The Untold Story of Dan Fritsche. . .

Boy, I picked the wrong day to try to get actual "work" done at work. ;)

First, I get back to my desk and read that Sam Weinman of the Journal News, who does a great job of giving lots of Rangers updates on his Rangers Report blog, is moving to Golf Digest. Best of luck, Sam, and a sincere thanks for all the hard work these last couple years.

http://rangers.lohudblogs.com/2009/01/29/the-one-move-before-the-trade-deadline-you-probably-didn%e2%80%99t-expect-me/

And secondly, I read that Dan Fritsche has not been sent to Hartford, has not been skating with New York, but rather has been traded to Minnesota for a guy I admittedly haven't heard of in Erik Reitz

http://wild.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=406780

Interesting.

So he joins the ranks of Dominic Moore and Adam Hall, both former Rangers that have had connections to the Wild in the last few years.

If you want a headache, keep reading.

*Dominic Moore, if you'll remember, was traded from the Rangers to Pittsburgh in Summer of 2006 and then traded from Pittsburgh to Minnesota in February of 2007. It was Adam Hall that was the guy traded to the Rangers from Minnesota for Moore, who went to Pittsburgh by way of Nashville in the above trade. Hall was then traded back to Minnesota in February of 2007 for Pascal Dupuis. Hall would sign with the Penguins the following fall, where he'd play alongside Dupuis. Dupuis, who had stayed with the Rangers for about two weeks before a brief stop in Atlanta, came to the Penguins at trade deadline in the Marian Hossa deal in February of 2008. Hall, by the way, was a original draft pick of Nashville. *

If you actually read and understood that, congratulations. But don't say I didn't warn you.

None of this has anything to do with Dan Fritsche. It really doesn't. I was just trying to show how some teams tend to have more connections to some teams than others. For the Rangers, Edmonton, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, and St. Louis should not come as surprises, but Minnesota has a few connections as well. Current Ranger Aaron Voros being another.

Anyway, I was debating posting the below blog link when Fritsche played a stint in the fall with the Rangers, scored a goal and actually looked very nice with Lauri Korpikoski and Nigel Dawes for two games. I debated posting it again this Tuesday when he was waived and again yesterday when he cleared waivers. I obviously didn't.

So instead of posting this while Dan was a current Ranger, I'm posting it now that he is no longer one. If you want to know what kind of guy Dan Fritsche is, it's worth the read. Kind of long, but even if you skim it, you'll get the general idea.

http://fat-a-thonblubberblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/october-27-2007.html

Just as Dominic Moore, Adam Hall, and yes, even Pascal Dupuis, will always have it on their career stats that they played for the New York Rangers, so will Dan Fritsche. He was a Ranger. Not a Ranger that got a real chance, but from a management/coaching staff who obviously doesn't even appreciate the plethora of talent they have and don't utilize on the ice every night, I can't say I'm really surprised.

Dan, best of luck in Minnesota. As a Manny Malhotra fan, I watched Columbus games enough to know that you were an almost every day player and certainly a stronger asset than you got the chance to show here in New York. And as the blog indicates, you appear to be a really good guy. I just want fans of the New York Rangers who didn't get the chance to see that firsthand, to at least know that much about the guy that played 16 games for the Rangers this season.