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By Zach Schiff  October 28, 2009, at 11:02 pm  The Rangers played tonight like they played all of last season – tentative, over-thinking hockey. While they had over 30 shots, most of them were bad-angle shots like Chris Drury, Markus Naslund, and Scott Gomez did over 89 games last season.
While I’m all for getting the puck to the net to see what happens (you never know how it will get deflected or where the rebound will land), these soft shots from the boards at awful angles are going to be scooped up by the goalie or easily cleared by a defender.
Nearly everyone tonight passed up shots, most notably Michal Rozsival and yes, Michael Del Zotto. Get the puck to the net! See what happens!
Marc Staal and Dan Girardi played well tonight, regardless of their accountability on the 2nd goal. They were physical and cleared the crease for Henrik Lunqvist a bunch of times. Staal hits nearly everybody who gets near Lundqvist, and Girardi has started to protect him after the whistle, getting between him and an opposition forward who is still skating towards Hank.
Lundqvist had a good game tonight, and for the Rangers to be competitive, he had to have had a good one. Without Marian Gaborik out there, the Rangers often looked lost. With Gaborik, it would’ve been a whole different story. That 0-for-3 on the power play probably would have changed, and there were a lot of times where you could tell Vinny Prospal needed him out there but had Enver Lisin or P.A. Parenteau on his wing instead. Not that they are bad players – not at all. But there is a world of difference between them and Gaborik, and that was evident in the 3-1 final tonight. (This is not meant as disrespect to Lisin or Parenteau; in fact, Parenteau had a very good game, especially for an NHL debut, and I would love to see him on the ice instead of Voros or Brashear in every single game not against the Flyers, Ducks, or Maple Leafs this season.)
Just look at who replaced Gaborik on the power play to see why they didn’t score on it. Rozsival played the point for an entire 2-minute power play in the 2nd period, and he was just as ineffectual as last year during those 2 minutes.
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You can fault Madison Square Garden all you want for being expensive, but a 22 ounce beer there is $9, and that comes in a mug you can keep and with a pretzel. A 16 ounce plastic Bud Light at the Coliseum? $8.50. That’s crazy! I know you have to fund Rick DiPietro’s salary somehow or another, but that’s ridiculous. I’ll stick with my overpriced, oversyruped Diet Coke.
Even my pretzel twist was poor tonight. It tasted like hot, salty dough. And the gridlock in those narrow Coliseum hallways must be what Hempstead Turnpike and the Meadowbrook Parkway are going to be if the Lighthouse ever gets built.
By Zach Schiff October 5, 2009, at 11:59 pm Here are 4 reasons I don’t like when Ranger games are on Versus:
1) Doc Emerick annoys me. Not just his homer-ism for the Devils – I understand that, and he leaves a lot of it behind when the game is on national TV – but the way he talks, his phrasing, his know-it-all attitude. I know a ton of you will disagree with me, but it’s one reason I don’t like watching Versus games.
2) It’s one big advertisement. I didn’t notice it as much tonight, but last year, it seemed like every 10 seconds I was being force-fed a Bud Light or rodeo commercial.
3) My DirecTV doesn’t carry Versus anymore, so I have to find watch the game elsewhere.
4) It’s one big power play. It always seems that every game on Versus has more penalties called than regular games that are only on local TV. I would imagine that the referees are conditioned to call more penalties than normal for these games so that “fringe fans” can see more power plays and goals, but it really screws over the real fans who are only watching Versus because MSG or MSG+ doesn’t show the game. They make those phantom calls all game long, much like when a team is playing the Penguins.
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- I saw someone speed down the ice to make a defense play. As I tried to see the number on the back of the jersey, my mind only had 3 names in mind: Callahan, Dubinsky, or Lisin. magine my surprise tonight when the number read “22″ and the name on the jersey was “Boyle.” It’s looking like Aaron Voros will be the odd man out when Sean Avery returns.
- Speaking of Brandon Dubinsky, he looks like a beast out there. Besides his scoring, his skating looks excellent and he’s stronger on the puck this season than last. However, don’t get too excited. Remember how awesome he was last year in the beginning? He had 12 points in 13 games in October ‘08 before dropping off the planet. That probably won’t happen as dramatically this year, but it’s still something to think about.
- I wanted Alexei Semenov to be a Ranger this year, and I felt bad that he wanted to be a Ranger, Glen Sather wanted him to, and John Tortorella wanted him to, but his wife nixed it. However, I don’t think that a 7th defenseman is entirely necessary right now. Matt Gilroy has been playing great and scored his first goal tonight; Marc Staal and Dan Girardi aren’t lighting it up, but they haven’t been messing up; and Mike Del Zotto has looked great. He scored the past 2 games, and he had two open nets in the Penguins game where he just couldn’t get his stick on the puck. Plus, he’s manning the point on the power play pretty well considering he’s a 19 year old who was thrown into the fire.
- What happens if and when the Rangers do find a 7th defenseman? One would hope that Wade Redden or Michal Rozsival would take a seat, but would Sather let Tortorella do that? One of Tom Renney’s big mistakes was not only never sitting either of them, but relying on them for the power play. Tortorella isn’t relying on them, per se, but he is using them on the 2nd unit, which is a huge mistake. I know he said he didn’t watch many Ranger games before he took over last year, but didn’t he hear about why Renney got fired?
By Zach Schiff September 19, 2009, at 3:15 pm I’m back from Las Vegas (mid-September and still 100 degrees!) and I received a 2-for-1 in the week I was gone. Not only was Dany Heatley traded, but Phil Kessel was as well, leaving September only for training camp, and no drama.
I’m just brainstorming, but let’s say for argument’s sake, the 6 defensemen who make the Rangers roster for opening night are: Michal Rozsival, Wade Redden, Dan Girardi, Marc Staal, Mike del Zotto, and Matt Gilroy. Not a huge stretch, right? Sure, you could possibly sub Bobby Sanguinetti in for del Zotto, but that has no effect on my point today.
The newspaper today said that Rozsival and Redden would be top pairing, like they were together for most of last season. My question is: Why?
Now, it’s well-documented that I am against having Redden and Rozsival on the team simply because this is a Salary Cap Era. If there was no Cap, then having a waste of space like Wade Redden on the team would simply be par for the course. They’d demote him to 3rd-line pairing or send him to Hartford, and spend big money on someone better than him.
Of course, since his $6.5M/year is looming large for the next 5 years, he has no choice but to play. And of course, it ultimately cost Tom Renney his job, as Renney’s over-reliance on him led to his downfall.
Same for Rozsival. While I may personally like Rozsival and think he is a decent defenseman, he in no way warrants $5M/year, Salary Cap Era or not.
So why pair them together? They were horrendous separately and together last year. Plus, by doing that, you are putting 2 pairs of “kids” on the blueline.
Girardi and Staal should be a tandem. They were last year often, they play well together, one is a lefty, one is a righty. Both broke into the league near the same time and both a re equally as good as the other.
So that leaves Del Zotto and Gilroy, two rookies together, no?
I say John Tortorella should put Gilroy with either Redden or Rozsival, and Del Zotto with the other one. That way the future top-pairing could learn from the veterans, who could (hopefully) cover the mistakes the rookies make.
Couldn’t hurt, right?
My ideal pairings…
Redden – Gilroy (Redden is a left-handed shot, Gilroy a right-handed shot)
Staal – Girardi (Staal, lefty; Girardi, righty)
Del Zotto – Rozsival (Del Zotto, lefty; Rozsival, righty)
I mean, it’s not like Redden and Rozsival were so dominant last season that breaking them up would be disastrous. They aren’t MacInnis-Suter, Leetch-Beukeboom, or Stevens-Neidermayer. Hell, they aren’t even Staal-Girardi. They’re one step better than the pre-lockout pairing of Vladimir Malakhov and Boris Mironov.
It worked 2 years ago when Staal paired with Paul Mara. Why not let the rookies learn from the veterans? At the very least, they could learn what not to do.
By Zach Schiff September 8, 2009, at 12:46 am 
For next season, which begins October 2nd in Pittsburgh, the Rangers currently have 4 defenseman with “guaranteed” spots. I put that in quotes because you never know who might get traded – let’s hope – or injured – let’s hope not – before then.
We have: Wade Redden, Marc Staal, Dan Girardi, and Michal Rozsival.
Matt Gilroy is probably going to play in the NHL also. Everyone is very impressed by him, and you don’t pay $1.75M/year to keep a player in the minor leagues.
So that leaves one spot. Corey Potter? Mike Sauer? Possible on both fronts, but more likely they will be in Hartford until their contracts end out, then bounce around the AHL (with some rare NHL appearances). Their career-paths will probably look more like Bryce Lampman’s and Lawrence Nycholat’s than Brian Leetch’s.
I figure it comes down to two players. Granted, I don’t know a ton. I don’t go to training camp, I don’t travel to Traverse City. I just read about the Rangers online, a lot, and I know a certain bit about the NHL from watching it for years.
Those two players: 2006 1st round draft pick (21st overall) Bobby Sanguinetti and 2008 1st round draft pick (20th overall) Mike Del Zotto.
And the early edge goes to Del Zotto. He looks real sharp from all accounts in nearly every aspect, and a lot of people think he can push for a spot. Even if he is bound for the OHL this year (he is too young to play in the AHL), the Rangers can still have him in the NHL for 10 games before they decide to send him there. That’s good experience as a 7th d-man, and a great chance to make the Rangers think they should keep him up here – much like Josh Bailey and the Islanders last season.
So where does that leave Sanguinetti? This kid grew up in Trenton, NJ, and was a Rangers fan even when the Devils were winning Stanley Cups when he was 7, 12, and 15. He had a great 2007-08 season in Brampton (OHL) and didn’t play particularly bad last year in Hartford, either.
But is he improving? Has Del Zotto out-performed him? And this is the year that Sanguinetti’s contract is up. Sure, he’ll only be a restricted free agent and he is still only 21, but Del Zotto is two years younger and seems to have surpassed him.
This isn’t an attack on Sanguinetti at all. It just seems that there aren’t very many roster spots available for the taking – 2, possibly, but probably only 1 – due to a few heavy-handed contracts (as well as the fact that you need veterans on the blueline). Maybe if Gilroy wasn’t signed last year, or maybe if Del Zotto didn’t emerge, Sanguinetti would be the 6th.
What are the options? No doubt they’ll keep him around in Hartford if he doesn’t make the team, but he could be Al Montoya-ed during the trade deadline to get a real nice veteran for a playoff run.
At any rate, Del Zotto vs. Sanguinetti should be one of the best “fights” at training camp. I’m looking forward to it, and I hope both show incredible talent.
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Oh, and if anyone wants half-priced tickets to the Rangers/Bruins pre-season game on Tuesday, September 15, please let me know. I’ll be in Las Vegas (lobbying for an NHL team there) and can’t make it. Each seat is $60 and I’ll sell the pair for $60. Email: arson83@aim.com
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