Not to Be Unfair to Cam Ward...

Not to be unfair to Carolina Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward, but any goalie tonight would've stopped 37 of 38 shots against the Rangers tonight.

I think the Shot Clock Man has a bad angle of the ice. At one point, a puck was passed parallel to the goal line. He took his stick, reached out, and pushed it towards the blue line. I took a glance at the shot clock and it went from "11" to "12".

Brandon Dubinsky rifled a shot - absolutely blasted this puck - that was caught by Ward. The only hitch? It was going high if Ward didn't touch it. He actually had to move out of net to catch it. Shot clock increase.

I'm not saying most of those 38 shots never actually were shots. In fact, most of them were. However, how many really tested Ward? Three? Four? The Rangers had a couple of good chances, but at least 29 of those shots were crappy, low-angle, easily-saved shots.

The Rangers do that; they have been for years. They make goalies look amazing. Remember when Rick DiPietro made over 50 saves one day in March '07 and everyone said how incredible he was? Guess what? Most of those shots were right to his chest - they would've hit the Gordon's Fisherman right in the head.

Tonight, the Rangers must've seen the logo on the Ward's jersey as a bulls-eye. Because they kept aiming for it.

Start Johnson; Sit Redden...

Finally, John Tortorella did what Tom Renney should have done starting November of 2008 - bench Wade Redden.

I used to say that Redden was a $2M player getting paid $6.5M/year. Recently, he had been playing like a call-up from Hartford. The only thing is, the call-ups from Hartford were playing better.

When everyone under age 26 on the roster plays better than a mid-3os veteran, there is a problem. And that problem, regardless of salary, should sit in the stands and watch a few (dozen) games.

When they put him back in the lineup Monday against Carolina, if he doesn't respond to the benching with smarter and more physical play (and if he stops playing "hot potato" with the puck like it's going to hurt him if he skates with it) there is only one more thing you can do: put him on waivers.

It will hurt paying him $6.5M to be in the minors, but to be honest, I couldn't care less. Our ticket prices are high regardless. Sure, we'll see that stupid Chase ad on the plexiglass every game, but we see that now with him on the team. What we pay to watch the Rangers is only going to go up every year, regardless of if he is on the team or in the minors. Might as well have him down there.

Other teams couldn't do that, because they don't have an endless supply of money like Jim Dolan and Cablevision have. So if they're paying a player over $6M to play in the AHL, ticket prices skyrocket. Ours will anyway. See what I mean?

What WOULD affect me is if he is taken on re-entry waivers and the Rangers have to pay half of his salary for the next 4 full seasons. That WOULD directly affect me because then they can't use his Cap space to pay for a player who hits, or shoots, or passes well, or scores, or clears the crease.

* * *

Coming off of back-to-back wins, there is no better time than now to bench Henrik Lundqvist. Let Chad Johnson get his first 2 games in against weak teams. Carolina and Florida are no definite wins, for sure, but the ideals thing would be to let him beat Carolina on Monday, then against Florida on Wednesday. This gives him great experience, some confidence, and his first MSG start.

Plus, it would give Lundqvist a full week off before he plays the Islanders on Saturday at MSG.

Rangers Lose...

The Rangers did something today they haven't done since before the lockout - they lost their season opener.

Of course, the difference between this year and the past 4 years is the quality of the opponent they played. Since the lockout, they haven't played any teams that made the playoffs that season for their first game. They beat, in order, Philadelphia, Washington, Florida, and Tampa Bay. This year, not only did they have a team that will make the playoffs, they faced a team that won the Stanley Cup.

So, how have those teams who played the defending Stanley Cup Champions done when they got to see the banner raised?

Last year, defending champions Detroit played Toronto on the night they raised the banner, who missed the playoffs for the 4th straight year.

In 2007, defending champions Anaheim played Boston when they raised the banner (they played their first 2 games vs. LA in Europe, then went on a road trip, then played Boston in their home opener). Boston snuck into the playoffs but lost to Montreal in the first round.

In 2006, Carolina played Buffalo in their home opener when they celebrated winning the Stanley Cup. Buffalo had a fantastic start, a great year, and lost to Ottawa in Game 5 overtime to be eliminated from the playoffs in '07.

In 2005, Tampa Bay had a delayed celebration at home against Carolina. Carolina had a dream season and won the Stanley Cup.

In 2003, New Jersey played Toronto. Toronto wound up losing to Philadelphia in the 2nd round (the Flyers were very good in those playoffs, and the only reason they didn't go on to the Finals that year is because Keith Primeau couldn't play every shift and Brad Richards played the game of his life in Game 7).

In 2002, the Red Wings played Montreal, who missed the playoffs and ended up 5 games under .500.

Which will the Rangers be more like? Will they be #1 in the league like Buffalo and run out of steam in the Conference Finals? Will they miss the playoffs like last season's Toronto and Montreal of '02? Will they win the Cup like Carolina did in '06? Probably not any of those scenarios. They'll probably go hot, go cold, and then fight for a playoff spot in mid-March. They'll clinch in early-April, and then have a 2nd round exit like Toronto in '03.

Of course, I'm hoping it's different. But I'm also realistic.

I could be wrong. John Tortorella's system could be good. Marian Gaborik looked very good vs. Pittsburgh in Game #1, and he might score 45 goals. Brandon Dubinsky even looked good last night. Plus, the defensive pairings I wanted were put on the ice tonight (Staal/Girardi; Redden/Gilroy; Rozsival/Del Zotto).

I'm not going to dissect last night's game. You probably saw it. Sure, there's a lot I can talk about - poor officiating; an excessive amount of odd-man rushes on Henrik Lundqvist; Mike Del Zotto being in the right spot twice but not being able to get good wood on the puck; Wade Redden's $6.5M body check on Evgeni Malkin; Redden being near the net and playing physical until he sucked the last 6 minutes of the game; Marc-Andre Fleury's game-breaking save on Vinny Prospal. But it's a long season.

And with 5 more games against Pittsburgh, expect plenty of confusion about phantom penalties called in favor of the Penguins. (I say "in favor of the Penguins" instead of "against the Rangers" because for years, this site has been saying that the NHL doesn't have a bias against any one team, but they do have a bias for Pittsburgh.)

It was an exciting game. They had some good chances. Gaborik can be incredible. Ales Kotalik and Prospal played good. Sean Avery can help a lot and hopefully will soon. But there were way too many odd-man rushes against Hank is too many. He is a great goalie, but he shouldn't have to be the hero every game. And what are you going to do when he isn't playing that game?

I'm also disappointed Alexei Semenov didn't sign with the Rangers. Having a 7th d-man is a luxury they haven't had in a while. Jason Strudwick was good in the locker room a few years back, but he wasn't a great player. Last year, no d-man was help accountable because there was never a threat of benching one player. A veteran 7th man would mean a struggling player could take a seat, or a rookie with nerves could watch a game from up high one night to get his bearings back.

Anyway, it's a long season. It's been nice to start the season with 2 points every year, but there are 81 games left.

Playoff Bet Update, Third Round...

The $100 playoff bet that Bryan and I made is in full swing going into the Finals. I am ahead 10-8 with one round left.

To recap, you get a point for successfully picking the team who wins the series; another point if you guess it in the correct number of games; and another point if it is an upset win.

Since neither Pittsburgh or Detroit were underdogs, no "upset points" were given out. And since both me and Bryan had the same picks (Penguins and Blackhawks, both in 6), we received the same amount of points, obviously (one point).

He had 7 in round 1, 0 in round 2, and 1 in round 3. I had 6-3-1.

So, my pick for the Finals is Penguins in 6. In fact, in every single round this year, I have had "Penguins in 6" as my choice. I actually only picked Detroit to win once, in the 2nd round against Anaheim, although I knew they were going to beat Columbus in Round 1, but I wanted to get upset points if they lost.

Regardless, this should be a good series. Better than the 3rd round, no doubt, and even better than last year. Last year, the Penguins were good but definitely beatable - the Rangers could have beaten them, and since Montreal was out, there was no other strong team in the East.

That said, Game 5 of last year's series, the triple overtime game where Petr Sykora scored the game-winner, was one of the best, if not the best non-Rangers game I have ever seen.

I'm looking forward to this series. TiVo has been put on notice.

A Few Notes...

1) Tom Renney will be the assistant coach in Edmonton next season under Pat Quinn. Renney in Edmonton? Know what this means? Three more years of Jason Strudwick in an Oiler jersey.

2) Sergei Fedorov will be going to the KHL in Russia to play with his brother, Fedor, on the Metallurg Magnitogorsk. This puts to rest the commonly held theory that no one wanted to ever be on the same team as FedFed, as at least one person in the world does.

3) Years ago, people criticized Ronald Reagan for calling the Soviet Union "an Evil Empire," yet no one criticized them for actually being an evil empire. Yesterday, the NHL fined Joel Quenneville $10,000 for criticizing the officials. Quenneville questioned a penalty when the game was 2-0 which he said was the worst call in the history of the game. They fined him for saying something was wrong instead of investigating what went wrong and why the phantom call was made. Detroit scored on the ensuing power play and the game quickly got out of hand.

4) Can you imagine if both matchups end by tomorrow and we have 9 days off until the Stanley Cup Finals start? What a stark difference to the NBA, which plays Round 2 games in the West when Round 1 games in the East aren't even finished yet.

Nine days? Nine days? Nine days?! That's ridiculous! What "fringe fan" who has been interested in fast-paced Penguin/Hurricane games is going to even remember to watch again on a Saturday afternoon 9 days after the Conference Finals end!?

Of all the questionable decisions the NHL has made, this is up there as one of the worst. For Gary Bettman's sake, he better hope Carolina and Chicago get the comeback trains rolling.

Horrible. I know they want NBC to have the games on weekends, but still, there has to be someone over in the NHL offices who has a clue about how to run a league. Are the ratings on NBC on Sunday afternoon really that much higher than the Versus ratings on a Wednesday night? I would venture "not much" because the real fans watch no matter what channel it's on.

Boring...

Once again, the Conference Finals roll around and I tune out. Last year, Pittsburgh/Philadelphia and Dallas/Detroit did not hold my interest (until Dallas started a comeback that eventually failed). This year, neither series are keeping me that into it either as a repeat of the 2008 Finals seems inevitable.

The Penguins/Hurricanes series is definitely the better of the two, but the teams don't interest me much so I am not watching much, regardless of the score or how well Sidney Crosby performs.

Detroit/Chicago? If this were 1999 and Hugh Grant were here, he would say, "Fuhhgedaboudid." Borrrrring. This series was so hyped up going into it - Central Division rivalry; Old Guard vs. New Blood; Chelios returning to Chicago. And yet, they even make playoff overtime boring! This afternoon's game on NBC was such a blowout that even Mike Emerick wasn't excited, and his "interesting facts" seemed dull and forced.

Add to the fact that I don't particularly want any of these 4 teams to win the Cup. Detroit and Carolina have won recently, and I always like seeing new teams win. I can't reasonably make myself root for Pittsburgh or Crosby. And Chicago? I guess it would be nice if they won for the 7,600 fans who were going to games in 2003 to see a winner finally, but those other 13,000 fans who sell the place out sure seemed to have hopped on board at the right time (much like fans in Boston and Washington, as well).

Of course, I will be intently watching the next round, but once again, I am disappointed in the Conference Finals.

And I guess I will be rooting for the Penguins, solely so Gary Bettman gets his wish and the officials can go back to calling every game fairly, even those with the Penguins playing.

Bryan's Conference Finals Picks

So I went 0-for-4 in the second round. I suck. But hey, at least I had Pittsburgh-Washington and Boston-Carolina going seven. As they say, though, you don't get points for coming close. 

Time's running out. I need to pull off some big wins in this round or else I'm screwed. With that in mind, here are my picks for the conference finals.

Eastern Conference

(4) Pittsburgh vs. (6) Carolina - Pittsburgh in 6

The more I think about these teams, the more similar they become. So far, Pittsburgh has defeated a physical Flyers team and an offense-heavy Capitals team. They've shown they can play in any number of ways. Carolina, on the other hand, has defeated the defense-first Devils and the all-around brilliant Bruins. They, too, have had to adapt their style to win. This should be a great series featuring two well-rounded teams, not to mention two goaltenders who have been stellar so far. Both teams have plenty of recent playoff experience. Now, having said all of that, even though I like Ward better than Fleury, I'm going with Pittsburgh. Sidney Crosby played at a ridiculously high level during the Capitals series and should be able to keep up his momentum against the Hurricanes. The Penguins have more talent and should be able to win this highly competitive series... but the Hurricanes have pulled wins out of nowhere a couple of times in these playoffs. I won't be surprised if they win. In the end, you know Gary Bettman and NBC will ensure that the Penguins advance.

Western Conference

(2) Detroit vs. (4) Chicago - Chicago in 6

Yes, I know the Red Wings are the defending Stanley Cup Champions. But did you see Chicago against the Canucks? They made Roberto Luongo look mortal; hell, they made him look awful. Experience might win a lot of battles, but don't underestimate youthful exuberance, particularly when it comes to the fans. There were empty seats at the Joe Louis Arena at Game 7 against Anaheim, partially because of the economy, partially because Red Wings fans are trained to expect a Stanley Cup every year. The United Center, on the other hand, has been absolutely boisterous. The playoffs are new to Blackhawks fans, and they're having the time of their lives during this playoff run. Let's not forget the obvious - these Blackhawks can score, Chris Osgood hasn't been great this year, and Nikolai Khabibulin is capable of stealing a game if he has to. Detroit will definitely play well in this series, but it just seems like a series Chicago is capable of winning.

Playoff Bet Update; Boston Commentary...

Well, first, an update on the playoff prediction bet between Bryan and myself.

He scored 0 points this round, much like I did last year in the 2nd round. He incorrectly chose Boston vs. Washington and Anaheim vs. Vancouver in the Conference Finals. Disappointing.

I scored 3 points, 2 for guessing Pittsburgh over Washington (1 point for the win, 1 because it was an upset), and 1 for Detroit over Anaheim.

My picks for next round? Pittsburgh in 6. Chicago in 6.

* * *

Two stats I heard that I thought were interesting...

- Carolina's last 4 playoff rounds went 7 games (Buffalo, Edmonton in '06; Devils, Bruins in '09). Cam Ward, for the record, is obviously 4-0 in those games.

- This was the 1st time since 2001 that 3 out of the 4 second round series went to 7 games, and it tied the 1986 record of 27 games in that round.

* * *

The Bruins had a dream season, and I would like to offer congratualtions to the 12,000 faithful fans who went to the games when they were on the playoff-bubble to past few years. To everyone else, well, you seemed to hop on the bandwagon at the right moment. Nice timing!

Controversy In Carolina

Tonight's Devils-Hurricanes game had a bit of a controversial ending. For those who haven't seen the highlights, Carolina broke a 3-3 tie by scoring a goal with 0.2 seconds left. The kicker, though, is that Carolina's Jussi Jokinen bumped into Martin Brodeur just before the deciding shot was fired. As you can imagine, Martin Brodeur - not exactly the most gracious of losers - wasn't very happy, slamming his stick against the ice and the boards as he exited the arena.

You can also imagine how this was treated on the Devils' broadcast. It sounded like a wrestling angle where the bad guy gets screwed over and brings in video evidence to prove their point. They even broke out the NHL rulebook, which proved that it should be a goal; of course, the part about it being a judgment call by the on-ice official and not the review officials was completely ignored. The other part that wasn't mentioned is that the bump took place a full two seconds before the shot was fired and that Brodeur easily should have made the save. Never mind that Jokinen should have had a blocker in his lower back before any other contact even took place.

The announcers went on to state that the referee didn't have to call an interference penalty on Jokinen; they could just reverse the goal and play overtime 5-on-5. That's fine, except you can't prove that the interference definitively caused the goal. If Jokinen bumped Brodeur while the shot was in the air, that'd be one thing. But to ask the referees to disallow a goal just because of incidental contact seconds earlier is ridiculous.

One last thing. If certain players had thrown the same temper-tantrum as Brodeur, they'd be looking at a fairly significant fine. But not Brodeur, the NHL's golden boy, Mr. 552 Wins. Instead, we'll get endless platitudes about his passion and how "all he cares about is winning". Make sure you have a barf bag ready as you watch Game 5 of this series.

Which Series is This More Like?...

The Capitals won the Southeast Division this year, and are down 2-0. So, which series is this most like?

2005-06 - Southeast-winning Carolina Hurricanes lost the first 2 at home to Montreal, then replaced Martin Gerber in net with Cam Ward. Ward led the 'Canes to victories in the next 4 games, then they went on to win the Stanley Cup.

2006-07 - Southeast-winning Atlanta Thrashers lose the first 2 at home in the series against the Rangers. They lose Game 1 4-3, then replace goalie Kari Lehtonen with Johan Hedberg. Hedberg loses Game 2 by a score of 2-1 (on a freak bounce-shot by Sean Avery), and they go back to Lehtonen for Game 3. They lose that game 7-0, and Hedberg is back in net for the loss in the elimination game, Game 4.

Will Jose Theodore be back in net for Game 3? He accepted responsibility for the loss in Game 1 and wanted a chance to redeem himself, but Caps' coach Bruce Boudreau went with the rookie, Simeon Varlamov. Will he do a switch, even though Varlamov only let in one goal? Hedberg had a decent game in Game 2 but sat the next game.

* * *

That was great defensive coverage by Tom Poti on the Ryan Callahan goal. Poti went to cover Markus Naslund on his right side, and with his left hand, motioned for the other Capitals defenseman to cover Callahan. Thing is, there wasn't another D-man there, Callahan easily accepted a good pass from Naslund, and scored the only goal of the game.

I don't care if you're reading this as a Ranger or Islander fan. Be happy Tom Poti is on neither of these teams anymore.

All Is Well On This Night

You could say tonight went pretty well for the New York hockey teams. But that doesn't even begin to describe it.

The Rangers didn't just win tonight. They got a piece of themselves back. Their win tonight, coupled with Florida's loss, gives the Rangers a two-point lead with two games left. In essence, all the Rangers need to do is win one more game. One more win gives the Rangers 93 points and 42 wins; while Florida can still get to 93 points, they cannot win more than 41 games. The Rangers also did themselves a tremendous favor by taking two points from Montreal, as they've given themselves at least a fighting chance of avoiding Boston in the first round.

As for the Islanders... well, it's hard to draw positives out of 9-0 losses. Really, it is. If you listen hard enough, you can almost hear the accusations of tanking from up in Toronto. That's what happens when you get outshot 57-12. It was so bad that Scott Gordon changed goalies; if my memory serves me correctly, the only other time he changed goalies mid-game was during the Black Friday debacle in Boston. In any event, zero points is zero points, and there are some who will be thrilled with this result. As for me, I'm a huge Ric Flair fan, so I was more than happy to hear this over and over again.

So, what do we make of tonight? The Islanders have virtually wrapped up the top seed in the Draft Lottery. Tampa Bay is out of the running. Colorado will certainly fall to San Jose tonight, but it doesn't really matter. Assuming an Avalanche loss tonight, they will have 66 points with three games left. They would have to lose every game in regulation and the Islanders would have to win all of their remaining games to miss out on 30th place. That's not going to happen. So rest easy, Islanders fans. As for the Rangers, their playoff picture is much clearer. Truth be told, if they're truly a playoff team, they should be able to beat Philadelphia in one of two games. At this point, they'd have to be considered the favorites to beat out Florida. The hope now is that the Rangers play well in their final two games not just to get into the playoffs, but to get on a roll so that they can enter the post-season with some momentum.

Having said all of that, we close this entry out by throwing our support behind the Phoenix Coyotes in their game against St. Louis tonight. As much as we love John Davidson and the work he's done in St. Louis, a regulation loss by the Blues clinches a playoff berth for the Columbus Blue Jackets, who have never made the playoffs. The Blue Jackets fans deserve a shot to see their play in the post-season, and if they draw Calgary in the first round, anything is possible.

Pretty Horrible Game...

The Rangers never got a break today. Sure, the refs gave them some when they whistled Carolina for 4 straight penalties in the first. But they never took advantage, never pounded while the iron was hot, never cashed in, never put a nail in the coffin, except possibly their own.

John Tortorella said last night that if the Rangers can't wake up for a big game against a team in the same boat, then they don't have the right players. He said, "But we do." No, he doesn't, and he knows it.

Twelve forwards were all shut-out tonight. Twelve. Nik Zherdev tried for some of the game; Sean Avery played well; Ryan Callahan tried his best; Blair Betts was there for them as was Fred Sjostrom.

But where was everyone else? Scott Gomez took a few crappy shots straight at Cam Ward. Markus Naslund had 3 shots, all at even strength and all in the 2nd period. Useless the rest of the way. Chris Drury, the "new point man on the power play," had 1 shot all game, and none in the first period during those 4 failed power plays. Wade Redden? One shot, lots of ice time.

Let me put this in bold lettering...

The Rangers will not win with Wade Redden on the power play.

Tom Renney couldn't figure that out, or didn't want to admit it, and look where he is now - getting paid by James Dolan without working (okay, maybe that isn't actually horrible). I'm not a coach, far from it, and I can see it. Can John Tortorella not see that he does more harm than good for this team? I know GM Glen Sather gave him a monstrous, absurd contract. But he is good as a 4th or 5th or 6th d-man only, not a top player, and NOT a power play quarterback!

The Hurricanes scored to make it 3-2, and once the puck dropped, I said, "They're gonna score again." Sure enough, 10 seconds later, it's 4-2. Carolina scores fast and the Rangers unravel quicker. Once again, not a coach, but I know this. Tortorella should've called a timeout, given them a chance to regroup, not yell, and sent them back out to score. Instead, it was a quick faceoff and a quick goal.

Four games left, all against playoff teams. One is the best team in the East, one is now in 7th and will need a huge road game at MSG Tuesday, and two are against a Philadelphia team who plays real tough against the Rangers.

* * *

If they miss the playoffs, I won't be heartbroken, but I will be pissed. Pissed that only a handful of players play like they care (Antropov, Girardi, Betts, Callahan, Dubi, Mara, Orr, Sjostrom, Lundqvist, Avery), and even madder that players like Gomez, Redden, Rozsival, and Naslund are wearing a sweater that I've sworn by since I was 3 years old. They put shame to the blue and red, even more than Kevin Stevens, Stephane Quintal, and Alexandre Daigle did.

For the record, on the goal that made it 3-2, Redden's stick was behind him. He wasn't hitting anyone, he wasn't swinging his stick, it was behind him, he stood, a goal was scored. Crease-clearing defenseman? Offensive threat? Noif. Defensive threat and offensive liability is more like it.

Uh-Oh

This was not a good night for the Rangers to lose.

Zach will have more about this game later. But for now, real quick. The Rangers are still in the playoff hunt, but just barely. Florida is two points back of the eight-seeded Rangers; what's worse is that Florida has one game in hand. Even worse than that, though, is that the game in hand is against the hapless Thrashers. The Panthers play the Thrashers twice in their final five games, though games against the Penguins, Capitals and Flyers ensure that if Florida does qualify for the playoffs, it will certainly be well-deserved.

The Rangers' upcoming schedule? At Boston on Saturday, where the Bruins are making a push for the President's Trophy. Tuesday, they host the desperate Canadiens. The final two games are a home-and-home against Philadelphia, who will surely bring its A-game as the Flyers attempt to earn home ice advantage in the first round. To say that none of these games will be easy is a huge understatement.

You figure Florida will beat Atlanta in both matchups and should be good for three points in their games against Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Washington. That would leave them with 94 points. The Rangers would need five points in their final points to match that total. If the Rangers and Panthers tie for the eight seed, here's how the tie would be broken:

 - Total Wins. The Rangers currently have 40, while Florida has 38. Though those two games against the Thrashers makes this differential much more surmountable.

 - Points Earned In Head-To-Head Competition. The Rangers are 1-2-1 against Florida this year. So if there's a tie and the teams have the same number of wins, Florida gets the nod.

 - Goal Differential. It won't come to this, but Florida has an even goal differential while the Rangers' differential is minus-11.

Make no mistake, not qualifying for the playoffs would be a disaster for the Rangers. But it wouldn't diminish the fact that Florida is a pretty good team and has earned its place in the playoff picture. Part of me hopes they get in because it would help the franchise exponentially. But a Rangers team in the playoffs is good for ratings and publicity, things the NHL needs desperately. That path to the playoffs would have been infinitely easier had they beaten Carolina tonight. Now, they don't even control their own destiny.

Playoff Tickets...

I got my playoff ticket invoice today. Madison Square Garden is telling me that for $3,888, I can 2 tickets to 16 home playoff games. That assumes that not only will they have home ice advantage throughout the playoffs, but that every series will go 7 games. 

Home ice advantage? They aren't even technically in the playoff picture. They had two objectives today - get 2 points, and stop the Carolina Hurricanes from getting any points. They failed in both.

But don't worry. If I pay nearly four grand, anything left over from games not played or series (don't know the plural of "series") not played goes towards my tickets next year. 

All of this on a day when the offense thought Tom Renney was behind the bench. And to be honest, with all the ice time - and power play time - that Michal Rozsival and Wade Redden had, I thought Tom Renney was behind the bench. Wasn't one of his biggest problems his over-reliance on players who didn't ever help the offense? John Tortorella comes in claiming "change" and "hope" and "a better economy" and we get #33 passing the puck continuously and #6 getting busted on goals time and time and time again.

The first period of tonight's game was sporadically exciting but mostly boring. The second period I enjoyed, very fast, up-and-down. Steve Valiquette was excellent for most of the game. Sean Avery was a monster all game, especially on one shift when he left the penalty box and rocked 3 hits in 10 seconds. The 3rd period made me wish I hadn't napped earlier in the day. It was boring, horrendous hockey with uninspired play.

Wade Redden is making $6.5 million dollars this year (or enough to buy 3,433 people playoff tickets for all 16 home games). Maybe he can take some of that money, catch up with Dorothy, go to Emerald City, and buy some heart.

* * * 

I must say, as much as I hate the Hurricane's "cheerleaders," I hate the Versus broadcast even more. I appreciate that they take on hockey and lead in with shows about dead deer, but every Monday night game on that channel makes me cringe. The first 3 minutes were like watching a stop-motion movie (I think Coraline was more fluid than the Versus' choppy camerawork). I knew before the game that the Canadiens fired Guy Carbonneau, I didn't need everyone to tell me throughout the whole game and intermission. I can't stand hearing Eddie Olczyk being referred to as "Edzo." 

But above all else, I wish they would leave a non-commercial-time-out alone. Every time the whistle blew for an icing, penalty, or offsides, we were treated to the Marines.com Player of the Game (where you could find out for the 8th time that Rod Brind'amour was in his 600th game as a Hurricane). Or maybe it was the Bud Light Drinkability Stat of the Game. 

Ridiculous. Thankfully they only have 2 games left on Versus, and I'll be at one of them so I won't have to watch it. 

Trade Recap via Zach...

Now we know why Petr Prucha has been in the lineup for the past few games. A showcase. But does Don Maloney really need to know what Prucha brings? He was a big proponent of him in NY. Did Tom Renney pull the strings on this deal?

The Rangers effectively sold the heart and soul of their team (along with sporadically-gifted Nigel Dawes and always-horrendous Dmitri Kalinin) for Derek Morris.

They tell me Morris is going to QB the PP. For those who actually watch hockey, Morris has 12 points in 57 games this year. Not one of those is on the power play. He has 35 career power play points. Petr Prucha had 16 power play goals in 2005-06 alone, as a rookie.

The one bright spot is that now atleast Prucha will get ice time.

* * *

My computer were haywire before. I was typing letters and they would end up in random spots on the screen. Not fun. So I closed the laptop, shut it down like Vesa Toskala this season, and so I couldn't post.

I do indeed like the Nik Antropov deal. I think he is going to be good in NY. Maybe he can play with Zherdev. He is a UFA next year as well and if he re-signs (I realize we are talking about this before he even plays a game in NY) he will come around $3M.

Best deal of the day? I don't know. Seems like Boston stole Mark Recchi along with a 2nd round pick. Then again, Buffalo got a 2nd round pick for former Ranger Dom Moore? Uh... 12 goals (a career high), 41 points (same), and a shutdown center for a 2nd round pick in a deep draft? Get real. I'd rather have Antropov, for sure. (Granted, Buffalo basically sent the 2nd round pick they received for Ales Kotalik.)

Worst deal? Why would LA trade Patty O'Sullivan? Boston receiving Steve Montador for someone who couldn't stick on the Islanders roster? A win for the Bruins. In fact, Anaheim made a lot of bad trades today, trading Travis Moen, Montador, Sam Pahlsson, and others for a bunch of nobodies. The only one that might stick is Nick Bonino, a late-round pick from 2007. They did also receive Erik Christensen.

This Toronto/Tampa Bay deal sending Jamie Heward, Olie Kolzig, and others for some guy seems ridiculous, and I have to check on this one.

Favorite trade? Antoine Vermette for Pascal LeClaire. Helps everyone, and I am rooting for Columbus whole-heartedly.

Someone should re-name the Hurricanes to the Carolina Rentals. (Bad joke, I know.) In 2006, they traded for Doug Weight and Mark Recchi. Both players won the Cup with them, then re-signed in their respective cities (St. Louis; Pittsburgh). Then, Matt Cullen signs in NY. He later gets traded back. Over the summer, Erik Cole went to Edmonton. Today, he came back to Carolina. What, was Aaron Ward not available today?

Calgary and Phoenix definitely won today, though. Calgary got Jordan Leopold, Olli Jokinen, and a 3rd round pick, automatically strengthening them this year. Phoenix nailed Prucha, Dawes, Scott Upshall, Matthew Lombardi, and a slew of picks including a 1st round pick, helping them now and in the future.

Teams that stood still in the past few weeks: Vancouver (although they did get Glen Metropolit off waivers; they considered Mats Sundin their trade deadline deal); Nashville (no improvment and no fire-sale means they will probably miss the playoffs and not get a good draft pick); Washington (I guess that they wanted Bill Guerin but couldn't trade Michael Nylander's $5M contract). Am I missing anyone? A few teams, like the Devils and Canadiens, made moves in the past 2 weeks so I didn't count them.

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I know it's wishful dreaming, but how sweet would a Wade Redden for upcoming UFA Jay Bouwmeester be?

Don't Buy!...

As we all know, the NHL Deadline will be here Wednesday at 3, formerly Tuesday at 3 p.m. but since there was a big slate of games on Tuesday, they pushed it back to a more open day.

The Rangers, by and large, always buy, with the rare exception of 2004, when they had to get rid of contracts because of the upcoming salary cap. That year, they dumped Petr Nedved, Greg de Vries, Vladimir Malakhov, Brian Leetch, Chris Simon, Jussi Markkanen, Matthew Barnaby, and Martin Rucinsky for prospects, picks, Blair Betts, and Steve Valiquette. (I will have a post on this later in the week).

In 2006, they traded Ville Nieminen for a draft pick, then used that pick to get Sandis Ozolinsh, who, during the first round against New Jersey, did more damage to the Rangers than Jaromir Jagr's shoulder or Henrik Lundqvist's teeth-grinding-induced headaches did.

In 2007, Aaron Ward got shipped off for Paul Mara. They also traded Pascal Dupuis (formerlly Adam Hall) to Atlanta for Alex Bourret (since traded away). A pick also exchanged hands in the Atlanta trade, but I don't know who received it. I think it was a 3rd rounder.

Last year, Christian Backman came to the club for a 4th-round pick. No, he wasn't good, but he did add depth and it was cheap.

This year, the team needs more than a mediocre defenseman. They already have Wade Redden, Michal Rozsival, Eric Reitz, and Dmitri Kalinin playing that role.

Yet, what they do need will be expensive, and to be honest, won't work. 

With the exception of Carolina picking up Doug Weight and Mark Recchi in the months leading up to the 2006 playoffs, trade deadline deals don't always equal a sip from the Cup. (Carolina also never should've won the Cup. They got lucky against Buffalo, who was tired from a grueling series against Ottawa, and if Dwayne Roloson didn't go down in Game 1 vs. Edmonton, the Oilers would have won easily.)

What the Rangers SHOULD do is more like what they did in 2007. Trade money-for-money, as in ditching Aaron Voros for someone cheaper (maybe even an expiring contract), or trading a big name player like Redden for someone young and cheap. Of course, Redden won't be going anywhere. Other GMs aren't going to fall for him like Glen Sather unfortunately did. 

I like Nigel Dawes, but he is going to be a RFA, so maybe he can be moved to a team looking for forward depth for a pick or a young prospect, like Dupuis was. 

The Rangers probably will try to make a big splash, maybe moving pieces around to try to get Jay Bouwmeester. Bad move. Don't trade the future to have him for a month. Trade the present to try to get him in the summer for nothing but money.

I hope the Rangers don't deplete themselves like they did in the late-90s until 2003 at the deadline. Reason says they will not win the Cup this year. They might make the playoffs (probably will), may even eek out a win in the first round and be competitive in the 2nd, but their collection of 2nd line centers and 2nd pairing defensemen won't win them any silver in June.

Glen Sather doesn't read this blog, that's for sure. If he did, we wouldn't be suffering with Wade "I scored a goal!" Redden for the next 5 years. But let's hope he uses common sense, realizes the reasonable expectations for this team he assembled, and looks towards the future.

On Drury, On Weekes...

Chris Drury must have heard my calls from two or three weeks ago asking for him to do a conditioning stint in Hartford. He has come alive lately. In Tampa Bay, it was like a group of bullies taunting a weakling, and to of his goals were a result of bad goaltending. However, they were also good positioning and good shots.

Against the New Jersey Devils, in front of 5,000 of their most rabid fans, not only did he have a goal, but he made a great, great, understated play. Wade Redden took a shot from the point on a 5-on-3, and Drury, whilst falling, poked the puck away from a Devil penalty killer who was looking to clear the puck. It landed perfectly for Nik Zherdev to easily slam it home for his first of the night.

It was another very good effort by Drury last night. With Scott Gomez out, he really stepped up.

Kevin Weekes, on the other hand, did not step up when his name was called. I respect Kevin Weekes. I think he is a great team player, a well-spoken athlete with a great will to win. However, his talent has subsided considerably since his run to the Cup Finals in 2002 with Carolina. 

The loss shouldn't fall solely on his padded shoulders. The Devils, undermanned and outmatched, stood no chance once the Rangers decided to play in the second period (the second straight game where the Rangers were lackluster in the first period and came alive in the second). Bad penalties because of a desire to cheap shot at every possible corner and a lack of the trademark defensive style of Devils' hockey is what did them in.

However, this season, Martin Brodeur had been keeping the Devils in the games, as he probably wouldn't last night. A shot like Drury's game that made it 2-1 was save-able, as was Lauri Korpkoski's goal. Whereas Brodeur has kept a mediocre-at-best team in games, Weekes let them in and the game was lost. (He was in position to save Zherdev's second goal, but it was deflected and went above him as he dropped down for the save.)

Personally, I want to see Weekes succeed, but for the fact that he plays in red and black.

Chris Drury, on the other hand, I love when he succeeds. 

Dubie Revisited...

ISLANDERS POST by ZACH

I refer you to my March 27th blog entitled "What to Du?" that predicts Wade Dubielewicz will not return to the Islanders for the 2008-09 season.

It is now official, reported by Greg Logan in Newsday, that Dubie won't be returning as an Islander next season, I move I predicted well over two month ago. While this isn't as grand as my correct prediction of Petr Sykora scoring in triple overtime, it is still worthwhile, and I want to make some predictions of where he will end up next season. 

I think the best choice for him would be Carolina, who will be needing a backup goaltender next year for Cam Ward. Ward had 2 good months in his career, spanning from Game 3 of the first round of the 2006 playoffs until Game 7 of the Finals that year. He is unproven, and with a worthy backup, his job could be in jeopardy. Last year was indeed the best regular season of Ward's career, but as Marc Denis, John Grahame, and Antero Niittymaki taught us, one decent regular season does not a career make.

Vancouver is an option as well, especially seeing how Dubie is from British Columbia. However, I believe he would want a chance to play 20 games, give or take a few, as a backup, with the option of usurping the starting goaltender. Roberto Luongo, when on his game and caring about hockey, won't play less than 75 games and certainly won't have his plush position overtaken by an uppity youngster.

Calgary is also an option, but he wouldn't be playing more than 11 or 12 games with Miika Kiprusoff in net. With Curtis Joseph possibly not returning next year, they might have a spot open. I assume they'll offer him a contract but it might only be his last resort.

What about Dallas? Marty Turco had a real solid playoffs, but his regular seasons have been borderline for a few years. It could be an opportunity for the backup to overtake the starter, but I see Dallas re-upping unreliable Johan Holmqvist for atleast one more year.

Detroit and Tampa Bay are also two strong options for him. Detroit will probably not re-sign Dom Hasek, and who wouldn't love the chance to play in Detroit? Chris Osgood will be the starter regardless, but he's getting older and Dubie would play atleast 20 or 25 games. In Tampa, there are two goaltenders who have never been starters, Kari Ramo and Mike Smith. Signing Dubie would create a 3-way competition for the starting job, much like Phoenix had before getting Ilya Bryzgalov in November.

Should be interesting to see where he goes, atleast for us on Long Island. My money is on Carolina and Tampa, though I wouldn't be surprised to see him land anywhere else on my list.

Transition...

Well, much like your heroes - whether they wear blue and or blue and orange - I've made the transition from a hockey mindset to a golf mindset. Instead of blogging, reading blogs, checking websites, looking at MSG, and reading the newspaper, I've been hitting the golf course once or twice a week. This week, I believe it will be 4 times.

Today, the entire NHL might switch into that mindset. With a win on home ice, Detroit captures another Stanley Cup, and the focus of the NHL goes to rebuilding - the draft, free agency, training camp.

Everyone talks about Pittsburgh's incredible home record and how they were 9-0 until they lost 2-1 to Detroit in Game 4. No one mentions Detroit's 9-1 record, though. They only lost one game, 2-1, and it was Game 5 against the Stars with the Stars facing elimination.

It should be a good game today. I happen to be working, and we only have 2 TVs at work, so it's hard to get a hockey game on one of them if a New York team isn't in it. Luckily, the Mets play on the Left Coast tonight, so I might get the bartender to put on NBC.

No worries, I have it set to be TiVoed, as I love watching a Stanley Cup celebration. I particularly enjoyed the Hurricanes celebrating in 2006, partly because I was so happy to have hockey back, but mostly because I love when veterans lift it for the first time, even if Carolina didn't deserve the Cup. Seeing Rod Brind'amour and Doug Weight, with his injured shoulder, lift it was fantastic, and I was anxiously awaiting Erik Cole lifting it after he had his neck broken by Brooks Orpik. However, NBC ended their coverage about 15 seconds before Cole lifted it. That was not fantastic.

I would love to see Chris Osgood get the Conn Smythe today, and my second choice would be Henrik Zetterberg, who had an amazing regular season until he started playing hurt. I wouldn't be terribly upset if Johan Franzen received the hardware, but he only really played great for 4 games. He wasn't electrifying in the Nashville series, and he didn't play in the Stars series. He just lit up Jose Theodore.

Enough. Enjoy the game.

The Top Stanley Cup Celebrations

You might have seen the NHL's latest attempt at marketing its product via a television commercial. If so, you're probably just as in awe of it as I am. If you haven't seen it, you'll be surprised to see that it's actually effective. In fact, it might be the best ad the NHL has ever produced. Given the days of the "My NHL" promotional campaign, that's not saying much. But I'd put it up there with the "Pond Of Dreams" from the 2000 All-Star Game - and that's saying something.

Anyway. With the Stanley Cup Finals starting on Saturday, I thought this might be a good time to look at the great Stanley Cup celebrations of our time. It's one thing to win the Cup; it's an entirely different thing to celebrate the win in style. A good celebration can put the whole thing over the top and make it that much more memorable. There are a few characteristics that make for a great Cup celebration...

- A superstar or veteran winning his first Cup. Seeing a player with the Stanley Cup held proudly above his head completely changes his perception. Whereas before he might have been a good player, he's now a winner. His name is going to be on that Cup forever. His fans will never forget that he helped bring the Cup to their city. And, as they say, the first Cup is always the best.

- The home team wins. Sure, winning a Stanley Cup is always special. But on the road, it sort of loses some of its luster. The crowd might give a polite round of applause, but it's a far cry from the boisterous scene of a hometown victory. There's nothing like watching the captain raising the Cup for the first time in front of a raucous crowd. You will never hear a louder roar in an arena than when the Stanley Cup is awarded.

- The deciding game is close. Ideally, the game would end on an overtime goal to win the Cup, but that's far from likely. Instead, the closest you'd get is a game that goes down to the final minute, where an empty-net goal sets thae celebration off. A blowout win takes away from the spontaneity of the celebration, which many times is the best part.

With these rules in mind, let's look at the top five Cup celebrations of the past twenty-five years.

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5: 1987 Edmonton Oilers/1998 Detroit Red Wings





These ones are special for what happens immediately after the Cup is given to the captain. Usually, the Cup goes from the captain to one of the alternate captains or one of the big stars. In these cases, though, the second recipient meant a little bit more. In 1987, Gretzky received the Stanley Cup for the third time and gave it right to Steve Smith, whom most blamed for the Oilers' loss to the Flames the previous year. Eleven years later, Steve Yzerman gave the Cup to Vladimir Konstantinov, who was involved in a serious car accident just days after the Red Wings' Cup win in 1997. Kudos to the Washington fans for recognizing this and applauding appropriately.

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4: 1995 New Jersey Devils


You probably didn't think you'd be seeing the Devils on here, did you? And it's not just to show that once upon a time, people actually did attend games in New Jersey. At this point in time, the crowd was absolutely rocking - the camera shook non-stop during the game itself. Also, they were a great story, upsetting the heavily favored Red Wings. My favorite part is not the Cup presentation to Scott Stevens, but the Conn Smythe being awarded to Claude Lemieux. Not only is it imperative to recognize one of the greatest playoff performers of all-time, but to see the emotion on his face is powerful stuff. People love to say he doesn't respect the game, but it's clear from this scene that he truly appreciated the honor.

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3: 2006 Carolina Hurricanes


There's just something about this one that gets me. Maybe it's because it had been two years since the Cup was awarded. Maybe it's because it was so nice to see hockey succeed in a non-traditional market. But it's probably because so many veterans that had never won a Stanley Cup were winners here. Rod Brind'Amour, Glen Wesley, Doug Weight, Bret Hedican... the list goes on and on. Not to mention the heroics of Cam Ward and Erik Cole, who was supposed to be out for the season months prior. Seeing the crowd go nuts after Justin Williams' empty-netter still gives me chills.

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2: 1994 New York Rangers


Sorry, Ranger fans, but you just barely got nudged out of the top spot. This was the last Stanley Cup Final to be broadcast on regional TV, which means we get the call of Sam Rosen and John Davidson (yes, this is the one time when Gary Thorne takes a back seat to anybody else). To hear Rosen, a lifelong Ranger fan, and the former Ranger Davidson cherish the moment is something special. Obviously, the rest of the celebration is just beyond compare; even us Islander fans can't help but appreciate it. Sure enough, on WFAN's list of the top twenty moments of their twenty-year history, New York - a baseball town at heart - picked the Rangers' Stanley Cup win in 1994 as their most cherished memory.

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1: 2001 Colorado Avalanche


Now you see why the Rangers didn't take the top spot. As we all know, the 2001 Cup will always be remembered as the moment Ray Bourque finally got to hoist the Cup. Joe Sakic can't wait to dump the Cup off on Bourque so he can finally experience what he's dreamed about for his entire career. Good luck keeping your composure as you watch this - especially around the 2:12 mark. It's getting dusty in here just thinking about it.

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So there you have it - some of the finest moments in Stanley Cup Playoffs history. Here's hoping for another wonderful memory or two to add to the list in the next two weeks.