The Rangers are a funny team. Last year, one of the few bright spots was the play of Erik Christensen, the waiver pickup who wound up centering Marian Gaborik. His eight goals and 18 assists in 49 games was hardly earth-shattering, but he gave the Rangers a down-low presence that often attracted enough attention to [...]
Some people really don’t like the NHL’s participation in the Olympics during its regular season. Apparently, Tim Panaccio and I are two of those guys. His Sunday column hypothesizes the Flyers recent struggles are at least partially linked to the amount of Olympians they had playing in Vancouver. I’m no fan of the Olympics, but [...]
The Rangers completed their trade for Olli Jokinen this morning, giving up the underperforming Christopher Higgins and Ales Kotalik for Calgary’s Jokinen and Brandon Prust. 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 [...]
Over the break I read BALL FOUR, Jim Bouton’s famous tale of his 1969 season pitching for the Seattle Pilots and the Houston Astros. 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 [...]
When a GM supports a coach, that’s usually the surest sign the coach is about to be fired. 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 [...]
Just to follow-up on yesterday’s Rangers post: 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 [...]
Watching last night’s Rangers loss to the Islanders, I think most people were thinking the same thing: Coach John Tortorella seems to have lost the team. 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 [...]
Adrian Dater points out Monday’s Avs-Flames game drew just 11,448 fans. 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 [...]
I know this is hardly the most important story of the day, but I have to point out Jocelyn Thibault’s goaltending consultancy gig in Colorado: 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 [...]
How shocking! Adrian Dater is hearing Peter Forsberg is a bit undecided about his NHL comeback. Although, this is actually a comeback from a comeback. 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 [...]
