Sure It Feels Nice To Beat Them But. . .

I cannot, until I see how the Rangers play against Boston on Saturday, be sure whether it was Rangers utterly dominating the Devils last night, or a partial byproduct of the fact that the Devils were without not only their marquee goaltender, but half their team. I'm not sure. Don't get me wrong. After years, like seven or more years, of the Devils stomping all over the Rangers, I am more than ready to admit that the Rangers have the Devils number now. And I love it. Of course I do. But to assume they'd get five goals and look so (again) utterly dominant for the majority of last night's game against say Detroit or Montreal, I am not ready to make that claim.

That being said, it was a good win that showed some things. I'll be more apt to say, wow, okay, great, if on Saturday they are able to do the same against a very good Boston team. [Although if pattern stays the same, it'll be a 2-1, 1-0 game with those boys; unless we want to bring up the St. Patricks Day Massacre of 2007?]

The good things were that playing together Lauri Korpikoski, Dan Fristche, and Nigel Dawes all looked much improved. I've been the one saying that I think Fristche, being a bigger body, will do well if given a chance, especially on a team of mostly smaller people. And add a big guy in Korpikoski, and that's exactly what happened. Am I sure that Dawes and Fritsche would collect two assists every night? No. But they did last night for a reason. Again, to go back a day or two, to my comments, Prucha/Dawes/Drury are too similar and too small of players to be working on one line. But stick a small guy (be it Dawes, be it Prucha, or honestly even Drury) with two bigger guys who can win those battles more cleanly and I think that's why you'll see better results. As evidenced last night.

Now Korpikoski had gone into the lineup to replace Dawes on Monday. Fristche went in to replace Prucha. With Gomez unable to go last night, Dawes was reinserted into the lineup (honestly on some really flakey answer by Renney of how he'd be going back into the lineup anyway because the Rangers shootout didn't look good the other night against Edmonton and how Dawes plays well against the Devils - - all true mind you, but I think Renney has permanently forgotten who scored a ton of shootout goals for the Rangers back in the day and who had one on Brodeur last November 3rd of last season. #25. Look him up). Anyway, all that aside, my question is, so when Gomez, who frankly I'm very glad sat if he wasn't at least 90%, comes back, then who goes out? I'd find it hard to believe Dawes would sit, given Renney's undying faith in him. You're not probably not taking anyone else out. Or you shouldn't be. If Gomez goes back to the Naslund/Callahan line, (and gotta love Ryan Callahan. I keep saying, that guy plays every game every night), Drury presumably will drop down to play with Korpikoski and _____. I would hesitate to want to remove Fritsche from a situation where he looked very comfortable, on a team where they are struggling for size on a nightly basis. But again, I can't imagine Dawes will be pulled for Fritsche to get his own chance to play consistently. It's a shame for him really.

In the other 3rd line roulette/carousel/musical chairs news, yesterday Patrick Rissmiller was sent to Hartford on a conditioning assignment. So he is not subject to waivers, either way. My question. Can Prucha be given the same opportunity if he does not play consistently? What are the parameters for this? I'm sure Petr doesn't want to be playing in Hartford ideally, but, I think since he's the "good soldier" Tom Renney keeps saying he is, he'd at least rather go down and be playing somewhere. I know they need to have one healthy body, for I guess that is all he really appears to be to the team, sitting around, but when Rissmiller comes back up, can Prucha go down? I'm doing some research on this.

And we're going to get me to eat some humble pie here. Wait. Wait for it. Yes, Chris Drury is on a goal scoring streak. Yes I said it. A scoring streak. Goals in two consequtive games. And 5 in his last 4 games. Not bad, honestly. And all kidding aside, I'd be a horrible fan to want the captain of my team to not succeed. So of course, depite kicking, er, gently ribbin him when he was down, I have wanted him to succeed. Again, that $7+ million a year is not going anywhere. Why not have him be the guy getting goals and being, umm, clutch. Which so I heard, he once was. Again, this coming from the girl that was happy to get Drury and nauseated to get Gomez on Free Agent Frenzy Day 2007.

Even if Dubinsky isn't scoring, at least he's sticking up for his team. Again, if there is one major complaint I have about the team - - not including lack of goal scoring, lack of mental toughness, lack of cohesiveness, lack of consistency - - it's lack of personality. And maybe that's not fair. But I think it might be true. I asked my father, who on the team he thought had personality. And he said, besides Orr and Gomez? [For the record, I asked him the other night who was the Rangers most consistent players all year and we agreed on Hank and Callahan]. But really, some of the guys have a little spunk and that's great. But I need some character. And the Rangers have decisively less of it than before. Now, if they are winning, and playing well, I guess they can all be mindless statues and no one will care. But I'd like the whole package. A winning team, with a little heart and character. A little spunk. Dubinsky, has been, and can hopefully get back to, being like that.

Good for Niki Zherdev pocketing two goals. If he can get back on track, I'd feel better about the 2 goal pattern the Rangers had been getting into.

Oh but speaking of 2-goals. Apparently, and thanks to Home Ice XM204 and Hockey This Morning for this - - Hank Lundqvist's streak of 18 games against the Devils where he's given up 2 goals or less, is the second longest streak of its kind in the modern era. The other, Dominik Hasek against Ottawa has gone 23 games. Very interesting stuff.

On a side note, I was not happy with two things yesterday. One, that despite paying for Centre Ice and living in the Rangers home region, I was forced to endure Chico Resch and Doc Emerick on four channels. Sam and Joe were no where to be found. I missed the majority of the 1st period on the phone with DirecTV who told me that either it was blacked out entirely (which is false) or that the Devils, being the home team, had the right to say where and how the game was broadcast. I find that suspect. But I'll check into it, be assured of that.

And secondly, I would have been thrilled if the Rangers won 5-2 against anyone, but I had to feel a little for Kevin Weekes. His team did little to support. And he is a good, good guy. So with that, Marty, please hurry and get well soon. So the Rangers can beat you!

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.

The Numbers Behind the Rangers Roulette-Carousel-Musical Chairs Charade. . . [updated]

On a side note, in my reading, I found this on a blog and figure that it saves me the effort of typing it out myself. I am trying to see the pattern of who plays when and why, with the carousel-musical chairs-roulette 3rd line I spoke about last week, but I really can't. I can say though that with the way guys like Petr Prucha, Dan Fritsche, and Patrick Rissmiller are shuffled in and out and find themselves playing one game and then not another for three or four at a time, can anyone really blame them for being a step behind when they finally do see game action?

I don't think Rissmiller had a good game last night, as people keep saying, but come on. The guy played 6:53 of ice time in one game on 10/11 before having his ankle injured. In his first game back, five later, he is saddled with Chris Drury and Markus Naslund, the inconsistency twins. I'm not saying he's my favorite on the roulette wheel at all, but poor Rissmiller had no shot in hell of impressing last night. Sorry. And I'm sure he's a nice guy, but I actually almost feel as bad for him as I do for Prucha in this (almost. . .). He signs a contract but he really never had a shot here at all. Players better than him who have been here longer never had a shot either. But it was wrong to give this guy a contract here when he could have signed elsewhere and could actually be playing right now.

But if you look at the below, it shows that Fritsche got to play a game - a good game in my opinion against Toronto on 10/17, only to be benched the next game. Prucha played his best game, in my opinion, against the Sabres on 10/15 and he was benched the next 3 games. Way to build on their efforts, right? What can they possibly do to build any sort of momentum - from the locker room? And what about the mental games it plays with their head. They have to know they gave their all and that, for the most part, it was better than their teammates.

Dawes, on the other hand (and no, no, I'm off my Dawes rant for now), he got to play against Toronto on 10/17, and he had a so-so game. (Because, face it, he looked dreadful in his first three.) But for what reason did he get to play the following night in Detroit? Because he potted a non-decisive goal in the shootout? Okay. Fine. But that gave him a chance to get his legs, get momentum, and feel a part of the team. He's, consequently, looked better and better. Not great, but better.

So Fritsche, Prucha, and Rissmiller are not going to be given the same chance? Obviously not. I mean, really, the fairest thing to do is to, as promised, give guys like Prucha a five or so game stretch to play and get their heads and legs into the game.

But who do you bench? Well, if I were the coach I'd bench the worst player on the ice for the last nine games. Oh...what, I'm sorry. The Rangers made him captain and paid him $7 million a year. So he has to play every night even though right now he's doing nothing but wasting a roster spot for someone who did look ready to play to start the season.

Hmm. Okay. Can't argue there.

Dan and Patrick - welcome to New York.

Petr - I'm praying for you buddy. I hear California is beautiful all year round.

All - I feel sorry for whichever of you becomes the utility guy here. It's going to be a long year. 9 down and 73 to go.

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

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

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

Korpikoski:
10/4/08 – 0 shots, 19 shifts, 11:03 ice time
10/5/08 – 0 shots, 14 shifts, 10:37 ice time
10/10/08 – 0 shots, 18 shifts, 12:43 ice time
10/11/08 – (-1), 1 shot, 13 shifts, 8:18 ice time
10/13/08 – 0 shots, 18 shifts, 13:01 ice time
10/15/08 – 0 shots, 14 shifts 10:54 ice
DNP
10/18/08 – (-2), 0 shots, 17 shifts, 12:08 ice time
DNP

Rissmiller:
DNP
DNP
DNP
10/11 – (-1), 2 shots, 14 shifts, 6:53 ice time
DNP
DNP
DNP
DNP
10/20 - (-1), 0 shots, 11:32 ice time

Callahan:

10/4/08 – 3 shots, 20 shifts, 11:58 ice time
10/5/08 – 2 shots, 18 shifts, 14:19 ice time
10/10/08 – 3 shots, 19 shifts, 12:03 ice time
10/11/08 – (-1), 0 shots, 18 shifts, 12:12 ice time
10/13/08 – 1 goal, 4 shots, 21 shifts, 15:47 ice time
10/15/08 – 1 assist, 1 shot, 18 shifts, 13:04 ice time
10/17/08 – no shots, 16 shifts 12:52 ice time
10/18/08 – 1 goal, 2 shots, 24 shifts, 15:41 ice time
10/20/08 - 4 shots, 16:58

***Updated 10/21/08- 1:40pm east***

Well the carousel-roulette-musical chairs charade has lost it's first member:
Patrick Rissmiller has been placed on waivers, TSN reports, as of 12:30 east today:

http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=253310&lid=sublink02&lpos=headlines_main

I can't say anything more than I just said above. He really never had a chance.

And for the record: I predicted on Sept 11th ("With apologies in advance. . .") that out of Aaron Voros, Patrick Rissmiller, and Andreas Jamtin, only one would play on the Rangers this year.

So far, with only Aaron Voros in the lineup consistently, I guess I was right.