At 6-foot-7, Brian Boyle is one of the most imposing players on the ice, and the 24-year-old forward said he intends to get even more physical in 2009-10. ...

New York Rangers President and General Manager Glen Sather announced today that the club has signed forward P.A. Parenteau. P.A. Parenteau has been one of the Hartford Wolf Pack's ...

According to reports, Tyler Arnason has signed a two-way contract with the Rangers. Steve Zipay had it in his blog. More details to follow. Here’s the official word: RANGERS AGREE TO TERMS WITH FREE AGENT FORWARD TYLER ARNASON             New York, July 3, 2009 – New York Rangers President and General Manager Glen Sather announced today [...]

Click the headline to the full post

New York Rangers President and General Manager Glen Sather announced today that the club has agreed to terms with free agent forward Corey Locke. Corey Locke spent last season in t...

Tyler Arnason, the son of former NHL player Chuck Arnason, has played in 487 games with Chicago, Ottawa and Colorado and has been a regular in the league for six seasons. ...

Now the trick for Glen Sather is to find another high-end talent to complement Marian Gaborik, but that's easier said than it's going to be for the general manager to get done, given the paucity of upper echelon players with cap-affordable...

Watch highlights from the week-ending scrimmage at the 2009 Rangers Prospect Development Camp. The July 3 scrimmage was the camp's final event.

Slats, you oughta be in pictures, because according to Marian Gaborik, it was a videotape that the Rangers sent to his home in Slovakia on Day 1 of the free-agent signing period that had him leaning toward Broadway.

“I watched it. It was unbelievable,” Gaborik said on a conference call from home in Slovakia. “It was really very important that they went after me this way. There were a few other teams interested, but when it came down to it, it always came back to the Rangers. When somebody is very interested in you, it feels great.”

A recruiting call from Chris Drury helped, as did Gaborik’s own calls to countrymen such as ex-Ranger countrymen Martin Rucinsky and Marcel Hossa and Aaron Voros, who played with Gaborik in Minnesota. “They got nothing but all the good things to say about New York,” he said. “I was impressed.” And yes, let’s be honest, there were 37,500,000 other reasons for the 27-year-old Slovak to be impressed.

Of course, on his first full day as a Ranger, Gaborik spent a good portion of the call defending himself from talk that he’s fragile. “I feel great,” he said. “I played the last 11 games of the year and I took time off after and tried to get to 100 percent. Now, I’m in full training, getting ready for the season. I’m very excited. I don’t see any problems down the road.

“Definitely, it’s been very tough,” he said of all the injuries he’s had in recent seasons. “I guess this makes me stronger. The hardest part is, you watch your teammates out there battling hard, trying to win games, and you can’t help. It’s tough times. I’m glad I had the surgery, it worked out perfectly. Hopefully, everything is behind me and I can focus on playing hockey.”

Gaborik said he has had a couple of conversations with John Tortorella and talked about his excitement with the prospect of playing Torts’ up-tempo style, this after eight seasons under the defense-minded Jacques (yawn) Lemaire in Minnesota.

“Obviously, he won a Stanley Cup in Tampa, and I think he did very well for the Rangers,” Gaborik said. “Coming to the Rangers, they weren’t doing that great, and then they made the playoffs. I’m excited to play for him.”

“It’s just starting to hit me now that I’m becoming a Ranger,” he added. “This is very exciting.”

***

While the prospects were on the ice today for Day 4 of the Rangers’ development camp that wraps up tomorrow, a couple of new Rangers were casing the joint at the training rink - one was winger Chris Higgins, the other a redwood tree named Brian Boyle. Higgins, the Smithtown, L.I. kid who’s thrilled at the chance to play for the Rangers, talked about how he sees himself fitting into Tortorella’s system: “I have good speed, I’m a good skater, I think I have good anticipation. I like to play an aggressive style, it fits perfectly for me, I think. You want to use your speed and get on the opponent as quickly as possible.” Higgins is a player who can play the power play and kill penalties, which he did regularly for Montreal in his final season there.

Boyle - a behemoth 6-7, 252-pound former first-round pick who was acquired on Day 2 of last weekend’s draft - said he would come into camp “guns blazing,” and was very forthright about how he sees his trade from Los Angeles as giving him a second chance at an NHL career: “I know I can play the game, and when I try to create offense and play the game the right way, using my body, that’s probably my best bet I have to be successful. That’s usually when I’m at my best, when I’m playing hard, I’m intense I’m angry, I’m out there for a purpose - every shift.

“That’s what I’ve got to do, I’ve got to be consistent with that. I’ve got to do it all the time. No matter what you do, you gotta go 100 percent, gotta be there every step of the way, or especially in this league you’re gonna get exposed. I learned that the hard way this past year. Wasn’t for lack of trying; I think it was preparation, an experience thing you have to go through to realize what you’ve got to do every single day. Practice, off day, to bring it every single day.”

***

Marc Staal was among the 16 defenseman invited to Canada’s Olympic camp - slim chance the Thunder Bay, Ontario, product makes the team that goes to Vancouver, but that’s impressive recognition nonetheless. Three - wait, two Rangers will head to the U.S. camp in August: Ryan Callahan and Chris Drury. Scott Gomez was named to that list the day he was dealt for Higgins.

***

Finally, the Rangers signed 21-year-old forward Chris Chappell. The 6-4, 209-pounder led the OHL Saginaw Spirit (of ‘Colbert Report” fame, but not “Chappell’s Show”) in goals (38) and points (76) over 68 games last season. He’ll be sent to Hartford.

Marian Hossa is one ungrateful dude. After the Rangers tried their best (unsuccessfully) to mold his little brother into an NHL caliber player, Marian goes and signs with the Chicago Blackhawks. In his relentless quest to play for a contender, Hossa asked his agent to “show me the money”. Chicago did. If he never wins a Cup at least he can pad his IRA and live out his old age in comfort back in Stara.

And so, as Dany Heatley jerked the chain of the Senators and the other teams that would take on his headache, Glen Sather needed to bust a move on a pure goal scorer. After all, there’s fly fishing to be done and the quicker the free agent signings go, the faster Sather can slither into his hip waders. But I digress.

So Sather makes the other Marian an offer he can’t refuse and, viola, a big part of Sather’s job is done. Like everything Sather does, this signing could be minimal reward and maximum risk. After all, Glen’s giving Gaborik $250,000 more per year for the next five years then was committed to Gomez. Where’s the money going to come from to get a first pair defenseman? And while the length of the contract is not unmanageable, Gaborik has proven so far to made of glass. Glen’s a gambler. 

Notwithstanding what could turn out, barring injury, to be a decent signing, Sather defies our imagination and probably makes his worst signing so far as the Rangers GM. What in God’s name is Sather thinking, letting Colton Orr go and signing the filthiest goon of all time, Donald Brashear? I know the Rangers need a new player rep for Ice Hockey In Harlem now that Gomez is gone but this is ridiculous. I honestly think the Brashear signing is worse then Redden. Brashear will take more stupid penalties then Ryan Hollweg with about the same offensive upside as Hollweg.

I understand that with Pronger now in Philadelphia all the Atlantic Division teams had to up their enforcer quotient. I would have rolled the dice with a fan favorite like Orr rather then the most despised goon in the league. I guess Sather really isn’t going to resign Blair Betts now. How could he after what Brashear did in the playoffs? Brashear is more hated then Bobby Clarke, Dave Schultz and Ken “the Rat” Linesmen were in their day (curiously all Flyers). Donald Brashear is unworthy to wear the Ranger uniform

Surely more shoes are going to drop  as Free Agent Frenzy continues. But, in signing Brashear, one has to think a shoe was dropped on Sather’s head. It’s always one step forward and two steps back with the Glen Sather Side Show.