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By Zach Schiff  February 1, 2010, at 12:32 am  You know who was good? Olli Jokinen from 2005 through 2007.
You know who isn’t that good anymore? Olli Jokinen.
Of course, if the rumors are true, and Olli Jokinen is about to be a Ranger (along with Brandon Prust for Chris Higgins and Ales Kotalik), then he becomes the 3rd highest-scoring Ranger, behind Marian Gaborik and Vaclav Prospal.
And yes, he is a 1st-line center who can play with Prospal at left wing and Gaborik at right wing.
But the big thing is that Kotalik is making $3M for not only this year but the next 2 seasons as well. Jokinen’s cap hit is $5.25M, and he is an unrestricted free agent this summer. So the Rangers effectively clear $3M off the books for the next two seasons.
(Higgins is making $2.25M this year, but that’s unrelated because he’d be a UFA after this season, and the Rangers probably weren’t inviting him back for another campaign. The only thing that his salary has to do with this is that it’s an even exchange, just over $5M for just over $5M. Prust is making $500,000 only.)
Maybe Jokinen isn’t as good as his two seasons when he averaged over a point per game, but to add more offense this year while clearing $3M for the next two years is a good move.
Keep in mind that this doesn’t address the real problems of the Rangers cap issues – that would involve moving any combination of Wade Redden, Chris Drury, and Michal Rozsival. But the moves are going to have to be made before the Olympic break because there is only 1 game before the March 3 trade deadline.
By Zach Schiff November 12, 2009, at 11:49 pm I recently got a new job.
In my previous employment, I would often work at 5:00 at night, waking up sometime around 11 in the morning. Sometimes, I would go to bed at 2 a.m. then wake up at 11:30, sleeping over 9 hours.
I would actually be more tired when I woke up then when I went to sleep. I would feel… groggy. Sometimes, I would work better on short rest (say, 4 a.m. – 10 a.m.) than an entire night’s rest.
I think that’s what happened to the Rangers tonight. They played Calgary on short rest, and played well. They just couldn’t beat that hot goalie.
Tonight, they had too much rest. Imagine if I slept all of Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday? I would’ve been lost on Thursday.
I probably would’ve given up a goal 19 seconds into the game. I probably would’ve taken a penalty a minute later. I probably would’ve shown up only for the last 15 minutes of the 3rd period. I probably would’ve taken lazy, offensive-zone penalties. I probably would’ve relied on my incredible goaltender to save our hides against a weaker team. I would’ve let a player playing for the first time in 3 weeks get a goal and 2 assists.
I also probably would’ve put an APB out on Sean Avery. Has anyone seen him? A healthy Sean Avery without the edge is just like any other player. I miss having an abrasive forward who turns games in our favor. Has he impacted any game except the Toronto game at MSG where he scored two goals? Has he been himself? Knee injury? A fear of taking penalties? Something’s up, and it’s not helping the Rangers.
I probably would’ve cut this short, too.
By Zach Schiff November 4, 2009, at 11:39 am Ah, the dreaded Western Canadian Road Trip. Remember last time, in January of 2008 when they got 1 points in 3 games?
They ran into a red-hot Calgary team featuring Kristian Huselius, who had 4 points in the 4-3 game, including a goal from behind the goal-line that somehow sneaked past Henrik Lundqvist.
Steve Valiquette had no offense in a 3-0 loss to Vancouver.
And if not for Chris Drury scoring with 7 seconds left to force overtime, they would’ve left with 0 points instead of 1 (Edmonton was monstrous in the shootout in ‘07-’08, partially because then-rookie Sam Gagner was unstoppable in the tiebreaker).
Last night against Vancouver felt like that trip all over again. The Rangers applied little pressure, even in the 2nd period when the shot-counter went in their favor. Sure, they fired 14 shots in that frame, but how many were legitimate scoring chances? Two? Maybe just one?
They ought to have pounced on Vancouver, especially in the 3rd. They had, what, 4 power plays in a row, including a double-minor to end the 2nd period? And they couldn’t do anything with it. Vancouver was shorthanded for 8 minutes, had good players in the penalty box, had Henrik Sedin and Willie Mitchell playing at 40% because of injuries, and still, no good opportunities. Other than Chris Higgins, who worked hard for Goal #1, there were a handful of Rangers who actually showed up. Matt Gilroy was one of them; he looked fantastic. Mike Del Zotto wasn’t a standout but played good. Ryan Callahan played hard, again, and couldn’t score, again. And Brandon Dubinsky… is on the trading block?
You would have thought that the big brawl would have fired them up, but it really just jazzed up the Canucks as it seemed the Rangers were content bringing the game to overtime and settling for a point – or a shootout.
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I love that Dane Byers is in the lineup. As opposed to Evgeny Grachev or Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau, Byers is never going to light it up in the NHL, so he doesn’t need to “dominate the minors before becoming an NHLer,” and the old “it’s better to play 20 minutes a night in the AHL than 7 minutes in the NHL” adage doesn’t apply to him.
I would rather have Byers in the lineup over Donald Brashear any night. Maybe Brashear of 2003 or 2006, but not the 2009 version, where he is slow, shows the same hockey sense as Colton Orr, and doesn’t fight – and when he does, he loses. Byers showed fire last night. Sure, he didn’t win the fight, but he was out there battling, starting stuff, and showing that he belongs in the NHL. Even John Tortorella gave him a “good game” en route to the locker room – although Tortorella’s good game pat fell in an awkward spot.
By Bryan Berg September 18, 2009, at 12:32 pm 
For the past twelve or so hours, the Internet has been on fire with people talking about the Dion Phaneuf hit on Kyle Okposo. As we all know, Okposo was stretchered off the ice last night; he was later diagnosed with a mild concussion and was cleared to travel home with the team. Botta put it best – Islanders fans will see this as a dirty hit, while Flames fans will see it as a clean hit.
There’s no sense in pointing fingers. What happened last night is over. Phaneuf won’t dress Saturday, there will be a ton of fights between fringe players, and nothing will be solved. The fact remains that Kyle Okposo is still injured and the Islanders now have to live without the services of their best forward.
We can argue forever about whose fault it was (nobody’s), whether the hit was clean (it was), whether this kind of hit has any place in the pre-season (again, clean hit), or any of the other things that people are worrying about. Instead, let’s look at the two facts we can draw from this.
- We have to worry about Kyle Okposo suffering from more concussions. After you have your first concussion, you’re that much more likely to suffer from another one.
- After the hit, Okposo’s teammates went out of their way to stand up for their fallen comrade.
As scary of a thought as the first point is, the second is far more significant. Think back to the night Mike Mottau shredded Frans Nielsen’s knee. After Trent Hunter fought Mottau, nobody went after Mottau that night, nor did they do so in any of the other four times the Islanders and Devils played. Howie Rose must have mentioned it a million times down the stretch. Nobody cared. Compare that to what you saw last night. The Islanders tried to engage Phaneuf multiple times. Even though Phaneuf wouldn’t take the bait – he sent in his underlings to fight those battles – it says a lot that the Islanders, even those with no chance of making the team, would try to take care of business. It shows how important Kyle Okposo is to the team and it shows how much these players truly care for one another. Most of all, it shows the progress made since last November.
All in all, it’s a horrible situation, but at least Okposo is relatively okay. There’s no need to dwell on it or demand revenge on March 25, 2010, which is when the Flames head to the Nassau Coliseum. And hey, we got visual proof that we have a true team this year. That’s a good sign.
One last point about the hit. A few people have compared this hit to the one Doug Weight laid on Brandon Sutter last year – you know, the one that had Brent Sutter apoplectic and demanding Weight’s banishment from the NHL. OK, he didn’t really go that far, but he wasn’t happy. Last night, when it was Okposo getting laid out, the elder Sutter was again involved, this time as the Flames’ coach. Sutter’s take?
“That’s part of Dion’s game. When he sees that open ice, Dion has to use it. It’s one part of his game that makes him a unique player,” said Sutter. “You never like to see anybody get hurt obviously, and it’s too bad that happened, and hopefully we’ve been told, he’s going to be okay. But Dion still can’t pass up that hit”.
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