Over on the non-Smyth side of the hockey world....
Martin Straka skated, but with a yellow non-contact jersey, and won't play tonight in what will be an extremely challenging game against the Penguins
Jagr, Lundqvist, Avery, Hossa, Nylander and Malik skipped the optional skate....Pock will be a healthy scratch
The lineup:
Hossa-Nylander-Jagr
Avery-Cullen-Prucha
Hollweg-Betts-Orr
Isbister-Immonen-Ortmeyer
Rozsival-Malik
Tyutin-Girardi
Mara-Rachunek
Lundqvist
And as a bonus, check out this submission from a long-time reader, first-time writer who we'll call, "Disgruntled". Dead on.
****
How times have changed.
Rangers fans now wade through Deadline Day holding our collective breaths that Sather & Co. restrain from compounding existing problems and inflicting further damage.
The fact of the matter is quite simple. The Rangers won't make the playoffs, and it isn't because Brendan Shanahan is hurt. And it isn't because Jaromir Jagr's production is down from last year.
The reason the bunting won't be hung in at MSG in April is simply due to GM Glen Sather's numbing inability to make moves on the fly to correct obvious deficiencies. A seven-game losing streak through December and inconsistent play well into January exposed the Rangers' flaws -- for everyone to see. Except Sather, apparently.
He needed to bring in a quality center to promote secondary scoring and improve a moribund power play, once it was evident that Matt Cullen wasn't equipped for second line duty. It didn't happen. It was incumbent upon him to shore up a suspect defense, preferably with a backliner who could provide some offense. The Sandis Ozolinsh gamble from last year was disastrous, and Aaron Ward was supposed to provide a steadying influence, and physical play, and that was a flop, too.
Once again, preferring to be reactive rather than proactive, the season slowly withered away without a much-needed infusion. The Rangers have endured 18 one-goal losses, and it's reasonable to assume that with proper roster tweaking, things would be different now.
While "Rome burned," Sather fiddled.
It's nothing new. Sadly, we're used to it.
As all Rangers fans know by now. It never ends. Never....
Comments (17)
DISGRUNTLED,
THEN WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE? WHO WOULD YOU HAVE TRADED? WHO WOULD YOU HAVE GONE AFTER?
WARD GOT TRADED TO SETTLE THE LOCKER ROOM! DUPUIS GOT TRADED CAUSE WHO NEEDS HIM?
NOBODY WANTED ANYONE ELSE AND WE CAN'T GET RID OF ANYONE ELSE!
THE MOVES FOR THE RANGERS ARE IN THE OFF SEASON...
THIS SEASON IS SHOT AND PROBABLY NEXT AS WELL. WHAT MOVES ARE THERE REALLY TO MAKE. DID YOU THINK WE WOULD GET ANY OF THE BIG NAMES ON THE MARKET? IF YOU WERE EXPECTING ANY MORE THEN WHAT HAPPENED. YOU ARE HIGHLY DELUSIONAL.
SATHER HAS NOT DONE A GREAT JOB IF YOU MEASURE THAT ON WINNING A CUP. BUT, GIVE IT A REST WE ARE TALKING ABOUT GLEN SATHER! TOM RENNEY WILL CATCH IT TOO FROM THE GREAT FANS. HE HAS DONE THE BEST HE CAN!
LOOK ELSEWHERE...BESIDE THE NORMAL SCAPEGOATS!
Sather's moves since the season started have been okay. It's the mistakes he made during the off-season that cost the Rangers. Cullen, who was bumped off centring the third line at Carolina last year by Weight, was not going to be a second-line centre here. And in letting Strudwick go they had no one on the backline to provide some oomph, not Ward. The Avery deal (Jason Ward has failed to catch on even in LA and is now with Tampa Bay), Mara, and Dupuis = Bourret, are all good horsetrading.
As Yogi Berra used to say, it's never over, till it's over, that's why we play the games but without Shanahan, a banged-up Straka, and even Weekes it don't look good.
Pittsburgh is in a mild slump after a long hot streak succumbing to the Devils's sleeper hold and getting outplayed by Tampa Bay this week. But Laraque is in town and he'll be on the same line as the psycho, Ruutu. That should keep the Rangers awake. Therrien says if you don't score three goals, you can't win. Unless Hossa keeps doing his party imitation of his brother, we don't come anywhere near three goals most of the time.
Yo, Please! Spare me the violin. You're defending Sather? Are you serious? You're lost. Who else is responsible for the Rangers' futility? Who signed Cullen and Ward, traded for Hall? Who has hired Ron Low and Bryan Trottier. Who drafted Hugh Jessiman? Scapegoat? He makes $5 million. Steve Zipay is right. We predictably missed the boat with JD. He'll build a winner, quite quickly. Bryan Smolinski, or Jozef Stumpel, were available to bolster the center spot. And the key young players wouldn't have been sacrificed. I assume you approved Blair Betts as a second-line center. Or perhaps, Jason Krog?
disgruntled - everyone knows Sather is bad. BUT getting Stumpel or Smolinski was going to accomplish what? They need a real good center. I would prefer they do it in the off season and not rely on Immo as a top 2 center next yr.
LI, Joe. I totally agree. This team needs a top center, and that has to be accomplished in the off-season. My point is that Sather did nothing to help this team when it mattered during THIS season. An UFA for a reasonable price could certainly have helped things this year. With no monetary commitment for next season.
disgruntled - Did you miss what the going rate for rental players was at the deadline?
Sure, getting a 2nd line center would have helped increase the chances of grabbing the 8th spot but would have ended up costing at least a 1st rounder and one of our best prospects. And making the playoffs would not have been a lock anyway.
Whether you like him or not, Sather made the right moves in getting Avery and Mara and waiting until the summer to pursue a 2nd line solution when it only costs money.
He's right except that he should be blaming Renney over Sather.
It was Renney who continued to stick with what WAS NOT working through December and January. He could have shaken up the lines, he could have changed around the PP, he could have thrown in a few benchings and brought up some youngsters, but he didn't do ANYTHING. And the team slipped further and further.
Renney over-analyzed everything and ended up doing nothing until February. Everyone knows January is the critical month in the NHL.
To me, Renney coached this team right out of the Playoffs by doing nothing. He had enough to get them in the Playoffs. But he ran his top 4 into the ground and then sat there as the NHL handed around the NYR playbook in December...
TYPICAL RANGER FANS!
JD?!?!?
CAN'T LET GO OF THE PAST!
CRB -- I wasn't advocating a deadline move. It wasn't realistic to think we couldn't have upgraded from Jason Krog, Jason Ward, and Ryan Hollweg? It didn't bother you that Ward and Krog were centering Shanahan? All of a sudden the playoffs don't matter? I agree that we need a big-time center, and the off-season is the time to get one. But, do you have confidence Sather can land one? In two seasons, he hasn't found an offensive-minded defensemen. Overall, he has failed miserably with personnel moves.
CRB -- I wasn't advocating a deadline move. It wasn't realistic to think we couldn't have upgraded from Jason Krog, Jason Ward, and Ryan Hollweg? It didn't bother you that Ward and Krog were centering Shanahan? All of a sudden the playoffs don't matter? I agree that we need a big-time center, and the off-season is the time to get one. But, do you have confidence Sather can land one? In two seasons, he hasn't found an offensive-minded defensemen. Overall, he has failed miserably with personnel moves.
THE RANGERS AREN'T PLAYOFF BOUND AND YOU CAN'T STAND IT. IF THEY WERE FLOATING IN FIRST RIGHT NOW LIKE LAST YEAR YOU WOULDN'T BE SAYING A DAMN THING!
GO ROOT FOR THE ISLANDERS THEIR MAKING MOVES!
YOU REALIZE YOU ARE COMPLAINING ABOUT GUYS CENTERING SHANNY THAT ARE GONE NOW RIGHT?
SO YOU WERE SAYING...
Anyone who thinks that Sather has done a good job as GM is insane. Is the season entirely his fault? no but when a team loses 7 in a row with no overtime loses theres a problem. Sather is incompitent as a general manager, dosent see warning signs and is seemingly stupid when good deals sit ont he table.
disgruntled - It's Renney decided to play his 2 best centers on the top line with Jagr. Putting Nylander at center on the 2nd line and moving Prucha up to play with Jagr should have been done months ago.
I only fault Sather for the fact that Renney is still coaching the team.
PLAY THE KIDS, PLAY THE KIDS, PLAY THE KIDS!!!
SATHER SUCKS! HE WATCHED! HE'S DONOE NOTHING!
WHAT DID THE OTHER TEAMS WANT FORM THE RANGERS???
THE KIDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
MAKE UP YOUR DAMN MINDS! FUTURE OR RIGHT NOW?
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