Remember all those trade Gaborik posts and threads from last season? Well, where you all at now? Hes been the most consistent and best forward on this team all season long.

Hes now tied for the league lead in goals with Jonathan Toews (20) after just 32 games, which is also the highest GPG average as well (.625) and is also on pace for 51 goals.

So..heres your plate of crow. Enjoy.

via media.trb.com

Not enough actual talent.

Too many 3rd and 4th liners playing top six roles. Yeah, its a great team to watch scrape and come back and win games, gut it out, block shots, etc., but for fuck sake, its not too much to ask for some talent is it? Im sure Lundqvist has a great view from the net of just how much talent this team lacks outside of Gaborik (whos having an injured season). Ask Lundqvist how nice it would be once in a while to have some goal support to win games, similar to Vancouver. Elite goalie, elite scoring talent. 

Some of you may not like it, but this team needs Gaborik. It needs elite talent. It needs more of it. This is the post-lockout NHL. Talent wins out.

Brooksie points it out perfectly.

“The third period, the overtimes, the outcome, they are not a reflection of commitment, work ethic, discipline, coaching, or even experience.
The final 52:36 was about talent.”

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/rangers/four_shame_qWGYuYtMBSykNQjIQw9x1O#ixzz1KKDe1lrb

 

Rewind to 2008-09 when we couldnt score in a brothel. Gomez and Zherdev led the team in points with 58, Naslund with 24 goals. We lost to the Capitals in the playoffs, despite scoring only 11 goals and taking them to 7 games. What we desperately lacked was a player who could consistently be relied on to score. Gaborik is signed July 1st. 2009-10, he exceeds his expectations and scores 42 goals and has one of the best seasons of any Ranger player in its 85 year history with a huge talent gap within the team. 2010-11, Gaborik gets injured on the first game of the year and its affected his play ever since, not to mention being asked to play like a grinder because thats the only way this young team can win. 

 

Even if Gaborik is 100%, he still cant do it all himself. (last year?) Hes most certainly a building block for this team's offense and he needs other elite talent to play with. 

 

When was the last team youve seen to win a Cup on guts alone? This teams current formula will only take it so far.

If anyone missed it, Brooks latest article in the post is about letting Gaborik be Gaborik. I feel like Brooks has been reading my internet posts (I post on other various sites aside this). The article is EXACTLY what I have been saying for most of the season. Let Gaborik play Gaborik's game. You do not sign an elite sniper to a $7.5 million dollar contract and then tell him to play like Brandon Prust. He is not a grinder. You cannot expect him to pot 40 goals when you essentially tell him to "dumb down his game" and play like one. He is an open ice, finesse player. His greatest asset is his speed, not getting dirty in the corners and potting garbage goals. 

 

Another thing Brooks touches on is how Gaborik has made zero excuses for this season, which is again, spot on. When has Gaborik ever not done something that has been asked of him? Has he complained once? at all? Has he blamed it on his injuries? has he blamed it on his lack of consistent linemates?

 

Last year, he had Prospal and Del Zotto for most of the season. None of the three have played so much as 2 or 3 games together all this year.

 

Honestly? Gaborik's stats this season might be more impressive than last year considering this.

 

Here is Brooks' article in the Post (and Puck Daddy also touches on it and suggests getting Gaborik, who else? Brad Richards)

Let Gaborik be Gaborik and not a grinder

 

"Everyone recognizes that the Rangers' relentless work ethic carried them through the first four months of the season when opponents perhaps more skilled failed to match their commitment. Everyone admires the way this group of athletes sacrificed their bodies night after night after night.

Darn right, You've Got to Have Heart, and the Rangers have miles and miles of it, but even the Washington Senators of "Damn Yankees" needed the splendiferous and fictitious Joe Hardy to win them a pennant.

We're not suggesting that Tortorella is a Mr. Applegate, but the coach has to be willing to give Gaborik not only the minutes he needs to thrive, but the support he needs to play his game, the one he played last year when he scored 42 goals, and not Brandon Prust's game or Brandon Dubinsky's game.

Wednesday morning, even in praising Gaborik's performance against the Flyers, Tortorella made a reference to "grinding." There were no such references last year when Gaborik finished fifth in the league in goal scoring.

We get it. Gaborik has the same responsibility to compete as every one of his teammates. But we can tell you that dynastic Islanders' coach Al Arbour never once called for Mike Bossy to be a grinder in the mold of teammates Clark Gillies, John Tonelli, Bob Nystrom and Duane Sutter. Are you kidding?

Gaborik hasn't made so much as a single excuse through this miserable season in which he suffered a separated shoulder in the first week of the season. Michael Del Zotto, who delivered a series of home-run passes to spring Gaborik last season, crashed and burned. The Rangers haven't had a steady complementary center for him all year."

 

Listen fellas, if youre gonna trade a talent like Gaborik for a grinder like Brown, just because you think Brown would fit well in this system (which is a f*cking retarded premise to begin with since who wants a team full of third and fourth liners, or excuse me, "good" third and fourth liners), then I guess that means logic would bring us to trading Lundqvist for another backup, no? I mean, he is the talent who is being outperformed by Biron, is he not? 

See where im going with this? 

Yeah, lets have a team full of third liners and two backups because clearly, they all work better together. Good luck with that. Its not a real gameplan just because you have been mildly successful with it (at least in the short term). 
This system is only in place because outside of Gaborik, we dont have top end talent. Grinding it out/blocking shots/working hard is how we have to play to win. Gaborik is being asked to be a grinder, and hes an open ice player. This is why getting Richards actually opens it up a bit and helps Gaborik return to his game. Not even just Gaborik, Richards would help everyone else as well. Until you get players that actually have talent, then this is how its going to be for awhile. When are people going to start realizing this? Honestly, what does Gaborik have to work with at this point in time? Last year, this system was NOT in place, and it was more open ice, which is why he succeeded. He is an open ice player, he is not a grinder, and he sho uldnt be asked to be one. 

I can only imagine the dialogue between Torts and Gaby.

Torts: "Hey Marian, could you uh, ya know, dumb your game down a little bit but still put up 45 goals?" 

Gaby: (lol) "wut?"

One other thing.

Sather isnt actively shopping Gaborik, as a GM hes just doing his due diligence and listening to offers. 

Sather didnt get fleeced in trades for Jagr, Rozsival, Higgins, Gomez or anyone else. Just look at the returns for those trades. 

That means the only way Gaborik is getting traded is for a massive overpayment by the other team. 

and really, you honestly think the market for Gaborik is high with his contract and injury history with no new CBA in place after next season?

Lets use our heads people.

Re-sign the RFAs, buyout Drury, let FA's walk, sign Richards and maybe trade for Kaberle if he can be extended (to which we can trade Grachev and/or Gilroy and a pick) and bring up Kreider.

 

Kreider-Richards-Gaborik (wow, a line with actual raw talent, thats a shocker)

Dubinsky-Anisimov-Callahan

Wolski-Stepan-Zuccarello

Avery-Boyle-Prust

 (Boogaard,Christensen)

 

Staal-Girardi

Kaberle-Sauer

Del Zotto-McDonagh

(Eminger)

 

Lundqvist

Biron

Since some of you are complaining about Gaborik not putting the puck in the net, I figure id compare him to the rest of the snipers around the league and see just how "so incredibly awful" hes been. Taking the top snipers from last season and seeing how they are doing this season:

GPG = ( ) 

 

09-10  and 10-11

Crosby - 51 (.629)  32 (.780)  up

Stamkos - 51 (.621) 33 (.717)  up

Ovechkin - 50 (.694) 15 (.326)  down

Marleau - 44 (.536) 18 (.382)  down

Gaborik - 42 (.552) 11 (.333)  down

Kovalchuk - 41 (.539) 13 (.295)  down

Semin - 40 (.547) 18 (.461)  down

Heatley - 39 (.475) 18 (.382)  down

Parise - Injured

Burrows - 35 (.426) 9 (.257)  down

Ryan - 35 (.432) 21 (437)  even

Kopitar - 34 (.414) 16 (.355)  down

Backstrom - 33 (.402) 11 (.239)  down

Nash - 33 (.434) 21 (.477)  up

 

There are only 4 players from last year's top 10, that are in this year's top 10.

Records of each Eastern playoff team against the other seven:

 

Tampa is 15-6-0 (30 points)

Boston is 11-7-3 (25 points)

Philadelphia is 11-6-1 (23 points)

Washington is 10-8-3 (23 points)

Pittsburgh is 9-9-2 (20 points)

Atlanta is 8-8-3 (19 points)

Montreal is  8-6-2 (18 points)

Rangers are 4-10-1 (9 points)

 

 

If the Rangers are gonna make any noise in the playoffs, theyd best start doing better against these teams.

 

They are 9-4-0 against the West, which is second to Carolina (9-4-2) however.

Gaborik set a pretty high standard last year in his first year as a Ranger having the 23rd best season of any player in franchise history. He put up 42-44-86 in 76 games and as everyone knows, was definitely worthy of the Hart (not many are) and team MVP as well.

 

This year he obviously missed some time, but hes still producing at nearly his usual PPG pace with 22 points in 25 games. The team is also winning all kinds of ways and despite Gaborik's average year, theyre not depending on him to carry the offense anymore, which is huge. Lets remember he missed games due to separating his shoulder and you can tell at some points this season, he has definitely been playing through something (tender groin maybe). Im sure he is also keyed in more on other teams' gameplans as well, which is why its so important for this team to somehow acquire another elite threat to help do what we had hoped Frolov would and take some weight off him.

 

He has 11 goals in 25 games. Sure, that looks good on about 95% of other players stats around the league, but certainly not for Gabby. However, with the exception of a few players having only played one game (thus having a 1.00 GPG average, Gabby is still around 17/18th in league GPG. Hes also 37th in PPG average, after finishing 11th last year. He usually is always around the top 20 or 15 in PPG.

 

If you havent noticed, there are alot of players having "down" seasons. Look at Ovechkin and Kovalchuk. 14 goals in 40 games and 9 goals in 36 games, respectively. As you can see, even outside the top 3 snipers since the lockout (Ovechkin, Gaborik and Kovalchuk) this hasnt been the year of the sniper, outside of Crosby and Stamkos, who both have a pretty commanding lead over everyone else. 

 

Point is this, sure Gaborik is having a pretty average year, but his numbers are still pretty respectable when you put them with everyone elses and you can definitely tell hes been playing through something. If this were Gabby last year we'd be lobbying for 15th in the conference but the team has grown considerably and EVERYONE is chipping in. 

 

He did score a huge goal tonight as well in Tampa so hopefully this will get him going.

Lets get one thing straight. Gaborik isnt going anywhere. Because of 35 games of this team doing well in a high energy and grind system, you want to trade our only elite forward because hes been injured for part of the season?
Last year we were a lottery team without Gaborik. He had around the 20th best season of any Ranger in franchise history. Our problem last year was relying too much on him (and Lundqvist). Our fault  was no consistency, no identity and lack of secondary scoring behind Gaborik.
Fast forward to this year. We're finally doing what we shouldve done last year. Whats that you ask? We have secondary scoring. Even more than that, we arent relying on Gaborik to carry the team anymore offensively. 
..and in light of this, some of you want to TRADE him? 
You can talk all you want about how well this team is doing this year but the fact is, we're doing it in a very weak conference on a high energy and grind system. Eventually you will need talent to really get you anywhere in the playoffs (that being our goal this year, no?) You need gamebreaking talent like Gaborik on your team, regardless. 
Hes an elite sniper in his prime. We havent had one in years, shit, even decades. Put out a season for the ages for this franchise last year and 35 games into this season youre proposing trades cause hes injured and we have secondary scoring?
If you trade Gaborik, you might as well trade Lundqvist. Theyre both elite, and theyre both the same age. 
These two players are cornerstones for this franchise on top of this developing core that we have. 
If you look at the goal scoring for this year, you might notice its actually a down year for goals and a number of players arent faring so well. Gaborik, Ovechkin and Kovalchuk (all GPG leaders since the lockout) , amidst a number of other players, are ALL not faring well.
Tortorella's infamous line shuffling isnt exactly helping the situation considering when he is out, he misses games, and he never has the same linemate. 
Lets not forget Prospal's importance either once he returns.
Honestly, some of you people and your ideas are downright ludicrous.
It was just last year he earned instant fan favorite status. Finally, an elite player that CAN PLAY HERE, and now a third into this season and youre proposing trades on a shit sample size of data. 
Then of course there are those who were just waiting for the moment he went down to harp on it. 
This fanbase's bipolar tendencies NEVER ceases to amaze me.
The temperament around here changes like the direction of the wind. 
Enough already.

Theres a thread on HFBoards I was browsing about "Gaborik - MIA."

Yes, HFBoards, the be-all end-all of hockey knowledge (that is, if youre 16 years old).

 

Tortorella himself calls him out in the post game interview (when really, after last night's performance, is it the fault of ONE player or an ENTIRE team?)

 

Gaborik has 8 points in 7 games, and 4 in the last 5. Sure, theyre all assists and he hasnt scored in 4 games, but there was a streak last year where Gaborik didnt score in 5 games and nobody said squat.

 

Can someone explain to me how 4 points in the last 5 games exactly constitutes being MIA regarding Gaborik?

 

Hes had a point in all but 4 games.

 

Honestly, if Gaborik is MIA, then what the **** is Ilya Kovalchuk?

Marian Gaborik skated once again this morning at the Rangers’ optional morning session in Greenbugh, staying on the ice long after his teammates had departed. The star right wing is hoping that he’ll have just one more day of rehab from his separated shoulder before returning to the ice at the Garden for the first time since suffering the injury in the Rangers’ home opener on October 15.

“I’m shooting for Thursday or Sunday,” said Gaborik, naming possible return dates for the first time. “I’ll know after practice tomorrow or the next day how everything goes. It’s either Thursday or Sunday.”

Gaborik came through yesterday’s first practice with contact with his shoulder feeling “a little irritated,” but pretty much normal. He’s where he wants to be with his shot, and has looked pretty much like his normal self in the practices and workouts that he’s taken part in.

“When I shoot, it feels good,” Gaborik said. “I feel confident, so we’ll get into some battles and some contact drills - yesterday was the first time, it wasn’t too much of it. That’s where I need to feel comfortable enough so that I can play, so I’m confident that I can go into the corner and stuff like that. I’m doing stuff in the gym, as well, strengthening it, and it’s going the right way.”

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/rangers/2010/11/gaborik-its-either-thursday-or.html#ixzz14oL96zlh

I recently had a "discussion" with someone who says the Rangers need to go through a rebuild, to which I immediately scoffed at.

 

Youth movement? The average age of an NHL team is 27.5 years. The Rangers sit at 27.3. That's not exactly the definition of a youth movement, rather, you had a youth movement after the lock-out, but these "kids" are getting older.

Uh, Mat...t Gilroy is 26-years old. Remember, he was an NCAA free agent, not an 18-year old draft pick. Dubinsky is 24. If people don't consider Tyler Bozak to be all that young, then Dubinsky sure cannot be as he turns 25 in 2011 and he has how many seasons under his belt? Ryan Callahan is 25, turns 26 in 2011. Girardi is 26, he turns 27 on the same day Dubinsky turns 25. Marc Staal is borderline at 23 going on 24.

These aren't "youth movement" numbers. You've got a few draft picks in the mix (Stepan, Del Zotto, whoever), so you've got an average-aged team with upside."

Thoughts?

If you go to the latest interviews with the team, theres one with Boyle regarding the upcoming season. Look around the locker room, you can see that the helmets are a darker blue and say "NEW YORK" on them.

 

With the leak from Avery not long ago  (Rangers Thirds) on the new jerseys, they must have skated yesterday with the new equipment on.

 

Go ahead and see for yourselves and watch the interview on Rangers On Demand.

Look at the helmets

If youre a Ranger fan who has lived in Upstate NY all of your life, like me, you may remember growing up watching the Rangers. Never having to worry about them being blacked out or missing a game. However, all of that has changed. In 2006, when Buffalo lost their network, Empire Sports Network, to a bankruptcy scandal, MSG signed the Buffalo Sabres to a contract, allowing them to be aired.

 

Great news if you’re a Sabre fan, and you would ultimately learn that this was bad news if you’re a Ranger fan.  MSG has been broadcast in Upstate NY since its inception in 1969. Areas where there is Rangers and Sabres conflict today, like Utica and Albany, are and were predominantly Ranger markets due to this. Consider the geography as well. While some outsiders may think that the Sabres market is Upstate NY, its really Western NY. All of the Sabres advertisements are aimed toward the Western NY community. Albany is 4 hours from Buffalo, and 2 hours from NYC, yet as of 4 years ago, its in the "Sabres market" to the ire of many local Ranger fans. This is also the case in the Utica area as well. Theres a map providing the distance from Utica to NYC and Buffalo, that is outlines that Utica really is in fact, closer to NYC, by nearly 20 miles. Yet these areas, as a result of the NHL unilaterally taking control of everything in the league, changed the markets after the lockout and decided the Sabres need more fans, so lets take the Rangers off in Eastern Upstate NY and put the Sabres on.  Sure, its an attempt to make new fans, which it has, but youre also impeding on an already established fanbase, the Rangers. The NHL has made many new enemies in light of this, especially now that in Upstate NY, Rangers and Sabres fans loathe one another over it.

 

"Utica is closer to Buffalo than NYC."

"Oh, really? Lets check it out and see then."

via farm5.static.flickr.com

 

Wow, its really not! How about that!

 

There are many Ranger fans in the Utica and Albany area that do complain about the Sabres getting precedence over the Rangers (which seemingly happened overnight), and they are told to "get Center Ice." Really, NHL? Get Center Ice? Why should we have to pay for a team that we should otherwise be seeing on our regular cable? Just so you can make an extra buck? (or 180).

 

Their presence is so little, there are even people that live in these areas that think the Sabres are an expansion team.

 

The conflict is so profound, there was even an online petition to get the Sabres off of MSG last year, which has actually gained a couple hundred signatures from Utica, to Albany, to Saratoga and Binghamton, and even help from our downstate friends in NYC.

 

MSG Petition to get Sabres off 

 

 

 

Its an atrocity. Lifelong, dedicated blueshirt fans that have grown up watching the Rangers, that in fact do live closer to NYC than Buffalo and should remain in the NY pro sports market, now either cannot watch their team or only get to watch a few games.

 

This isn’t Phoenix. This is Upstate New York. Its got decades of hockey history here. The people here are hockey fans and have been die hard hockey fans. There are already established fanbases set up throughout Upstate NY. The Buffalo Sabres have traditionally just been Western NY, and the Rangers have been NYC  and Eastern Upstate.  Its not rocket science Bettman. Its not rocket science Daly.

Theres even a fanbase map that shows where the Sabres majority is, and you can clearly see it dissipates once you get East of Syracuse (Utica and Albany). The strong yellow area in the middle is Utica, and Albany you can see has shades of Rangers and Bruins (although most in Albany would tell you that its mainly Rangers and Devils).

 

via www.commoncensus.org

 

 

This map was just updated on August 29th, 2010, after nearly two years.

 

Im not sure what the NHL is trying to do here, but they don’t seem to be very knowledgeable of the subject either. To the point where even Rangers beat writer Larry Brooks of the NYPost caught wind of the issue last year and e-mailed NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly.  Per Brooks’ article:

 

"The question, posed in e-mails from disgruntled fans in the Albany region (as opposed to the gruntled ones who never seem to write), is why the Rangers are blacked out on television when Sabres' games conflict even though the capitol region is in far closer proximity to Manhattan than Buffalo.

The answer, as provided in an e-mail by deputy commissioner Bill Daly is that the Albany region is a "shared territory" for the Sabres, Rangers, Devils and Islanders, and that the Sabres are given precedence, "because the Rangers' footprint has traditionally pushed north and east (not north and west) and the Sabres' out-of-market territory has historically been New York State outside of the metropolitan area."

If, then, you're a Rangers fan whose footprints are north and east of the city, you likely are making them on a beach off the Atlantic Ocean. But you might be able to watch the games."

 

You can see here where Brooks even points out Daly’s geographical deficiency, considering the area he is talking about is the Atlantic Ocean, or really, New England.

 

If youre from Upstate NY, you will already know what all of this is about, and if youre not, hopefully now you can realize the bigotry that’s going on here.  Or maybe you’re just sick at the thought of seeing all this Sabres memorabilia starting to crop up around your area wondering, "when did this happen" or "why now?" after 40 years.

 

Eastern Upstate NY is a Rangers market, and has been for over 40 years since MSG’s inception as a network, when they played the Minnesota North Stars in their first television broadcast October 15th, 1969.

 

Even Poughkeepsie is now part of the "Sabres market" when its nearly 6 hours from Buffalo and 1 hour from NYC.

 

Should the Sabres just arbitrarily get precedence over the Rangers in virtually all of Upstate NY? Should areas closer to NYC than Buffalo like Albany be an overnight Sabre market?  What do you think? Hopefully I can raise some awareness to this issue, and if you are from any of these areas in Upstate NY, say something and join the cause. You know exactly what I am talking about.