Kotalik was strange for the Rangers. Brought in as a powerplay specialist, he became such a defensive liability, he found himself a consistent scratch, despite a booming shot. Also, presumably brought in because of his success on a line with Chris Drury in Buffalo, the two didn’t spend much time playing together.

So the Rangers unload a healthy scratch who takes up $3 million over three years.

Higgins also underperformed. Rangers coach John Tortorella went above and beyond in trying to get him going, giving him plenty of ice time and chances, but Higgins has seemed snake-bitten, hitting posts and missing open nets. The Long Island native might have been under too much pressure playing for the Rangers. A change of scenery to Calgary will do him wonders.

The Flames unload Jokinen, whose reputation as a horrible teammate proceeds him. The Flames knew they weren’t going to re-sign him, so they figured they’d get something now. It’s just weird that the something they wanted would be two players not living up to their potential.

Prust is an enforcer who might let the Rangers buyout the struggling Donald Brashear, who lately only seems to be enforcing the Rangers contractual obligation to pay him more than he’s worth. Also, Rangers GM Glen Sather likes to have as many third/fourth liners as he can.

It’ll be interesting to see where the Rangers place Jokinen. My guess is he won’t play with Marian Gaborik most of the time, in an attempt to give the Rangers the illusion of depth and scoring.

So the Rangers dump some dead weight and get back a difficult personality they won’t have to deal with for long. The Flames dump that same personality and get back some players the seem to think they can get going.

It’s a lot of bad pieces moving around, but at least the bad pieces are evenly spread.

Related posts:

1. Rangers and Caps: No Trade!; Forsberg Staying?
2. NHL GMs Play It Safe For Once in Their Lives
3. Tortorella Fixes Rangers for One Night

The book is famous because it was the first one to destroy the mystique of the professional athlete. We learned guys like to drink and curse and look at women.

The book is also interesting because it takes place before baseball players won a lot of their contractual victories, so a good portion of the players in the book are constantly playing for their next contract every year. It provides a tremendous incentive for them to perform well each year, too.

I say that because last night in Raleigh, New York Rangers coach John Tortorella took Erik Christensen, picked off of waivers from Anaheim, played sparingly in New York, and without a point on the season, and put him on the Rangers top line between Marian Gaborik and Brandon Dubinsky.

Christensen played 20 minutes, pretty much what he had played the previous two games combined, and finished with a goal and an assist.

Between periods, he told MSG his agent had told him guys like him are always playing for their next contract, so he knew he had to take advantage of this opportunity.

Now we don’t know how Christensen will finish the season. And for some reason, I doubt he’s the second coming of Joe Sakic. But it did make me think about the value of short-term contracts and how they keep players sharp and desperate. The Rangers recent struggles can pretty much be tied to a distinct lack of players who are neither sharp nor desperate.

There’s value to longer-term contracts, and if you look at the NHL point leaders you’ll definitely notice quite a few of those players are locked down for a while, but Christensen is showing a one-year contract can be a powerful motivator. Especially for a player who might be out of options if his current NHL team doesn’t re-sign him.

More NHL teams should leverage this desperation to get a better performance out of marginal players. When teams are out of options, why not throw a career fourth-liner onto the top line for a few games and see what happens? Even if it just works for a few games at a time, it’s cheaper than keeping an average player for five or six seasons. Plus, marginal players are much easier to send down when their value has expired. And, they’re easy to trade for another marginal player.

Also, how is Buffalo also playing Atlanta today? The NHL couldn’t schedule them off so the Winter Classic would have the day to itself? Or, as long as the Thrashers are in Buffalo, couldn’t they have also played that one outside? They could probably get a great sheet of ice going in about 40 minutes.

Related posts:

1. Rangers Looking Sharp. Finally
2. Rangers Finally Tipping a Hand
3. Rangers Sign Defenseman They Don’t Like

Down in Tampa, GM Brian Lawton is supporting coach Rick Tocchet, even as the team struggles to find consistency.

One thing that’s forgotten about Tocchet is that he’s a new coach with an inexperienced coching staff. Rookie coaches and rookie players aren’t always the best combination.

Tocchet still might figure things out. And the main thing keeping him in his job is he’s not Barry Melrose. I suspect Tampa ownership loves Tocchet for that alone.

Speaking of struggling teams, things are rough in Columbus. In fact, things are so bad, coach Ken Hitchcock opened up to the team:

According to players, who didn’t want to discuss the meeting publicly, Hitchcock opened up in a way they have not seen, letting down his “coaching” guard and showing them a side that rarely finds its way through all the film study and the harping on playing more competitively.

If I’m a Blue Jacket and Ken Hitchcock is spilling his guts to me, I’m even more freaked out now. I was under the impression Hitchcock wasn’t programmed with feelings.

Obviously, Hitchcock is totally out of coaching bullets. Flipping through his coaching playbook, he probably realized the only things he hadn’t tried were “emotional sharing” and “shooting a player in the leg.”

Of course, the season isn’t over yet.

Also, 30 years ago today, Mike Milbury beat a Ranger fan with a shoe.

I love that story because when you look at what Milbury did as a GM, the shoe thing seems like one of his sanest moments.

Related posts:

1. Tocchet Benches Everyone
2. Sather Helps Rangers Turn Corner
3. The Unstoppable Melrose Autopsy

Last night against the Isles, coach John Tortorella decided to actually coach and scratched Ales Kotalik, a presence on the powerplay, but not really a top-six forward, and defensemen Wade Redden, who apparently freaked out about the scratch. Chris Drury was demoted to the fourth-line, although by the end of the game, he seemed to have been back in Tortorella’s good graces (but it can be hard to tell with Tortorella’s impressionistic line changes).

Rick Carpiniello said the move wasn’t enough of the statement, but at least leaves Tortorella room to scratch more people down the line.

The Rangers wound up beating the Isles 5-2, but that says way more about the problems of the Islanders than the success of the Rangers.

The Rangers came out with a lot energy, which seems to indicate Tortorella hasn’t entirely lost his team. But Larry Brooks says there’s work that needs to be done:

There is repair work to be done here, repair work between Tortorella and his players. The Rangers have not quit on the coach. But there appears to be a disconnect between the team and the coach who seems to have divided his athletes — or at least his forwards — in a caste system where the top six are more worthy than the grinders and role players who are essential to any big-time club.

Tortorella knows he needs to move quickly. He can’t let this malaise fester as the Rangers pile up losses. Last night wasn’t a big win over a tough team. It was a big win over a tired Islanders team that missed a wide-open net once and couldn’t get the puck up enough on goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, who played an incredible game. The Rangers could have lost 6-5 just about as easily as they won 5-2.

The Rangers played better, but not well. Tortorella can keep scratching his big-name players, and that might help short-term, but eventually he needs to figure out a sustainable way to win with his personnel. Scratching Redden doesn’t make the Rangers a playoff-ready team the same way changing a flat tire on a 1987 Fiat doesn’t suddenly make it ready for NASCAR.

Related posts:

1. Tortorella: ‘Yikes! The Rangers Need Work!’
2. Tortorella Reinvents the New York Rangers
3. Tortorella Must Find His Inner D’Antoni

Larry Brooks won’t rule it out, but doesn’t think it’s very likely.

I’m pretty patient with coaches. I don’t think it’s fair to fire someone after just a season or so, since it can take years to truly change a team. But whatever Tortorella’s doing in New York isn’t working. They’ve lost their attacking style that brought them early season success, while somehow not transitioning into a defensive system. So the Rangers have managed to lose the offense while not picking up any defense. It’s pretty impressive, if you think about it.

Tortorella needs to look at his fellow Madison Square Garden coach, Mike D’Antoni of the Knicks. D’Antoni’s offensive system is legendary. His whole coaching style is based on getting up a lot of shots and knocking them down early in the shot clock. He valiantly tried to implement that system for the Knicks for over a season before surrendering to a more defensive system that was better suited to the Knicks talent (or “talent”). And the Knicks have started to win. D’Antoni put aside his signature coaching style and crafted a system that worked for his personnel.

But really, more than anything Tortorella needs to do something. Other than mess around with the lines, he really hasn’t done anything significant to his team during the most recent slide. He demoted Matt Gilroy, a rookie defenseman, but that hasn’t accomplished anything. It might have even made things worse. No one has been benched. No one significant has been scratched. Tortorella has just complained and cursed a lot.

If he wants to change the Rangers fortunes, he’ll now need to actually coach a bit.

If he doesn’t start coaching for the players he has, rather than the players he wants to have, if he hasn’t actually already lost the Rangers, he certainly will lose them.

Related posts:

1. Lecavalier and Tortorella: The Odd Couple
2. Tortorella Fixes Rangers for One Night
3. Tortorella Reinvents the New York Rangers

The comments on Dater’s post are interesting. Some say attendance is low because the Avs play the same teams over and over.

Other people said it’s a marketing issue.

One poster said Avs fans are still put off by last season’s debacles.

I’m going to throw out another theory: fan fatigue over the course of a long season.

Right now, Colorado is leading the Northwest Division. Calgary is right behind them, but considering there are around 50 games left in the season, Calgary and Colorado will probably swap places a few times. But basically, as long as Colorado doesn’t have some kind of epic collapse, fans know Colorado is heading to the post-season. So why would a casual fan spend money on tickets if the game is going to be relatively meaningless? Casual fans need to be told why a game is important or exciting. Casual fans aren’t opposed to buying tickets, but they need some kind of reason to do so. The reason can be an opposing star, a significant game, or an important storyline, but you have to give them some kind of motivation to leave the house. Hardcore fans know why a given game matters, but the casual fan doesn’t.

This isn’t just a Colorado problem, either. Scotty Hockey said Madison Square Garden was pretty empty last night, although in that case, the Rangers had a sell-out. Fans just didn’t show up to claim their paid seats. But that probably has to do with the Rangers being horrible right now.

Hockey is a two-season sport: The regular season and the post-season. As more and more things compete for our time, my theory is that a decent number of hockey fans are focusing their time and money on the post-season. I have no doubt that come the playoffs, the Pepsi Center will be jam-packed with rabid fans.

And one final possible factor: Are hockey fans changing? Hemisphere Magazine, an in-flight magazine, sent me a link to an article on the NHL’s embrace of the Internet as a marketing tool. I was going to dash off some airline jokes and ask you to imagine I’m reciting them in front of a spotlit brick wall, but instead the article got me wondering if the NHL’s use of the Internet might be hurting regular season attendance a bit. Are these Avs fans home because they’d rather watch the game while posting on Twitter, with GameCenter Live on in the background, in case the Colorado game isn’t great? As amazing as a live game is, do these fans prefer the online experience in some way?

Also, as we close in on Christmas and pass Hanukkah’s halfway mark, please be aware you can buy a putter shaped like a hockey stick. I’m not being compensated for this plug. I just thought it was a funny product.

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1. Empty Sheds in Pittsburgh and New Jersey
2. NHL Migrating Off Broadcast TV in States?
3. Reinprecht’s Big Adventure

Rather than being with the team full time, as goaltending coach Jeff Hackett was the past few seasons, Thibault still lives in Montreal and is spending occasional stretches with the team in Denver and on the road. He is empowered to pick up the phone and speak with either Anderson or backup Peter Budaj.

So is it me, or is Thibault getting paid to hang out with the team? And is he also getting paid to call his goaltending friends on the phone?

I guess this is my roundabout way of announcing my own goaltending consultancy. Email me if you’re an NHL GM or coach who’d like me to occasionally hang out with your team or call your goalies.

Although, the way Anderson is playing for the Avs, something must be right with this arrangement.

Speaking of odd arrangements, the Rangers are apparently considering allowing Wade Redden back on the powerplay.

Coach John Tortorella had kept Redden off of the powerplay to let him focus on his even-strength play. And, because with Redden on the point last season, the team gave up 14 short-handed goals, second only to the Flames eye-popping 15.

Now, the Rangers are ready to give Redden another shot, perhaps because defenseman Marc Staal has a shot that seems to take a good 45 seconds to get off.

Redden has responded very well to Tortorella’s coaching. His play has settled down a lot since last season and while Redden is still overpaid, most nights he’s no longer a liability. It’ll be interesting to see if more powerplay times leads to more confidence, of if it crushes the house of cards Tortorella built.

Related posts:

1. Tortorella Fixes Rangers for One Night
2. Tortorella: ‘Yikes! The Rangers Need Work!’
3. Time For a Nap

Dater thinks Forsberg is going to give the NHL another go once he’s extensively tested his foot.

Do they not get NHL news in Sweden? Has Forsberg not seen the laundry list of strong, sturdy NHL players go down this season? Has he not seen that the NHL right now is ultimate fighting without the restraint?

I get that Forsberg is a competitor who didn’t get to leave the game he loved on his own terms. But at this point, given his age and his health, it seems downright irresponsible for Forsberg to try and return to the NHL and for the NHL to make it possible. It seems like no one in the league has taken the time to warn Forsberg off of what increasingly sees to be an obsession of his.

It’s very interesting how competitors react to their limitations. Last night, at the Hall of Fame induction ceremony, Brian Leetch said he retired because he was mentally drained from not making the playoffs for so long. And he seems to have walked away from the game without much anguish.

Maybe Leetch can talk to Forsberg about how great a real retirement is.

Related posts:

1. Forsberg Moves to Retirement; Dallman the KHL’s Bobby Orr
2. Foppa Punks the NHL
3. Foppa Flies Off

But their most pressing problem might be goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere’s groin.

Giguere is making $6 million this season and $7 million next season, even as the Ducks have a much stronger, cheaper goaltending option in Jonas Hiller.

It’s been fairly obvious that Anaheim wants to trade Giguere and has been giving him starts to keep him sharp and to showcase him. And Giguere is a solid, proven goalie who would have attracted some interest.

Would have. Until he left Saturday’s loss to the Blue Jackets with a sore groin.

Teams won’t take a chance on an expensive goalie like Giguere if there are concerns about groin issues. And if Giguere doesn’t come off of the Anaheim cap, they can’t get in some secondary scoring and a shut-down defenseman, both of which the team needs.

Giguere’s health is the key to Anaheim’s immediate future. Not because they need him to play for them, but because they need him to play his way onto another team.

Also, here’s something I wrote about the current New York Rangers trying to re-create the 2001-02 Wings. Because if the Rangers love one thing, it’s old players.

Related posts:

1. Turco Wants Giguere Money
2. Groin Talk
3. Wings Duck Ducks

Between the coaching changes and the personnel changes, the Rangers are almost completely different. And it seems like John Tortorella’s coaching is responsible for the success of the personnel changes.

For instance, previous coach Tom Renney religiously rolled four lines, no matter what was going on. If the Rangers were up three or down four, you could count on the fourth line to come out every four shifts. Tortorella sporadically uses his fourth line, unless he’s trying to eat time or make a point to the other three lines. But it means his best players spend a lot more time on the ice.

From a coaching perspective, Tortorella’s has had the Ranger defensemen very involved in the offense. The Rangers have 24 goals on the season and the defense has chipped in with seven while giving up just 12 goals. Offensive-minded coaches often say defense doesn’t matter as long as you focus on controlling the puck, since if the puck is on your team’s stick, it’s not on your opponents’. So far this season, the Rangers are proving this true.

But most importantly of all, by letting the defense get more involved in the offense, the Rangers have allowed their scoring to be spread out across lines. Eight players had at least two points last night against Toronto.

Not that the Rangers are unstoppable. This weekend, they feasted upon the tired Ducks and the severely flawed Leafs. But stronger teams will take advantage of the Rangers’ inexperienced blue-liners and put pressure on the points. The Penguins successfully worked that strategy in their 3-2 win over the Rangers.

The Rangers are finally a fun team to watch, though. Whereas previous seasons were spent dumping-and-changing, playing to keep a tie, now the games are up-and-down, with very little happening in the neutral zone. It’s nice when exciting hockey also results in winning hockey. It serves as positive reinforcement around the league.

Related posts:

1. Sundin Can’t Help the Rangers
2. Tortorella Fixes Rangers for One Night
3. Tortorella Must Find His Inner D’Antoni