via www1.pictures.zimbio.com - Messier performing his "special assistant" duties for Glen Sather.

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            If you have read this site regularly since the end of last season then I'm sure you've heard me rant and rave about how I think current GM Glen Sather should be ousted. I say this because in the end I believe that with the tremendous parity of the NHL these days a team is only as good as their management is for the most part. Obviously a lot can go on that a GM cannot control, but in the end I think good management can still make the fans feel more secure. For example, take a look at the Colorado Avalanche and Toronto Maple Leafs; who both inserted new GM's over the summer and now have positive situations that the fans are enjoying (Exhibits A and B for the Leafs)

            Messier, as we all know, has made his interest in the Rangers GM position known back in 2007. He currently is a "special assistant" to Glen Sather where he is reportedly monitoring Ranger prospects in the system and attending many NHL games all while (hopefully not from Sather) learning the ropes to being a GM. Most recently, though, he was named to be Canada's GM for the 2010 World Championships which will run from May 7^th through the 23^rd in Germany. I (and Scott Morrison) think Messier is a great choice for the position and hopefully he will construct a solid team that will medal for the Canucks.

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by Frank Franklin II - AP

I feel for ya, King Henrik. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

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Authors Note: Sorry for no attempt at paragraphs and such, but why should I try to write seriously when the team I support, follow, and love can't even complete the simplest of hockey plays (I'M LOOKING AT YOU, ROZIVAL - STEP UP ON YOUR MAN - EVERYONE LEARNS THAT IN PEE-WEES).

"I'm not gonna go into assessment of players right now, thank you." - John Tortorella

• This is why, amongst all the BS that is going on right now, John Tortorella deserves to keep his job. Torts gets it, and he puts it so plainly and perfectly that how can you be mad at him? If Tortorella gets fired at any time during this season, the whole front office of the Rangers should be fired with him, including Messier.
• I, like Torts, am not going to get into player evaluations either. The locker-room has to be a mess, and I think for the first time in a while Chris Drury doesn't know what to do. I feel especially bad for Henrik Lundqvist, who is giving arguably the most effort of his career and is getting jack for it. If Lundqvist requested a trade tomorrow, I really don't know if I could be mad at him with what has happened recently.
• I know I try to be the guy around here who doesn't act like the typical New Yorker where one loss and the sky is falling, but I beg the question of how long does Glen Sather and the Ranger organization sit on their hands and hope for the best? If the Rangers don't turn this around by Christmas, we might as well become sellers at the deadline and dive for the draft (which isn't a sure thing this year, that's for sure). I would rather see a plan presented and implemented then trying to rebuild the team every off-season.

Keep reading for more thoughts I managed to put on paper Monday night.

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by Bill Kostroun - AP

Ryan Callahan had the wheels going all night against Columbus. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)

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            "It's only one game..." my Penguin-fan friend says to me during the third period of last night's game against the Blue Jackets. "...and it's the freakin' Blue Jackets!" Guess what, he is 100% right with both those comments. But, what finally gave me the kick in the behind to write this article was watching our Rangers finally put together an effort that needs to be replicated night in and night out for as many minutes per game as humanly possible. The Rangers finally outplayed a team that is one of the more similar teams to them in terms of style of play than most would realize; but more importantly finally gave the Blueshirt faithful a win to forget the past month.

            What I saw last night was an underachieving Ranger team breaking out of its shell and get back to the style of play that allowed them to win 7 games in a row earlier in the year. Not to prop myself up, but here is what I wrote back at the start of the season about the style of play necessary for the Rangers to be successful this year:

"Of all the wins the Rangers will accumulate this season, 98 percent of those will come in a full-on team-effort style (the other 2% is Hank, and we all know it). As of today, there are twenty-two men who represent the Rangers as a chain. Each man is a link, and the way this team is built if one player weakens for even a game then the chain might break as a whole."

            Now I pose a simple question: Can you (the reader) think of a single Ranger that played poor enough to "break the chain" after coach John Tortorella called the timeout after the second Blue Jacket goal? We could make a slight argument because of the third period about a couple of individuals, but in general I cannot think of anyone. The Rangers took control of the game with their legs and started outworking and outhitting every single player in a white shirt; and that is the simple reason why the Rangers ended up getting the chances they did to win the game.

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Hey Sens fans. I was at the game on Saturday (Ranger fan if you can't tell by the avatar), and it was a lot of fun. It's our third year doing this trip up to Ottawa and we have a great time every year. I wrote this for my little blog I'm doing on the business of hockey and soccer (just my ideas on stuff). Let me know what you think.

The Senators as a franchise were lucky enough to have the distinct advantage of being placed in Canada to start from a business perspective. Unless they never win a game for the next five years, I don't see how their attendance could ever dive below the top 15 (in terms of percent capacity). The biggest business challenge for the Sens to me? They are going up against the history of the Maple Leafs, Canadiens, and even the Quebec Nordiques to an extent.

I was thinking about this at the game. Ottawa is, for the most part, just stuck between Montreal and Toronto. With the Leafs and Habs being apart of the original six, generations upon generations of Canadians grew up supporters of one of the two clubs typically. With the Senators playing only their 17th season this year (16 if you want to subtract the lockout), its no wonder some people seem to think Sens fans aren't as dedicated as others.

Read the whole piece here and please let me know what you think.

EDIT: Keep reading before you lose it about the end of the quote there, I'm not anti-Sens.

- Rob

A fellow Blueshirt fan (crazy but hilarious) enjoying our tailgating session. I didn't mean to take the picture with my phone in this color, but it actually turned out pretty sick.

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Authors note: I was at Scotiabank Place Saturday afternoon to witness the Rangers 2-1 shootout victory. The following is not necessarily a story or anything; it's just the latest installment of a trip me and my friends do every year. This was our third year doing to the trip and the first year the Rangers have won, so once again the weekend didn't disappoint. Join me after the jump for a quick timeline of the trip, and then I'll tell you why Ottawa is a great place to catch a Ranger game. 

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via www.cyberpresse.ca - Ryan Bourque (#91 - Middle) has been doing plenty of celebrating thus far this year.

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Authors Note: Welcome to the Notable Prospect Update which will give a quick statistical update of the more intriguing Rangers prospects in the system. This list is not set in stone so please do not panic, just leave a comment with the name of the prospect and I'll add him to the list (I want to keep it under 15 or so). In the end I think it's safe to say we are all more interested in the big club, but it's always good to keep one eye on the road ahead. It should also be mentioned that I am making assumptions from looking at stats, and that I have not watched any of the games I mention. With that said, enjoy.

            With the month of October in the books, it's time to look back at some notable Ranger prospects to see how their season has gone thus far. I have a list of eleven players who, for the most part, are some of the more popular Ranger prospects because of their skill, story, draft position, or in one case last name (take a guess). Could I list every single prospect with upside and put their stats down? Sure... but if you're that big into the prospects you can do that yourself (Jim, Joe, and I do have lives, ya know! - j/k - but we do have lives...). This is essentially the Rangers Prospect Update/Guide for dummies. I tried to give the list a nice mix of AHL, NCAA, and CHL players which yielded six forwards, three defense, and two goalies. Let's take a look at the fancy chart shall we?

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More photos » by Darryl Dyck - AP

I'll take that.

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So much more actually went on in this game than I might relay over the next ten minutes you're reading this; but I'll do my best to cover this latest tango between the last team we beat in the Stanley Cup Finals.

            The game started out reasonably ok with end to end action and a crossbar shot by Ales Kotalik that had Ranger fans believing the club would find the back of the net soon. But, as they failed to take their momentum onto the scoreboard, the Canucks eventually woke up and took over the second half of the first period. This eventually led to a goal being scored by Mikael Samuelsson which was assisted by Ryan Kesler to put the Canucks up one going into the second period.

            The second period started out the same way as the last two games for the Rangers, in the fact that they actually decided to play to their potential. The Blueshirts outshot the Canucks 14 to 8 in the period that saw them level the game at one going into the third. The Rangers made their statement about six and a half minutes in when Brandon Dubinsky saucered a pass to a somehow open Christopher Higgins right in front of the net who snapped the pass through Andrew Raycrofts five-hold to tie the game (Late night/Labatt Blue's must have gotten to me as this actually occured in the third period). The Rangers could have had the lead going into the third when Shane O'Brien got four minutes for high-sticking Ryan Callahan. The Power-Play was above-average, and in the end set the game up for an interesting third period.

            At this point of the re-cap, I want to state that I am going to just repeat what I saw, and leave my opinion to a rant which will come at a later date. The Canucks played great team defense when it came to Marion Gaborik tonight. They crowded him and cut off his shooting lanes, which is very frustrating as a forward. Kevin Bieska and Gaborik were battling all night, and Bieska got Gaborik pretty good one time. Gaborik went back at Bieska as best he could, but in the end received more of the same from the Canuck blueliner. This led to a line-change where Ryan Kesler found himself surrounded by Gaborik and three other Rangers, who had no intentions of asking him for an autograph. Tempers like you don't see that much nowadays were evident, to the point where Sean Avery ripped the stick out of a Canucks hand while both players were on their respective benches. But back to the boring hockey. The Rangers end up with a Power-Play out of all of this, where Christopher Higgins tied the game at one on a one timer from right in front of the net. The Rangers then get caught puck-watching Ryan Kesler skate circles around their zone while Rick Rypien snuck in back-door to put the Canucks up 2-1. Voros takes a penalty, Rozival puts the cherry on top, and the Vancouver Canucks grab the game by the neck with the spirit of the 18,630 at GM place to finish off the Rangers with a Power-Play goal by Mikael Samuelsson. The night was topped off by an Empty-Netter by Henrik Sedin (who took a hard shot to the foot), which finally ended an interesting game for both teams to say the least.

Quick thoughts as more will come:

• The Rangers are standing around in the wrong ends of the rink. You're taught as a kid to play zone when you're tired, but to never stand still when you're in the Offensive zone. If you're in the D zone and you're tired, get it out. If you're in the O zone and you're tired, get off the ice. Simple as that.
• I will not go into the Gaborik-Bieska situation in full detail at all, but who I am disappointed in is Dane Byers. Not for his role in the first situation, but for his fight at the end of the game. I understand he might have been trying to make a statement, but the Blueshirts tonight stood up for its star player but then couldn't get the job done where it matters; which is on the scoreboard. Just let it go at that point, in my opinion.
• Admit it, you thought the Rangers were gonna win when Higgins netted the tying goal. I thought he was going to score two his next shift. Congrats to Mr. Higgins as I really like him as a player and I know he has the talent to riddle the scorehsheet.
• Henrik Lundqvist was Vezina-caliber, again.
• Finally, do not write this team off for the next two games. I really thought the Rangers were going to win the game after the Gaborik-Bieska situation. This team needs to be tested here early on if they have any hope in getting to an Eastern Conference final unlike any other Ranger team since the lockout. The next two games, to me, could be bigger than any Devil, Penguin, Islander, or Flyer game all year if they manage four points. We will see, though.

More on the game when the sun comes up.

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