Today Larry Brooks writes that Chris Drury's career as a Ranger and Rangers Captain is done. His buyout will become official today. Here's a snippet from the article: 

 

The buyout ending Chris Drury's career as a Ranger will become official today, The Post has learned.

 

The 34-year-old who played four seasons on Broadway, the last three of them as team captain, will become an unrestricted free agent after deciding against applying for a medical exception due to a left knee condition.

 

It is believed Drury, who would have received the full $5 million due for the final season of his five-year, $35.25 million contract had he been declared medically unable to perform as opposed to the $3.333 million he will collect on the buyout, will seek to continue his career, perhaps in Buffalo, from whence he came on July 1, 2007.

 

Here is a link to the full article: http://t.co/MrSNcyj

I saw someone else do this so I thought I'd do one myself.. I was going to add it as a comment but this is to much for one comment. Obviously I'm not the GM but if I was, these are some of the moves I'd do. First I'll put up the team and then I'll explain some of my thinking.  

CAPGEEK.COM CAP CALCULATOR

FORWARDS:

Jussi Jokinen ($3.000m) / Brad Richards ($7.500m) / Marian Gaborik ($7.500m) 

Brandon Dubinsky ($3.500m) / Artem Anisimov ($2.000m) / Ryan Callahan ($3.500m) 

Tomas Kopecky ($1.700m)  / Vaclav Prospal ($2.480m) / Derek Stepan ($0.875m) 

Sean Avery ($1.937m) / Brian Boyle ($1.300m) / Brandon Prust ($0.800m) 

13) Ruslan Fedotenko ($1.000m) 

DEFENSEMEN

Marc Staal ($3.975m) / Daniel Girardi ($3.325m) 

Ryan McDonagh ($1.300m) / Mike Sauer ($1.400m) 

Michael Del Zotto ($1.087m) / 6th D-Man (> $1.2M)

GOALTENDERS

Henrik Lundqvist ($6.875m) / Martin Biron ($0.875m) 

CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter)

(these totals are compiled without the bonus cushion)

SALARY CAP: $63,000,000; CAP PAYROLL: $55,930,000; BONUSES: $637,500

CAP SPACE (20-man roster): $7,070,000

I guessed the Cap would be around $63M. I ended up with 7.07M of Cap Space. Minus the buyouts of both Drury and Wolski and we're left with 2.88M of Cap Space. Now we also need to fit a D-Man under the $2.88M so it'll be a little less.

Who I let go:

1) Matt Gilroy. I personally don't like him for the Rangers. At best he's a 6th D-Man and I want defense from my number 6. He has shown at times that he can add offense but his D is to weak for 6th. (I'd rather keep Eminger)

2) EC. I didn't really let him go but I dumped him in the minors. For his price tag, his production actually isn't bad but I can't stand his inconsistency.

3) Zuccarello. Again, I sent him down. I think he'll make his way back up but I don't see him as a top 6 and he's a waste in the bottom 6.

4) Drury: I think we all know why...

Close Calls:

1) Prospal: I like him a lot and I think he adds a lot to this team. He has shown he still has the ability to be a top offensive threat. He also seems to fit with anybody. On the chart I kept him at the same price but I would like it to come down some. Anything more and I wouldn't keep him.

2) Fedotenko. Kind of the same situation. At that price, I'd keep him but I think he'll want more. He can help this team but at more then $1.5M, he's gone.

3) Eminger: I thought he was WAY better then Gilroy. He isn't the best in the O Zone but I feel like he is solid in the D-Zone. Exactly what I want in a 6-7. $1.2M or less, I would keep him.

4) Avery: I like him. He has actually grown as a player. But our coach hates him. Fact is he was tied for 3rd on this team in Even Strength Assists and he was dead last in ice time. I feel like he has toned down the stupid penalties and could be a solid playmaker/forechecker but if the coach isn't going to play him, we should get rid of him.

5) Wolski: I really don't know what to say here. It benefits the team to buy him out. Could be a mistake in the long run though..

Re-Sgin RFA's: (Glen likes to low-ball his own RFA's...)

1) Boyle: Big fan of his and I would like to see him come back. I think anything over $1.5M is ridiculous though. He had a good year but he was a bum before this year. Play it smart, 2 years @ $1.2-1.4M..

2) Dubi/Cally/AA - All 3 will be resigned. I really had no clue what to give them,. Is $2M to high for AA? And I figured a combined $7M for Dubi/Cally was good. It won't be $3.5M each but $7M between them is a solid number. Over $4M for either one is to much right now.

3) Sauer: We have to keep him. He is a part of our Big 4. Not really sure how much he'll get. I probably went a little to low but I went over on a lot of these so it evens out. Or is $1.4M good? You tell me.

Who I added:

1) Brad Richards: I'm still not sure if we should do this (Money being a main reason amongst others) but if he's not wearing a Stars jersey next year, he'll be a Ranger.

2) Jussi Jokinen: I really like him. He has had a couple of solid years in Carolina playing with Eric Staal (30-35-65 in 81 and 19-33-52 in 71). I actually thought this was a good move before I looked at the stats but they were better then I thought. On a top line with Richards and Gaborik, I think he'll be a perfect fit. He made $1.9M last year and I figured $3M was good but we could probably get him for less. Plus he's a beast in the shootout which we'll need without EC, Wolski and MZA. (We need to get past the failures of Frolov, Kotalik and make a move for this spot that will improve this team)

3) Tomas Kopecky: I've always liked him and he produced decent numbers in Chicago with limited ice time (15-27-42 in about 14 ATOI).. Also he played some with Gaborik in the Olympics and they looked good together. This is a low-risk move as I'm guessing we can get him for less then the $1.7M I listed. You can also slip Zuccarello in the spot instead. Only on a one year deal.

4) 6th D-Man. Someone cheap. Around $1-1.5M. Eminger would be fine with me. Also a kid in our system is fine. A solid veteran for cheap. 

Other:

1) Move Stepan To Wing: He's awful at faceoffs and I feel, he'll play better on the wing.

2) Jokinen/Kopecky/Prospal are interchangeable. You could move those 3 guys around anyway you like. I would like to try Kopecky with Gaborik at some point, if it doesn't work then put him on a 3rd/4th line and put Prospal/Jokinen on the 1st line.

Possible Signings: 

1) Laich: I wouldn't mind having him on our team but the price will be way to high. I think he'll be getting over $4M.

2) Wizniewski: Again I would like him but we have a Top 4 set. He would be a 5-6 and PP guy and he would cost way to much for that. (Also goes for other high priced D-Men)

3) Scottie Upshall: I don't know why but I feel like the Rangers might go after him.

There's a lot more that could be said but I'm done for now. Tell me what you think. Add in your own suggestions. Obviously this doesn't matter but there's not much going on in Rangers World right now and this is something fun to do during the offseason.

Earlier in the day we heard word that Game 1 was the 2nd most watched Caps game in CSN history. They drew a 6.18 AHH rating in the D.C market. Not only that but they drew a 2.67 AHH Rating in the Baltimore market which is crazy for a secondary market. During it's peak in OT, over 225,000 HH's in the D.C/Baltimore are were watching the game on CSN. Link to article: HERE

And now for the Rangers. The Rangers averaged a 3.45 AHH rating for Game 1 which was on MSG+ (Imagine if it was on MSG..).. The highest rated Rangers game on MSG Networks since 1997. Yes the rating is lower but NYC is a MUCH MUCH bigger market so it actually reflects more people. By my math (?) this is roughly an average of just over 250,000 HH's. Not sure how many actual viewers though (I'll try and get those numbers). I'll also try to find the peak which was likely during overtime. Link to article: HERE Also a tweet from Neil Best: here

Obviously the main focus is winning games and you may say this isn't very important since we lost but I think it is. I'm glad Rangers fans watched this game and supported our team. At times we have come into question because of our viewership numbers during some of our NBC games but that wasn't the case for Game 1. We showed we are a strong fanbase that cares about our team. And anyone who decided to watch this game, got to see a great game and a very exciting overtime!!

Also of note since we are on this topic, Versus had it's best Opening Night for the NHL Playoffs in it's now 6 year history. Ratings were up 12% and an average of 534,000 viewers tuned into the 2.5 games shown. Now the games were blacked out in the local markets (like all 1st round games on Versus are) so the core fanbases of each team doesn't factor into these numbers since they're watching it on their local networks. Lets just take Caps/Rangers, and the average of 534k (was probably higher for this game but it's the average for the whole night so lets just use it). Add the over 500k average viewers from the Caps/Rangers local networks and you have over 1 million viewers for that game!

Also this is a great press release/article that all NHL fans should look it. The NHL is getting more and more popular each season and this article highlights some of the success the NHL had this season: HERE

It was rumored and now it's official. The Rangers, Ducks, Kings and Sabres will start the 2011-12 NHL season with 2 games each in Europe.

Here is a snippet from the Article on NHL.com:

Berlin, Helsinki and Stockholm are the three cities involved in the regular-season games that will help kick off the 2011-12 NHL season and mark the fifth-straight campaign the League will play games in Europe. It will be the first NHL regular-season game in Germany, while the League is set to stage games in the Swedish capital for the fourth-straight season and the Finnish capital for a third-consecutive campaign.

The Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks will travel to Europe for the first time since they opened the 2007-08 season with two games in London, while the New York Rangers are back after opening the 2008-09 campaign in Prague. Buffalo is the fourth team, and the Sabres will be playing their first regular-season games in Europe, though they did play a series of exhibition games in Austria in 1998.

Anaheim and Buffalo will play Friday, Oct. 7 at Hartwall Arena in Helsinki and New York and Los Angeles will square off at Ericsson Globe Arena in Stockholm. The next day the Sabres and Kings will play at O2 World Arena in Berlin while the Rangers and Ducks clash in Stockholm.

The schedule is a little different from how they've done it in the past.I find it weird the the Ducks and Kings won't be playing each other but I understand the reason why.

Also while the other 3 teams will be playing in 2 different cities, the Rangers will play both of their games in Stockholm, Sweden which could be a huge advantage. The Ducks will have to travel from Helsinki to Stockholm while the Rangers stay put in Sweden waiting for the 2nd game.

Anyway, The full article from NHL.com: Here

We can start off by saying the Rangers are GREAT in the shootout. It has helped them a lot over the years. But it looks like it may be one of the reasons we don't make the playoffs again this year.

As most of us know, during the offseason the NHL implemented a new rule in which Shootout wins don't count when it comes time for the tiebreaker. Which is all well and good as many believe it is the main reason for the decrease in shootouts this season, but there's one major flaw in it....

Lets say after tomorrows games, the Canes and Rangers have an equal amount of points. Whether it be they both win, both lose or both lose in extra time, it doesn't matter. Both teams will have 91, 92 or 93 points. Either way in this scenario, the Rangers will have 3 more wins then the Canes (43-40 or maybe 44-41). But the Rangers have won 9 games in the shootout while the Canes have only won 5. This equates to a "ROW" of 34 (35) for the Rangers and 35 (36) for the Canes. In any of the previous seasons, the Rangers would be in the playoffs but now the NHL doesn't look at total wins, they look at "ROW" wins (regulation + OT wins). The Canes have more ROW wins (35-34 or maybe 36-35).

But here is the major flaw, The Rangers are getting penalized (as is every team) for winning games in the shootout, while the Canes are getting rewarded for LOSING games in OT (11 times). So the NHL is saying that the Canes deserve to be in the playoffs over us because they lost games when it went into extra time but we won in those situations? Yes it's a new rule but how can they not see this scenario possibly playing out?

Here are the OT records for both teams: NYR, 12-5, 3-2 in OT and 9-3 in SO. Canes, 11-11, 6-6 in OT, 5-5 in SO.

You can say "It's the Rangers fault they're missing the playoffs and no one else's" but I disagree. The Rangers are 10-4-1 over their last 15 games. That is by no means choking. Yes the performance against the Isles was disgusting, same for the game against the Thrashers but they've made a great late season push. So have the Canes 11-5-2 since March 1st, and the Sabres 13-4-3.

Obviously if the Rangers win today (or lose in extra time) and the Canes lose they're in. Which is great, the season is by no means over yet but if this was last season or the year before or any of the last 5 seasons, the Rangers would be in if they win tomorrow. How can a team with more wins, 3 more to be exact not own the tiebreaker?

If the NHL plans to keep this rule, they should just get rid of the shootout all together and go back to the old ways of 65 minutes = a tie. I'm a fan of the shootout (probably the only one who is) but get rid of it if you're going to penalize a team for winning it. Or you can forget all this tiebreaker nonsense, and if it comes down to a tiebreaker for the final playoff spot, have a 1 game playoff between the 2 teams. 

Another thing that gets to me is the fact that the Canes will probably get slaughtered by the Caps in the playoffs. They're 1-4-1 against them while we're 3-1. We have outscored the Caps 21-4 this season. We would actually have a legit chance against them.

Also, this is not me bashing the NHL as I'm one of the few who agrees with what the NHL does, and I'm one of the few who doesn't complain about every little thing the NHL decides to do. Yeah, it's easy to look back and say "this rule sucks" because it hurts are Rangers but the Rangers have WON 3 MORE GAMES and deserve to be in the playoffs over the Canes (if it comes down to a tie for the final spot). In the end the team with more wins should get in, no matter how they won those games.

No matter what happens tomorrow I'll look at this season as a success. We have improved a lot, and I love watching this team play. Someday Dubinsky/Callahan/Stepan/Girardi/Staal/Lundqvist will lead us to a Cup, maybe not this year or next but sometime in the near future.

Ok so you've probably seen the post on the front page stating that the Rangers are interested in Chris Neil. Which is probably true considering that tried to sign him 2 years ago. But he decided to stay with Ottawa instead.

So the Rangers are interested, ok, but Neil has a partial NTC in which he can name 10 teams he doesn't want to get traded to. Well TSN found out who those 10 teams are and here is a video of them discussing it:  http://watch.tsn.ca/featured/clip420675#clip420675  .. Sorry but you're going to have to copy and paste the link.. (SPOILER: The Rangers are one of the ten)

It is quite clear that he would like to stay in a small mark which explains why the Rangers, Isles, Devils, Ducks and Kings are on his list. All big market teams. Not sure why Buffalo is on it but it doesn't matter. 

Now of course Neil has stated that he would like to stay with Ottawa(just like Philips did) but the Senators are at the bottom of the league with no chance of makings the playoffs. They're currently going through a fire sale which has seen long time Sens Chris Kelly and Mike Fisher get traded for top draft picks. They have also traded Jarko Ruutu and Goalie Brian Elliott. Neil wants to stay but he was upset about his best friend(supposedly) Mike Fisher getting traded. So it is unclear what the Sens will do with him.

This originated from an article by Jesse Spector who does great work so I'm not trying to say he's wrong. It is likely that the Rangers are interested in Neil. The fact is that based on this list, he doesn't want to come here. 

Now I'm not 100% sure of this but I'm guessing that a partial NTC is just like a regular NTC in that, the Sens could still work out a deal with the Rangers and if one is made with one of the teams on his list, they would have to ask Neil to waive his NTC. But again I'm not sure of that.

So this should be good news for most Rangers fans considering most of us would like to see Neil stay far, far away from Rangers Blue.

You can follow me on Twitter @NYRangers365!!

Today the New York Rangers released some phtotos on their official Twitter account of Michael Del Zotto during a Coke Zero Photo Shoot.  Who knows where the photos will end up but this is definitely a goos sign.  The Rangers are trying to market there young stars with some of there sponsors and this could work in a huge way for the game of hockey.  We all know the NHL has had trouble marketing the game in the right way over the years.  They made end up on a billboard, poster, magazine or somewhere else but it shows improvement in my eyes.  So for those of you who do not have Twitter(I know a lot of you do not) you can check out the 3 photos they released.  I can only put the links as for some reason  I cannot embed them in the post:

Picture 1, Picture 2, and the best 1 in my opinion Picture 3!!

I wrote this on my blog: NYRangers365 so go check out my site.

An NHL.com article on the history of the first five years of the shootout inspired this article.  After I read it, I decided to do some research and found out some crazy information.

Adding a shootout to the end of tied games was one of the major rule changes put in place after the 2004-05 Lockout.  Prior to the lockout if a game went through 65 minutes, the game would be a tie and both teams would get only one point.  Now all games have a winner with the shootout in place and one team always gets two points.

The shootout is no secret to Rangers fans as they are tied for the most shootouts played in the last five years.  The Rangers, Oilers and Bruins have all participated in 65 shootouts.  Approximately one out of every six regular season Rangers games have been decided by a shootout since the lockout.

Some fans hate the shootout and some love it.  I am on the side that it is better then ties and until we have a better system in place, I am all for it.

We all have our favorite shootout moments whether it be Marek Malik ending the longest shootout in history or Crosby winning the first Winter Classic in a shootout.

So the NHL.com article inspired me to look up some shootout stats so join me after this for some great/crazy shootout stats...

Continue reading this post »

Yeah the Rangers didn't make the playoffs but this video is great IMO. I loved it and thought this kind of video is creative and the music fits great.  It was created by @Mastor_Hutch on twitter so follow him.  Check it out:

The rest of the Inception videos can be found on my blog: NYRangers 365. Also check my blog for Rangers news and my opinion on the Rangers. You could also follow me on twitter at: NYRangers 365!

I posted this up on my blog but thought I'd share it here

A couple of Hockey Fans who are good with computers and such have made some Inception inspired videos with clips and highlights mainly from last season.  This could end up becoming a new trend just like the fan made History Will Be Made Videos and I would love to see a Rangers video and since I am not particularly good with that kind of stuff, I would like to challenge Rangers fans who are good at video making to create one.  Now you have to put your heart into it to show fans of other teams that we are the best.  I will embed the videos into the post to check them out and you can see what your competition is!  I have seen a Canucks and Bruins video and one group of different teams/highlights but if there are more out there then let me know and I will post them also....

Here are all 3 Inception themed highlight videos

Continue reading this post »

I posted this up on my blog this morning but thought I would share it over here to:

A lot of NYRangers fans have become increasingly worried about Marc Staal and his contract negotiations.  The talk that maybe some team will drop an offer sheet on him has been pushed around as a reason why we should get this deal over with.  While I agree that we should hurry this process up and get Staal locked up for at least the next two seasons, an offer sheet is not one of those reasons.

If Staal does get an offer sheet, I can't see Sather not matching it unless it is upwards of $7M and if it is then the Rangers will get a boatload of picks in compensation.  For any offer sheet above $7.7M, the team will receive four first round draft picks.  This is the main reason we do not see offer sheets as often because teams could get screwed into giving up a lot of compensation.  But they know that going in and are aware of the risk.

Since the lockout in 2004-05 there have only been six offer sheets made.  Five out of those six were matched.  Only one was accepted and in 2007 Dustin Penner went from the Anaheim Ducks to the Edmonton Oilers for a 1st, 2nd and 3rd round pick in the 2008 Draft.  The deal was at 5 years and $21.5M.  The Oilers had made an offer on Sabres RFA Thomas Vanek three weeks earlier for 7 years and $50M.  Only one offer sheet has been offered since the 2008 offseason, the Sharks offered Niklas Hjalmarsson 4 years and $14M in 2010 but the Chicago Blackhawks matched.  Here is a list of Offer Sheets since the lockout:

2006: Ryan Kesler-VAN- 1yr/$1.9M by Flyers-Matched by VAN
2007: Thomas Vanek-BUF- 7yrs/$50M by Oilers- Matched by Sabres
2007: Dustin Penner-ANA- 5yrs/$21.5M by Oilers- Accepted for 1st,2nd and 3rd round picks in 2008
2008: David Backes-STL- 3yrs/$7.5M by Canucks- Matched by Blues
2008: Steve Bernier-VAN- 1yr/$2.5M by Blues- Matched by Canucks
2010: Niklas Hjalmarsson-CHI- 4yrs/$14M by Sharks- Matched by Blackhawks

The last offer sheet before the lockout was in 1998 when the Carolina Hurricanes tried to bring a big star into there new city by placing an offer sheet on Red Wings star Sergei Fedorov but the Wings matched it.  There were 27 offer sheets made between 1985 and 1998 and 15 of those were matched by the players current team.  Back in those days teams would place smaller offer sheets on teams younger players hoping to steal them away from teams who were not in great financial situations.  Some teams use offer sheets as a way to drive up the price on current RFA's but that could easily backfire if the team does not match and it also hurts the relationship between GM's.

The Rangers themselves have been involved in some of the biggest offer sheets in history.  In 1991 they signed Adam Graves to a 5 year offer sheet.  Graves would be a pivotal player in the Rangers 1994 Stanley Cup winning season and would go on to be a fan favorite for years to come.  They also made a 3 year $21M offer to Joe Sakic back in 1997.  It seemed like he was a Ranger but then the Colorado Avalanche in a very surprising move decided to match the offer.  Sakic would go on to finish his great career with Colorado.  This move drove the free agent price up in the NHL. 

Now with the Salary Cap in place offer sheets are very unlikely and rare.  With the Cap in place most teams do not have the money to place an offer down that will drive the current team away.  If they make the price to high not only will they most likely have cap issues because of it but they will have to give up crazy amounts of compensation because of it.  Here is the current RFA offer sheet compensation straight from NHL.com:


OFFER COMPENSATION:

1) $1,020,348 or below... None
2) Over $1,020,348 to $1,545,981... Third-round choice
3) Over $1,545,981 to $3,091,963... Second-round choice
4) Over $3,091,963 to $4,637,944... First-round and third-round choice
5) Over $4,637,944 to $6,183,925... First-round, second-round and third-round choice
6) Over $6,183,925 to $7,729,907... Two first-round choices, one second- and one third-round choice
7) Over $7,729,907... Four first-round choices

So in the end either the Rangers will get great compensation for a Staal offer sheet or the contract will be to low and they will easily be able to match...

I did a post on my blog but I thought I would share it hear! Feel free to check out my blog for some of my other posts!!

This offseason it seems as if Glen Sather has decided to go back to something that worked coming out of the lockout for the Rangers.  In 2005-2006 most of the Rangers squad was new except for the younger kids coming up.  The Rangers already had Jaromir Jagr under contract from a trade they made with the Washington Capitals before the lockout.  At the time Sather decided to put pieces around Jagr that he was familiar with from previous teams. They added Michael Nylander and Michael Straka.  Nylander and Jagr played together in Washington and Straka and Jagr played together in Pittsburgh.

These three would start out together and have some of the best years of there respective careers until Sather decided that an over payed Gomez would be a better center for Jagr and so he let Nylander leave.  Thus Jagr proceeded to have his worse year as a Ranger and he left to go play in Russia.

 To a lesser degree during the 2005-2006 season Sather traded for Petr Sykora to play along side former teammate Steve Rucchin.  They also traded for Sandis Ozolinsh who played on those same Ducks teams.  Ozolinsh actually added some offensive punch to the Rangers game but struggled defensively and flopped in the Rangers short playoff experience.

The next year they continued this trend by bringing in Stanley Cup Champion teammates Matt Cullen and Aaron Ward.  Cullen played pretty well for the Rangers but Ward struggled in the Garden and was traded for Paul Mara.

 The next year the Rangers went away from this trend and dumped Nylander for Gomez and Drury.  Then they went after Wade Redden, Markus Naslund, Nik Zherdev and countless other free agents.  All of these moves led to no success at all as players struggled to find a connection on the ice and every year it seemed like we put a new team out there.

 Well now it looks just like countless times before Glen Sather is making up for his past mistakes and is trying to bring in some familiar faces so that the team has some form of connection on the ice.  This year he has brought in Marian Gaborik's former Minnesota Wild teammates Derek Boogaard and Todd White.  He has also brought in Alexander Frolov who was not only teammates with Sean Avery but roommates and as it seems so far, pretty good friends. Frolov also played in LA with Brian Boyle although no one is really sure what his future with the team is.  Also to a lesser degree they have signed Derek Stepan and Ryan McDonagh who were teammates on a Wisconsin NCAA team that almost won the National Championship.

 I did a post yesterday about what Gaborik had to day about his new/old teammates and he seemed to endorse both deals.  Boogaard will be the tough guy who makes sure nothing happens to Gabby and will probably open up the ice for him especially if at some point they play on the same line and knowing Torts that will most likely happen.

 Alex Frolov and Sean Avery spent a lot of time playing together in LA.  They seem to get along very well and were also roommates while playing for the Kings.  With Avery saying he is going to return to the "Old" Sean Avery and Frolov looking to bounce back after what under his expectations was a bad year, this could be a great match and I would not be surprised if we saw these two on the same line to start the year.

 I guess the main point of this post is that while Sather has kept the main core of players together from last year, the players he has gone out to get are familiar faces that have played with current Rangers and will fit in right away.  Instead of going out to just add big name stars, he went out and got key players who should play an important role on next year's squad.