Blue Notes

steve, what r the lines? is hossa playing? first hollweg benched lets hope orr follows him on tuesday.

This team is nowhere near what it was last year. No chemistry. No outlet passes. No leadership. No shots that hit the net.

Worst game of the season thus far.

This Ranger team is sad at best. What bs excuse is shanny gonna give tonight? The ten people at msg booed them off the ice.
Make some trades. Shuffle the deck.

I agree with Deatsy. Sather needs to step in and make a deal. These guys feel too good about themselves and the position they're in.

Prucha, Callahan, Hollweg, Hossa, Jagr, Straka, Dawes, Valiquette, Dubinsky and Malik should all be available at this point. Get someone other than Avery who plays with a little heart and isn't afraid to shoot the puck.

Hey Glen, it's almost Christmas. Time's running out.

I don't think Vally realized he was the starter until about midway through the third period.

zip I think you meant DEAD from MSG;-) They are not being led by Jagr or Renney. That's a ship off course. It's the NYR 500 cha cha, in a serious skid with a coach that only blames the players. Time for the coach to own up to his part in this & fix it.

I think we need to move all our youth and go for the Gold. Let's go after Heatley and or St Louis!

Realist: Kinda like how we got Drury and Gomez? I say we re-build again. The most impressive year was 2 years ago, since then the team has got worse chemistry.

When are we going to start chanting Fire Renney? Im not a troll its really me (not that you know who i am anyway) i was at the game and honestly we need a Mike Keenan coach again because Renny is far too timid. Dubinski on the first line is insanity, putting Drury with Moore and Daws is dumb. Jagr carried him as a coach in 05 not anymore. Sorry Renny, i honestly like you, but your not a good coach for this team. We need to wake up soon and a new coach would do it.

Sather would just hire another clueless yes man to wear a suit on the bench. At the very least with Renney we have someone who at least understands the value of a defensive system.

Problem with him is that he has no emtions whatsoever. It's hard to be motivated by a robot. Maybe if they could replace him with someone who has a personality, and then they could bump Renney down to an assisstant. There's this great coach in Tampa named Tortorella. Too bad the Rangers never had a chance to grab him up.

Maybe Trottier would want a second go in the Big Apple.

Just thinking about the Rangers past makes me weep. There was a light at the end of the tunnel, but that got clogged by two highly overpaid centers, just like old times.

This game is truly the low point so far. Unfortunately, there is no one magic bullet, although an arguement could be made for Avery being one, since they seem to lose more without him and win more with him.
That said, firing Renney probably isn't the thing that will spur this group of players. They all like and respect him, and Mike Keenan isn't available, and there's really no one else like him anyway.
The players are the ones who have to perform. They need to be finishers. In spite of all the calls from the crowd to 'SHOOT!", the Rangers outshot the Coyotes 35-26 (with 7 of the 35 by one DEFENSEMAN alone), and even had 18 missed shots to the Coyotes' 7. They even won 66% of faceoffs. They just couldn't finish, and almost every one of them made boneheaded defensive plays. Bad passing, blind passing, missed defensive assignments, 11 giveaways (3 by Prucha)... you name it, they seemed to do it today.
The one bone I would pick with Renney is his supposed system of accountability. He seems to apply it only to the players who are not making much money, relatively speaking (although I was surprised he kepy Malik out as long as he did.) He benches Hollweg and sends down Callahan, when it is some of the big guns that need to get benched and sent a message. My suspicion is that Renney's hands may be tied in that respect by Sather and Dolan. They don't want anyone making bundles of money to be sitting. But some of those making the mistakes make those bundles.
I could go on a lot more, just based on this game, but as I said, there's no one magic bullet or no one answer to why this is happening or how it can be fixed. At this point though, I would look at engineering some trades before firing the coach.

Move the youth and go for the gold? How about move the youth and go for "making the playoff round of 16," which is what mortgaging the future really is. DUMBEST comment I have ever seen here - right down Sather and Renney's alley.

Thanks to Tom Renney I have almost lost all interest in watching the Rangers. Have't watched the last 3 games and don't feel like I missed much. Pretty much dead last in NHL in scoring, this low scoring is really lame. 4th line sucks and doesn't have any hope in scoring. 3rd line lacks a good playmaker. Hockey is supposed to be entertaining, not just about winning. I rather lose 6-7 than win 1-0. Why were Orr/Hollweg/Betts in the lineup when we got players in Harford that can do a better job and provide more scoring? Why were Drury and Gomez signed to such ridiculously long contracts? Sather and Renney need to be fired

I agree REALIST. Let's move this youth and go for the Gold. I say we go after Barnanby or Leetch!

I definitely am upset at the way Renney is coaching this team but a replacement coach at this point would be worse in my opinion.

Why? Because of Sather. He would probably take over on the bench which wouldn't be a good idea. Meanwhile he would look for somebody he could control and end up with a worse coach than Renney.

As long as Sather is GM, he will hire no coach who outshines him which means guys like Pat Quinn are out. Only until Sather decides to retire, which I hope is soon, will the coaching situation be solved.

I am also concerned just how good our farm system is. According to Jess Rubenstein, who covers prospects for the Blueshirt Bulletin, Ranger fans are going to be very happy in years to come. Personally, I'm not so convinced. The Rangers appear to have a lot of young players but I see very few 1st and 2nd liners. Looks like we got a great quantity of 3rd and 4th liners. Looks like our defense prospects are better and just might have six youngsters playing there soon. Staal, Tyutin, Girardi, Baranka, Sauer and Suignetti.

Moore didn't look that impressive last night. Lost the puck a lot. Dawes played a good game, had a couple hits but was guilty of some overpassing when he had the shot. But it was their first game back and unfair to judge them just on one night's work.

Renney definitely made a mistake not keeping Callahan in there. He's better than Strudwick on wing. Plus Baranka should have been playing in place of Malik. Hollweg has been timid lately, not hitting like he usually does. Maybe this one game benching will wake him up.

there is no chemistry, drury has retired mentally and it shows in his game, he is playing at "home", got the big contract, nothin more to play for or prove really. these lines do not click at all.

Yotes are 27th in the league, 14th in the west. There's 5 teams between them and the playoffs. Lowest point this season, and hands down the worst game this season. Last season it took the Avery trade and a horrible 5 or 6 something loss to Columbus to bring the team around. There is too much star power and no chemistry. I'm surprised Callahan was moved down. The way that guy works doesn't warrant a demotion. How in the heck did one of the worst teams in the league get 5 goals on a team who's system is to take care of their own zone first? Someone sure as heck isn't doing their job. There is no leader on the d, the leaders on the front line are not doing their job, and the leader behind the bench has his head you know where. When does Sean come back? Yeah, he's a jerk, and no he doesn't score a lot of goals but at least he plays at 110% every night, and gets POd when he loses. The solution is call up a slew of the recruits and bench the stars for a few nights. Bench Drury and Gomez. Jags says hes injured, so send him down for conditioning. Hank is under the weather do the same. Call up Montoya, Dawes, Moore, Callahan. If the four of them DON'T play for several nights it will send a message and they might pull their heads out. If they don't think they aren't untouchable they will play.

Serious bummer. This kind of game and the like are exactly why I was questioning paying $150 to watch the Rangers here in FLA. That game was a joke.

I understand chemistry and all that, but wouldn't it make sense to at least try Drury on the top line again? Come on. He knows he can play at that level and if he had a coach that put confidence in him instead of dropping him to a third line with the youngsters, I think he'd pick up his game. Maybe I'm wrong, but I'd like to see it tried again considering nothing else is working.

Anyone know the news on Avery coming back? Any timetable?

We need some sort of spark to get this team back in the right state of mind.

Maybe if they start TALKING with other teams concerning Gomez, and Drury they will start playing. I'm not saying trade them, just get the rumor mill going that you don't think they are playing to their potential and that maybe they need another change in scenery. That might get them going too.

Ok enough is enough...I think Renney is a great coach but for the first time I am struggling with supporting him. His over committment to his players is what is killing him... time to make changes:

Straka-Gomez- Jagr
(Begining of the season saw Hossa here, Straka makes a huge difference)

Avery-Drury-Shanahan

Dawes-Dubinksy-Prucha
(Prucha's time is running thin, he needs to step it up. His production this year is pitiful! I dont want to hear the excuses from the Prucah fans either)

Hossa - Betts - Callahan/Moore/Hollweg/Orr
Let the 4 battle out for the one spot as the 4th line left wing.

Renney needs to start giving his big 2 lines more ice time too. TV time out means you go back to your top line not the 4th. Icing means you take off the 4th line and put out your top line in the offensive zone. These guys need to play more to get in the flow. I am all for the defensive system but at this point, open it up and let them get going!!
Jagr needs to shoot the puck! Gomez who is more of a passer has one less shot then JJ!! Hello McFly!! This is a problem!!!! Give him Gomer and tell him to shoot or sit his arss down!! He is avg 2.2 shots/g and in 05-06 he avg 4.5.

Put the kids together and let them produce energy shifts. If you can trust Dubi to play 15 games with JJ then he can certainly center the 3rd line on a consistent basis!

Sorry for the rant but this is elementary. If Jagr doesnt like it then send his arss to hartford/trade him/ sit him who cares at this pt!

Rangers are looking terrible. Drury on the 3rd line with nobody is a waste. The 4th line couldnt score if I was in net defending.

to all the valiquette haters out there - and those of you who cheered sarcastically when he 'saved' clearing attempts last night - were you watching the game? 5 goals against is brutal, sure, but it's even worse when your defense completely forsakes you. at least 3 (and at most 5) of those goals were not the goaltender's fault.

the whole team laid an egg last night. i'm tired of hearing about how 'we didnt have it' or 'we didnt wake up out there'. i appreciate shanny stepping up and being a leader, but we're far enough into the season where it's just inexcusable to 'not have it' night after night.

Lennynyr you must be right, because, somehow, every time the GM makes a personnel move, countless fans put it on Renney. Does Sather put that junk out there? Sather calls the shots, not Renney.

Sather will fire Renney before Dolan fires Sather, if it comes down to that. Another month of this struggling and Renney will be on a short leash to oblivion.

Sather is the REAL problem, but the coach is no bargain. Sather has this team perched precariously between Stanley Cup contender and youthful makeover. You cannot win the Cup during the rebuilding process. So why not just rebuild(?), the replacement parts in the system are borderline sensational. I would love to see Korpikoski up here, along with Baranka, Sanguinetti, and Anisimov, all the while keeping Moore and Dawes. And leading off with promoting Montoya while axing some tired old bones, starting with Malik, Straka, and Valiquette, need I say.

This team is not that far away, if the GM would get off his duff and make the moves NOW, not three years from now.

RB - Sanguinetti can not play for the Rangers until his junior season, incl playoffs, is over. You mentioned a guy in the Bruins org saying there is a 9 game trial in the middle of the season. Wrong - that guy has been with Boston all yr. So please look up this stuff before you post your bs (like you did on Sam's board as Robby Bonfire)

First off,

Hollweg is a great player. No one hustles like that kid and if you can't see that you are blind.