from the players pockets.

Nationals is no different, as they are being held in Wisconsin this year from April 6-10. The team is facing registration costs ($995) and travel expenses. In addition to many fund-raising events the team will hold on campus and on Long Island, they are going to be holding a raffle and silent auction. If you have any spare memorabilia, or anything you can donate to a silent auction, please let me know as soon as possible (shapirodavidm[at]gmail[dot]com). Basically, I would collect anything donated, and overnight it to the team president.

Anything you can do to help will go a long way to get these guys. Thanks in advance.

Yesterday marked the one year anniversary of the infamous Fire Sather Rally (of which we at the Banter covered, but did not organize).  It was a rally organized by Mike Zippo, who as far as I know does not operate a blog, that got mainstream media attention, and major attention from the blog-o-sphere. I did not attend this rally, as I did not believe that Glen Sather should have been fired then, now, or at any time following the lockout.  Zippo spoke with New York Magazine, and has had a slight reversal of opinion of Slats:

You’d mentioned to Puck Daddy in January of 2010 that you thought Sather would make a "stupid trade" and deal away prospects. But as you said, he’s avoided making that kind of trade. So I guess my question is this: How much confidence do you have in Sather now? How has that confidence level changed over the past fourteen months or so, since that interview?

As long as he doesn’t have his checkbook open on July 1, I think he’ll be okay. He has made some great trades, but a signing like the [Derek] Boogaard one makes you scratch your head.

This seems to be the general consensus amongst Ranger fans. For a period of time between 2005-2008, there have been a few good signings, a lot of questionable signings, and one horrific signing, and everyone has different opinions about the specific signings themselves. However, the point that is often overlooked is that the Rangers were inexplicably making the playoffs and competing when to be blunt, they shouldn’t have been. Thus, Slats made the decision (in my opinion) to go for gold with free agents while not dealing away the core youth in the rebuild.  It was a bold decision to make that had some blow-back, but did not cripple the franchise long term.

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As expected, Kris Newbury has been returned to the CT Whale this morning. Newbury was initially called up to serve as a replacement for Wojtek Wolski, but Wolski’s ribs were better last night, resulting in Newbury serving as the scratch. Newbury said he was thrilled that he was the first call up for the Rangers due to injury, and he will likely continue to serve as the first call up, should any more injuries arrive. Newbury was acquired for Jordan Owens at last year’s trade deadline, and has been serviceable as a call up this season. In eight games this year, Newbury has an assist, 35 PIMs, and a -2 rating while playing on the fourth line.

As per Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal, Sheldon Souray is available to anyone who will claim him off re-entry waivers. Right now, the only team linked to Souray is the Rangers, and the Oilers will not put him on re-entry waivers unless he is guaranteed to be picked up b y another team. Apparently, Edmonton General Manager Steve Tambellini does not want the veteran defenseman around his young Oilers team at all, and will not consider a recall unless he is going to be claimed.

Although the Rangers were rumored to be interested in Souray, Mark Spector of Sportsnet writes that scouts left unimpressed with Souray. According to Spector, Souray was being routinely beat by the opposition in the AHL, and his speed was becoming a huge negative for the big defenseman:

"You want to like him," said a source familiar with the Rangers activities over the weekend. "But you can’t deny what your eyes are seeing."

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As per Andrew Gross, Martin Biron was the first goalie off the ice during today’s morning skate, and will likely be the starter tonight in Detroit. This shouldn’t be a surprise, as the backup has played very well this entire year, and is coming off a great start in a loss to the Montreal Canadiens. This is indeed the right move for the Rangers, as they need the points in the standings and should be riding the hot goalie for now.

Some may read into this as a "goalie controversy", but it is exactly the opposite. It is very clear that Lundqvist is struggling, and hasn’t been himself lately. With the Rangers not playing again until Friday, a day off today gives The King a full week off to work on what has been ailing him in net. The purpose of a reliable backup like Biron is to not only give Lundqvist some rest, but to provide stable goaltending in the event that Lundqvist hits a cold streak. This is The King’s cold streak for the season, and should not be looked into any further. I would bet anything that Lundqvist gets the start Friday.

In other lineup news, the lines from Saturday will remain the same (listed below).

Vinny Prospal-Erik Christensen-Marian Gaborik
Brandon Dubinsky-Artem Anisimov-Ryan Callahan
Wojtek Wolski-Derek Stepan-Mats Zuccarello
Sean Avery-Brian Boyle-Brandon Prust

Steve Eminger will also be the healthy scratch, with Michael Del Zotto staying in the lineup. This has been an area of contention amongst Ranger fans, but I have to admit, everyone clamored for the youth movement. This is the youth movement, it’s not all roses and pixie-dust (yes, that’s a shot at the trade-MDZ-for-Arnott people).

As expected, Kris Newbury was returned to the Connecticut Whale this afternoon. With Vinny Prospal due back tonight, and the returns of Ryan Callahan and Brandon Dubinsky on Tuesday night, Newbury was the odd man out. He played well during his call up, netting an assist and 35 PIMs in 8 games. He played a physical game, and filled in very well for an extremely depleted Rangers team.

In some rather startling news, Peter Botte is reporting that injured winger Ruslan Fedotenko is having his appendix removed today. His original time table was to return sometime next week, but with this appendectomy (which I am assuming is an emergency appendectomy) he will be out for 3-4 weeks. It is unlikely he will return before the trade deadline now. Hope the surgery goes well.

With the news that Brandon Dubinsky will likely play tonight, the Rangers returned Evgeny Grachev to the CT Whale (via the AHL transaction log). Grachev was due to be in the lineup tonight, skating with Kris Newbury and Chris Drury. However, with Dubinsky in the lineup, Grachev is better served as playing in the AHL than as a healthy scratch. Grachev was initially called up because the Rangers needed players to fill out the roster with all the injuries. The 20 year old winger played well in his second call up this year, but he is still a little raw, and needs more time to develop into a full time NHL player.

Courtesy of Jim, last night I was able to partake in a Q&A with Brian Leetch and Don Mattingly at the Gotham Comedy Club in Manhattan.  When Jim came to me (and Joe, who was unable to make it due to the weather), I jumped at the opportunity to cover this event for the Banter.  Meeting my childhood idol (and Donnie Baseball) was one of the best experiences I've ever had.

The session was longer than I expected it to be, about an hour and a half, and consisted of a few members of the blog-o-sphere, and some fans who were provided tickets.  As far as I know, I was the only Rangers blogger there, and was seated next to Mike Miller of Bronx Goblin.  I arrived around 6pm, and enjoyed free hors d'oeuvres and drinks until Brian and Donnie came to the stage at 6:45.  While we waited, Russ Salzberg (Channel 9) and Matt Yallof (MLB Network) came to each table and spoke to us.

Brian came to the stage first, and got a nice ovation from the few dozen people in attendance (it was a small event). Donnie joined him a bit later, because he had arrived late due to the weather.  After a brief introduction, in which Russ mentioned Brian came in from Boston (met with a ton of boos) and a few questions from Russ, the Ranger and Yankee icons took questions from the audience.  If you follow me on Twitter, I tweeted as much as I could, but I missed a few things.  After the jump, has all of the questions directed towards Leetch.  I bolded the questions I asked.

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After last night's 3-2 win over the Atlanta Thrashers, the Rangers made a few roster moves to deal with injuries sustained during the game.  Dan Girardi suffered a pulled ribcage during his fight with Andrew Ladd, and is day-to-day.  Brandon Prust took a shot off his ankle (x-rays were negative), and is also day-to-day.  In light of these injuries, the Rangers recalled Michael Del Zotto and Evgeny Grachev.  To make room on the roster, Dale Weise was returned to the AHL.

Since his demotion to CT, MDZ has been playing very well, and appears to have his confidence back.  He was initially sent down because of poor decision making, and a need to get back to the basics.  It generally doesn't take long for a professional player to do that, especially when the bad passes haven't become a habit.  Grachev has seen his game skyrocket, including a hat trick last night.

The call ups may not be the best idea right now, especially as both are finally regaining confidence, but there are no other people on the Whale roster that are skilled enough to play in the NHL, and don't need to pass through waivers.  The injury plagued Rangers really had no other choice.

Rangers captain Chris Drury has not produced enough to be deemed worthy of his $7.05 million cap hit the past two seasons. Signed by the Rangers in 2007, Drury put up numbers consistent with his career average in his first two years with the Rangers, with 58 points and 56 points. He played significant minutes at all points during the game, and couldn’t really be called a "bust" those two seasons*. It wasn’t until last season when the Rangers high priced center started to see his game disappear. His production was nearly cut in half, and his role diminished to that of a fourth line player. That same trend has continued this year, as Drury has no goals and just four points in 16 games this season.

*-Note that his numbers were consistent with what he had produced in his previous eight seasons. He’s not a "bust" if he produces at that clip.

Despite his lack of production, Drury still serves a purpose. He is a great captain, he kills penalties, he wins face-offs, and he blocks a ton of shots. That said, $7.05 million is a lot to pay for a player who plays ten minutes per game. Drury can’t be demoted due to his no-movement clause, but that doesn’t seem to be an issue. It would be a public relations nightmare to demote the captain of an NHL club. Trade is also impossible with that cap hit, even if his actual salary does drop to $5 million next season.

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Throughout the myriad of injuries the Rangers have sustained to their forward depth, there has been only one constant: the third line of Ruslan Fedotenko, Brian Boyle, and Brandon Prust. When Marian Gaborik, Erik Christensen, and Ryan Callahan went down with injuries, and the rest of the lines were jumbled to try and find something that worked, this line stayed the same. They have simply become the most consistent Ranger line this season, and it showed Thursday. Coach John Tortorella puts so much trust in the trio, that they were matched against the Sedin line for almost every single second they were out there. Not sure if you noticed, but they were damn successful too.

What may have escaped several people is that this third line led comprised three of the top four time-on-ice leaders from Thursdayt’s game. Only Brandon Dubinsky (second in TOI, with 18:50) cracked the top-four (Fedotenko – 19:30, Boyle – 18:35, Prust – 17:53). To put things in perspective, Gaborik finished with 17:06 TOI. That’s a big chunk of ice time to be giving a third line that consists of two journeymen and an underachieving first round draft pick from that epic 2003 class. All three have put in the effort required to not only make the team, but to get bumped to the third line and play significant minutes against the opponent’s best lines.

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