|
|
By Zach Schiff  November 4, 2009, at 12:21 pm  The last two times that the Edmonton Oilers faced the Rangers, the Rangers lost in a shootout. Last time, they fired 42 shots on net and scored on only 2 – on a backup goaltender. Ah, the Tom Renney era…
Well, tomorrow, the Rangers meet Tom Renney again, and while not many current players were there for a lot of his reign (Henrik Lundqvist and Michal Rozsival were the only ones there from his first full season in 2005-06), it should be an emotional night for him. Imagine if the game were at Madison Square Garden?
 While I rip on Renney a lot here, I do think he was a very good coach, and I’m sure he will be sometime soon. There are a few coaches who will “always be a Ranger,” no matter where they wind up coaching or working. Mike Keenan, though he only had 1 season, is one of them. Renney is another.
No coach could have done what he did after the lockout. He took a team destined to fail -at least according to the experts – and brought them into the playoffs, one point away from winning the division. He got 123 points out of Jaromir Jagr – a man who would have refused to return to the NHL if he wasn’t playing for Renney in New York, he once said. He turned a team of veterans – Rucchin, Jagr, Straka, Rucinsky, Kasparaitis, Nylander – and young no-names – Jay Ward, Ortmeyer, Dom Moore, Hollweg, Orr, Prucha, Betts – into a contender.
I still say that if not for the Olympics, the Rangers could have gone far that year. Jagr and Lundqvist came back injured – Jagr with hip and groin problems, Hank with headaches from grinding his teeth. And then there was Sandis Ozolinsh, who seemed like a good trade at first until he came apart in the Devils’ series and cost the team 2 games.
Still, Renney was a huge part of the rebuilding process. While they rebuilt, he brought them into the playoffs. He just wasn’t a good fit for the team last year and going forward. His style had stopped working, and he continued to play people based on their paychecks rather than skill (see: Wade Redden on the power play while Petr Prucha sat in street clothes).
For all the good he did, he will be remembered for 2 things: being fired when the team couldn’t score and for Game 5 in Buffalo, where Fedor Tyutin and rookie Dan Girardi were on the ice with 30 seconds left with a 1-0 lead. When they iced the puck, Tyutin and Girardi had to stay on, they couldn’t clear the puck, and Chris Drury scored.
Besides that being the one game that still upsets my stomach (and the only time I ever lost sleep over a sports event), you know that if they won that game and went up 3-2 in the series, they would not have lost Game 6 at MSG. I’m not saying they would have won the Stanley Cup – hell, they might not even have beaten Ottawa in the Conference Finals – but they would have beaten Buffalo. And maybe Chris Drury never would’ve been signed the following summer, and maybe everything would’ve been different.
But this is how it’s played out, and I wish Tom Renney the best in Edmonton – no matter how often I make fun of his healthy scratches or his power play.
By Zach Schiff August 4, 2009, at 12:33 pm After Nik Zherdev was awarded a $3.9M, one-year contract by an arbitrator, Glen Sather had this to say.
“[He] will score as many goals in 2009-10 in a Rangers uniform as he did in April of 2009 in a Rangers uniform. None.”
Okay, that is a fake quote. I admit it. But, true, no?
Imagine Zherdev’s last goal as a Ranger wasn’t in a late-March shootout loss to an atrocious Atlanta team. Imagine he scored in the stretch-drive to the playoffs. Imagine he at least registered an assist in 7 playoff games. What if he scored when Game 7 was tied 1-1? What if he popped one in with 6 minutes left in the 3rd period in that game, changing the outcome, and the Rangers went on the play the Bruins in Round 2?
I assume if any of those happened, Sather would’ve atleast given his award a 2nd thought. We can assume that once the award went above, say, $3.5M, Zherdev was history.
All those sites saying “sign & trade” since even before the arbitration hearing? Maybe it was a thought, but it was never feasible. Why would a team, any team, do that, when they can have him for just money a day or two later? Maybe so a different team won’t sign him. But I can only see that if this is a Joe Sakic, a Jay Bouwmeester, even a Ryan Callahan. But is any team really that desperate for a sometimes-there-sometimes-not winger who scored 58 points last season?
In all honesty, all Zherdev is is a highly-touted winger from Russia who plays great 20 games out of the year. He has never scored more than 61 points in a season, and 58 represents his second best season ever.
For the record, I completely loved the deal when he came from Columbus. Fedor Tyutin was serviceable but never would live up to his potential. Christian Backman was a bum who I would’ve been happy if he was given away to a team. So you were saying we got rid of those 2 and got Dan Fritsche and Zherdev? Great.
However, he lost me down the stretch. No points in 7 playoff games, and he wants a raise? Get real. Maybe in non-Salary Cap world, but when better talent is available for cheaper or equal value, Zherdev is entirely expendable. Why waste almost $4M on him when you need someone to pass the puck to Marian Gaborik?
Sather is completely correct in walking away from this contract. Any other GM might be nuts to sign him for so much when he has shown so little. I mean, if Sather thought it was too high… after all, this is the man who thought a 31-year old Wade Redden was worthy of not only $6.5M/year, but a 6-year contract.
Update: 4:52 P.M.: Just my two cents on where I think Zherdev will land, if he does play in the NHL. I’d expect him to go to one of the 4 crappy Southern teams on a one-year deal: Atlanta, Phoenix, Tampa Bay, or Florida.
By Zach Schiff June 14, 2009, at 1:51 am Very happy for Petr Sykora and I loved seeing him lift the Stanley Cup, although I’m pretty sure he cursed very loudly on TV last night. (Thought he said “F***in’ right!” as he lifted it.)
People are villifying Marian Hossa, but for no reason. He did the noble thing, it just didn’t work out for him. He could’ve taken somewhere around $80M from Edmonton to play there for a few years, but he took a cut to play in Detroit. Granted, $7.4M is still a nice chunk of coin, but at least he wants a Cup. What’s next for him, back to the Penguins? Head over to San Jose? Stick with Detroit? I doubt that one, because they have a bunch of players to re-sign as well.
Besides Petr Sykora, the one guy on the Penguins I really love is Max Talbot. Not only does he rock awesome facial hair (he used to have a huge mustache), but he is the nicest guy. Of all the NHL players I’ve met/seen, him and Martin Biron are the most genuine and the nicest. He signs everything, he gives pucks to all the kids in the crowd. Good guy, always smiling. And now, he goes down in history as scoring 2 goals in a Game 7, much like his teammate Ruslan Fedotenko did in 2004 in a 2-1 win after trailing in the series 3-2. (One difference, Tampa Bay was at home, not in Calgary for that Game 7.)
No, I’m not ashamed to have rooted for the Penguins to win last night. I was much happier seeing them win than I would’ve been had the same team as last year won.
Saw this phrase written somewhere, and I found a picture of the two of them together, so, here it is.
Two Girls, One Cup
By Zach Schiff June 12, 2009, at 12:59 am An update on the playoff bet: If the Penguins win tomorrow, I will have ended with 12 points, ahead of Bryan’s 10. If Detroit wins, I will end with 10, and he with 8. (We both thought Pittsburgh would do it in 6 games.)
Regardless, I am crowned Playoff Prediction Champion. A glamorous title, indeed. However, unlike Miss California, I will not be fired and I will not tell you my views on gay marriage. I will tell you, however, that I thought a movie on gay marriage, I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry, was awful and predictable, and I wish it wasn’t made.
Anyway, as per terms of the bet, Bryan owes $100. Originally, I wanted the money to be given to the Garden of Dreams, since this is a hockey site, after all.
I have since changed my mind. Let James Dolan donate to the Garden of Dreams.
Bryan, please make your echeck payable to Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, a group out in Utah that houses 2,000 homeless dogs, cats, horses, pigs, burrows, rabbits, etc. They also work with animal shelters all across the country and they helped rescue stray dogs on the streets of New Orleans after Hurricanes Katrina and Gustav.
In the spirit of gamesmanship, I will be matching your gift with a donation to the Freeport Animal Shelter (in particular, my favorite dog there, Cinderella), in Freeport, Long Island, which just received 17 dogs from Hurricane Gustav that were going to be euthanised in shelters down south to make room for new lost dogs this hurricane season.
Ah, now only if Wade Redden could give away 90% of the $6.5M my season tickets go towards. I wouldn’t feel so angry about him eating up that much Cap room if he gave the animals all of his money.
Enjoy your Game 7 tomorrow. For a while there, we had a string of Game 7’s. There were 4 of 5 since 2001 until the past 2 years. Always exciting knowing the Stanley Cup will be awarded but not knowing to whom. (Am I grammatically correct there?)
|
|
While I rip on Renney a lot here, I do think he was a very good coach, and I’m sure he will be sometime soon. There are a few coaches who will “always be a Ranger,” no matter where they wind up coaching or working. Mike Keenan, though he only had 1 season, is one of them. Renney is another.
Tags: 
