• Oh well... the winning couldn't last forever. Man, talk about a let down after two physical and entertaining games against their cross river rivals. I wrote my thoughts about the first two games - I think I'll probably have a whole lot less to write about this one.
  
  
• I thought the best forwards for the Rangers were Avery and Frolov. Avery scored the first goal and continued to play well after having a positive effect on Saturday in New Jersey. Frolov has continued to impress me. He played the entirety of his NHL career so far in  LA, so I didn't get to see much of him but he's a much better all around player than I expected. He's also a much bigger player than I thought and is able to use his body to push players off the puck and create space for himself. Not to mention, like Gaborik, so far he has been impressive on the backcheck.
  
  
• Valetenko and Gilroy were the Rangers best defensemen. Valentenko is going to make it hard on the Rangers to make a final decision on which six or seven defensemen will start the season in New York. Valentenko has been pretty solid defensively, he's physical in his own end and he has a rocket of a shot. Gilroy looks to have gotten much stronger over the summer, he used his body much more effectively last night in Detroit than I saw all of last season. Gilroy led the rush several times and created a number of scoring chances, similar to the way he did last pre-season.
  
  
• Stepan who played part of the game with Frolov and Gaborik and part of the game on a line with Dubisnky was not as noticeable as he was in his first game. But, despite the fact Stepan didn't provide much offense he was solid in his own end and showed that he can penalty kill if needed.
  
  
• Grachev was much better than he was against the Devils on Saturday but he still hasn't impressed me. He made a few decent plays and used his body on a few shifts but in no way is he deserving of a roster spot based on his two games so far this pre-season. He could be part of the next round of cuts later today. Another player that many had high expectations of is Mats Zuccarello Aasen who to date has also done pretty much nothing. He's made a few nice passes and has speed which allows him to forecheck pretty well. But he comes to New York after being a star in the Swedish Elite League, their top scorer last season, so far he's not living up to those expectations. He may continue to stay in the Rangers camp, but as of now I have no doubt that he'll be in Hartford to start the season.
  
  
• Semenov who has been pretty solid, remains in the running to earn a contract with the Rangers. McDonagh didn't do too much wrong and at this stage he's still very much in the running. Based on his performances so far I'd let McDonagh spend at least the first part of the season in Hartford. He hasn't played himself out of job, that's for certain. Sauer was much better in his first game than he was in Detroit. The one thing that makes the Sauer decision different for the Rangers than some of the other players is that like Brodie Dupont, if Sauer is sent to Hartford he'll have to clear through waivers.
  
  
• Christensen scored a goal off a wicked wrist shot, but seriously, is there any other player in the NHL that is as effective as being good one second and average the next? He's done it throughout his career and he somehow manages to do it WITHIN games. He did pretty much nothing a part from that goal. This is a guy considered to be in the running for the number one center position on this team? That scares the absolute **** out of me to be honest.

Originally posted at PuckCentral.net

• Once again, a win versus the Devils is always a good thing, especially when it's a come from behind victory. Yeah, even if it means nothing in the standings.
  
  
• Gotta love the patience that Del Zotto showed on that OT winner. Instead of just ripping the puck on net, he took his time and roofed it when he knew the goalie wasn't going to be able to reach it.
  
  
• Avery pisses everyone off, even me sometimes. Once again last night I think he sould've dropped the gloves with Clarkson. Clarkson has wanted a piece of Avery ever since the "Avery Rule" fiasco in the playoffs a few years ago. But, you know what, I am convinced that it's 100% psychological now. The Devils were winning this game and Sean Avery threw them all off. Clarkson went berserk a few times trying to fight him, as did Kovalchuk. In the mean time, Avery kept his cool and helped screen the goalie for a goal and draw a penalty that lead to another goal.
  
  The theory that Avery is afraid of Clarkson to me is complete BS. He's fought him before. Yes, in their previous fight Carkson got the edge, but it was by no means the ass whipping that some would have you believe that Clarkson is going to deliver if Avery ever obliges him.
  
  If Avery fights Clarkson now, then Clarkson will probably forget all about him again once the regular season starts. But, with Avery refusing to fight and continuing to taunt Kovalchuk, this is royally screwing with the minds of the Devils. Avery is clearly in their heads and heading into the season where they meet the Devils at least six times, that can only be a good thing.
  
  
• Once again Leblond wanted NOTHING to do with Derek Boogaard. Listen, I can't blame him, Boogaard is an absolute beast and I wouldn't want to be within 50 feet of him when he's angry, nevermind on the receiving end of his punches. But, Leblond continued to run his mouth consistently on the bench, wanted to get in the middle of every ruckus when Boogaard wasn't on the ice and even was man enough to challenge Artem Anisimov. He's the team's heavyweight, you wouldn't think if after these two games against the Rangers.
  
  
• Which makes it laughable that Chico Resch had the nerve to call out Avery. Like I already said, I understand why people (especially Devils fans) get so annoyed with Avery. It's all part of his act, all part of his style and as far as I'm concerned when Avery is playing like this he's at his best. Yet, Resch sits there and says it's ok for Leblond to refuse to fight Boogaard because of the size differential. We get it, Boogaard is a big big man, but if you're going to get in everyone's face or push players around, you better answer to the new sheriff in town :)
  
  After the last game I ripped on Micheletti for making too many Minnesota references. Well tonight Joe I'm giving you a pat on the back. I usually like Chico, but tonight he said a lot of stupid $hit in my opinion and Micheletti called him out on it every time. I couldn't believe it. Good for you Joe!
  
  
• Gilroy and Del Zotto played very well .... from the 3rd period on. Prior to that, I thought they were pretty bad. But, it's the first game they've played in so I'll give them a pass.
  
  
• For the first two period Pavel Valentenko was by far the NYR best defenseman in my opinion. I heard a lot about this kid before tonight but never actually saw him play before. He seems to have the mean streak that I've read about and boy does he like to step up to throw the body. I friggin love it! If he doesn't make the Rangers roster this year then he's one hell of a defensive prospect to have in the system for years to come.
  
  
• Eminger was awful. Exelby seemed to be running around a few times, and was badly caught out when Andy Greene lobbed a pass down the ice that Rolston got to and ripped past Lundqvist. He'll be given another game to prove himself, but if it's not a major improvement he'll be released from his tryout at camp. Which brings me to Semenov. He's been nothing special but to this point he's been the best defenseman out of the three veterans (the other two being Eminger and Exelby). If Sather wants to go into the season with seven defensemen then at this point Semenov has to be the favorite to get that role.
  
  
• As mediocre as Fedotenko was in the first game, I thought he played very well in his second game. Could this have earned him a contract for this season? He had a goal and two assists (the first assist which was an absolute beauty). I wasn't in favor of signing him but if he can help provide secondary scoring and play on the second PP unit, he might not be a horrible addition. Then again, it's only one game.
  
  
• The Rangers are depending on Artem Anisimov to play a much more prominent role this season. He had a strong second half to his first pre-season game. Todd White, who the Rangers acquired from the Thrashers as part of the Donald Brashear salary dump trade, was pretty insignificant in his first game of the pre-season. He'll get another shot to show himself off, but after last night he's certainly a long shot.
  
  
• One of the top young forwards that was speculated to make the team this season is Grachev. You wouldn't know it based on last night's performance. He was invisible. He made one really nice pass late in the third period that led to a shot which was deflected up into the netting. Prior to and after that he did nothing. Can't make a decision after one game but he has to show something special in his next outting if he wants to avoid a quick demotion to Hartford.
  
  
• Weise and Byers are big boys who can throw the body and may be able to contribute offensively on the odd occasion. But, this season they'll both be doing it in the AHL. They would be battling it out for a fourth line role and to me there are too many guys ahead of them in the pecking order.
  
  
• Ryan Callahan was the best (or at least one of the best) Rangers forwards. The assistant captain leads by example pretty much every time he steps on the ice. He blocks shots in the pre-season like it's Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals.

Originally posted over at PuckCentral.net

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With the NHL season right around corner I decided it was time to bring in the big guns to hear what they had to say about the New York Rangers and the upcoming NHL season. I've been involved in Blogger Round Tables before and they can be both fun and informative, especially if the bloggers involved are good ones. So, I decided to bring in the bloggers who are in my opinion the best in the Rangers blogosphere:

The Blueshirt Banter represented by Joe Fortunato
The Rangers Tribune
The NYR Blog
Blue Seat Blogs
Scotty Hockey

I asked each of the guys if they were interested in taking part and they were all enthusiastic. I put together a series of questions and let them have their say.

Continue Reading >>>

Originally posted at PuckCentral.net

This kid looks like he's legit. Anytime a player is a standout in the Junior leagues or at the college level, there's the question "can he do that in the NHL?" Matt Gilroy, the 25-year old, Hobey Baker Award winner from Long Island is turning heads in his first ever NHL training camp.

When the Rangers signed him last April while they were still in the playoffs they had competition to get the Boston University graduate under contract. During the Rangers first two preseason games it has been said several times that one of the main reasons that Gilroy chose the Rangers was because of the system that John Tortorella uses. (Maybe he just misses bagels & NY pizza) As evidenced by the way he has played in his first two preseason games, Gilroy is an exceptional skater who likes to jump into the play frequently. Against the Devils, he scored a goal in the third period that looked like something you'd expect out of superstar forward Marian Gaborik.

He was interviewed after the Devils game and when asked what the chances were of him making the team he just said that he was thinking about practice and the rest of the training camp.

The Hockey News has a fantsay hockey pool guide every year and they seem pretty confident that Gilroy will be making the Rangers roster. In fact, they've predicted that he'll finish the season with 47 points. Last week the message boards were laughing at that prediction. But, after watching Gilroy and the way he plays (think Mike Green, 4th forward role), that prediction may not be as wild as it sounds.

According to the Daily News:

The last time Matt Gilroy was trying to make a hockey team, he had to do everything short of borrow and steal. A very late-blooming 20-year-old freshman at Boston University, Gilroy essentially had to beg the Terriers' legendary coach, Jack Parker, for a chance to earn a walk-on spot.

This time he probably will earn himself a spot on the New York Rangers.

With the NHL season right around the corner and teams opening training camp in the coming weeks, I've decided to post a list of blogs by the team's beat writers. There are lots of great blogs out there that cover each team. But, these blogs are by the beat writers who cover the teams for the team's local newspaper(s).

Anaheim Ducks: Ducks blog
Atlanta Thrashers: AJC Thrashers Blog
Boston Bruins: Bruins Blog
Buffalo Sabres: Sabres Edge
Calgary Flames: Flames Insider
Carolina Hurricanes: Canes Now
Chicago Blackhawks: Icing
Colorado Avalanche: All Things Avs
Columbus Blue Jackets: Puck-rakers
Dallas Stars: Stars Blog | Five for Fighting
Detroit Red Wings: Red Wings Corner
Edmonton Oilers: Oil Country
Florida Panthers: On Frozen Pond | Panthers Blog
Los Angeles Kings: Inside the Kings
Minnesota Wild: Russo's Rants
Montreal Canadiens: Habs Inside/Out
Nashville Predators: John Glennon
New Jersey Devils: Fire & Ice
New York Islanders: On the Islanders Beat
New York Rangers: The Blueshirts Blog | Rangers Report | Blue Notes| Ranger Rants
Ottawa Senators: Off The Posts
Philadelphia Flyers: Flyers Report
Phoenix Coyotes: Ice Chips
Pittsburgh Penguins: Chipped Ice
San Jose Sharks: Working the Corners
St. Louis Blues: Morning Skate
Tampa Bay Lightning: Lightning Strikes | Bolts Report
Toronto Maple Leafs:
Vancouver Canucks:
Washington Capitals: Capitals Insider | In The Room

Special thanks to James Mirtle of the Globe & Mail based out of Toronto who put most of this list together originally. I've checked to make sure that they are still the current beat writers and have added several that were left off of the original list.

If you know of a beat writer who has a blog, that has been left off of this list, please post it in the comments section and I'll update the list.

 

Originally posted on PuckCentral.net

The story that I posted a few minutes ago gets worse for the Giants

Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora left the team Monday after a disagreement with defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan, according to someone informed of Umenyiora's reason for leaving the facility.

The person, who requested anonymity because the Giants and Umenyiora's camp haven't discussed the matter publicly, said Sheridan criticized Umenyiora for making a mistake in Saturday's game against the Jets The two-time Pro Bowl selection didn't confront Sheridan, but was clearly upset enough to leave without letting the team know why he was departing. The person also said Umenyiora believed Sheridan was "contradicting" himself.

The person informed of Umenyiora's reason for leaving said the two-time Pro Bowl selection hasn't gotten off to a great start with Sheridan, the former linebackers coach who replaced Steve Spagnuolo after the former coordinator was hired as head coach of the Rams in January. The person said Umenyiora has not expressed his frustrations with Sheridan before Friday.

"He didn't speak to me before he left," coach Tom Coughlin said.

Umenyiora has expressed his displeasure with the six-year, $41-million contract extension he signed in 2005, but the person informed of his reason for leaving today said money was not part of the issue.

More to come as this story develops.

via NJ.com

 

Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora was at the team's practice facility Monday morning for meetings. But before the afternoon practice, he had left the complex without speaking to Tom Coughlin, which the coach called an unexcused absence.

"It must have been something of a personal nature," Coughlin said. "I haven't personally talked to him. He did respond to (GM) Jerry (Reese), evidently by text, but that's all I have. I haven't seen him so I can't tell you; I can't indicate the reason to you because I don't know."

A Giants spokesman clarified that Umenyiora did not tell Reese the reason for his absence, he just responded to him to let him know he was okay.

Asked how concerned he is about Umenyiora's absence, Coughlin said: "We'll see. We'll have to talk to him when he gets back. Obviously he's not here, so we're concerned."

from NJ.com

Throughout the summer we've been monitoring the Rangers roster and looking at the moves that still need to be made in order to fill the roster and what remaining cap space the team has.

Since the last update there hasn't been much activity in New York, but the Rangers have decided to walk away from Nik Zherdev and the team has since signed Vinnie (or Vinny, or Vaclav) Prospal. Brandon Dubinsky still remains unsigned, which makes it likely that he'll sign the one year qualifying offer that the Rangers made him and he'll make less than $700k this year (10% more than what is stated in chart below). As of now the forwards on the roster seem fairly certain (at least 10 of them) and the two goalies are already determined. The biggest mystery is on the blue line where the only names set in stone are Redden, Rozsival, Staal and Girardi.

The image below (which if you click on becomes larger and clearer) is a list of the players that in my opinion will be on the roster on opening night. The roster below has 11 forwards, 4 defensemen and 2 goalies. At the very least the team still needs to add a forward and two defensemen. Of the two or three defensemen that will be added to the roster at least one of them is likely to be a rookie.

via 3.bp.blogspot.com

 

The Rangers have over $6.8M in cap space to fill the remaining three spots in their lineup and carry at least one extra roster player. Matt Gilroy is one of the favorites to make the team on defense ($1.75M). Corey Potter, Bobby Sanguinetti, Mike Sauer and Ilkka Heikkinen are all other possible rookies (all less than $1M cap hit). Will Sather also add a veteran to the blue line, like has been rumored over the past couple of weeks?

I guess these questions will all be answered soon (not soon enough if you're a hockey nut like me!)

Puck Central 

Originally posted at PuckCentral.net

Today is Nik Zherdev's arbitration hearing. The Rangers have offered Zherdev a qualifying offer of around $3.25M, which has been rejected by Zherdev.

It is rumored that Zherdev wants at least $4M per season and from the interviews that he's done this summer (here & here) it seems that he and his agent are very confident that they will get the number that they want. I decided to take a look at the players last season who produced similar to Zherdev (58 points) who are in the same age range. Milan Michaelk, David Booth and Travis Zajac all signed their contracts this summer. These three players have the highest cap hits from the players that I compared Zherdev to, but they all signed contracts that are at least four years in length.

[Click here to enlarge]
When looking at the above list of players, who would you prefer Zherdev over? Other than Zajac and Weiss, I would take any one of those players over Zherdev - but maybe that's just me.

Editor Note from Joe Fortunato: I saw this and thought that it would be very useful. Note me at twitter.com/Joe_fortunato. Jim at twitter.com/jrs1940. Ryan at twitter.com/themanicranger. And Rob at twitter.com/theschwab12. Make sure to follow all of us--if you aren't already--and follow puckcentral for this awesome post.

On Friday I created a list of the best hockey people to follow on Twitter and it quickly made its way around the internet getting attention from PuckDaddy and Kukla's Korner and being "retweeted" all around Twitter.

Prospect Park, a fellow Rangers blogger, gave me the idea that I should create a list with all of the best Ranger fans, bloggers, beat writers, etc. that are on twitter.

In my original hockey followers list I filtered out most of the people who don't just post relevant news (ie. those who talk back and forth w/ others, those who post non-hockey news, etc). This list has not been filtered in the same way, so some of these twitter accounts talk about non-hockey subjects, etc. Feel free to follow/unfollow these people as you experience who provides the information that you want.

The list below is in no real particular order. To follow these people, just go to Twitter and in your internet browser address bar put the name below after the "/". For example, my Twitter account name is "PuckCentral", so my Twitter account url looks like this in the url bar: http://twitter.com/PuckCentral

Here's the list:

PuckCentral

TheProspectpark

NYRangerscast

byndblueshirts

blueshirts

TheNYRBlog

rangersreport

NHTProductions

BattleOfNewYork

pathoffman35

donbrashear87

NYRNation

stevezipay

StanFischler

newyorkbuzztap

rangerstribune

rangercrisis

RangrGirl11

livestrongray

NYRBlueBulletin

TheSchwab12

Joe_Fortunato

jrs1940

rangerblues

AdamReichert

SNYRangersBlog

NYRFanatMSG

TheManicRanger

Newsday_Rangers

NHL_NYR

NYRangersHKY

nyrangers

thenyrangers

NewYorkRangers

Feel free to recommend any other NYR twitter accounts in the comments section

 

 

 

With the additions of Marian Gaborik, Ales Kotalik, Chris Higgins and Donald Brashear you may be wondering what the New York Rangers cap situation looks like. Well, I used CapGeek to punch in some salaries to see how close to the salary cap the Rangers are. As you'll see below, I've removed Nik Zherdev from the roster, demoted Rismiller, Arnason and Voros to the AHL and awarded Callahan ($2.3M) Dubinsky ($2M) and Korpikoski ($1.1M) new contract extensions. This leaves the Rangers a roster of 19 players about $3M under the salary cap, needing to add one to three more players to the roster, since the current lineup I have only has 11 forwards.