Thanks to all who participated in round one.

Even if you did not participate in round one, you still have a chance to win, because there is always the possibility that someone will slip up or forget in the two remaining rounds, so if you are a Ranger fan, give it a shot!

Please remember to include in the subject of the email, “RANGERS TRIVIA CHALLENGE 2″ in caps. If you have not already entered, then please include your full name and the city/state that you live in.

The answers to the round one questions were:

1. Nick Fotiu

2. Lou Fontinato

3. Esa Tikkanen

4. Mike Gartner

5. Herb Brooks

Very happy to say that one person got them all correct, and the leader board will be posted underneath round two questions. One again, you have until midnight on Monday, June 29 to submit the answers to me, and round three will be posted next Tuesday!

Good luck again!

Leaderboard After Round One

1st. Jim Haggerty (Bronx, NY)– 5

2nd. Randy Stewart (Freehold, NJ)–4

2nd. John Peek (Whitesboro, NY)–4

2nd. Mike (No other info given)–4

2nd. Chris Hoeler (Ridgefield, CT)–4

3rd. Steve Weitzner (Irvine, CA)–3

3rd. Adam Bethon (Port Washington, NY)–3

View the trivia questions here.

All are invited to take part! A great prize is up for grabs!

100 Ranger Greats Trivia

All throughout my time covering hockey I have raved about the book 100 Ranger Greats and interviewed its authors. Right now, you have a chance to own this book if you do not already have it. Today begins FNYTSF’s first ever hockey trivia challenge!

This book is a spectacular mix of statistics, stories, and Ranger folklore and is a must-read for any Ranger fan. It is also selling on Amazon for an upwards of $25. But this 240-page, hardcover book can be yours in just three weeks if you feel like answering some questions.

Rules

All the answers to these questions can be found in the book and most likely somewhere online. There will be three rounds of five questions each, and they will get harder as the rounds move on. The person with the most correct answers will win the book. If there is a tie between participants, it will be settled privately with an email question.

In order to enter, you must email your answers to me at nyr1199@comcast.net. The email subject must also clearly read in caps “RANGERS TRIVIA CHALLENGE”. I get a lot of emails and I don’t want to accidentally delete yours, so please label is as such.

You must also include your full name and the city/state you reside in so you can be given proper recognition on the leader-board when it gets updated.

The questions will be posted every Tuesday, so answers must be in by midnight on Monday.

There is no set time of day that the questions will be posted, so if you are not one who checks the site regularly, I highly suggest becoming a subscriber. Please scroll down on the right side and find where it says “Email Subscriber”. By clicking “Sign Me Up” you will be sent an email each time an article is posted, and that includes the trivia every Tuesday.

Have fun and good luck!

View questions here.

Posted with Jim's permission.

Ladies and gentlemen, I never make it my business to ask anyone for anything. I consider myself a proud, hard-working individual who never likes to get anything for free. This includes money, something which I try never to ask anyone for. However, an occasion has come up where I would like to ask all New York Rangers fans to help me out.

The other night, when Joe asked me out of the blue, “How many Ranger fans do you think there are?”, I responded with, “Probably around 50,000 or so.” He said he came to nearly the same figure. He worked out all the math and came up with a donation campaign idea.

If each one of the 50,000 Ranger fans out there donated $130, then we would be able to raise $6.5 million to give to management to help pay off Wade Redden’s salary for a full season, so that he can be sent down to Hartford. You would also have to figure that some fans are worth millions, and may even want to donate more money.

I would like to call this a “Cash for a Clunker” program, where we can raise money for the betterment of our beloved New York Rangers.

Joe told me flat out last night that he would gladly pay $130 if he knew it meant getting Wade Redden off the team.

Of course, such a large donation is not required. We will gladly take in all amounts. No amount is too big or too small.

The multi-billion dollar corporation Rangers need our help everyone, because they will not listen to us. But dollar signs seem to be all they care about, and maybe if we approached them with it, they would finally listen to the people who pay their salaries season in and season out, and devote their lives to following such a mediocre team.

Re-posted from here.

I've been writing and covering hockey for two years now on various websites. I never had the aspiration of becoming a journalist, I just wanted this as a hobby. In case there was any doubt in my mind that I wanted this for a career, I wanted to thank you all personally for helping me realize that I never want to make a living writing. I'm not sure if I ever want to write again. I want to thank you all because now I no longer have to waste my time writing about stuff that clearly, no one cares about.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, or so I thought. What happened today is something I have never experienced before in my life. I can take people disagreeing with me, that's part of the journey. But to have personal attacks and insults thrown at me is something new. I thought Ranger fans could handle a slight, two sentence jab at a player on the team. Criticism is nothing new to this team, but I guess I rubbed you the wrong way.

Many of you were demanding that I no longer write for this site anymore because I "had no idea what I was talking about" and am "not a real fan", and in response to that, I have asked to be removed from the writing team here. I do not wish to be a part of a website whose readers cannot handle a jab thrown at a player, and have to revert to calling me, "a complete fucking retard". Since many of you said you would not read anything else I have to write or take me seriously again, I do not want to be a detriment to the site and cause reads to go down. I really enjoyed my few weeks on the site up to this point, and I want to thank those who enjoyed reading my articles as much as I enjoyed writing them. I have no ill feelings toward anyone on this site, and I wish you all well.

Aur revoir.

Dear New York Rangers Fans,

With another listless and embarrassing loss tonight, at the hands of the New Jersey Devils, I think it is safe to say that the season is over for the Rangers and that there will be no playoffs come April. The Rangers desperately needed the win tonight over their arch rivals. They had lost three in a row and needed to find a spark and some energy. Tonight, the Rangers, yet again, leave their fans at a loss for words. Tonight, players like Brandon Prust and Erik Christensen outplayed the stars like Prospal and Gaborik. Lundqvist was absolutely brutal and the defense was like a sieve.

The Rangers must look to the very bleak future, and pray they can be bad enough for a good draft pick. It is that sad time when it is time to root for the Rangers to lose and teams like the Hurricanes, Islanders, and Maple Leafs to keep on winning.

There is so much wrong with this Rangers team that it cannot all be covered in just one article. I don't know where to begin. I was never on the Fire Sather bandwagon, and I'm still not--under one condition, and that is everyone going. Sather and the entire front office need to go, as does the coaching staff. The entire crop of personnel should also be shopped this summer. Girardi has to walk when the season ends. Words can not describe now atrocious he has played. I would say the same for Gilroy as well, and would not renew his contract. As for Wade Redden, does it even need to be said?

I would also hope that the Rangers seriously contemplate trading Gaborik and Lundqvist, more so the former than the latter, but both could fetch a very exciting return. Fans will not like it, but can you imagine what could be had for players of that caliber?

As for Tortorella, I would hope his tenure ends before this season ends. I don't care what anyone says about the roster being bad or whatever the excuse is. Fact of the matter is, he is not the right coach for this team. Never was, never will be. His tenure here has been a joke. His mantra of being tough has been a joke. His antics, both on the bench and in the press room, have been a joke. I don't like clowns, and if I did, I would go see the circus, which as of right now, calls Madison Square Garden it's home.

This article is really too short to describe what I really want to say, especially with a slew of expletives needing to be held back. What is yet to come will not be pretty and we must hold fast. Wanting the Rangers to just bow out and tank does not mean you are not a true fan. To all of you out there, I ask that you remain supportive of the team, but from a distance. Don't buy into what you hear from MSG Network or any Rangers related official. Don't buy the fact that Gaborik is healthy, and that all is well in the locker room; you are smarter than that.

We must now stand together and acknowledge that this season is over, and hopefully in a season or two, a new era of Rangers hockey can be ushered in. I will leave you now with this quote from George Orwell's 1984, because I think it pretty much sums up what the upcoming months will hold: "If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face, forever."

Sincerely,
Greg Caggiano

This will be the third time I will have had a chance to sit down and chat with Chris Kotsopoulos, who spent one season with the Rangers back in 1980/81. He has always been good to me when I've needed an interview, so before I get to the main body of this article, I just want to tell everyone to check out his blog where he covers the Rangers, called "Kotsy's Korner".

GC: With the deadline ending Wednesday, are you surprised that the Rangers didn't make a trade? Do you think they would have gotten Souray had he not been injured?

CK: Surprised? Not really. Although they did make a minor deal a major trade is a lot tougher to complete because you have to have willing and equal trading partners today with the Cap situation. As for Souray, Yes.

GC: Last time we talked, you mentioned how this team needed to get tougher. Do you think the acquisitions of Brandon Prust and Jody Shelley will help this? And what was your immediate reaction to Donald Brashear getting sent to Hartford?

CK: Absolutely. With the acquisitions of Prust and Shelley you have instant deterants to any liberties being taken with the Ranger players. It was a must to acquire them. Don't want to beat up on Brashear and I won't. He's been a tough guy for a long time in the NHL and I think his longevity has caught up to him. It simply didn't work for the Rangers.

GC: With the acquisition of Alex Auld, do you think the Rangers will rest Henrik Lundqvist more?

CK: First off, Auld was a good pick up. It's all up to "King" himself. He should be the one that decides as to when he needs a break or not.

GC: Marian Gaborik is injured again and no one knows how severe it is. What do you think the situation is? And can the Rangers make the playoffs without him?

CK: Lower Body injury, so your guess is as good as mine. (Laughs). You know anything can happen in hockey, but my answer is no.

GC: For the Rangers to make the playoffs, what are the most important things that need to happen for this team, besides improving offense?

CK: Lundqvist has to be spectacular, the defense needs to tighten up in all areas of the ice, special teams need to be special, and they must be physical and make it hard for teams to play against you. Essentially, realize that as a team, you are in playoff mode now!

GC: As a Canadian, how much did you enjoy the gold medal game on Sunday? Do you think it helped to boost hockey popularity in the US?

CK: It was great to watch. Obviously I enjoyed the victory by Canada. The USA team was an admirable opponent and my hat's off to them. Canada in the end earned it. But more importantly to me it's a huge win for "North American Hockey". The USA has closed the gap on the world big time and hopefully America will take advantage and showcase this great game of hockey. Are you listening NHL?

Chris Kotsopoulos was a veteran of 479 games with the New York Rangers, Toronto Maple Leafs, Detroit Red Wings, and Hartford Whalers.

It almost sounds like a contradiction in the title; construing such phrases as "playoff run" and "Marian Gaborik" together in the same sentence just begs to be scoffed at. Tonight, as the New York Rangers set to face the division rival Pittsburgh Penguins in a very important first home game back from the break, they will be doing so without Gaborik, who will be missing his sixth game of the season.

He is still listed as being day-to-day (aren't we all?) and the injury being a right knee laceration, which he suffered from a practice a week before the Olympic break, when he jumped over Henrik Lundqvist and caught a skate blade. Now, more than a month later, he is still injured, but it is no longer the laceration that is cause for concern.

Gaborik missed three games before heading to Vancouver to play for Team Slovakia in February, and even missed the first game of the tournament. Although not at 100%, he chose to play on for his team, and played very well. But then he got injured again, this time a groin problem, something which has plagued him his entire career. So now he was injured even more, and yet again he chose to keep playing for Slovakia in meaningless Olympic games.

With the regular season now ready to start up again, Gaborik returned back to New York where he missed the Rangers first game Tuesday night in Ottawa. As exciting as the Olympics were, this is yet another case of a team sending a perfectly healthy star player (save for a cut that was on it's way to healing) only to have that player return injured. If Gary Bettman is looking for any reason to not send NHL players to the 2014 games, this would be one of them.

Continue reading this post »

Despite a storm of names swirling around this team all morning and over the last few days, the New York Rangers chose to make only one move today, a minor league deal sending Jordan Owens to the Detroit Red Wings for Kris Newbury.

It is almost shocking that Glen Sather did not make a move because he has in every season since becoming GM of the Rangers, regardless of their place in the standings. The Rangers had one big move in their sights today, and that was to acquire defenseman Sheldon Souray on Edmonton, but he was hospitalized in just the last few hours with an infection in his hand, a result of a surgery he had just a few weeks ago. That was going to be the Rangers big deal today, but the injury threw Sather completely off and he chose to not make a move at all. The Rangers also reportedly made an offer for Tomas Kaberle of the Toronto Maple Leafs. 

When looking back on it though, Sather did make his big move a month ago when he acquired Olli Jokinen and Brandon Prust for Ales Kotalik and Chris Higgins. Any other year that would have been the deadline move, so in reality, the Rangers didn't not do anything this season. That move was made before the Olympic break which was actually the first of the two trade deadlines this season. All the big moves were made then, including Kovalchuk and Phaneuf.

As a side note, this was the most boring trade deadline day ever. TSN started their annual "Tradecentre" show at 8am and will be broadcasting through 6pm. There has been absolutely nothing and how the analysts haven't strangled each other out of boredom is beyond me. Their show today has been an absolute joke, and fellow writer Joe Alianello described it like Christmas morning, saving the biggest box for last only to find out it's clothes or something stupid. Loved when TSN announced, "Oh! Oh! Oh! We got a trade!....Joey Macdonald for a 7th round pick." It's time to sign off the air guys.

There is still a chance more deals will be announced in the next hour but it is believed to be that the Rangers are done and will not announce any moves. We all wanted deals to be made but perhaps not making any was for the better.

Please be advised that these are rumors and we are not claiming in any way that any of which is posted below will come to fruition. This is based on what I am hearing from sources both public and private inside certain organizations. Just wanted to condense them all in one article so we can keep track of them as the hours go by.

Involving the Rangers

1. Rangers are going full throttle after David Booth of the Florida Panthers. I wish they were not because I don't want to risk trading for a player that has spent more than half the season on the IR with a concussion. Names involved to be going the other way are Dan Girardi. But keep in mind that Girardi has been thrown around all over the place. Nathan Horton's name has also been more prevalent, but again, he is coming off a broken leg so I wouldn't risk it. Here's a name to consider that hasn't been mentioned: Gregory Campbell, a center whose dad coached the New York Rangers and won a Cup in 1994 as the assistant.

2. Rangers are in serious talks with the San Jose Sharks, inquiring about both Devin Setoguchi and Joe Pavelski. They will most likely have to settle for one or the other, but will probably have a better chance at Setoguchi. The price may be too high for Pavelski, but if San Jose wants to really move him (for reasons unknown to me), then Dubinsky and Girardi would be the combination headed out west.

3. What would a deadline be without Oilers and Coyotes speculation ? At least there's no Ed Jovanovski rumors this time (watch him finally get dealt here after years of deadline rumors). Obvious names being thrown around from up north are Sheldon Souray and Andrew Cogliano. This trade, along with number 2, both hinge on each other because the Rangers only have a select group they are willing to deal. Peter Mueller from Phoenix has also been tossed around.

First off, I would just like to say that I am more than happy to be a part of the writing team here at Blueshirt Banter and it is unfortunate that my first editorial will have to be something a bit controversial. Most of you remember just about a month ago when I had the chance to interview Rangers goaltender Chad Johnson for my blog Metro Hockey. The article was featured on this site by Jim, so most of you will also remember the subsequent removal of this interview from both our websites.

After about a month of toying with the idea of just how to explain what exactly happened, I decided that the best way would be telling the simple, plain truth. I will give you a day by day rundown of just what exactly happened regarding my interview with Chad.

January 7th: After seeing Chad Johnson had been called up and looked like he was going to stay, I added him on Facebook. This was without a doubt the real Chad Johnson. We all know the celebrity and sports figures Facebook profiles have "friends" numbering in the thousands. Since Chad was a relative unknown at the time, he had less than two hundred. I hardly ever conduct Facebook interviews but this one checked out. I even had three other writers, whose names I will not mention, take a look and they gave me the "okay" and it checked out. The most convincing piece of information was Chad's email address, which was visible right on his page.

January 9th/ ~9pm: I send Chad a message telling him a little about my blog and that I would like to conduct an interview with him. I'm not really expecting a response but I gave it a shot anyway.

January 9th/ ~10pm: Chad contacts me back through Facebook instant message asking how the interview would be conducted and what I was going to ask of him. I tell him that all I wanted to ask about is his playing style and what his experiences were like thus far, with his first NHL start happening just nights earlier. Chad agrees to do the interview and I send him five questions about fifteen minutes later.

Continue reading this post »

The New York Rangers need to acquire two things at the trade deadline this coming Wednesday; a physical, crease clearing defenseman, and some offense. A healthy Sheldon Souray would accomplish both. The oft-injured 33 year old has one of the hardest shots in the entire league and plays with a mean streak. It was actually during a fight that Souray received the injury he is on the IR for right now.

I, myself, have been calling for Souray's acquisition since 2008, a year after he signed in Edmonton. His first choice during the 2007 off-season was to sign with the Rangers, but he entered the game too late, after they had already signed Scott Gomez and Chris Drury; there was no money left. Souray waited a week, hoping the Rangers could free up enough cap space to sign him, but it never happened and he landed in Edmonton. His first season there was less than memorable when he only played 26 games due to injury while recording 3 goals and 7 assists for 10 points. It appeared that it was the right move after all not to sign him.

Then came last season, and the Souray we all know and love was back. He scored 23 goals (12 on the powerplay) to go along with 30 points and 98 penalty minutes. The stat that was the most telling, however, was his plus/minus. Souray had become infamous in Montreal for scoring 26 goals and ending up a -28 on the season. But last year, he was a +1 on a not so very good Oilers team.

But now it appears Souray is in the midst of one of those injury plagued seasons. He has only appeared in 37 games thus far, and has 4 goals and 9 assists to show for it. I know for a fact that Glen Sather is talking to the Oilers right now, wanting to acquire him. But do they really want to gamble on another high risk, high reward player?

Continue reading this post »

Please keep in mind that the Rangers would have to make one additional move to dump about a half a million dollars in order for these scenarios to take place.

First Trade:

To Rangers

Alex Frolov
Sean O'Donnel

To Kings

Michal Rozsival
Brandon Dubinsky

Second Trade:

To Rangers

Sheldon Souray
Andrew Cogliano

To Oilers

Dan Girardi
Aaron Voros

Rangers shed: ~ $9.3 million
Rangers take in:~ $10.6 million

Current Cap space ~ $500,000

They would then need to do is free up $800,000

I have teamed up with Nick from Rangers Tribune and here on Blueshirt Banter to create a forum for New York Rangers fans titled Broadway Blue. With your help, we hope to become the optimal forum for Rangers discussion on the web today. Registration is very simple and in just a couple of minutes you will be able to post in our various boards to discuss the Rangers along with the rest of the NHL and off-topic subjects as well. Dave from Blue Seat Blogs has signed up along with Eddie "The Mouth", and we would love it for all of you to do the same.

Please check us out at http://broadwayblue.co.cc

Thank you.

From my blog Metro Hockey. Wanted to get everyone's opinion on it:

According to various sources, the Calgary Flames are looking to trade star defenseman Dion Phaneuf. Normally, the Rangers would not be linked to anything like this because of their limited cap room and in order to acquire him, they would have to shed a large contract to make the trade happen. But then, on MSG Network two games ago, Sam Rosen mentioned how Flames' scouts had been in attendance for three straight Rangers games, including the general manager himself, Darryl Sutter, who attended the last one. Very rarely does a GM come in person to scout a game, and if he does, that must mean something is in the works, or at least the attempt is being made.

When you look at it, Phaneuf is everything the Rangers lack on the blue line: a noticeable physical presence with a bomb of a slap shot. He is the tour-de-force of the Flames powerplay and is actually a top-tier fighter. He has already played in 375 games over the course of the last four seasons and change, and has put up 226 points during the time; 128 of those coming with the man advantage. He also happens to be only 24 years old. He seems to be the perfect defenseman because he does everything. So why are the Flames looking to trade him, then?

Your guess is as good as mine. From Phanuef's standpoint, he may be unhappy in his present location and wants a change of scenery. From management's perspective, the team is in a pretty tight salary cap situation (much like the Rangers) and with Jay Bouwmeester making nearly $7 million a season and Phaneuf himself making $6.5 million for the next four years, it would do much to alleviate their situation should they move him. Their defensive corps which consists of the two mentioned above along with Robyn Regehr at $4 million and Cory Sarich at $3.6, ties up nearly $19 million in just four defenseman alone.

Meanwhile, the Rangers situation is not much better. Should the Rangers go after a young stud like Phaneuf, Marc Staal would definitely have to be thrown in there. But even then, the Rangers would not be able to afford it. The Flames surely would not take Redden since his contact is identical to Phaneuf's, which means that they would have to take Michal Rozsival as well as Staal. Below is a trade proposal I have drawn up between the two teams. It was difficult to do because the Rangers have roughly $800,000 in cap space while the Flames have $1.2 million.

To Flames
Michal Rozsival ($5 million)
Ales Kotalik ($3 million)
Marc Staal ($800,000
Total: $8.8 million

To Rangers
Dion Phaneuf ($6.5 million)
Craig Conroy ($1.05 million
Total: $7.55 million

In this deal, both teams are able to maneuver within the cap restrictions. The Rangers get Phaneuf to be that physical presence along the blue line and to chip in offense on a struggling powerplay. They also get an experienced center in Conroy who is a free agent after this season. The Rangers, aside from defensive physicality, also have a weakness up the middle and the veteran and New York native could help with a third line center role. The 37 year old also kills penalties and has plenty of playoff experience. Could be a voice in the locker room that the Rangers are missing. In the deal the Rangers would also be short a defenseman, in which case they could call up either Bobby Sanguinetti or Ilka Heikkinen, both of whom are rookies that had a brief taste earlier in the season.

For the Flames, they lose out on Phaneuf but also get a cheaper Michal Rozsival whose contract is two years shorter. Rozsival has played extremely well of late and has only six less points than Phaneuf on the season. Without the pressures of New York City, he would probably be very successful out west. They also get Marc Staal, so they don't lose out on youthful, franchise caliber defensemen. He is a restricted free agent after this season and would probably fetch only around $2 million. And to help with the loss of a heavy shot on the powerplay, Ales Kotalik is thrown in as well, where he would be used correctly and flourish as he did in Buffalo.

I'll just add one more thing, and that is what people have been bringing up when mentioning the possibility of Phaneuf coming to New York, and that's Sean Avery. We all know of the incident that occurred last season when Avery made an off-color remark about Phaneuf's girlfriend, which led to a league wide roasting of Avery by the media, and his suspension/banishment for more than twenty games. It has been suggested that the two would not be able to co-exist in the locker room and that Phaneuf should not be acquired. The fact about not being able to get along may be true, but let me ask you one thing; if you have the chance to land a franchise caliber defenseman in his prime, you're not going to do it because Sean Avery might not like it? If you still think you don't want him for that reason, then get your head checked.

When...

Tom Renney was using words like "Visceral" and "Cognizant".

Marcel Hossa was good along the boards.

Karel Rachunek was our number 23.

Brad Isbister was playing on the first line.

Ryan Hollweg was getting called for boarding every game.

Perry Pearn was in charge of the powerplay.

Mike Pelino was the most snazzy dresser who ever came to New York.

Tyutin and Kasparaitis were getting undressed on a game-by-game basis.

Never thought I'd miss them, but I do.