Korpikoski to the Wolves. . .

Lauri Korpikoski has been assigned to the Rangers AHL affliliate team in Hartford today.

http://rangers.nhl.com/team/app?articleid=389291&page=NewsPage&service=page

I personally was suprised this didn't happen a game or two ago. Not because I don't like the kid. Quite the contrary - I do a lot. But because a) while he looked very impressive in training camp, he has not looked comfortable nor been effective in his games with the big club and b) he can't continue to sit stagnant on the bench while the 3rd line carousel/roulette wheel/musical chair situation continues. Its not fair and it will retard his development. And I've made it clear that I think, unfortunately, this was the case with a few former Rangers over the years.

If he's not going to play here, I think it's best for him to go and play in Hartford. And when and if an injury happens, you can easily pull from Hartford and he will be a good callup option. And if he comes up and is that effective/confident player we all saw in training camp, then he can make a case for himself to stay.

There are already enough question marks on the Rangers and the roulette situation will do nothing but hurt this young kid with a bright future.

Again, I am a little uncertain with what the Rangers have done or will do in regards to personnel. Now, having a waived Patrick Rissmiller floating, literally floating around, practices and not being assigned to Hartford, doesn't entirely make sense to me. And with Korpikoski sent down, the carousel does in fact, lose another member. But where does that leave us.

Personally, I'd say take Fristche and Prucha and put them in the lineup. Bench Dawes. I'll go over the game by games again, removing Korpikoski (re-assigned), Rissmiller (waived) and Callahan (played every game) for those reasons.

Prucha:
10/4 – 1 shot, 15 shifts, 10:14 ice time
10/5 – 1 shot, 13 shifts, 9:57 ice time
DNP
DNP
DNP
10/15 – 3 shots, 15 shifts, 11:59 ice time
DNP
DNP
DNP
DNP
10/25 - 3 shots, 15 shifts, 12:40 ice time
10/27 - 0 shots, 15 shifts, 10:05 ice time (0:54 PP time)

Dawes:
10/4/08 – 0 shots, 19 shifts, 14:00 ice time
10/5/08 – 3 shots, 17 shifts, 16:09 ice time
10/10 – (-1), 17 shifts, 14:01 ice time
DNP
DNP
DNP
10/17 – 2 shots, 12 shifts, 10:34 ice time (SHO goal)
10/18 – 1 goal, 3 shots, 22 shifts, 14:36 ice time
10/20 - 4 shots, 14:00 ice time
10/24 - 1 shot, 16 shifts, 13:48 ice time
10/25 - 1 shot, 18 shifts, 14:45 ice time
10/27 - (+1), 1 shot, 18 shifts, 14:39 ice time

Fritsche:
DNP
DNP
DNP
DNP
10/13 – 0 shots, 15 shifts, 9:38 ice time
DNP
10/17 – 4 shots, 11 shifts, 9:26 ice time
DNP
DNP
10/24 - (-1) 11 shifts, 8:35 ice time
DNP
DNP

Now, I am not an expert, and I'm not the coach. I get no vote. But look at the games and ice time Dawes has gotten. Prucha and Fritsche have not had that consistency. I was shocked, happily, to see Prucha back in the lineup after having a good game against Pittsburgh on Saturday. And he had no worse a game on Monday. But Fritsche, has been in one game, out for one, in one game, out for 2, in one game, out for two, and TBD going forward.

Nigel Dawes has gotten 6 games in a row, and unless I'm mistaken, he's gotten sizeably more ice time than either Prucha or Fritsche got, and he's actually looked less productive. Less. He had a good game, it seemed, against Detroit. Again, I didn't see the game. But he also, could have been benefiting from Gomez and Callahan, two of the fastest husslers on the team.

He's had his chance, and to me, he should be the one sitting down. Now, here's my proposal.

Keep Prucha in for at least four more games, so he'll have six in a row and the same chance as Dawes had. To make it really even, stick him with Gomez . See how he benefits from the great passer. Have you seen the games recently? Prucha's been carrying the puck. That's not his strongest area. He's been admirably fighting to stand up and move forward (and drew a penalty the other day doing it) but he can benefit most from having Gomez dish him the pucks. As I'm sure Dawes did on that goal in hockey town. Let's see what Pete does.

Secondly, put Fritsche in too. The team is winning, yes. But winning with Prucha. So why not replace a struggling Dawes with a fresh set of skates in Fritsche? Really. What's the worst that can happen? If you don't know where to put him, stick him with Betts and Orr. They aren't scoring anyway. He can get his 8-9 minutes a night, while Betts will see more on the PK. And Sjostrom's speed can be better utilized elsewhere. If nothing else, the team gets a little bigger. I liked Fritsche's game on the 17th versus Toronto. In limited time, he got 4 shots on goal. He was trying.

I'm just saying, let the two guys who have sat out and are still here - let them have a consistent go. For six games. The Rangers play Atlanta, Toronto, New York, Tampa Bay, in their next four. Those are not games that should be overlooked, but those aren't NJ, Detroit, or Dallas either.

Make your own decisions. Oh, I'm sorry, you will any way. ;) But that's what I would do if I were coaching. If you are worried about not having guys to take shoot-outs, I'm pretty sure Zherdev and Sjostrom got it covered on the top side. Oh and if you give him his confidence back, Prucha was once very dormidable in this department. Just ask Marty Brodeur.
We will see tomorrow.

Around the League:

Pretty much every score last night made me look like a genius in my pre-season predictions. (haha overstatement!) If the hockey season were only one night long. (God forbid!) The teams I thought would do well that were having slow starts - Calgary, Colorado, Philadelphia - are doing better. The teams that I thought were going to be worse - like Vancouver - are doing worse. It's still early, but it's nice to know I wasn't completely insane. We'll see.