Michael Del Zotto high elbow to James Neal – NY Rangers vs. Pittsburgh P…

Posted on April 6, 2013 by Derek

Intentional or Not? The Pens broadcast seemed to think so. When asked about the hit, Mike Del Zotto said he knew he was going to get checked by James Neal and tried to reverse it. It kind of looks like it on the replay. Is he trying to elbow him? My guess is he was bracing himself and clipped Neal with the elbow.

Del Zotto indicated that he hoped Neal was okay. If he does get a call from the league, it’ll come tomorrow before the Rangers face the Hurricanes. Especially on a quick turnaround. I’m not sure. Del Zotto isn’t a dirty player. Though you can argue that his play was reckless and injured Neal. Hopefully, it’s not a concussion.

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McFleury’d: Rangers 1 Penguins 2 (Shootout)

Posted on April 6, 2013 by Derek
Jussi Jokinen made Marc-Andre Fleury’s performance stand up with the shootout winner.
Copyright Getty Images/by Gene J. Puskar

Simply put, Marc-Andre Fleury prevented the Rangers from a sweep of the home-and-home. It was his clutch goaltending that was the difference in the Pens’ 2-1 shootout win in the Steel City. He made  34 saves to out-duel Henrik Lundqvist, who was almost as good finishing with 26 stops. Again, Hank allowed two-or-less. But this time, got victimized in the skill competition.

The Pens had shootout ace Jussi Jokinen and we didn’t. Jokinen, who also got their only goal 30 seconds into the third- beat Lundqvist in the first round of the shootout. He went top shelf on Hank. Fleury made it stand up by denying Rick Nash, Mats Zuccarello and Ryan Callahan. Fleury has done this before to us. He made several ridiculous glove saves including committing highway robbery on Derek Stepan, who looked to the heavens. It was that kind of night.
Encouraging is that our team didn’t waste a great effort. Instead, they found a way to solve Fleury thanks to Nash’s 14th off a Stepan face off win. A rarity. There was a second left on a power play. Stepan had been brutal in the face off circle, losing most to Jokinen, who was picked up by Ray Shero at the deadline. Despite losing 21-of-28 overall, Stepan won the crucial one to Nash, whose one-timer squeezed through Fleury to salvage a point with 4:49 remaining in regulation. 
The goal followed an odd sequence where the Rangers felt they had a goal. Derick Brassard centered a puck into a sliding Fleury, who fell backwards into the net. But replays proved inconclusive. So, it was correctly ruled ‘No Goal.’ Following the delay, they showed some character coming back to tie the game. It would’ve sucked not to come out with something. They dominated most of the third after the Pens swarmed Lundqvist the first two minutes. Jokinen got his first as a Pen when he buried a Chris Kunitz pass past Hank into the top of the net. Pascal Dupuis drew the secondary assist. 
Lundqvist prevented any further damage. From there, our team was relentless. If not for some outstanding stops from Fleury, they pull it out. They out-shot the Pens 14-4 in what was a nasty third where each old Patrick rival never backed down. As usual, Pittsburgh played with edge following Wednesday’s embarrassment. They mugged our guys and took swings. Particularly Matt Cooke, who slashed Lundqvist during our power play. Cooke was his usual whiny self. 
There was also a sequence where Evgeni Malkin took a chop at one of our guys, leading to Mike Del Zotto throwing him down. Speaking of which, Del Zotto got away with an elbow that knocked out James Neal. I don’t think it was intentional. He just got his elbow up with Neal fighting for a loose puck behind the net. It wasn’t the first instance that the refs missed a call. Brooks Orpik wrestled Nash down. It was nasty. The teams dislike each other and have as much disdain as the fans over on Twitter. I’ll make no qualms about it. I want the Pens in the first round. I would love nothing better to send this team to the golf course. 
For one night, their goalie was the difference. The Rangers won’t see the Penguins again unless they meet in the playoffs. The one point earned tied them with the Islanders for seventh with 40 points. By virtue of one less game played, our team is seventh while the Islanders are eighth. The Devils have 39 and are ninth. Winnipeg is 10th with 38 and the Flyers are 11th with 37. It’s going to be a photo finish.
NY Puck 3 Stars:
3rd Star-Jussi Jokinen, Pit (first goal as a Pen, shootout winner)
2nd Star-Henrik Lundqvist, NYR (26 saves, 2/3 in shootout)
1st Star-Marc-Andre Fleury, Pit (34 saves incl. 3/3 in shootout)
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Devils come up empty in Boston

Posted on April 5, 2013 by Derek

I was gonna recap this game last night, but I really couldn’t think of anything to say other than the obvious.  For a rare occasion during this losing malaise of death, the Devils played sixty minutes with both intensity and crispness.  Against arguably the top team in the conference now with the Penguins’ injury issues (and the Bruins’ own trade deadline deal for Jaromir Jagr), the Devils honestly dominated the game for the most part. Granted, the 40-26 shot difference wasn’t always indicative of the quality of chances, but Danius Zubrus and David Clarkson also hit posts and those didn’t even count as shots.  We held the Bruins to one fluke goal defensively – a pass from Brad Marchand that was redirected in off the skate of Jagr early in the second period, and gave them few chances throughout.

In short, we did everything you could reasonably expect out of a hockey game…except score, and win.

While it’s impossible to have a beef with the Devils 1-0 loss last night in terms of effort, facts are facts.  We lost yet again (only seven wins in our last twenty-five games, just four in regulation), and the regulation loss punted us out of the top eight for only the second time this season.  Almost as bad as the Rangers and Islanders passing us is the fact that the Flyers have come back from the dead to win four straight and pull to within two points themselves.  More and more it seems like the die is cast – now four Atlantic teams are going to be fighting for the last two spots in the playoffs.  Especially with Winnipeg’s collapse and the Caps’ surge seemingly handing the Southleast to a Caps team that was once in the crypt.

Thing is, as Steve Cangelosi pointed out in the postgame the Devils still control their own destiny for the moment due to the fact we have a game in hand on the Islanders and are only one point behind.  But barely, since we almost certainly won’t have the regulation wins tiebreaker on anyone when it’s all said and done.  And our three combined games remaining against the Flyers and Rangers are all in enemy territory during the final week and a half of the season.  A more sobering reality was illuminated by writer Tom Gulutti, who points out the Devils don’t have a single win against a team currently in the top eight since the last week of February when we beat the Caps (and they were struggling then).

I want to focus on the positive, I really do.  Time’s run out for moral victories though.  I saw in a couple different places people calling this the ‘best loss of the season’.  Are you freaking kidding me?  There is no such thing is a best loss at this point, with the position we’re in.  Especially given the fact this team still hasn’t won a game since losing Ilya Kovalchuk nearly two weeks ago.  Unless perhaps it’s a one-point loss against a good team you’re not competing with for a spot (say, the Ottawa game last Monday).  Eventually however, the Devils need to start getting wins again, and fast.  At about the halfway point – the last time the Devils fell out of the top eight – I guesstimated the Devils needed to go 14-7-1 to be assured of a spot.  With results since then, that number’s gone to 8-2-1 in our last eleven.  That might wind up being a touch high, but not by much considering the fact the Isles, Rangers and Flyers are all surging while we can’t get out of our own way.

And at this point, there are only eleven games left to save the ship from going down in 2013.  I can’t accuse coach Pete DeBoer of not recognizing the gravity of the situation, calling early first-period timeouts to keep games from getting away early against Ottawa and the Isles, or calling a final-minute timeout in the second period after an icing to prevent a potentially crushing second goal against.  Although DeBoer hasn’t gone off on the team publicly just yet, he has hinted once or twice that maybe the players aren’t thinking of this as a stretch run just yet.  Normally at the 35-40 game mark you’re thinking about the All-Star game instead of the playoff push.  I can’t accuse the players of not showing intensity last night though.  It was there, unlike the first period on Monday night.

Our final reinforcement from the outside is arriving on Saturday after Steve Sullivan took his physical in New Jersey yesterday.  I’m at a loss to figure out how the Rangers could get their players in from Columbus literally the day of the trade hours before their game against Pittsburgh at MSG but we have to wait three days to see Sully but whatever.  Although Lou hasn’t done anything drastic the way he has in other years with the team struggling I can’t accuse him of not recognizing reality considering all the acquisitions we have made attempting to strengthen a flawed forward core.  While teams paid premiums on deadline day and just before for potential improvements, Lou acquired Andrei Loiktionov, Matt D’Agostini, Tom Kostopolous and Sullivan all on the cheap (none for higher than a fifth-round pick).

It would have been nice if Lou could have shed a defenseman at the deadline, but last night’s an example of what you get when you have eight defensemen around and many are older and making huge salaries.  With Peter Harrold playing up front to give Kostopolous a night off after his knockout loss on Monday night, we iced seven defensemen…and only 2011 #4 overall Adam Larsson was sitting in the press box.  At this point I’m really starting to think it would have been better for all parties if Larsson had just stayed in the AHL the whole season.  As bad as that would have been at least he could have gotten steady time without worrying about being yanked out of the lineup after every little mistake.  Same goes for Mark Fayne and our other defensemen.  Having only seven instead of eight – with the eighth still available in the AHL – would have made a world of difference in not having to rotate guys in and out and off of pairings as much.

What’s done is done at this point though, and we only have eleven games left to save 2013.  It seems apparent that Martin Brodeur‘s going to play them all until the ship is either saved or goes down with only two back-to-backs remaining.  One of the back-to-backs is this weekend but with the light schedule before and after (three games in our next ten days after this Sunday) I’d bet on Pete going to the wall with Marty now.  And at this point that’s fine with me, although hopefully he can work out his rust sooner rather than later.  He wasn’t tested all that much last night but couldn’t exactly be faulted on the goal against.

At this point we just gotta start making progress one game at a time.  No worse than three points in these next two games (home against the Leafs, at Buffalo) will do and preferably all four with what’s coming up on our schedule after that.  I’m at the Jim Mora point though when thinking about the playoffs.  ‘PLAYOFFS?!  Don’t talk to me about playoffs!  I just want to win a game…any game’.

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Late Arrivals Have Fun

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Derek
For Derick Brassard and John Moore, they didn’t have much tine to think. When you’re traded at the deadline to a team that plays the same day, there’s no moment to worry.

”I didn’t have time to be nervous,” Brassard said after a memorable Ranger debut in which he scored a goal and three assists highlighting a 6-1 blowout of the Pens. ”I was stressed out with everything and saying bye to my teammates.

”We got here like 15 minutes before, and everything was ready for us. It’s a great experience I am going to remember for the rest of my life.”


Taking a cue from his newest personnel, John Tortorella didn’t go over strategy. Rather referenced a classic part of Disney’s The Mighty Ducks. 

”I shook their hands and said, ‘Go have fun,”’ he told reporters following his team’s biggest output of the season which moved them ahead of the Devils and Islanders into seventh. ”Everybody is coming up to introduce themselves, and they’re trying to get their (stuff) on.”

Maybe that should be the memo. Every game has significance. They have a dozen left. It won’t get any easier. For one night, the new look Blueshirts played with passion. They dictated the pace taking advantage of a depleted Pittsburgh roster. That’s what they’re supposed to do. 

”I just wanted to have a good start and get into it early, not ease my way into it,” Ryane Clowe pointed out after registering his first two goals of the season along with a helper while tormenting the Pens. ”It went well.”

Sometimes, trades awaken a team. Big things were expected this year. Instead, the Rangers are fighting for their playoff lives. The only player who came off the roster was Marian Gaborik. He needed a change. Glen Sather and assistant GM Jeff Gorton did well adding depth and grit in Clowe, Brassard, Moore and injured forward Derek Dorsett, who might be back by the final week. 

”We got the offense going,” explained Brian Boyle, who erupted for a goal and three assists after entering with only two points. ”The new guys gave us a spark – more than a spark. It was just cool to welcome them.”


It’s only one game. But such a start can only inspire them.
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Memorable Broadway Debuts Ignite Rangers

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Derek
Clowe Meets Zucc: Ryane Clowe is congratulated by midget Mats Zuccarello.
Copyright Getty Images/by Frank Franklin II

Nobody could’ve predicted this. Even Glen Sather probably didn’t foresee his newest acquisitions making him look like a genius. Ryane Clowe, Derrick Brassard and John Moore all scored in their Broadway debuts, igniting the Rangers to a 6-1 rout of the Penguins. 

It’s definitely one of the most memorable starts for players our team traded for. Clowe scored his first two goals of the year and set up another. Brassard recorded a four-point game with a power play goal and three assists. Moore scored his first of 2013 putting the exclamation point on a very enjoyable victory that moved the Blueshirts past the Devils and Islanders into seventh. All three teams have 39 points. By virtue of two more regulation/overtime wins (15) than idle New Jersey, the Rangers are seventh while the Devs are eighth. The Islanders are ninth due to playing one more game than either Hudson rival.
On Deadline Day, our newest trio made it special by giving MSG a treat. They helped end the Pens’ domination. Even if they didn’t have Sidney Crosby, Kris Letang and Paul Martin, it was a nice statement against the same hated rival they’ll be facing again Friday in the Steel City. The six goals are the most our team’s scored. They also recorded three power play goals for the first time since 4/3/12 against the Flyers. Clowe, Brassard and Brian Boyle each connected on a man advantage that went 3-for-4. In his first game playing with Brassard and Carl Hagelin, Boyle recorded a career high four points (1-3-4). Previously, he had only two points.
This was easily the club’s most complete effort. Everyone contributed, including a fourth line that put together some strong shifts. Darroll Powe centered Taylor Pyatt and Arron Asham, who stood up for Henrik Lundqvist. Asham battled Tanner Glass in the third after Glass got a little too close to Hank. Speaking of our goalie, he was sharp making 26 saves and a little history. The win moved him past Eddie Giacomin into second place all-time for the franchise with 268 victories. 
Most encouraging was the improvement from Brad Richards. He responded to his new line-mate Clowe by setting up the first two goals. That included an early power play goal which gave them the lead. Brassard made a great play by stick handling and then back passing to Richards for a shot which Boyle got a piece of. It was originally credited to Richards but replays confirmed that Boyle deflected it home for his second. Clowe set the tone on his first shift by taking the body and nearly scoring. It was indicative of a player who wanted to be here. A guy who needed a change. 
Clowe was involved all night. Using his size to create havoc against a defenseless Pittsburgh club that looked even worse than their defeat to Buffalo, Clowe helped set up the next two in what amounted to a three-goal barrage in the first. He recovered the puck and handed for Richards, who made a great pass to a wide open Ryan McDonagh, who buried home his third for 2-0. Clowe was rewarded for his hustle when Derek Stepan forced a turnover behind the Pens net. Stepan fed a streaking Clowe, who faked out Marc-Andre Fleury and tucked a backhand for his first goal. It had to be such a relief. 
Everything our team did worked. They even made Evgeni Malkin pay for tripping Mats Zuccarello. The Pens were showing signs of life early in the second, forcing Lundqvist to come up large. But Malkin’s penalty led directly to our fourth goal. Brassard was the beneficiary of some great teamwork. Dan Girardi started it with a point shot that Boyle got a piece of. His big body caused the Pens fits. Eventually, Brassard dug out the loose puck and sent it upstairs for his first as a Blueshirt. 
With the crowd buzzing, Pittsburgh got one back thanks to Pascal Dupuis, who beat Steve Eminger to a floater and beat Lundqvist for his 18th. It was the only goal he allowed. Astonishingly, he still is without a shutout. He still made some key stops to keep the Pens from getting any closer. Another loss of discipline from the Pens led to the team’s third PPG. This time, Matt Cooke was the guilty party, tripping Powe. They made him pay on the scoreboard when Brassard made a sweet dish across for Clowe for a lay-in that frustrated Fleury. It was really nice to see Fleury lose it in the third following a penalty to Brooks Orpik. I was getting sick of hearing Ed Olczyk talk about his big stops. He couldn’t stop our first four.
The great aspect was the Rangers didn’t let up. They showed no mercy. Continuing to take it to the Pens, they registered 17 shots in the third and easily could’ve reached eight or nine. It didn’t matter. They still got to six thanks to a Moore shot eluding Fleury. Off a Brassard face off win, Boyle found Moore, who wound up and doubled his point total. He looked decent in his Ranger debut showing good wheels and didn’t panic when pressured.
This was a total team effort. The kind they’ll need the rest of the way. That includes the rematch at the Steel City. 
NY Puck 3 Stars:
3rd Star-Henrik Lundqvist, NYR (26 saves to pass Giacomin for 2nd all-time in Ranger history (268 wins)
2nd Star-Brian Boyle, NYR (career high 4 points: 1-3-4 in 16:12 playing on left wing)
1st Star-Brassard/Clowe, NYR (combined for 3 goals, 5 assists and 8 points in impressive debut)
Notes: The Rangers decided to retain J.T. Miller. Both Chris Kreider and Jesper Fast went down to Connecticut. … Kris Newbury sat out along with Hamrlik and Matt Gilroy. 
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The ‘R’ Word

Posted on April 3, 2013 by Derek

The competition for the entertainment dollar is fierce in the modern world, especially in the United States and Canada. Now there are so many other outlets for consumers to enjoy their time. The explosion of the technology world is a big contributor to this.

Where am I going with this?  Stick with me, this is a hockey blog and not an Apple or Microsoft blog, trust me!

With this boom in technology, has come a greater sense of instant gratification. Everything is moving faster.  And this mindset has unquestionably spilled into the sports world, with fans, players, coaches, GM’s and owners alike. In the ‘old’ days in the sports world, one can sell a fan base on the rebuilding project, because tickets were cheaper and other associated costs with attending a sporting event.

Oh no, I used the dreaded ‘R’ world. Rebuild. Run!!!!

That is how that the ‘rebuild’ word is perceived in the new sports world by most organizations in the NHL, Rebuild does not fit into the instant gratification bucket that so many of us now yearn for. Owners will think ‘We cannot tell our season ticket holders who are ponying up top dollar for tickets that we are rebuilding, how will we sell these seats’  The game of $port$ has changed.

But should this word be looked at with such negativity in the sports world? Depends on the situation.

Take the Buffalo Sabres for example. A team that is ‘Mired In the Muck’ of the 2013 shortened NHL season, 5 points out of 8th and going nowhere fast. An interim coach (who has done a nice job for record) a possible lame duck GM, and lots of uncertainty with the roster and rumored unrest in the locker room.

‘Mired in the Muck’ is the place where no sports organizations want to be, picking too low in the 1st round to be able to draft that franchise player, and good enough to tease the fans and ownership that things can turn around. That is a tired act Buffalo fans have seen for years.

For a team like the Buffalo Sabres, the world ‘rebuild’ shouldn’t be frowned upon. It should be embraced. Look at the Eastern Conference. Pittsburgh. Boston. Montreal. New Jersey. Ottawa. And yes, even Toronto. Are the Sabres as currently constructed even close to these teams? Absolutely not. Even the Rangers, who are underachieving, have much more in place. The Sabres have had a talent level issue on this roster for years, and once and for all, it is time to fix it.

And with the trades that transpired this week in Western New York, that process has finally commenced.

Jason Pominville, the Sabres captain, was traded to the Minnesota Wild in exchange for two well regarded prospects, goalie Matt Hackett, C/LW Johan Larsson, and a 1st round pick in 2013 and a 2nd round pick in 2014. Make no mistake, Pominville is a gamer, very solid player, and will always remember his shorthanded GWG to lift the Sabres to a stunning 5 game series win over Ottawa and a berth in the 2006 Eastern Conference Finals. Rick Jeanneret’s famous ‘Population Of Pominville’ goal calls will always live in Sabre lore.

I wish Jason all the best in Minnesota.

Include the three 2nd round picks the Sabres picked up for Robyn Rehger and Jordan Leopold, the Sabres will have quite an interesting time of it in the next three NHL Entry Drafts. Or, at the very least, chips to trade if the Sabres decide to move up in the NHL Draft or make off-season or Trade Deadline deals.

The advantages to these deals are four fold. First, it creates more cap room to make moves in the upcoming off-season. Second, it provides the Sabres with a stockpile of draft picks for current GM Darcy Regier to work with starting in 2013 (2 1sts and 2 2nds). Third, if Sabres owner Terry Pegula decides to replace Darcy Regier, the Sabres will become an attractive option when recruiting the next GM. And fourth, it gives the Sabres a true direction with the franchise, rebuilding from the inside out and further the goal to make Pegula’s ‘We are existence to win Stanley Cups’ statement carry some weight.

Should the Sabres be happy now with what transpired this week and consider that the rebuild this roster needed? Far from it. As the Sabres get closer to the NHL Draft and the Summer of 2013, longtime players like Tomas Vanek and Ryan Miller should squarely be on the block. Both players have rich contracts in 2013, but both contracts expire in 2013, and can both make attractive options to teams looking for a player to get over the hump.

Before some Sabres fans jump off the ledge about Vanek and Miller, ask yourselves this simple and honest question: How many 1st round playoff series have the Sabres won since the 2007 Eastern Conference Finals loss to Ottawa with Vanek and Miller being the faces of the franchise?  If you guessed zero, you are correct. How many stretches do we need to see Vanek disappear and be silent as the game becomes more physical?  How many cranky comments do we need from Ryan Miller when things are not going his way?

Sounds like a muck to me.

So Sabres fans, embrace the rebuild. One step back can definitely lead to two steps forward.  Don’t settle for the muck.

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Devils bring back Sullivan for 7th, stand pat otherwise

Posted on April 3, 2013 by Derek

What would a Devils season be without Lou Lamoriello bringing back a former player?  In what turned out to be the only trade the Devils made on a strange deadline day, New Jersey re-acquired diminutive winger Steve Sullivan from Phoenix for a 2014 seventh-round pick.  I’m sort of conflicted on this deal, as much as I like Stevie (and god knows the Devils could use a winger with more skill) and the price is clearly right, this reminds me so much of when we re-acquired a washed-up Stephane Richer for a seventh-rounder another generation ago.

Ironically Sullivan himself was a ninth-round pick originally in 1994, and defied his 5’8 160-pound frame to play over 1000 games in the NHL (1002, to be precise), registering 288 goals and 752 points in that time.  A now 38-year old Sullivan – dealt for Doug Gilmour all the way back in 1997 – wasn’t having the best of seasons with a 5-7-12 scoreline and a -8 in 33 games, though he was an effective forward as recently as last year where he put up 17 goals and 49 points for a contending team.  Sullivan won’t play tomorrow night in Boston, but will instead make his Devils re-debut on Saturday at the Rock.

Can’t say I was surprised by what turned out to be a lack of activity other than the Sullivan deal by the Devils at the trade deadline.  It’s almost inexcusable that we still have eight defensemen on the roster, though at least none of our guys are so despondent they’re calling a press conference to express regret about their own contract (a la Roberto Luongo, who of course wasn’t moved either).  Still, I’ve ranted and raved about Lou’s obsession with maintaining our eight-man defensive army all season long and to the extent it’s hurt guys like Mark Fayne and Adam Larsson, or annoyed long-time pros like Henrik Tallinder.

Seeing the prices other players went for during the last few days, I do understand our reluctance to do a ‘big’ deal, especially with the picks we’ve already lost with various trades and the Kovy cap penalty looming.  Ironically today’s deadline lacked quantity but not quality as multiple major deals were done (and a total wtf deal by Steve Yzerman in Tampa), most of which Derek chronicled already including his own Rangers in an odd way basically trying to get a do-over on the moves they made this offseason in the last week.

At this point though, everyone’ll have to live with what’s done until the offseason at least.  Whether teams bought, sold or shuffled the deck.

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OFFICIAL: Rangers Trade Gaborik To Blue Jackets

Posted on April 3, 2013 by Derek
Marian Gaborik was traded to Columbus for Derick Brassard, Derek Dorsett, John Moore and a sixth round pick.
Copyright Getty Images

In a stunning move, the Rangers have traded Marian Gaborik to the Blue Jackets. You heard it right. The same team they packaged Artem Anisimov, Brandon Dubinsky and Tim Erixon for Rick Nash. In a world that doesn’t make sense, I guess it shouldn’t come as a shock. Nothing should.

Gaborik agreed to waive his no-trade to a team that has as many points as us. Columbus has performed much better than anyone expected. They’re currently 11th in the West with 37 points. A point out of eighth. Our team sits ninth with 37 points, trailing the Devils and Islanders by two entering tonight’s game against the Pens.

So, what did the Rangers get for Gabby? They acquired center Derick Brassard, forward Derek Dorsett and defenseman John Moore along with a sixth round pick. At first glance, it looks like they didn’t get enough. You don’t replace Gaborik’s goal scoring. Even in a down year, his nine goals rank fourth on our offensively challenged roster. Despite his under performance, he still was a threat.

In four years, Gabby finished with 114 goals and 115 assists totaling 229 points over 255 games. Playing hurt last postseason, he posted five goals and six helpers for 11 points in 20 games. That included a dramatic triple overtime winner to beat the Caps in Game Three. Something for Garden Faithful to remember him by. He recorded two 40+ goal seasons netting 42 in his first on Broadway (’09-10) and 41 in ’11-12. The only year where he played all 82. In 35 games this season, he has nine goals and 10 assists for 19 points.

With Gaborik gone, Glen Sather has dramatically overturned the roster. First, he added Ryane Clowe to improve our physicality. Now, he unloads Gaborik who’s still owed $7.5 million for next year. While he’ll be looked upon for offense in Columbus, the Rangers are banking on the changes to alter their fate. Right now, they’re fighting just to make the playoffs. They’ve added two former first round picks in Brassard and Moore.

Brassard is a versatile forward who can play center or wing. He’s put up over 40 points twice. This year, he has seven goals and 11 assists for 18 points. One less point than Gaborik. He can play on the third line and has seven power play points (1 PPG). So, he should see time on the power play. He’s 25 and signed through next year. His cap hit is $3.2 million.

Moore was taken by the Blue Jackets in ’09 21st overall. Oddly enough, the Rangers took Chris Kreider 19th and Calgary drafted Tim Erixon 23rd. That same draft, our team selected Roman Horak in the fifth round. He was sent to the Flames as part of the Erixon deal. Erixon of course was included for Nash. In 17 games this season, Moore has an assist and is minus-five with 18 hits and 14 blocked shots. He’s 22 and in the second year of an entry level deal. Moore makes $810,000 and turns restricted this summer.

Dorsett is a fan’s dream. Tough as nails, the 26-year old from Saskatchewan is exactly the type of player we need. In ’11-12, he posted career bests in goals (12), points (20), games played (77), penalty minutes (235), shots on goal (137), power play goals (2) and shorthanded goals (1). He also recorded 199 hits and blocked 40 shots. He’s one of the toughest players in the league. Unfortunately, he’s currently out with a fractured clavicle and could miss the remainder of the season. In 24 games with Columbus, he has three goals and six assists for nine points with 53 PIM and 55 hits. Columbus thought so much of Dorsett that he’s signed through 2014-15 at an average of $1.63 million.

It’s hard to assess this deal because it came out of nowhere. On one hand, we lose a skilled player who’s capable of turning it around. Gaborik was in Tortorella’s dog house. He needed a change. If he’s not scoring, he’s a waste. Hopefully, he’ll be rejuvenated with the Jackets.

The Rangers have addressed their lack of depth. A sore spot all year. How Tortorella handles the new acquisitions will determine our fate. If he finally has enough faith to roll four lines and play all six defensemen, then it might work in our favor. Half our fan base is jumping off the bridge due to the odd return. I’m going to withhold judgment. Our team just became a lot more interesting.

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Lightning Acquire Bishop For Cory Conacher And Fourth

Posted on April 3, 2013 by Derek
The Lightning have acquired goalie Ben Bishop from the Senators. The cost was steep. They gave up rookie Cory Conacher and a fourth round pick.

Can anyone say over payment? Bishop turns restricted this summer. He’s 26 and has started 29 games in his four year career. He came over from St. Louis for a second round pick. He performed well for Ottawa after Craig Anderson went down. In 13 games, he’s 8-5-0 with a 2.45 GAA, .922 save percentage and a shutout against the Rangers.

Considering that Steve Yzerman brought in Anders Lindback from Nashville last summer, I don’t get it. Bishop is hardly proven. He put up respectable numbers on a well coached team that plays solid defense. Even with all the injuries, Paul MacLean should be up for the Jack Adams. The Sens are currently sixth in the East with 44 points. They add offense in the diminutive Conacher who ranks second in rookie scoring with 24 points (9-15-24). He can certainly help in that department.

In case you’re wondering, the Bolts gave up a ton for Lindback. They traded Sebastien Caron, two ’12 second round picks and a 2013 third for Lindback, Kyle Wilson and a ’12 seventh rounder. Lindback is signed through next year and is due $2.2 million. He’s currently on the injured list with an ankle sprain. In 21 games, he’s 10-7-1 with a 2.88 GAA and .903 save percentage. Lindback is two years younger than Bishop.

Flyers Deal For Mason: Steve Mason is a Flyer. Apparently, Paul Holmgren traded Sergei Bobrovsky for the Columbus backup. I’m baffled.

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Pens Add Jussi Jokinen

Posted on April 3, 2013 by Derek
The Penguins aren’t done. Even after landing big fish Jarome Iginla, they just made another move. Pittsburgh gets forward Jussi Jokinen from Carolina for a conditional pick. Jokinen could’ve been claimed for free last week. But nobody wanted to pick up his salary. He has a year left and is due $3 million.

Jokinen has six goals and five assists for 11 points in 33 games this season for the Hurricanes. Once a top six forward, his role has diminished with the additions of Jordan Staal and Alex Semin. Plus the emergence of Jiri Tlusty made him expendable. Jokinen just turned 30. So, he’s not old by any stretch. Going to the Pens should give him a jolt. This is a guy who’s scored big goals. A solid addition for GM Ray Shero. 

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