The ever-awesome Greg Wyshynski previews everyone’s 3 favorite teams.
Devils – http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2007/09/17/nhl-season-preview-new-jersey-devils/
Isles – http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2007/09/17/nhl-season-preview-new-york-islanders/
Rangers – http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2007/09/18/nhl-season-preview-new-york-rangers/
Enjoy folks.
Training camp was officially underway for the New York Rangers on Friday, and already we got our first glimpse of the dilemma of who plays center for the third line. In an intriguing, and completely unthought of by myself move, Tom Renney played Ryan Callahan at center on Friday, between Straka and Prucha. Straka has been known to have lost a step when it comes to taking faceoffs, so this move made a bit of sense to me. After a little research, I found that Callahan had a little, although not much, experience in junior days as a center. This line combo could work, as Callahan is a hard checker, and has shown glimpses of decent defensive ability on the ice. It is also possible that Renney just uses Callahan as a faceoff man, and then Straka moves over to the center position and Callahan back to his natural right wing position once the puck is controlled. This move made the second line of Drury centering Avery and Shanahan and the first line of Gomez centering Jagr and Hossa. Rounding out the lines was the fourth line of Betts centering Orr and Hollweg. According to sources with much more knowledge than myself, the chemistry between Gomez and Jagr was very strong, as was the chemistry with the other three. The lines were jumbled for Saturday, and it is still early in camp, but how do these lines sound to everyone else? I personally wouldn’t mind seeing them in a game situation. Hopefully we see it when the first preseason game comes around.
In what may seem as the right decision to some, and a puzzling one to many more, Brent Sutter has decided to choose his own captain. That means that the Devils captain last season, Patrick Elias, will not start the pre-season with the ‘C’ on his sweater. You may have noticed that during yesterday’s training camp opening photos, Patty did not have the ‘C’ on his new RBK edge jersey.
In retrospect, probably the right decision. While Patrick likely has the respect and admiration of every Devil, and certainly every Devil fan, he was simply not the man for job. He tried to hard, and it certainly hurt his offensive statistics. Without the ‘C’, he scored 45 points in 36 games in 2006, after returning from his bout with Hepatitis. With the ‘C’ this season, he went on long periods of barren offensive play, and seemed unsure of himself – not a good quality for the captain of a team. Despite this, he still lead the club in scoring, with 69 points in 75 games.
Perhaps the biggest difference came in the playoffs. In the ’06 playoffs, Patrick spanked the Rangers to the tune of six points and a total of 16 points in the playoffs. While Patty had 10 points in the two rounds of the ’07 post-season, he failed to put the tiny black thing in the net after a magnificent shot from the wing in Game 1 vs. Tampa.
Is Patrick our best player? Yes. Does that mean he should be captain? No. Give it to John Madden. He’ll do the job just fine, and be able to pass it on to Parise or Zajac or Clarkson in a few years.
The Ice Bowl will be officially announced on Monday.
Check out all 30 new RBK edge Jerseys right here, courtesy unlocked codes on NHL 08:
Tomorrow marks the start of training camp for the New York Rangers, however the first time that the new team will hit the ice will be on Friday. Thursday is reserved for physicals and meetings so not much will be happening from a fan’s point of view. When the season starts, we know the Rangers have offensive talent in the form of Jagr, Straka, Shanahan, Prucha and newly acquired Drury and Gomez. We also know that there will be a solid stopper in net in the form of Henrik Lundqvist. The biggest question mark, and possibly the best story to watch, might be the defense. The Rangers haven’t had a solid number one defense man since the departure of Brian Leetch. This year is no different, with the Blueshirts having basically four solid second pairing d-men.
Michal Roszival showed a lot of what made people excited about him when he was in Pittsburgh with his stellar play last year. While many people see him building from that for this year, he still has some growing to do on defense. He will likely man the Rangers’ first unit with the ever popular Marek Malik.
Malik, in many people’s opinions, belongs not on the first line, but on the firing line. Defensive gaffs last year led to a chorus of boos every time he touched the puck. He’s a big guy, and could be a good defense man if he threw his weight around and looked where he was passing the puck now and then. Look for him to rebound slightly this season as it is clear that he is not going anywhere.
Fedor Tyutin has the potential to be something special. Hard shot, hard hitter, shuts down the other team’s offense when he’s on the ice. He just needs to fine tune his skills and he could become a force on the blue line. Paul Mara has great offensive ability, as shown by his decent power play time that he got towards the end of last season. If he can learn better defensive positioning, he could be a fine asset to have as well.
Maybe the biggest surprise of the season last year was Dan Girardi. Girardi came up from Hartford just to fill in for a couple of games, maybe get a tryout of sorts. He wound up being a great partner for Tyutin and a solid stay at home defense man. He’s young, and still has a lot to learn at the NHL level, but if the other team doesn’t score when he’s on the ice, I’d be more than happy to keep him around.
Past these five players, the last spot is up for grabs between a bunch of able candidates. The underused Thomas Pock will get a look, but has never really been used as much as he deserves. He looked out of place at times last season, but he only really played once injuries set in. Jason Strudwick is a great locker room presence, and will stick up for anyone on his team. There are probably better options than him in terms of skills, but he is nice to have as a 7th man.
A big question mark is Darius Kasparaitis. Kasper is said to be 25 pounds lighter, much speedier on his skates and showing off a repertoire of finesse moves. If he is anything like his pre-lockout days, I would love to stick him with Mara as a third pair.
Lastly you have the “kids.” Little is known about newly acquired Andrew Hutchinson, although the general feeling is that he may not make the Rangers out of camp. Other youngsters that deserve a look are Ivan Baranka, David Liffiton and Bobby Sanguinetti. Oh, and there’s this kid named Marc Staal, maybe you’ve heard of him.
Sorry for such a long article, but this is a huge pre-season story to follow as Ranger fans. It should be interesting to see who makes the starting lineup come October 4th. I’ll check back in over the weekend. Until then, comment back. Let’s hear your thoughts.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_r8tWGVHrjGI/RucHWZXYOSI/AAAAAAAAB8k/lXyW7xCdQMg/s1600/njdmedia.jpg
Along with the Wings, Rangers and Habs, the Devils remain with the classics.
Also worth noting that Marty’s wearing a Red jersey in Toronto, as you can tell from the fan in the stands. Could that be new?
The New York Islanders have acquired center prospect Ben Walter and a conditional second round draft pick in 2009 from the Boston Bruins in exchange for Petteri Nokelainen. I guess this is the Bruins deal Eklund has been hinting at over the past couple of days, really makes that $20 season pass really worth it.
Ben Walter is the son of Ryan Walter who had a lengthy career in the show. I used to watch Walter play for Umass Lowell and he was a pretty good player until he left college early and moved on to the P-Bruins where last year he was their MVP. Nokelainen, was a former first rounder who never really turned out to be much of a player, I doubt he turns into one in with the Bruins. Lets hope Ben can turn his AHL success into NHL success.
We’re still a few days removed from training camp, but already the Rangers’ goal tending situation seems to be a good one. When camp opens on Friday, the Rangers will have five net minders under NHL contracts. Of course Lundqvist will be number one and, barring injury, will be between the pipes for a good 60-70 games. This begs the question of who should be the backup? Stephen Valiquette did a decent job for the Rangers down the stretch last season with the injury to Kevin Weekes. In 30 games with the Wolfpack, Valiquette was 17-12 with a 2.34 GAA and 0.909 save percentage. With the Rangers, he recorded one win and two losses in three games played, 3.16 GAA and 0.867 save percentage. The Rangers also have rookie Al Montoya, who posted a respectable 27-17 record in 48 games last season with a 2.25 GAA and 0.916 save percentage with the Wolfpack. The two remaining contracts belong to recently signed Miikka Wiikman and the under performing Chris Holt. With Lundqvist a lock for all but say 15 games this season, who would you rather see in the backup role, Valiquette or Montoya? Should Montoya back up to get NHL experience, even if it is only two or three games a month? Or should he start the season in the AHL to keep loose? Comments are strongly welcomed.
Everyone make sure to check out the re-vamped Kukla’s Korner, coming soon!
The New York Rangers have confirmed that Brian Leetch’s number 2 jersey will shortly be hanging above Madison Square Garden with the likes of Mark Messier, Eddie Giacomin, Rod Gilbert, and Mike Richter. On January 24th, when the Rangers host the Atlanta Thrashers in a rematch of the first round of the playoffs, Leetch will be entrenched in Rangers’ history forever. This is a classy move by the Rangers, and the right move. Leetch will forever be known for his days as a New York Ranger, bringing determination, grit and leadership to the Broadway Blueshirts. Congrats Brian!
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Derek
Battle Of Hudson 
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