To Be A Ranger Fan...
Posted 10:54 PM ET | Comments 16
...is tough. I am not talking about watching a team that fails to score, move the puck on the power play, or generate traffic in the slot (of the other team's zone). I am talking about the realization that the Rangers' current ownership and management structure forces its fans to watch a pathetic product night after night without any hope for changes.
Changes need to happen because this team is still in prime position to earn a playoff spot. We've all seen what can happen in the postseason. Remember 8th seeded Edmonton marching all the way to game 7 of the 2006 Stanley Cup Final? I want the Rangers to have that chance, and let's face it: nothing remotely similar to that outcome will occur if we don't shake things up.
There are two options: change the coaching staff or change the roster. I believe changing the coaching staff is much more feasible and is a better bet to cause an immediate impact in apathetic group of personalities.
While Renney shouldn't bear the full brunt of the blame, his constant line shuffling and inability to fix a struggling power play both fall directly on his shoulders. His players aren't making the short plays; Nikolai Zherdev went from confident and untouchable to a constant turnover machine. Offensive zone pressure is followed by a quick shot (that will probably be blocked) and recovery that immediately goes up ice. There are three to four players giving 100% each night and that is just unacceptable. It's the coach's job to get his players going and Renney has failed to do that for a long stretch of games.
You may ask, what about adding some players at the trade deadline? Is it possible we can acquire some talent and provide a spark for this team to get rolling toward the playoffs? In short, no; at least not on a large scale. The cap has severely limited the ability to construct major deals and the Rangers don't have any cap space. GM Glen Sather screwed himself (and Rangers fans) with undesirable and practically unmovable contracts and will be forced to look to his youth for any trade value. The prospect pool, however has been severely diminished by both the graduation of recent prospects and the death of Alexei Cherepanov. Naturally, it would not be prudent to move for Sather to move any of his young assets.
Ousting Renney doesn't count anything against the cap, can be done instantaneously, and will change the flavor of a stale team. Time is running out and if something doesn't change, this team will likely miss the playoffs. Fire Renney and bring in Laviolette; if there's one coach out there that has a chance to mesh well with the Gomez and Drury leadership structure, it's a guy that has coached them before.
For the record: Sather may deserve to lose his job more than his coach but from all reports, has tremendous job security. So while that may the most prudent move in this situation, it's important to keep in mind what is and is not realistic.
Changes need to happen because this team is still in prime position to earn a playoff spot. We've all seen what can happen in the postseason. Remember 8th seeded Edmonton marching all the way to game 7 of the 2006 Stanley Cup Final? I want the Rangers to have that chance, and let's face it: nothing remotely similar to that outcome will occur if we don't shake things up.
There are two options: change the coaching staff or change the roster. I believe changing the coaching staff is much more feasible and is a better bet to cause an immediate impact in apathetic group of personalities.
While Renney shouldn't bear the full brunt of the blame, his constant line shuffling and inability to fix a struggling power play both fall directly on his shoulders. His players aren't making the short plays; Nikolai Zherdev went from confident and untouchable to a constant turnover machine. Offensive zone pressure is followed by a quick shot (that will probably be blocked) and recovery that immediately goes up ice. There are three to four players giving 100% each night and that is just unacceptable. It's the coach's job to get his players going and Renney has failed to do that for a long stretch of games.
You may ask, what about adding some players at the trade deadline? Is it possible we can acquire some talent and provide a spark for this team to get rolling toward the playoffs? In short, no; at least not on a large scale. The cap has severely limited the ability to construct major deals and the Rangers don't have any cap space. GM Glen Sather screwed himself (and Rangers fans) with undesirable and practically unmovable contracts and will be forced to look to his youth for any trade value. The prospect pool, however has been severely diminished by both the graduation of recent prospects and the death of Alexei Cherepanov. Naturally, it would not be prudent to move for Sather to move any of his young assets.
Ousting Renney doesn't count anything against the cap, can be done instantaneously, and will change the flavor of a stale team. Time is running out and if something doesn't change, this team will likely miss the playoffs. Fire Renney and bring in Laviolette; if there's one coach out there that has a chance to mesh well with the Gomez and Drury leadership structure, it's a guy that has coached them before.
For the record: Sather may deserve to lose his job more than his coach but from all reports, has tremendous job security. So while that may the most prudent move in this situation, it's important to keep in mind what is and is not realistic.
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Great read Callaway, couldn't agree more... I wish we had some say as fans...
Well I will tell you something. If we find our way down a goal against the Islander game you will be hearing Fire Sather chants from Section 333 all night long. I am not going to stop until security kicks me out of my season ticket seats. Sather the tool. I still don't understand how we haven't heard anything from him in this whole process of us collapsing. Our wonderful G.M of the New York Rangers. Come out of hiding you Pu$$y and give us an explanation as to why you gave Redden 6 years you moron. Reporters have to do a better job of getting something out of Sather.
I won't pretend to have any insight on how to "fix" the Rangers, but Redden's contract should really cost Sather his job. At what point did he watch Redden's play last year and think to himself "I should give this guy 8 million next season..."?
Another writer told me he 'almost passed out' when he saw the Redden deal. The fact that most scouts knew his skills were going or gone makes my blood boil. But I guess that's what happens when you waste your budget on front-loading contracts.
Well I can't agree more with u. But just think about it we could have brian cambell and sanguinetti or potter instead of those two bumbs roszival n redden. Sather makes me sick n so does renney. He has korpikokski playing with voros who is the biggest homo n has no stick skills. He makes the wrong lineups all the time. Lori. Should be with zherdev n Dubinsky or even gomez n zherdev. The kid has skills. All In all we need a lot of change just to make the playoffs let alone the cup. We need four things1. We need balls!2. We need a puck moving defenseman for the worst pp in the game.3. We need a power forward to stick in front of the net that can screen n has good hands n can score.4. And finally we need a pure goal scorer. Than if we get these 4 things maybe we come out of the east. Let me know what u guys think.
Great article. Liberty22 i would have to say i agree with you, but those 4 things you mentioned is what every team needs and if they have those 4 they are cup contenders. You cant just get those 4 things over night. Sather screwed us in that regard. I have an interesting question for you guys though. As much as I and the rest of the fans love him, how about looking at what you can get in return for Hank. Once again I love the guy and want him to stay, but at what point do the tables turn and he gets fed up wit the team in front of him and want out?
i dont think trading hank would be a good idea. he is the goaltender that u should be able to build a stanley cup contender around. Sather just made bad moves and did not go after good role players instead of aging veterans like drury and gomez. i wish he can go back and sign jagr because i never wanted to see him go to omsk. i also think the players just dont want to play for renney anymore and they wont play hard untill there is a change. it makes me not ven wanna watch the games anymore.. renney didnt want shannahan and look what he is doing in new jersey which makes me sick.. he didnt want jagr and in omsk he has 25 goals and 27 assists in 52 games.id say go and try and get jagr edmonton is tryin to get him y cant we. as anyone heard about vinny lecalvier bein traded to us or no?? give me some feedback. and let me know who u would and wouldnt give up for him.. i dont think he is the answer.... he is a very goo start and he is the captain that the rangers have been looking for since messier? and if they fire renney or sather...would u give messier a shot at either position?
It pains me to say it but I wouldnt mind seein Jagr back either. He has come out and made a statement that unless OMSK doesnt pay him his money he is going to stay with them, however they have a history of not paying. He said the only teams he would come back to are the Rangers, Devils and Penguins. On the other hand, I think it was a good idea to get rid of Shanny at the end of last year. Sure hes puting up a few numbers now, but thats what he did for us the beginning of last year. Then he hit a wall and hardly showed up on the box score. I have been looking all day on Vinny to NY and it keeps coming down to what happens with us. If we were to keep falling look for a move to get Vinny but get ready to lose Dubi, Staal, draft picks and Girardi's name has been floating around on some pages. If we can get the deal done without Girardi I think we might have to do that. Staal is going to be a top-notch deffenseman in the NHL no doubt, but Vinny is proven and we do have a few studs on D in the AHL. As far as Dubi goes, would anybody really be that upset? Kid is a gamer ill give him that, but when does production start to matter?
Pretty accurate assessment Liberty. I think we need all of those things...Rangersjagr, the cardinal rule of trading a goaltender is that it needs to make your team better. I just don't see any potential deals that could do this. Hank's the franchise, and arguably so is Staal. Those two guys are probably untouchable...liberty, Jagr is not an option. He's under contract in Russia and would have to pass through waivers in order to get here. Plus, how do you think we're going to pay him? There's around $40 million tied up next year and we still have to sign Zherdev, Dubinsky, and Callahan. As far as Messier, I'd rather go with somebody that has some experience for either position but I'd be welcome to the idea of having him learn under the wing of a more seasoned veteran.
We don't have a player like Staal in our system. This is a guy that is becoming a legit #1 shut down guy that obviously has developing offensive skill. Del Zotto and Sanguinetti are both offensively minded defensemen that need a lot of help in their own end. If we're going to part with Staal to get Vinny, we're going to have to move Drury or Redden as well. But frankly, Vinny's just a dream and we shouldn't waste our waking thoughts on him.
Hey Rangers Fans, you said to talk to you when we're ahead in the standings. Now we are! MILLER>lundquist
i know vinny is a dream, but who is going to help this franchise get to the playoffs..not renney... sure as hell not drury as our captain... he showed a lot of balls playin with a fractured rib cage last season but this year he just doesnt look like he wants to be here you know.. staal is a no go i would trade anybody else except him. has the making of becoming an all star defenseman on both sides of the rink.dubi i would not mind see go bc he is a dime a dozen in the nhl... you can get anybody in the nhl that throws the body fights and doesnt score that would be able to play on the fourth line. and if were not makin the playoffs then i would bring up del zotto and sanguinetti and potter and let them get experience. its a sin that we were naive and signed redden and roszival and kalinan... and one more thing: who would have thought that we would miss fedor tuytin... i sure as hell didnt.
The Tyutin trade was a slam dunk back in the summer. You had to replace the forwards that left somehow...unfortunately, the main offseason defensive acquisition (instead of acquisitions) Redden is officially a bust and it's obvious we're in need of another blueliner. Maybe even two.
rangers are ahead of the sabres buddy.. and i agree with you guys in not trading staal, he could be our captain in 5 yrs. also, the idea of trading lundqvist is ludicrous and absurd - if we didnt have lundqvist, we would be battling the islanders for the number 1 pick this year. Lundqvist will be the teams MVP for the next 10 years. and on the topic of trading dubinsky: unless we are getting a guaranteed performer on our team (vinny or jaybo) i wouldnt trade dubi. he is still young and gives his all day in and day out. he has the ability to score as we saw the first week into the season, i think that if we give him some more time, dubi and callahan will mold into great players that could lead the team in the future, along with staal and girardi.
Great Blog, I agree completely. I was trying to say the same thing in my blog but you did so much more clearly. Really impressive.
Miller sucks, i hate the fact that he has been the most promoted goalie in the NHL due partly to the Sabres success in the season following the lockout and the fact that Millers primarily speaks English. Hes not even in my top 10 among NHL goaltenders, though im sure the Rangers will make him look like an all-star on saturday. nice blog btw