Saturday, January 31, 2009

Bruins 1, Rangers 0


Now, was that so hard to predict?

Mike Hasenfratz must have got some kind of lecture from his NHL bosses for that disgrace in Chicago. Today, he put the whistle in his pocket, and rightfully so. There was nothing obvious that had to be called. They let them play, the way it should be.

The too many men on the ice penalties have already gotten to a point where someone on the coaching staff has to be accountable. Today was comical. The Rangers had six skaters on a power play for a good 10 seconds before someone finally noticed. It's one thing to be caught in a middle of a change. It's another to completely not know the man you are jumping on for, which was the case for whoever failed to wait for Nik Zherdev to get off the ice. It could be the player's fault. At this point though, it's squarely on the coaches.

We got another five more years of Wade Redden folks, at 6.5 mil per season. Five more years of watching plays like Kessel blasting past him for a partial breakaway in the first period. Five more years of his now useless offensive ability. Five more years of screaming at coaches for putting him out there in the final minute of the game down a goal, when a forward at the point is the proper move.

The Turkey was solid in the third period as the Rangers did have some chances there, but were denied (Tuuka is Croatian for turkey).

Does Henrik know how Mike Richter got his first concussion that led to his premature retirement?

The line shuffling by Tom Renney in the third period was another disaster. If you want to change things up, at least leave the centers alone and shuffle the wings. Keep Dubinsky and Naslund together please. All they do is create offense when they're together. It just so happens the highlight MSG showed of the game vs. Boston back in the Garden was the game-tying goal by Naslund, who played on a line with Dubi at the time. There was also a shift where Sjostrom and Gomez were together. That's the other piece of the Gomez line. Sjostrom-Gomez-Prucha (another scratch today). Put that line together and watch them make things happen. Will never happen under Renney's watch.

Not a good way to go into a feel-good situation with Adam Graves night on Tuesday.

Gameday: Rangers at Bruins 1pm

Rangers 29-21(4), 62 pts
Bruins 35-14(6), 76 pts

Notice the new two column record (with silly OT bonus points in parenthesis). A regulation and OT win accounts for the first column in the NHL standings. Why should a regulation and OT loss be separated into 2nd and 3rd columns? It skews a team's perception of .500. You hear it all the time: A team goes 2-2-3 on a seven game road trip and are satisfied that they played .500. Makes me shake my head. I know, 7 points in 14 games is .500, statistically speaking. But you won only two games when you lost five! Is that something to be satisfied with? Plus a ".500" record will keep you at about 10th/11th in the conference. On to the game:

Have you noticed Mara, Staal, Zherdev, Dawes and Betts are the only pluses on this team?

An afternoon in Boston means a shootout is looming. After dealing with a ton of them earlier in the season, it's been a while: once in the last seventeen games. Lundvist will likely be in net and needs to bounce back big time after that third period in Pittsburgh. If recent times are any indication, he will. Look for a 1-0 or 2-1 shootout result in this one.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Fritsche traded

The Dan Fritsche era comes to an end as he is traded to the Minnesota Wild for Erik Reitz.

Let's face it, did anyone really think Fritsche would be a factor when the Rangers acquired him from Columbus along with Zherdev? He was one of a many third/fourth line forwards arriving at the same time as Aaron Voros and Patrick Rissmiller. It was a surprise that he was even signed to a contract a couple of weeks after the trade.

The deal makes sense for the Rangers. One of the glut of forwards had to go. You trade one healthy scratch for another, except we finally add a seventh defenseman in Reitz. A defenseman who is not afraid to fight, although judging by his record on hockeyfights.com, it looks like we have another Aaron Voros. Not crazy about fighters who wear visors. I wonder if he and Marc Staal will have a chat about this one:

Penguins 6, Rangers 2


It starts to remind you of the Nassau Coliseum in the late 80's/early 90's. Back then, you didn't exactly have high expectations when the Rangers went into Long Island. It's the same feeling you get when the Rangers play in steel town. After last night's loss, they now have not won in regulation time over there in 14 games, including playoffs. Talk about a house of horrors.

I only caught the third period last night and despite DVRing the game, it was deleted upon conclusion. Why bother? Apparently the first two periods seemed to favor the Rangers. They had opportunities and failed to capitalize.

Eric Godard finally handed it to Colton Orr with that one right hand at the start of the game (I did bother to look up that piece of video). Godard is now 2 for his last 2 vs Orr, winning the last time by simply not taking the bait and fighting.

Someone needs to beat the snot out of Tyler Kennedy. Loved the fact that Nik Zherdev knocked Paul Bissionette on his behind for hacking at Lundqvist late in the third, but Kennedy jumps in and does not even get a penalty?

I was shocked to see Petr Prucha on the first line with Gomez. I've been lobbying the Prucha-Gomez pair for months (mentioning it in this blog's first ever post). Renney needs to give this one a chance, but after seeing Voros play a shift with Gomez and Naslund in the third, I highly doubt we'll see much more of Prucha on the ice. Then again, maybe he wanted some 'snarl' by having Voros on late in the game with the team trailing by a few. There was the snow shower on Marc-Andre Fleury, but nothing to get too excited about. This team needs more grit- they just roll over and die if the game is out of hand late in the third- no one seems pissed off. I'm not asking for cheap shots. Just send a message.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Gamenight: Rangers at Penguins 7:30pm

Rangers 29-16-4, 62 pts
Penguins 23-21-4, 50 pts

The Rangers have won only twice in their last ten visits to the Igloo, with those wins coming back in the days of Martin Straka magic and Jason Strudwick offensive rushes. It's not pretty. At least the game is not on NBC or Versus. Henrik Lundqvist is back in net.

The Penguins have Sidney Crosby back in the lineup, his first game off an injury, just like it was the last time the Rangers were here less than two weeks ago. Let's hope the result is not the same. The Penguins need to be kept out of playoff position.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Rangers 3, Hurricanes 2


Scott Gomez is back; his line was flying tonight as the Rangers defeated the Hurricanes by a score of 3-2. The Rangers are now 5-2(1) in their last seven (that's 5 wins and 2 losses, two columns- none of this one column for a win and two columns for losses, with the 1 in parenthesis denoting an overtime loss). Brandon Dubinsky scored as well- he now has three goals in his last five.

Lauri Korpikoski looked to the bench for a change, but then realized maybe he had a scoring chance- he guessed right, putting home a rebound to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead.

Some guy named Beta (ok, his name was Bayda- I'm an IT guy), scored a goal and played well for Carolina tonight.

Nik Zherdev was finally looking for his shot tonight and was very determined to end his scoring drought. He did not score, but set up Dubinsky with a beautiful pass.

From the 16 minute mark to under 5 minutes to go in the third period, the only stoppages in play were the Ranger and Carolina goals. I can guarantee you there will be a modification in the TV timeout rule next season- by eliminating the timeouts on icings, they will have to find another way to get the advertising in.

Steve Valiquette did not have to be spectacular, but was solid, capping the night with a kick save on a puck off Dan Girardi's skate with several seconds to go.

Good win for the Rangers. They need to follow it up with another solid performance tomorrow in a recent house of horrors, the Igloo.

Gamenight: Hurricanes at Rangers 7pm

Hurricanes 23-20-5, 51 pts
Rangers 28-16-4, 60 pts

After not playing in a week, the Rangers return with the same lineup as in their victory over the Ducks, with the exception of Steve Valiquette being in goal. Henrik Lundqvist gets a breather after an All-Star beatdown. Aaron Voros commits some more third period penalties, but because the Rangers win, he stays in the lineup. Poor Petr Prucha watches from the press box again. Dan Fritsche was placed on waivers, a move that was a long time coming.

The Hurricanes have won two in a row after losing six straight. They are in a tight battle for the final couple of playoff spots in the East. Too bad their are not wearing their awful black jerseys tonight like they did their last trip in. It would be nice to see the Rangers in their whites at home again.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Annual Wolfpack update


Passing on NHL All-Star Saturday, I decided to watch a hockey game and make the annual trip up to Hartford to see the Wolfpack. They defeated the Penguins by a score of 4-1.

I was looking forward to seeing the guys who were close to coming up to the Rangers, in addition to anyone else who would stand out. Unfortunately, Bobby Sanguinetti was out of the lineup due to losing four teeth in a game the night before. Corey Potter and Artem Anisimov were in the lineup, however.

Potter played a steady game. He looks comfortable and ready for his next callup. Always seemed to make the right decision with the puck.

Anisimov scored the game winning goal, a power play goal early in the third period to give the Pack the lead. He poked home a rebound, nothing special, but was a presence for sure. At 6-4, 205, he stands out. The concern with him right now is what do you do with him next season, at which point he should be NHL-ready. Blair Betts is a UFA, but is one of those guys you have to have on a team for his role. Centers are locked up on the other three lines. There is still a long way to go before these problems come up, but something to keep in mind if you are the GM.

One of the more entertaining moments of the evening was in the first period, when Hartford big man Brandon Sugden went one on one with some Penguin. Took off the helmets, had the boxing pose and everything. After knocking his man down, Sugden made like a cowboy, putting his guns in the holster. Kind of reminded me of Tie Domi back in the day.

AHL games play fast. The games start at 7:03 and with maybe one timeout per period that is not even as long as your average TV timeout in the NHL, the games are over shortly after 9. It's worth your time to make the trip at least once a year to catch the Rangers affiliate. Just expect to lose at least twenty minutes post-game getting out of the parking garage and onto the expressways.

Saturday, January 24, 2009

All-Star Break and Hot Stove

Aren't you excited about All-Star Weekend? How can you think about missing the Breakaway challenge? Seeing one player after another flub on trick-shot breakaways. Getting dizzy watching the coverage on Versus and their cameraman on skates. I'll take a look at the festivities today, only for the player intros and the start of it, but if that cameraman on skates is back, the TV will be switched to another channel. Okay, there's also Brandon Dubinsky and Marc Staal in the YoungStars game. And how can we forget about Henrik Lundqvist? Maybe we'll watch the whole thing after all.

-----

You know, for years I could not stand Larry Brooks for all his exclusive scoops that never panned out for the sake of getting headlines (well, not really, it's hockey), but this season he's a must read, the only one who's telling it like it is. Kind of like Bob Page at the MSG Sportsdesk back in the day. Remember him?

-----

The NHL Players decided not to re-open the collective bargaining agreement. Good, at least we don't have to worry about any work stoppages for another couple of years. Once this agreement ends, let's tweak that salary cap to allow unlimited pay that does not count against the cap to homegrown players.

-----

The Mets signed Freddy Garcia and Alex Cora. Finally we have a backup infielder we can trust to play both middle infield positions. I wish Damion Easley luck, but you know he was not coming back. I'm sorry to say, Luis Castillo is not going anywhere. If he continues his antics this season, you'll see a lot more of Cora at second base. Liking the Garcia move as well. Stock up on a bunch of #5 starting pitchers and let them have at it in Spring Training.

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The Texas Rangers changed their uniforms again, going back to red. They'll be switching back to blue in 2015.

-----

Finally, the solution to avoid listening to Versus, NBC and Fox. Why couldn't I find this thing in 2006 when I was so sick of Fox that I stopped watching and only listened to Game 7 of the NLCS?

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Rangers 4, Ducks 2


First, the positives. Scott Gomez had a two point night, including the game winning goal. Fredrik Sjostrom scored. Two power play goals.

Then, there's Aaron Voros. I didn't disagree with Tom Renney putting him in the lineup. After all, this Anaheim team is a big team, with many who like to mix it up. However, it's safe to say we will see the return of Petr Prucha to the lineup next Tuesday night. Dan Fritsche was not much of a factor, but what more do you expect.

Blair Betts continues to prove his value to this team. Anyone who cries about him being in the lineup despite not scoring goals doesn't know hockey. It was fitting that a solid defensive play on the PK leads to his empty net goal.

Marcus Naslund with a blast from the slot to score the first goal. Don't see that too often.

The Rangers had two fighting majors in this game and you had to guess the players involved. Would you have guessed Ryan Callahan and Brandon Dubinsky?

Who is this Festerling fellow?

Scott Niedermeyer played nearly 30 minutes, but he actually looks like he's starting to age. Chris Pronger is still a monster.

*****

-DP is out for the season. Sad. Really. The Islanders look like they will accomplish their mission in securing John Tavares next season. How else can you explain the moves in the past year? Don't give me that "what about the lottery?" crap. When do you see an upset in the NHL Draft lottery?

Gamenight: Ducks at Rangers 7pm

Ducks 23-19-5, 51 pts
Rangers 27-16-4, 58 pts

The Rangers are back at home to face the Ducks. They come off a loss, so of course there are lineup changes. Petr Prucha is out (would like to hear the fan reaction when they announce the scratches), as is Lauri Korpikoski. Aaron Voros and Dan Fritsche will skate in their places. Unlike just about everybody, I could see getting Voros into the lineup today, although not for Prucha. #25 has done nothing wrong. His line with Dawes and Drury was the best one on Sunday, although that's not saying much. Look for Voros to get into a scrap for sure. We'll likely see Colton Orr and the 'stache George Parros dance as well.

The Ducks have brought their Dads along for the New York trip, which takes them to Hempstead tpk. tomorrow. Maybe they play for them like the Rangers did on Sunday.

Last game before the all-star break. No game until next Tuesday night.

Monday, January 19, 2009

NHL Regulation Standings, thru games of Sunday 1/18

Two points for a win, one for a tie after 60 minutes:





























































































































































































































































































RANK TEAM RW RL O PTS PCT
1 SJS 28 6 10 66 0.750
2 BOS 30 8 7 67 0.744
3 DET 24 8 13 61 0.678
4 CGY 25 14 6 56 0.622
5 CHI 20 10 13 53 0.616
6 WSH 24 14 8 56 0.609
7 MTL 19 11 14 52 0.591
8 PHI 16 12 17 49 0.544
9 NJD 18 15 12 48 0.533
10 PHX 22 19 6 50 0.532
11 FLA 17 16 11 45 0.511
12 EDM 20 19 6 46 0.511
13 BUF 17 17 11 45 0.500
13 NYR 16 16 15 47 0.500
15 ANA 18 19 10 46 0.489
15 VAN 18 19 10 46 0.489
17 MIN 18 19 7 43 0.489
18 CBJ 17 19 9 43 0.478
19 PIT 16 20 11 43 0.457
20 CAR 15 20 11 41 0.446
21 DAL 12 17 14 38 0.442
22 LAK 14 20 10 38 0.432
23 COL 15 22 9 39 0.424
24 NSH 15 22 8 38 0.422
24 TOR 14 21 10 38 0.422
26 OTT 12 21 10 34 0.395
27 TBL 11 21 13 35 0.389
28 STL 11 23 10 32 0.364
29 ATL 12 25 9 33 0.359
30 NYI 8 29 8 24 0.267


The Rangers went 1-1-1 this week, although in fairness to them they should have gone 2-1 had it not been for some atrocious officiating.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Penguins 3, Rangers 0

They had obtained 7 of 8 points on the road trip. It's the last game of the road trip. It's at Pittsburgh. It's on NBC. Predictable. At 2-0, you just shook your head and knew this was another typical lackluster game vs the Penguins on national television. The way the Rangers have been scoring of late, you knew it was also over at that point.

Why is Eric Godard going to fight Colton Orr after it was 2-0? First of all, it's 2-0. Second of all, he's going to get his butt kicked. It makes no sense. Before you start calling him a chicken (OK, he is), he did the right thing.

Was that Dmitri Kalinin with a beautiful hit on Sidney Crosby? I don't care if Eddie O disagreed with it, you gotta love it.

Wade Redden just took back his nice toss-on-net overtime winner the other night by getting absolutely undressed by Crosby, which led to a penalty shot that was way too easy to call given the tagline of this NBC contest.

The Dawes-Drury-Prucha line was the only line that came to play today. Zherdev and Naslund spent the whole game holding onto the puck way too long. See the Dawes shot in the first period- he just threw it on net and rang one off the crossbar. Later in the third there was another chance where Marc-Andre Fleury gave up a huge rebound. Throw the puck on net. Give credit to Fleury, however, for making the saves he had to make. A nice reaction on the tip-in by Drury in the second kept the game from possibly going in the other direction.

I actually agreed with Mike Milbury today.

On a final note, despite the display of the standings shown by the Peacock network at the end of the game, the Penguins are not in the 8th spot in the East. Florida, one point behind, has three games in hand. See the standings on the right-side of the screen for an accurate picture.

Gameday: Rangers at Penguins 12:30pm

Rangers 27-15-4, 58 pts
Penguins 22-20-4, 48 pts

Will he play or not play? NBC is holding its breath. Sid the Kid vs King Henrik! The next thing they need is have Valiquette start instead. That won't be the case, but Sidney Crosby is still questionable in NBC's first indoor telecast of the season.

The Rangers complete their 5-game road trip with, as Mike Emrick will say, "this afternoon's tilt". They have 7 points out of a possible 8 thus far and you could say it has been a successful road trip even if they lose in regulation today. They're playing the Penguins; we won't stand for that.

The Penguins are struggling. They come off a win vs Anaheim the other night, a game in which Crosby did not play, but they have not won two in a row since November 15th. They swapped backup goalies yesterday, acquiring Mathieu Garon from Edmonton for Danny Sabourin. It had to be for his shootout prowess- he's 11-0 in the skills competition since last season. You think they timed the deal for this game, having already lost twice to the Rangers in shootouts this season?

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Rangers 3, Black Hawks 2, OT

This was one of the most frustrating games of the season to watch. Everything that bothers you about the "new NHL" was on full display. Mysterious calls were made, obviously ones were not. The inconsistency is enough to drive the casual fan away from the game. Is this what Gary Bettman wants? This is the fourth year of the new officiating standard. Don't you think the players would get it by now and we would not have a game where 16 minor penalties are called? It's not the players fault- there's something wrong if they can't figure out by now what the refs decide to call.

Anyway, on to the game itself. MSG2 sucks. It was nice to watch a Ranger game in Chicago, something you don't see too often. Chris Drury was great, doing it all on the penalty kill in addition to scoring the two goals. He was begging for the deflection try in OT when Rozsival had the puck and finally got it when Redden let it go.

To allow only one goal in several minutes of 5 on 3, and do most of it with only four defensemen (Staal out for the misconduct, Girardi out with the injury) says it all about the penalty kill effort tonight. It was a two points the Rangers deserved, although Mike Hasenfratz did his best to keep it away from them.

Friday, January 16, 2009

Gamenight: Rangers at Black Hawks 8:30pm

It's a good thing the Winter Classic was not played today. It's a little cold out in Chicago right now, taking the brunt of what's hitting most of the nation.

Lundqvist vs Khabibulin will be the goalie matchup. The Rangers will have the same lineup as they continue to win and shoot for three in a row. The Dads have arrived. Let's hope the results are not the same as last season, when the team went 0-2 with their fathers in attendance.

The Hawks have gone 4-4 after their 10-game winning streak that was snapped at the Winter Classic, going on a lose-two-win-two pattern. They have won two straight, so we would like them to stick with the pattern. No Duncan Keith on defense- he's day to day with a concussion.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

MLB and the Salary Cap

It took this long for some owner to actually realize that MLB might need a salary cap. Most of them are being diplomatic right now when it comes to complaining about teams like the Yankees. Here's what Brewers owner Mark Attanasio said when it came down to that team from the Bronx:

"[The tax] doesn't seem to stop them," Attanasio said on Wednesday. "But I don't blame the Yankees, I blame the system. The Yankees are playing within the rules of the system. This isn't sour grapes. You can't blame the team so you have to change the system. They have a lot of very intelligent business people there. I'm sure they're working within their economics."

Three more years until we have any shot at a change in the system. That's the length remaining on the current labor agreement. Interesting that on the same day mlb.com posted an article about a salary cap, they also posted one about lifers becoming a thing of the past. One of the problems with a salary cap is the inability to retain your own players if you're too close to the cap. This, agreed, is a issue. It's one of the things I don't like about the current NHL salary cap. The cap is good for cost-certainty, but you tell me how the Rangers are going to re-sign some of these homegrown players in a few years with the likes of Drury, Gomez, and Redden all still making top dollar? Add to that the likelihood that the cap will go down.

The solution for MLB is simple (and the NHL for that matter when their next labor agreement is worked out): a soft cap. Or some type of a Larry Bird rule. Find a way to have a system where you have a cap when it comes to signing free agents from other teams but no limit to re-signing homegrown players. It will preserve economic stability and keep fan interest high. Under this type of system we wouldn't have to worry too much about the Yankees signing away Jose Reyes in December 2010 to replace then 36-year-old Derek Jeter, who's contract also happens to expire at the same time. Oh wait, we'll still be under the current agreement at the time. Omar, time to get that extension ready.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Citifield in action

I never thought a video game could get you pumped up for a baseball season, but this one sure can:


Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Rangers 2, Islanders 1

The only thing that was impressive about this game was the first few minutes. The Rangers were totally outplaying the Islanders. Then, an unintended goalie change tilted the ice in the other direction. Tim Jackman was punishing Ranger defensemen left and right. Henrik Lundqvist kept the game at 1-0 Islanders, when it could have easily been more than that.

From the second period on, it was a snoozefest. Yes, the Rangers did get two nice looking goals. First, Chris Campoli blindly chipped one off the boards right to Scott Gomez who fed Chris Drury for the shot that tied the game. Then on the power play Nigel Dawes looked like he was the 6th Ranger skater on the ice as he burst off the bench to create a 2 on 1 and score on a pretty feed from Ryan Callahan. Seriously, who did he come on the ice for? The power play, despite the Dawes goal, looked like it was ranked 27th in the league.

This one was right out of the Tom Renney playbook, a 2-1 victory. Force some turnovers and capitalize on them. MSG displayed the stat that it's been about a month since the Rangers won two straight. How about two and a half months since the last time they did it in regulation?

-This Josh Bailey looks like he's got some talent, but I still would rather have Luke Schenn.
-A Ranger-Islander game without any real scrums?

Lowe, rules, and patches

Derek Lowe has signed with the Braves. That leaves Oliver Perez out there with all the leverage. With the Mets desperate to get either one of Lowe or Perez, Scott Boras can use his tactics to push the Mets for 4+ years on Perez.

Don't budge and go beyond three. This is not a Johan Santana situation. We know what Perez is. If he's willing to accept a three year deal at reportedly what the Mets offered him, I think we can live with it. His performances vs the Yankees, Braves and Phillies proves that much.

There are other pitchers out there. We could settle for Randy Wolf on a smaller deal. Then there's Ben Sheets. With a pitcher of his caliber, it's amazing that there has been no talk about him getting some kind of offer, injury prone or not. The Mets should offer him an incentive-laden one year deal now. There's also Andy Pettitte, who, while not as attractive, is certainly intriguing. Of course, we cannot forget about Pedro as well.

*****

The MLB is having the owners decide on some rule changes in the near future. One of them is having a one game playoff be played at the park of the team that won the season series. What a concept! Maybe some more common sense can prevail and we can see the All-Star game not decide home field advantage. Highly doubtful we'll see that changed anytime soon.

*****

Last, but not least our wonderful Citifield patch. Really, what more can you say? Is it really too much to put the exterior of the rotunda on the damn thing?!

Gamenight: Rangers at Islanders 7pm

Rangers 25-15-4, 54 pts
Islanders 12-26-4, 28 pts

The Rangers come off a win, so there are no changes to lineup. Henrik Lundqvist is expected to start coming off a shutout, Brandon Dubinsky and Lauri Korpikoski scored goals, Petr Prucha is a sparkplug, there are no injuries, and even Dmitri Kalinin has been a plus player in recent games- all is right with the world right now. A win vs. tonight's opponent is a must- and it would be real nice if it's done in regulation time. The Rangers have not won two games in a row without giving the other team a point since October 30th.

The Islanders are an absolute disaster. Mr. Wang, how's that 15-year contract to Rick DiPietro looking right about now? Just when he started to get some game action his knees swelled up on him. I don't know what's worse, being an Islander fan or a Knick fan. Did you see this story? The crown jewel of the Isiah Thomas era. Anyway, the Isles have lost 4 in row, all happening on their just-completed western swing. Anything less than a win for the Rangers would be pretty bad.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Six inning game

Picture it. September pennant race. John Maine having already thrown 113 pitches after six, giving up two-strike foul ball after two-strike foul ball.

Enter Sandman.

Lost in the acquisition of JJ and K-Rod is the fact that Billy Wagner is still under contract with the Mets. With that comes news that he is doing well in his rehab and is looking at a possible return in August.

However, let's be realistic folks. He turns 38 in July and is coming off major surgery. It will be something just to see him in a Met uniform this season let alone become a key late-season pickup for the bullpen. The Mets owe him $10.5 million this season, money that could have been useful in picking up some pieces that would be ready for spring training.

Speaking of an annual salary in that range, SI.com’s Jon Heyman reported on MLB Network's Hot Stove show that the Mets have offered Oliver Perez a three year deal worth close to $30 million. It will be interesting to see the counter-offer from Scott Boras given the fact that there has hardly been any news linking Perez to other teams.

NHL Regulation Standings

thru games of Sunday 1/11- two points for regulation win, one for a tie




























































































































































































































































































RANK TEAM RW RL O PTS PCT
1 SJS 26 5 10 62 0.756
2 BOS 28 7 7 63 0.750
3 DET 22 7 12 56 0.683
4 CGY 23 12 6 52 0.634
5 CHI 19 10 11 49 0.613
6 WSH 22 13 8 52 0.605
7 MTL 18 10 13 49 0.598
8 PHI 16 10 16 48 0.571
9 PHX 20 17 6 46 0.535
10 VAN 18 17 9 45 0.511
11 ANA 17 17 10 44 0.500
11 BUF 16 16 10 42 0.500
11 FLA 16 16 10 42 0.500
11 NJD 15 15 12 42 0.500
11 NYR 15 15 14 44 0.500
16 EDM 17 18 6 40 0.488
17 CAR 15 17 11 41 0.477
18 CBJ 16 18 8 40 0.476
19 MIN 16 18 7 39 0.476
20 LAK 14 18 9 37 0.451
21 COL 14 19 9 37 0.440
22 DAL 12 17 11 35 0.438
23 PIT 13 19 11 37 0.430
24 NSH 14 20 8 36 0.429
25 TOR 13 20 9 35 0.417
26 TBL 9 19 13 31 0.378
27 OTT 10 21 9 29 0.363
28 STL 10 22 9 29 0.354
29 ATL 11 24 8 30 0.349
30 NYI 8 26 8 24 0.286


The Rangers continue to play .500 hockey in the first 60 minutes. The Islanders are awful in the actual standings and here it is no different- dead last, well on their way for a shot at John Tavares or Victor Hedman. They will probably trade down for the 3rd pick anyway.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

The Flushing Landscape

It's starting to hit home. We've seen all interior photos. The stripped seats, the scoreboard coming down, the field level boxes obliterated. All that doesn't quite get to you until you see the exterior changing. Stadium Page has some photos of Shea over the weekend. The upper deck in left field is gone. It's noticeable driving on the Grand Central or Van Wyck (although if behind the wheel, please try to not spend too much time staring). The sooner we can get going attending games in Citifield, the less painful it will be to see our big blue toilet bowl come crashing down.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Rangers 2, Senators 0

Welcome back to the goal scoring club Brandon Dubinsky and Lauri Korpikoski. Both snap long droughts. Enough with the monkey/piano off the back jokes already. All that was missing was a goal by Nik Zherdev. He was excellent tonight, although he'll make you dizzy at times circling in his own end.

Thank you Filip Kuba for the tip in the neutral zone to spring Petr Prucha on the breakaway. Too bad Petr did not score. He was typical Prucha earlier on the Rangers first goal, making things happen with his rear on the ice. How could he have been a healthy scratch for as long as he was?

Shame on Chris Neil, who's willing to pick a fight with Marc Staal, but when challenged by Colton Orr he shies away. The same guy who back in the first period shoots the puck into the protective netting above the rink and thinks he scored.

We interrupt this hockey report, as this is a Rangers and Mets blog after all: a game I did not expect to ever see again was airing as I was flipping channels during the first intermission- Game 7 2006 NLCS. We knew this would never air as a Mets classic on SNY, but then the MLB network came along. Wow, Aaron Heilman looked good in that 8th inning before giving up that homer in the 9th. Anyway...

That Ottawa Senators team is in shambles. It looks like they are tanking to get John Tavares in June.

Henrik Lundqvist made the saves he had to make and did not have to be spectacular. Let's hope his next game does not turn out to be like the game after his last shutout.

Next up, another Eastern cellar-dweller, that team from Nassau county.

In other news, Brendan Shanahan has agreed to a deal with the Devils. Good for him- unfortunately you kind of knew if it was not going to be the Rangers, it was going to be a rival team as he wanted to stay close to the city.

Gamenight: Rangers at Senators 7pm

Rangers 24-15-4, 52 pts
Senators 13-20-6, 32 pts

With Michal Rozsival's status still up in the air and the Rangers continuing to carry only six defensemen, Bobby Sanguinetti has been called up and could make his NHL debut tonight. Right now it's just a precaution. Either Corey Potter's play has fallen off of late or they are just giving him break from stressful last minute traveling, especially considering it's not a given that Rozsival is out. Sanguinetti has played well lately down in Hartford. If he does play tonight, it will be interesting to see if he gets some power play time.

Brian Elliot has been called up by the Senators and will get the start tonight, his second of his career. Alex Auld is the backup, which leaves Martin Gerber up in the press box. Some signing that was- being named the starting goalie each season first he loses his job to Ray Emery two seasons ago, he loses it again last season, and one more time this season to Auld, then bottoming out by falling to third string- for now.

Jarkko Ruutu is serving the second of his two game suspension for biting. Now maybe the Rangers have a shot. The guy singlehandedly beat them last time they were in Ottawa.

Friday, January 9, 2009

Sabres 2, Rangers 1, shootout

The Rangers established a good forecheck right from the start, with a great effort by Colton Orr assisting in the Paul Mara goal to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead. This game looked like the opening pair of games in Prague.

John Giannone asks Marc Staal during the first intermission if Staal will ask Brandon Dubinsky for any advice on how to handle high offense of the Young Stars game. Staal was gracious enough not to say, “uh, I played in the game last year.”

This was a fun game to watch for 36 minutes. The Rangers dominated. The problem was the score was only 1-0. A mistake by Nigel Dawes electing to go with a cross ice pass for Chris Drury instead of a chip up the boards for Petr Prucha. Turnover, the Sabres score, the game is tied, and what do you know, the momentum shifts.

In the third period with the door open to the Buffalo bench on a line change, Michal Rozsival goes face-first into the edge of the boards off a hit by Paul Gaustad. Ouch. He was treated with stitches and was said to be okay, so he should be back tomorrow.

Who told Sam Rosen to say “sudden victory for the winner, sudden death for the loser” at the start of every overtime? I could be wrong, but it seems like he started doing this in November and has not missed saying it in an overtime since. I think those watching on the MSG Network are knowledgeable enough to know the rules of extra frame.

After giving up that first goal, Ryan Miller gloved everything. You would think Scott Gomez would notice on his third chance in a one minute span in the third. I think the Rangers realized this in deciding to deke every attempt in the shootout later.

As for the rules of the shootout, how about we just have the home team shoot first all the time? I’m tired of hearing “the has elected to shoot first.” Also, I know the visiting team always belongs above the home team when the score is displayed, but I don’t think you’ll confuse any viewers if you show the team that shoots first on top when displaying the shootout linescore during the skills competition.

If this team makes the playoffs, we’re bound to be treated to some thrilling overtimes.