Rangers Season Ends

Too many injuries and too little offense finally undid them.   They really missed Staal and Stralman in the Bruins series.  Also, Hank was not quite the all world goalie he usually is, but that might have had more to do with the lack of O and defensive injuries than it did with Hank himself.

So what now?   Obviously, there will be changes and the biggest question is probably whether or not management has seen enough of John Tortarella's act.   Personally, I have.  Having said that, I do think it was a truncated season and that Torts needs his long training camps to get himself and his teams ready.   So if they want to give him a mulligan, I guess I will understand.    I just don't trust him with the kids coming up, what's more, I don't understand why they have never fixed the power play or went back to a more aggressive offense once their talent base grew.   Remember "safe is death" in Tampa?   Safe was all there has been with the Rangers.  I won't be surprised; however, if they force him to hire a power play assistant or dump Mike Sullivan.

On the roster side, they have a bunch of expiring contracts and a few players they have to extend like McDonagh and Stepan.  They will almost assuredly their remaining buyout on Brad Richards, so they will have plenty of cap room - even though the cap is going down.   Stepan's ascendance and Brassard's emergence has made this a no-brainer.   The third and fourth line C's can either come from the system - JT Miller or Oscar Linberg  - or come from trades or free agency.  The Rangers will have plenty of room and chips for either.  They also need a right shot D.   That too could be a trade or free agent.  They have a pretty easy decision to make on Clowe, too.   Btw, god bless his health going forward.

What the Rangers are sorely lacking right now are draft picks.   They have a bunch of threes, but no first or seconds, and that's a shame because it is a deep draft with lots of first and second round value.   I wouldn't be terribly surprised if they moved quickly to secure more picks.   They could do this by moving players - or combining them with picks (present and future) to get into those first two rounds.    Now's the time when they usually start making their moves, so don't be surprised if they do something before the draft.

I think some of the current players who are under contract, like Brian Boyle and Michael Del Zotto could end up elsewhere by way of trades.  MDZ is a big time talent, but he's been really inconsistent and you have to give to get in NHL trades.   As long as the get back was good, I wouldn't spend too much time wondering what might have been.    The arrival of John Moore has also helped in that regard.

Kreider's heroics in the playoffs are just the tip of the talent iceberg that's should start arriving from juniors, the minors and overseas as camp opens.   Let's just hope they're not all blocked, and that none of them have to go through what Kreider had to go through this year.  If that means a new coach, so be it.

Kreider Saves the Day!

Chris Kreider just saved John Tortorella's job for at least another day.    What a great goal for the scapegoat!   Really clutch play tonight by Stepan and Brassard and Nash made a great pass to set up Kreider for the OT winner.    Let's see if we can win our next game.   Go Rangers!

Yanks Keep Winning

The Yanks won again tonight, this time in extra innings.  Now is it just me or do the 2013 Yanks, even with all of their injuries, seem a lot scrappier than the Yanks of the last few years?  I wonder if that's because the old teams were always sort of waiting for ARod, Tex, Jeter or Grandy to do something.   It seems something is different.   Of course we are seeing the old Pinstripe Effect on players like Vernon Wells and Travis Hafner who seem reborn this year.   The Yanks are also getting pretty good pitching all around, and lately, contributions from kids like David Adams and Austin Romine.  I still have no expectations, but they are fun to follow again.  Go Yanks!

Knicks Season Ends

Awful ref job not withstanding, the Knicks got badly outcoached in this series.  Finding a new coach should be their first priority, then it seems like they have some moveable contracts.   They also finally have a first round pick again, though it looks like a bad draft.  Lots of decisions ahead.   Thanks for a fun regular season.   Alway, Go Knicks!

Rangers Finally Win a Road Game 7

Wow!  Last night we called for the Rangers to support Hank and tonight they did - but they didn't need to as the Best Goalie on Earth was once again on his game.   Still 5 different Rangers scored goals, and Henrik Lundqvist pitched his second straight shutout when faced with elimination.   Just an unbelievable night where we got goals from Asham, Pyatt, MDZ,  Cally and MZA, to advance.   Brassard had two more assists and finished with 9 points for the series.  Chris Kreider had an assist and hit everything that moved.    We'll play Boston for the first time since 1973 on Thursday.  Let's go, Rangers!

New York Rangers Tie It Up!

The Rangers, today, finally remembered how to win a 1 goal game.   Now, in game 7 they need to remember how to score many goals.    Frankly, Brassard's goal would not have had to stand alone, if on the final Ranger Power Play, Brad Richards hadn't blocked a great shot with his ass.  I'm not kidding, it would have been 2-0.   We cannot buyout this guy fast enough, once the season ends, which I hope is not tomorrow.   Btw, the Caps are an incredibly dirty team and played their dirtiest in trying to close out the Rangers.  They grabbed sticks, boarded, crosschecked, kicked and launched themselves off the ice and into Rangers.   I doubt any of them will get suspended, but some should.  Also, there is no way Ovechkin isn't a lab experiment.  Late in the game he literally threw Dan Girardi headfirst into the boards.    Oh, and Hank was brilliant today.  Just the best goalie in the world.    Let's see if we can win again tomorrow.  Otherwise, I've got a busy offseason planned:)   LGR!

New York Giants Make More Moves

All of the reports out of the Giants rookie camp were pretty positive.  As expected Ryan Nassib looked better on Day 2 than he did on Day 1 hooking up with his receivers for some typical Giants deep balls. However; the news wasn't positive for as as big name UDFA's like  WR Marcus Davis, and Division III wonderman  LBCharles Dieusuel were cut, along with 4 others to make room for WR Jeremy Horne,   vet tryouts TE Michael Palmer and  huge DT Frank Okam, as well as UDFA DB's Junior Mertile and John Stevenson.

Don't be surprised if there's more movement before the Veteran Mini-camp.