Those words have become part of New York Rangers fans’ message boards everywhere. They usually precede some quote about Petr Prucha being scratched or some other fringe player finally and mercifully being waived. Sadly, Sam Weinman is leaving the Journal News. His excuse was kind of lame….something about a “dream job” with “Golf Digest”as an editor or something. Blah blah blah. I have to be honest and say that while I consider Larry Brooks the finest Rangers’ beat writer ever with Steve Zipay coming on strong over the last few years, Sam Weinman revolutionized how these guys inform and keep in touch with their readers. At least as far as the Rangers go. Message boards and other news sites have existed for quite a while, of course, but never had we seen someone with such close ties to the team and the locker room address the fans on such an informal and personal level. To top it off, his blog was the most consistently updated. Over the years, I’ve to written plenty of writers about things they have printed, or for answers to questions. Every single time I emailed Sam, I received an immediate response. In my limited experience in dealing with journalists, this was unprecedented. I appreciated it then, and I appreciate the efforts he has made to keep Ranger fans informed and amused, and we wish him the very best of luck covering that wimpy, old-man sport. (By the way Sam, if you are reading this, I REALLY REALLY want to play Augusta National, so um, drop me a line. We can talk bad about Glen Sather and the salary cap in between shots, if you want. Also, if you need a 25+ handicapper to test out the new cavity back Taylor Made irons for a summer or two, I’d be glad to help out. Or just send me some ProV1’s. Thanks. I’ll write more nice stuff.) —————————— On the Rangers…. I’ve been having a tough time in 2009 with illnesses. Nothing serious, just sick kids, colds, flu, whatever. So I haven’t had the easiest time jumping on here for updates. Besides, like I said before, how many times can you write “they need to improve the power play”? But I have to say, losses like last night worry me. I’m working on something to explain why, so check back in soon. HDH…

Like every other Ranger fan with access to a computer, I have been following this Mats Sundin saga very closely. The general sentiment among fans seems to be elation, joy, relief, etc. I share in those emotions. I view a signing like this as a no-lose proposition for Sather, Renney, and the organization. However, I have seen some folks express concern or even outrage at the mere idea of another 37-year-old veteran being brought in as a ’savior’. “Too much like the bad old days”, they say. I say “phooey on that”. Let’s clear up a few things. First, for those naysayers who are worried about “youth” being blocked by such a signing (or pattern of signings), I contend that the Rangers have no good youth worth worrying about right now. It is glaringly obvious that Petr Prucha’s days as a Ranger are numbered. It isn’t even worth discussing anymore. Renney doesn’t like him, period. Ryan Callahan and Brandon Dubinsky are getting the minutes they should be getting, and wouldn’t be affected much by the acquisition of Sundin. As a matter of fact, if Gomez and Drury are retained, Dubinsky might benefit from being moved to wing. Nigel Dawes is a ‘whatever’ in my book. Despite his dazzling game-winning goal last night, I think he is a fringe NHL player anyway. Lauri Korpikoski is destined to be a 3rd or 4th liner at best. What about those in the farm system, you ask? They’ve got nothing going on there, trust me. Everyone worth bringing up is already here (Corey Potter included), and no one in the system is so outstanding that we should even hesitate for a moment to improve the team right now. Just a year ago, the Rangers’ top ten prospects included Al Montoya, Hugh Jessiman, Alex Bourret, Jarkko Immonen, Ivan Baranka, and Alex Cherepanov. See a pattern there? So now the ‘top’ prospects in the system are Bobby Sanguinetti, Artem Anisimov, Mike Del Zotto, and Evgeni Grachev. Well, Sags and Anisimov looked lousy in the pre-season and are in no way imminent call-ups, and Del Z and Grachev are having outstanding seasons in the juniors, but cannot be called up until their OHL seasons end. So there you go . . . no youth being blocked. Others pundits, such as the Rodent, have cautioned readers in the form of statistics and the risk of losing a starting defenseman, as surely one of Rozsival, Redden, or Kalinin would have to go. I’ll address them separately. First the D: So what if we have to drop someone? Dmitri Kalinin has played 34 games now, has tallied an anemic 6 assists, and is a LEAGUE worst -15 among defensemen. And this on one of the best defensive teams in the league. I am fairly confident that Corey Potter, Bobby Sags, or even Del Zotto when his junior campaign is over, can adequately replace Kalinin. If Tom Renney has any redeeming quality (see my post of a few days ago), it is that he has set up a system whereby the fowards and defense alike are well aware of their defensive reponsibilities. Good teams should be able in inject young players into this system without having to be overly concerned about losing a Dmitri Kalinin. As for the stats: The Rodent accurately points out that you have to cut his expected goal production in half (32 to 16), because of his abbreviated season. (And please read the Rodent, because he makes valid points about Sundin). But then the furry one also mentions something that I feel is a TREMENDOUS point - ” . . . by effectively changing NYR from a two-line threat to a genuine three-line threat (see next column) his presence might just aid production of one of the trios he doesn’t skate on. I.e., they’ll oppose a weaker checking line because the enemy’s stronger checking line will now be focused upon emasculating Sundin.” I refer to this as the “Shockey effect”. This is a reference to the former New York Giants tight end. In addition to the potential goals, and the potential assists, Sundin most importantly brings something for the other team to think about. Something they have to keep in mind while he is on and off the ice. They have to think about line matchups more. They have to think about where he is at all times. They (hoepfully) have to think about staying out of the penalty box more, something opponents probably don’t worry about all that much with these current Rangers. This is the thing that the Giants are lacking right now. Shockey needed to be game-planned against. This opened up the offense for the receivers. Before he shot himself in the thigh, Plaxico Burress needed to be double teamed. The injured running back Jacobs needed to be watched at all times. Now that these guys are missing, defenses can just worry about their individual man and run their defensive game strategies without having to adjust all that much, and Giants offense has suffered in recent games. Sundin, like Jagr, like Sean Avery to an extent (and for very different reasons), like almost every good player outside of the goaltenders, brings this intangible that surely has a trickle down effect on the lineup. Adding a top six forward with such natural talent means opponents have to focus on Mats more, and even that little distraction could open things up for the rest of the forwards. One more thing that Rodent doesn’t mention, but I think is a huge point, is the ‘Swede’ connection. If he does indeed sign for less money, Mats WANTS to be here. He and Naslund are friends and former teammates who are very, very familiar with each other. We saw how much that worked out with Jagr and Straka, and that somewhat dissimilar relationship with Nylander. The Rangers of the last two years have had very little of this chemistry. Please know that I am not suggesting that a 37-year-old Mats Sundin guarantees anything at all. There will be an adjustment period, and there will be time needed to get into game shape. But for what really amounts to just a few million dollars (and a mercy move for Prucha), Sundin makes the Rangers (potentially) a much better team than they are right now, especially in the postseason. Given the alternative of sticking with the roster, and given my opinion on the up and not-necessarily-coming prospects the Rangers currently possess, I say go for it right now. This would be a great Christmas present for Ranger fans. In the meantime, let’s hope the Rangers beat the Kings tonight like they should, and hold their own against the NHL’s best, the San Jose Sharks. I’m looking forward to everything New York Rangers this week. HDH…

Actually, it’s time for a few things. For one, it’s time I posted on here again. Bird’s been picking up all of the slack while I tend to life. The end of the year is generally a busy time for me, but now I’m reading to get rolling around here. Secondly, it’s time for change with the Rangers. I hate to seem like I only start writing when things are bad, but it was really hard to come up with new things to say. After all, through the wins and losses, the same things could be said about the Rangers - the power play is bad, the offense is bad, the shootouts are good, blah blah blah. But let me point out just how bad things have been. And before anyone starts in with the “but the team is in first place” defense, I get it, but unlike those who just look at the standings in the paper every day, I’m looking at the big picture. Though they remain in second place in the Eastern Conference, most of the teams behind them have anywhere from four to six games at hand. On top of THAT, as the Rodent has pointed out, the Rangers have played the easiest schedule to date of any of the teams in the NHL. That’s not the case for December and January. They managed to squeak past the Penguins last week, and followed it up with two bad losses against the Habs and the Flames. The rest of December includes two games against the Devils (though the Blueshirts have dominated New Jersey since the start of last season), a West Coast trip that includes games against the Sharks and Ducks (they are 2-3-2 against Western Conference teams this year), and home games against the Caps and Islanders. January is also tough, with eight of their twelve games being played on the road, including two against the Penguins (an additional one at MSG) and one each against the Caps, Sabres, Senators, Blackhawks and Bruins. Their four home games in January come against the Canadiens, Penguins, Ducks, and Hurricanes. So back to my original premises . . . time for change. What change, you ask? Well I hate to sound like a crazy ranting disgruntled Ranger fan, but it is time for Tom Renney to go. Pink slip time for sure. Let me get this clear, however . . . I don’t believe the 2008-09 Rangers are a good team. I never did. I still don’t. I hope I am wrong, but all signs are pointing to a mediocre regular season, followed by a first or second round ouster. So if I think they aren’t that good, yet Renney has them up atop the Conference, why do I want him fired? Good question. Here are some reasons: 1) Their record is deceptive - Those of you who argue that the shootout is now a part of the game and the Rangers are taking advantage of it are not wrong. But it is a skills competition, end of story. It in no way translates into an ability to compete in the postseason (unless there were an inordinate amount of penalty shots awarded to either team). Take away the shootout and the Rangers’ seven wins via the competition, and the team becomes a very mediocre 11-10-9. Not so impressive, huh? Additionally, they got off to a great start, earning eight regulation wins in October. They have won three since. Three. In the seventeen games beginning November 1st they are 8-8-1 with five wins coming in the shootout. 2) The offense - This team can’t score, period. They are currently next to last in the NHL in offense, ahead of only the Tampa Bay Lightning. Look at the bottom half of the list. Most of the teams are in the cellar of the standings, with only Nashville, Minnesota, and Carolina on the positive side of the playoff bubble. There is no way the Rangers can continue this putrid scoring and expect to win more games than they lose. Henrik is not a god. Which brings me to …… 3) The Power Play - This has moved beyond disappointing to hilarious. They remain among the last in the league with the man-advantage, and have also given up EIGHT shorthanded goals, and they’ve only scored 21 goals on the PP. And it isn’t getting better. Since Thanksgiving, they have gone 1-for-19, or basically 5%. They’ve taken too-many-men-on-the-ice penalties on the power play for crying out loud. If that isn’t a coaching problem I don’t know what is. It’s embarassing, and this isn’t the first season with this futility. Last year they were 22nd in the league, and that was WITH two of the most prolific scorers in the games history (Shanny and Jagr). In both 2006-07 and 2005-6 they finished 8th. You remember, back when Petr Prucha played on the power play? 4) The ‘Renney system’ - It is defense, defense, defense. All defense all the time. When Blair Betts is your most important skater, your team is in trouble. Tom Terrific actually noted that last night’s game had a lot of positives. Huh? THEY LOST 3-0. I watched the game. I saw nothing positive about it. I saw Scott Gomez get booed. I saw a power play fail again, giving up another shorthanded goal. I saw the defensemen make mistakes. I saw a couple of 4-on-2’s, one of which led to the Jarome Iginla goal. Which leads me to….. 5) The constant line shuffling - According to Larry Brooks, the Rangers have had THIRTY-ONE different starting line combinations. They’ve only played thirty games. So only twice have the same combos started the games? How in the world are you supposed to get some cohesiveness and familiarity among the players? What’s worse is the in-game shuffling that occurs. It leads to a lack of chemistry, and confusion during line changes (which led directly to the aforementioned 4-on-2’s). This is a coaching issue, plain and simple. 6) Slow starts - The Rangers have played more games than any other team in the NHL and have the fewest first period goals - just 16 in 30 games. They haven’t given up all that many goals in the first period (21), but they often give up the first goal in games. I can’t definitively say if this is a motivation issue, or a preparation issue, but it is a problem nonetheless. Maybe it takes a period or two for guys to get used to their linemates? I wonder if Tom’s thought of that? 7) Player motivation/management - Here’s an issue where one could legitimately argue that it is solely on the player. However, Renney is the manager of the team. He’s the primary motivator and should be doing things to get the most out of your men. It’s what managers do. That being said, Rozsival, Kalinin, and Redden are having very bad seasons. Gomez and Drury are WAY off their games. Dubinsky and Dawes seem to be having significant slumps. Petr Prucha is a case study in mistreatment and bad management. Aaron Voros has become undisciplined, taking six minor penalties and a game misconduct in his last 5 games. Dan Girardi’s play is sliding in the defensive zone. Zherdev has only 3 goals in his last 17 games and is barely on pace to match last year’s stats. Callahan has one goal in his last 13 games. Markus Naslund is doing ok, I guess, but he’s only on pace to match last year’s decade-long low of 55 points. There are only three players with a +/- on the plus side: Zherdev, Marc Staal, and Nigel Dawes. Gomez, Naslund, and Drury are the worst among forwards with a -9, -6, and -7, respectively. Kalinin (-15) and Rozsival (-10) are worst on the team. Gomez and Rozy lead the team in average TOI, and Naslund and Drury are the next highest forwards. In other words, Renney’s not getting the best out of his players. That’s what good managers do. Tom has the good fortune of coaching a team that receives little coverage compared to other professional sports teams in the same city. If this were the Mets, Jets, Yankees, Giants, or Knicks, the city’s media and fans would be calling for his job. It’s time, folks. HDH…

Do you see what a difference specials teams make? Do you see what a difference being physical makes? Do you see what a difference a 60-minute effort makes? I’ve complained about the power play all season. I’ve complained about the lack of a forecheck all season. I’ve complained recently about Aaron Voros not getting in front of the net like he had in the early going. (Boy, I complain a lot. My wife must be a saint.) And when those things start to happen and work, this Ranger team actually looks like they deserve the record they have. Of course, as the Rodent points out, much of the credit goes to Henrik Lundqvist, as he has been beyond super all season long. - Avery was fantastic at causing trouble in front of the net. Did I say Avery? Ha, of course I meant Aaron Voros. And if anybody cares, I think Mike Smith should absolutely be suspended for that wicked slash to the back of Voltron’s leg. There was an intent to injure, it was done in anger, and if a skater had done the same thing they would certainly face discipline. - I can’t decide who was worse, Rozsival or Malik. Well last night it was Malik for sure. By the way, for the imbecile who found it necessary to scream out “Malik you suck” in the middle of the national anthem . . . get some perspective please. And a life. - You see how the power play was changed up? Two goals on the same exact play, Callahan and Drury. I still wasn’t thrilled with the 5-on-3 man advantages, but at least they scored this time. - Glad to see Marc Staal finally net a goal in the 2008 calendar year. I was afraid he was jinxed after Stan Fischler said he was the next Lidstrom and would win a Norris trophy in the next four to five years. (Yes Stan really said that.) - Way Cool, Jr. resumed his fine play. The move he made off the boards to feed Staal on his goal left the Tampa Bay d-man spinning in circles. By the way, I have NOOOOO problem with the cross checking penalty he took. After all, he was getting mugged over by the Lightning bench, and I want to see the Blueshirts standing up for themselves. I wouldn’t mind Nigel Dawes or Petr Prucha putting an elbow or stick in somebody’s mouth when they are getting head-hunted. Those are good penalties to take, and they make a difference as the season goes on. ESPECIALLY given the Rangers’ hot start and great PK. - And in the “poor choice of words” category, our nominee, Cameron Hope, regarding the NHL granting a compensatory pick to the Rangers to make up for the untimely death of Alexei Cherepanov: “It seems now as if that phrase is unintentionally precluding the deceased from being included as eligible for compensation. We understand that this is a sensitive issue, but with all due respect to Alexei’s family and his memory, he is technically eligible to be drafted again next year.” Glen would do it too. Tomorrow, it’s the Rangers versus Ovechkin and a lot of Semin. HDH…

And apparently Tom Renney doesn’t believe in change. Because after a dreadful, embarassing showing in Toronto, and a dreadful, embarassing special teams performance Tuesday night against the Isles, it seems the lineup will remain the same. So let me get this right . . . shake things up after wins, and stick to your guns after losses? Okey dokey. We’ve been saying it here for quite some time now - the power play needs to be fixed or they have no chance this season. This isn’t a recent phenomenon. The power play was awful last season as well. Look at it this way, if the Rangers had scored a power play goal Saturday to go up 3-0, the Leafs would have never had the energy or motivation to go on the five-goal-in-five-minute run. If the Rangers had been able to score a power play goal against the Islanders, and not given up those two shorties, we wouldn’t be having this discussion. And I don’t care how good they have been, there is no place for the fourth line to get the last twenty seconds of the man-advantage. Freddy Sjostrom perhaps derserves a shot, but not Betts and Orr. Tonight, the Lightning come to MSG after losing to Kevin Weekes and the Devils in a shootout last night. I would say that Tampa Bay should be tired and all, but the Isles played Monday before outlasting the Blueshirt Tuesday night. The Bolts are a modest 4-3-3 on the season. The Rangers’ power play is second worst in the league, and they are still ranked #27 in offense. The good news is that Tampa Bay is the worst offensive team in the league. Actually, that might be bad news, as this could turn out to be a snoozer. HDH…

Nikki Z and the Rangers are the best team in hockey. How often do we get to say that? One day soon I am going to write something on how teams rarely get the most bang from their buck from free agents, while making trades for good, young players more often has longer term, productive results. This hasn’t been more evident than what we’ve seen from Way Cool Zherdev. This kid has been absolutely fantastic, and without all the alleged problems we were warned about. He’s setting up plays, scoring fantastic goals, backchecking, and just hustling his booty off. As Rangerland poster Bleedin-Blue aptly put it, he’s “Kovalev without the suck”. And how exciting was it to see the Playstation line get together again and make things happen? Renney has NO EXCUSE not to keep Moose, Voltron, and Way Cool together. (How soon before we don’t refer to any players by their real names? We’re going to have to put a legend on the side menu so you know who we are talking about.) This game really shouldn’t have even been that close. If the Rangers would just convert on a 5-on-3 power play once in a while there wouldn’t have to be so much nail biting. How about we put Mara and Girardi out there instead of Rozy and Redden? It seems that the former two are able to hit the net and are willing to shoot, while the latter $11.5 million dollars worth of blueliners have been pretty futile. This power play situation is really the single glaring negative on what has been a thrilling start to the season thus far. It is the type of thing that catches up to teams eventually, and it NEEDS to be remedied soon. (Yes, even though they scored a PP goal last night.) - Tomorrow night they visit Toronto, where backup extraordinaire Stephen Valliquette has performed wonderfully. He’ll probably get the start, and Henrik will get four days rest before the Isles visit MSG on Tuesday. - If you watched the game last night, you know that the Rangers finally gave up on Hugh Jessiman. Unquestionably the biggest disappointment in his first round draft class, Hugh was just never going to make it here. He looks more like a tight end on skates than a power forward. I wish him luck, because based on everything I have heard he’s a good kid. That makes the fourth first round pick Glen Sather has made in these nine drafts that will never play for the Rangers. Goaltender Dan Blackburn suffered an injury that ended his NHL career, Alex Cherepanov, as you know, died tragically, Al Montoya was traded away for virtually nothing, and now Hugh was dealt to Nashville for future considerations. Lauri Korpikoski, drafted in 2004 in the first round after Montoya, has had a sniff here, but was deemed not quite ready. He, along with Marc Staal, Bobby Sanguinetti, and most recently Mike Del Zotto, remain the only first choice candidates to have a chance for a career here. - The Rangers are pulling away in the Eastern Conference. Sure, they’ve played two more games than any other team in the league, but they lead the East by six points. San Jose is second in the league with eighteen. - Way Cool, Jr. leads the NHL with a +11 rating, and Henrik Lundqvist leads all goaltenders with 8 wins. - The Rangers are the best team in the league defensively, with just a 1.92 goals against average. Their power play is ranked #26 in the league, while their penalty kill is ranked #2, with a 91.7% success rate. I’m looking more and more forward to each game. Tuesday night should be an interesting atmosphere in the Garden, because even though the Rangers/Islanders rivalry is a big deal around here, there’s no way to overlook the fact that it comes in a distant second to the election. Tomorrow night, Toronto. Bring it on. HDH…

As the Atlanta Thrashers come limping into Madison Square Garden tonight, I thought it appropriate to address a few things that have come up in the last few hours. - Larry Brooks reports that Brendan Shanahan has decided to start taking calls from different teams. I kind of get the feeling that management was waiting to see what kind of start the team had gotten off to before deciding to bring in the popular hall-of-famer. Unfortunately for Shanny, the Rangers have bolted out of the gate to a 9-2-1 start, and despite my often stated criticisms, really don’t need much help right now. Plus, as outrageous as it seems now, it leaves the door open for a possible Mats Sundin recruitment later on for a reduced price. - Steve Zipay informed us that, as probably expected, Lauri Korpikoski was sent down to Hartford. Interestingly, Patrick Rissmiller has still not been assigned and remains with the team despite being placed on and clearing waivers. Hopefully Korps can find his game again and return at some point to help out. - Once again, for no apparent reason, Petr Prucha will ride the pine. Or the cushion . . . whatever they have up in the press box. It must be incredibly disheartening to him that he gave a very good effort each his last two times out, and it still results in a benching. He better score a hat-trick or two in his next game, if he gets a next game. Actually, Renney might run to trade him if he did that. Dan Fristche will start in his place. - Over at Rangerland, Pete Rocha pointed out that Nik Zherdev was leading the NHL in plus/minus, with a +9 rating. I guess it’s ok not to worry about his turnovers until they actually start resulting in goals against. Just because I like his visor and his play so far, and because he reminds us all so much of Kovalev, but really for no particular reason, I have decided to anoint him Way Cool, Jr. (Yes, I stole that phrase from Ratt. But hey, if everyone else can get in on the nickname game, why can’t I?) - Speaking of which, it’s possible that Moose, Voros, and Way Cool will be working together again, reuniting the Rangerland-coined ‘Playstation Line’. They skated together at practice briefly, though Renney said he would start the same lines as he had against the Isles. - Lundqvist will start his sixth straight game. - Tonight has the makings of a huge letdown. The Thrashers are coming off of an embarrassing 7-0 defeat to the Flyers. The Rangers are the #1 defensive team in the league, and the Thrashers are #29. Neither have particularly good ranked offenses, however. The cool thing about this Rangers team so far this year is that they haven’t allowed themselves to fall into these “letdown” traps. Hopefully they dominate this game. - The puck drops at 7:00 pm EST….

If all you did was read Ranger fan messageboards, you would never know that the team was 9-2-1. You’d never know that they currently have the most points in the league. But let’s be honest . . . there are A LOT of problems here and once again Henrik Lundqvist is bailing them out. The King was nothing less than spectacular last night against the Isles, as he has been most of the time this season. It’s a nice pet to have, a young goalie who makes your record look better than your play. It’s not that I’m not happy with the team, it’s just that I’m worried. I can’t help it, it’s in my nature. I’m worried that Markus Naslund and Wade Redden are not going to have those bounceback years we hoped. I am worried that guys like Prucha, Dawes, Callahan, Korpikoski and Fristche are not going to have breakout years like we hoped. I am worried that Scott Gomez and Henrik Lundqvist are not going to be able to carry the team the way they have recently. I am worried the power play is STILL going to suck. I am worried that eventually Nik Zherdev’s turnovers are going to result in goals-against. I am worried that Michal Rozsival’s 4 year, $5 million per year contract is going to look like one of the worst signings in team history. You see where I am going here? Despite their record, the Rangers need something. They have, at times even during wins, looked absolutely awful. They were significantly outplayed at times during last night’s game. They looked awful against Dallas and Buffalo, and in a shootout win against Toronto. They looked offensively inept against Marc-Andre Fluery until they were able to steal some points from the Penguins. This is going to catch up with them somewhere. I’m not the first person to think this. The very old and wise Hockey Rodent wrote about it just last night. (He’s really down on Naslund, and for the record I was completely against his signing.) And to also echo one of Rodent’s points, what was with the diss of Petr Prucha with regard to some power play time? I read someone over at Rangerland’s boards try to claim that the Betts-Orr-Sjostrom line deserved the time they got as much as anyone. Well BS, I say. The object of this game is to score goals, and despite Renney’s treatment of him, 26-year-old Petr Puck has scored 59 career goals . . . which just two goals less than the entire fourth line combined. On top of that, Prucha has drawn some penalties in these last few games he’s played. If it’s Perry Pearn who is calling the man-advantage shots, he should be let go. It has now become embarassing how futile they are with the extra man. Anyway, things are good for now. They have overcome the rough schedule. They overcame the trip overseas. And they’ve overcome some awful play to gather a whole bunch of points. Getting a head start never hurts, but keeping it up might be tough. We’ll see. HDH…

If he clears waivers, I think this effectively ends his chance at playing in the NHL this year. If he were to be recalled, he would have to pass through re-entry waivers, and could be claimed by any team and the Rangers would be on the hook for half his salary and cap hit. On top of that, they signed him for three years. I was baffled by the signings of Rissmiller and Voros when they happened, and even now they look strange. Three years each? Sure, Voros is looking ok right now, but he started hot out of the box last season and fizzled right after Christmas. They already had Prucha, Dawes, Korpikoski, Sjostrom, Callahan, Betts, and Orr as extra forwards for the lower lines. They then took on Fritsche in the Zherdev deal. If you already had these guys, WHY take on Rissmiller? I think this whole mess was a big misread on the part of Sather. I don’t know if he intended on moving Prucha and couldn’t. I don’t know if he intended on Korpikoski playing yet ANOTHER season in the AHL. I don’t know what he was thinking. But the appearance is certainly NOT one of a cohesive plan. All this AND the news of Shanahan waiting around for the team to make a decision? If someone has an explanation I’d love to hear it. HDH…

And by “it” I mean made me drop my season ticket subscription. It’s not that I don’t love the team, or Madison Square Garden, or getting away from the wife and kids a couple of times a week, but Tom Renney’s teams are B-O-R-I-N-G. Not to mention that his coaching style and personnel decisions drive me batty. First of all, the Garden wasn’t all abuzz about Sean Avery returning. I was surprised by the reaction, as I had figured he would have been cheered at least a little. I guess the stories about contracts he rejected turned the fans against him, plus the fact that he is always a major league a**hole. During the pre-game stretches on the ice, Avery seemed to have some words for Steve Valliquette, as there was some back-and-forth between the two. And I’m not sure if it was the presence of Page Six Sean that put some celebrity butts in the seats, but we were treated to screen shots of John McEnroe, Liam Neeson, Michelle Rodriguez, and Jeremey Piven (HUGE cheer). Aside from Patrick Rissmiller laying the best hit of the night on Markus Naslund, the celebrity cameos were all the excitement the place could generate. So on to Renney . . . In his post-game interview, Renney moaned that the team was “stupid” and failed to break the Stars’ 1-4 defensive scheme. Tom Terrific indicated that eight to twelve foot passes and deep chip-ins were the part of the game plan not implemented effectively or often enough. Well I ask this . . . who were the culprits? It certainly wasn’t the fourth line, because they were the only line regularly deployed in match-ups against Dallas’ first unit. Even after the Blueshirts fell behind 2-1, Renney sent that Betts-Sjostrom-Orr tandem to, um, spark the offense? I didn’t notice anyone being given some bench time for failing to execute the coaches alleged plan. On top of that, with the exception of maybe Dubinsky, Callahan, and Voros, the team is in no way built to be a dump-and-forecheck team. This is a carry-the-puck-with-speed team, period. Gomez, Drury, Zherdev, Dawes, and Naslund . . . get it? These are not big, intimidating forwards. And ironically, it was still Dubinsky who was able to carry the puck into the zone with the most success, save for a burst or two from Gomez. Could someone explain to me why Brandon Dubinsky and Aaron Voros were not on the ice for the offensive zone faceoff with Henrik on the bench in the final minute? Aren’t they the top scorers on the team so far this season? Is there a reward for being consistently good all year? And please, please, please, can we get Patrick Rissmiller into the press box? He was absolutely dreadful, missing passes and fanning on shots. I’m amazed Renney didn’t at least try to switch him with Freddy Sjostrom at some point. Let Freddy the Swede play with Markus the Swede, let’s see what happens for a few shifts. I know Nigel Dawes is liked by many fans, but he just looks like a glorified AHL player out there. Every now and then he snaps off a great shot, but he’s just too small with not enough talent to make up for his lack of size. I don’t see how anyone can claim the team isn’t better off with Petr Prucha on the ice rather than Rissmiller or Dawes. Rozsival? BLECH. If I have to watch another four seasons of him floundering around his own blueline with the puck (and failing to keep the puck in the offensive zone), I might have to become a fan of the NBA again. Well not really, but you get what I’m saying. If you guys want to give the team a break because of this very hectic schedule they have been playing, I’m ok with that . . . for now. But what we saw Friday night and last night is very common in a Tom Renney system. They managed to score a single goal on a lucky bounce off of a team that had given up 23 goals in 5 games. NOT a good sign. Decent amount of shots, VERY few scoring chances. Everything was coming from above/outside the faceoff dots. You aren’t scoring many goals on NHL goaltenders from there. The book is out on how to play the Rangers . . . trap and transition, wait for mistakes, keep them to the outside on offense, and high pressure when killing penalties against them. It’s up to Renney to adapt now. Ok, let’s take a few days off, get back in action against Columbus on Friday, and see if they can get back on track. SIGHTINGS: Brett Hull with some really hot lady in the media box, signing all kinds of things for fans. Somebody even handed him a Rangers’ jersey, which makes absolutely zero sense to me. HDH…