NYR Top Post-Lockout Moments #10-6...

First off, how about that USA-Canada game last night! It was great seeing Chris Drury score a clutch goal again. If there's a God in Heaven, it will be a USA-Sweden Gold Medal Game.

And now, on with the countdown...

10) Rangers Win First Game After the Lockout
Philadelphia - October 5, 2005
I remember how excited I was the first time I was in MSG for a while. It was a Dane Cook comedy show in September of 2005, and even though it wasn’t technically at the Garden (it was at the Theatre at the Garden), it still smelled like hockey in those hallways. (I have since stopped listening to Dane Cook.)

Imagine how excited I was for the first Rangers game since Bobby Holik scored an overtime winner in Washington in April 2004 (Jamie McLennan was the winning goalie; yes, he was a Ranger, for 4 games).

And can you even fathom how great it felt when the Rangers took a lead on a goal by Jason Strudwick?! Who? It didn’t even matter!

Of course, then the rails came off, and the Flyers scored 3 unanswered goals to take a 3-1 lead (A fellow named Jamie Lundmark - remember him? - scored to make it 3-2 before the 2nd intermission). I remember getting incredibly angry and screaming about how this was the “same old Rangers” and how Jaromir Jagr was “just another washed up player.”

Okay, I never said that about Jagr (I did say the first part, though), and it’s a good thing I didn’t, because he took over in the 3rd, scoring two power play goals to go with his assist on the Strudwick goal. Marcel Hossa sealed the deal for the Rangers 33 seconds after Jagr’s 2nd goal.

I was on Cloud Nine after this game. Hossa scored, Strudwick scored, Ryan Hollweg had an assist. All of these people came out of nowhere, and I knew, just knew, that Hossa and Hollweg would be offensive dynamos for the rest of the year.

Sure, they weren’t, but Hollweg played good for his rookie year, Jed Ortmeyer worked his heart off, Dominic Moore had a great rookie campaign while playing in every game, Henrik Lundqvist was a phenomenal discovery, Jaromir Jagr broke the Rangers points and goals record, and Martin Straka was great. It was a dream season for the Rangers.


And it all started here, on a chilly October night in Philadelphia.

9) Shanahan Fights Brashear
MSG - December 30, 2006
The Rangers had lost 7 in a row, starting with a 9-2 beating in Toronto and a 6-1 loss at home to the Devils and culminating in being shutout twice in a row against the Islanders and Ottawa. They went from 18-10-4 to 18-17-4 and were in a pretty bad jam. When they could score goals, they let in too many. When Henrik Lundqvist was hot, the offense couldn’t put one in.

Leave it to Brendan Shanahan to be the sparkplug. In his first season with the Rangers, he took exception to Donald Brashear making runs at Jagr all night long. He challenged him to a fight at center ice, dropped his gloves, and put some fists on his big bald head.

Maybe he didn’t win the fight - because Brashear pulled his jersey over his head and brought him down - but Shanahan, “a first-ballot Hall of Famer,” as Joe Micheletti said, revved up his team and the crowd, and the Rangers won 4-1, the first win of 4 straight.

What did Brashear do in response to getting called out by a player with actual skill? Skated by Aaron Ward and sucker-punched him in the mouth and the helmet.

What did the Rangers do in response? Waited for Brashear to injure unsung hero Blair Betts, then signed him to a huge contract, realized he was awful, and sent him to the minors.



8) Shootout Against Washington
MSG - November 26, 2005
What do Michael Nylander, Ville Nieminen, Jason Strudwick, and Marek Malik have in common? Besides short careers with the Rangers, they all scored goals in a 15-round shootout.

The Rangers shot last, meaning that all three times the Capitals scored, the Rangers happened to score also, which is a pretty crazy feat in itself. Olaf Kolzig was particularly good on this night, both in the game and the tiebreaker, as he always played great against the Rangers.

My personal favorite goal from this was Strudwick’s wicked wrister. The Rangers had to think their chances were slim when Bryan Muir put one past Lundqvist, and then Tom Renney puts Strudwick out. He skated down with speed and ripped one right by Kolzig, who wasn’t expecting such a hard shot. I always loved Jason Strudwick and seeing him save the day was incredible. He started pounding the glass and then throwing his arms up to rile the crowd.

Of course, when Malik put the puck in, his reaction was the extreme opposite of Strudwick’s. He acted like a 50-goal scorer instead of a 6’6” defenseman who scored 8 goals in 3 years as a Ranger (6 regular season, 1 shootout, 1 playoff).

You know what happened. Matt Bradley missed his shot for Washington. Malik - goalless the whole year so far - took the puck at center ice, goes left, cuts right, puts the stick and puck between his legs, waits for Kolzig to drop, and put it home - from between his legs.

I can watch this goal over and over and never get sick of it. I still don’t entirely know how Malik did this. Marek Malik!

Said John Davidson, “I’ve seen it all.”



7) Jed Ortmeyer's Penalty Shot
MSG - January 13, 2007
Jed Ortmeyer was lucky to be alive - much less still playing in the NHL - after suffering a pulmonary embolism in the summer of 2006. In fact, he missed 40 games to start the season, and in his 5th game (a 6-4 loss to Ottawa on January 11) he notched 2 assists and got a standing ovation on both of them.

The next game, his 6th game back, was a game against Boston. The Rangers were up 2-1 late in the 3rd period when Tomas Pock took a high-sticking penalty. Ortmeyer, one of the best penalty-killers on a great penalty-killing team, broke free and had a short-handed breakaway until he was dragged down by Patrice Bergeron.

The ref pointed to center ice and Ortmeyer skated to the bench. Jaromir Jagr wondered if they could decline the penalty shot and play 4-on-4. Ryan Hollweg (who had 0 points so far in the season) told him to shoot high on Tim Thomas. Ortmeyer said in the post-game interviews that Hollweg probably saw that on SportsCenter.

With the Garden on their feet, Ortmeyer went straight down the ice, faked a shot by kicking his left leg out, waited for Thomas to go down, went to the right and put the puck into the net.

If anyone ever deserved a highlight-reel goal like that, it was Jed Ortmeyer, who played his heart and soul out every single game.

6) Leetch Returns to MSG
MSG - March 20, 2006
Brian Leetch's last game at Madison Square Garden was March 2, 2004, in a loss to Atlanta. Since then, he was traded to Toronto and signed by Boston.

The Boston Bruins' first visit to the Garden was 4 months earlier, on November 20, 2005, but Leetch didn't play because of a strained knee that kept him out for a while.

The inevitable day finally came in late March, and the Garden greeted him with a video celebrating his time as a Ranger - a Stanley Cup, a Conn Smythe Award, a 102 point season, 1,129 games in blue, 82 playoff games, franchise records for goals, assists, and points by a defenseman, and a goal in Game 7.

Leetch was "in a fog," according to him the entire night. At random points in the game, fans would chant "Bri-an Leetch, Bri-an Leetch" (including me). He was visibly affected by the reaction to him in what was his only game at MSG not in a Rangers jersey (besides the 1994 All-Star Game...).

Besides Leetch's return, it was a great game, with the Rangers jumping out to a 3-0 2nd period lead that caused Boston to use their timeout. The fans even cheered the fact that Boston was forced to use its timeout early. The Bruins wound up scoring 2 goals, but the Rangers won 5-2.

The only bad part of the night was realizing that Leetch would never again be part of a good Rangers team. As it was, the Rangers improved to 39-19-10 that night while the Bruins fell to 4 games under .500.


(The last 26 seconds of the game.)

Jed Ortmeyer...

A job well done to one of the few men who still get cheered at Madison Square Garden even though they are an opponent.

Jed Ortmeyer today had a goal and two assists in San Jose's 9-1 win over Calgary. Don't forget, he also scored the go-ahead goal in San Jose's 7-3 win over the Rangers in mid-October. The Rangers were winning 2-0, the Sharks made it 2-2, and Ortmeyer scored to make it 3-2.

A good guy who deserves nothing but the best.

And I leave you with a video from the penalty shot he scored against Boston in his first game back in 2007 after suffering a pulmonary embolism. He was awarded a penalty shot, got advice from none other than Ryan Hollweg, and scored against Tim Thomas.

Tom Renney Would Be Proud...

It appears I'm alone over on this website as Islanders Writer Bryan celebrates the birth of Baby #2. He doesn't answer any of his texts, no matter how funny I am, or how hilarious the picture I send him is. And no, rumors the baby being named Avery Henrika are greatly blown out of proportion.

Without further ado...

4 Reasons I Think Tom Renney Was Coaching Tonight's Game vs. San Jose Instead of John Tortorella...

1) The first clue I had that Mr. Renney was behind the bench and not Mr. Tortorella was that Steve Valiquette wasn't pulled after the 4th goal was given up. Mr. Tortorella would have put in Henrik Lundqvist at that point, regardless of whose fault the goal was. He would have switched goalies to wake his team up. This inkling that Mr. Renney was coaching tonight was only made stronger when the game became 5-2 and Valiquette stayed in net.

2) The 2nd clue was the Intermission Switch. Classic Tom Renney right there. Mr. Renney doesn't switch goalies mid-period. He waits until the 2nd intermission, then sends the new goalie out. He doesn't like to hurt anyone's feelings.

2) Michal Rozsival and Wade Redden were defensive partners for much of the game, especially at 4-2 and 5-2. Mr. Tortorella would never do that, he has too much sense. However, Mr. Renney still seems to be relying on players' salaries, not players' skills, to win the game.

3) The 4th line was on the ice in the 3rd period. While Mr. Tortorella "shortens the bench" when he wants to win the game. In previous seasons, Mr. Renney often would use Colton Orr, Blair Betts, and whoever else was on the 4th line to "shut down the opposition" while they added no offensive value whatsoever. Notice tonight's 4 shifts in the 3rd period for Donnie Brashear when they needed a goal.

4) Petr Prucha didn't play tonight for the Rangers. That's a staple of Mr. Renney's reign.

No, of course, I jest. There are 3 reasons I know Tom Renney didn't coach the Rangers tonight...

1) He works in Edmonton, and Edmonton won a 2-1 game. If that doesn't scream Tom Renney, I don't know what does.

2) Redden and Rozsival played a grand total of 0 seconds on the power play. If this was a Renney Game, they each would've had time at the point, passing up on shots, missing the net, and letting the puck bounce over their sticks and out of the zone.

3) Jed Ortmeyer scored tonight. He never scored in a Tom Renney game!

* * *

Redden and Rozsival were especially atrocious tonight. Any good that Redden did in those games against Toronto was washed away tonight. He wasn't physical (okay, he did land one check when he fell onto a Shark); he couldn't pass the puck correctly; he let people fly by him. To those who say I'm too harsh on him, were you watching this game?

When either of them are on the ice, I want the Garden fans to chant "AHL! AHL!"

* * *

That said, I did see two firsts at MSG tonight. One was my first Michael Del Zotto #4 jersey - the first of many, no doubt. (I saw my first Matt Gilroy #97 jersey Wednesday against the Kings).

The other first? The first time I ever saw a Wade Redden #6 jersey on a Ranger fan. Don't believe me? Look!

Wade Redden's cousin, or nephew, or some other family member, at Madison Square Garden. 10/19/09

Nashville...

One of my favorite things in life - besides Americanized Mexican food, Internet pastimes not including this blog, and TV shows on DVD - is going to Ranger games outside of New York. I go to enough Ranger games at MSG (I have a half-season package) and I go to a few at the Coliseum every year (although this year I've only been to one, the January 13 2-1 win).

In 2006-07, I went to Boston. The Rangers killed them, 6-1, on a Monday night. Petr Prucha had 2 goals, and the Prucha-Jed Ortmeyer-Matt Cullen line all had 3 points. I also would have gone to both playoff games in Atlanta that year, but I owned a business at the time and couldn't just up and leave, although I was tempted to (and good seats were available in that hockey hotbed the day of both games).

In 2007-08, I planned a 3 in 4 Extravaganza. Three games, 4 nights. The Rangers were playing Wednesday in New Jersey, Thursday in Philadelphia, and Saturday in Pittsburgh. We ended up just going to the first 2, because Pittsburgh is 5 hours from Philadelphia and 7 from NY.

So me and 3 others went to the game in Jersey, which I believe was the 3rd at the Rock ever. Nice place, though it was unfinished then (I have since returned for a Metallica concert, and while the drinks are crazy expensive, it is a nice place... but $10 for a shot of Jameson is nuts). The Devils scored 35 seconds in, Nigel Dawes scored 50 seconds later, the crazy fans behind us shouted "Die, Scotty, Die!" the whole night, two of us moved to very nice seats to see Marc Staal score his first ever NHL goal, and the Rangers won 4-2.

Then, the next day, we went to Philadelphia. Prucha scored on a great shot to make it 3-2 in the 3rd, but the Flyers tied it and the Rangers won in a shootout on a Brendan Shanahan goal.

We didn't go to the Penguins game, but they won 4-3 in overtime on a Jason Strudwick goal. The weird thing about this game was that all 4 goals were by defensemen. Michal Rozsival scored 2 within 4 minutes (one shorthanded), Dan Girardi had one, and then Struds got the winner.

On Super Bowl Sunday, the day the Giants beat the Patriots, I was in Montreal for the NBC game - along with 35 other Ranger fans. The Habs were up 3-0, and then the Rangers scored 5 straight for the great win. I'm pretty sure you could hear the Ranger fans on TV that day. Ryan Hollweg got crushed by Alex Kovalev at one point, then boarded (of course) one of the Flying Kostitsyn Brothers (Sergei?) and got tossed from the game, and I think suspended.

Great city, that Montreal.

* * *

Point being, Thursday is a jumping off point for me. I haven't been to many games this season, for a few reasons. 1) The economy stinks, so if I'm supposed to work a day when I have a game, I sell the tickets to friends so I can work and make money. 2) The team has been mediocre, which I can watch, but for a while the team wasn't even likable, so I didn't want to spend the money (train, bar, food, tickets, etc.) to go.

Thursday, though, I'll be at the game, then I'll be at Sunday's game vs. Philly, then a game March 24th vs. Minnesota, and finally April 7 vs. Montreal.

Thursday's game is in Nashville, Tennessee, marking my 2nd foray into Music City, and first for a Predators game. We got very good seats, and I'm jazzed. Okay, to be honest, I'm not sure if the seats are good. It's a goofy system they have, with row A, then row AA somewhere. I think I'm in row CC, which is either 3rd row or like 14th row or something. Couldn't make sense of floor plans there, and I'm not an idiot either. Hockey hotbed, it is not.

Nashville is a great city though, and I'm very curious to how their fanbase is. I think they have a good core of fans, somewhere around 12,000 season subscribers, but they only sell a little over 13,000 tickets per game, so the city isn't rabid about the Predators. I do also hear people from Nashville calling the XM Home Ice channel (channel 204) once in a while.

They also have a good team who is hot. They've won 6th straight although they didn't get any help at the trade deadline.

Please answer the poll question on which jersey I should wear to the game.

If I'm lucky, I'll get to see Hugh Jessiman's first NHL game! (No, that's not true, he won't be there.)

* * *

By the way, 78 goals were scored in the NHL tonight! Not one of them was a shootout goal, either! The Islanders beat the Devils 7-3; Carolina won 9-3 over Tampa Bay; Columbus beat the Wings 8-2. Crazy night. There was also only one 1-goal game (LA over Minnesota, 4-3).

Possible UFAs...

After a horrendous bout of what might be either rabies or food poisoning, I was going through a list of players who might potentially be traded at the March 4 NHL Trade Deadline. Traditionally, unrestricted free agents (UFAs) are moved if a team knows they won't re-sign them (as in Marian Hossa and Ryan Smythe).

Yes, sometimes players still under contract are dealt, much like the Aaron Ward for Paul Mara deal the Rangers did in 2007. Ward, a loud-mouth who won 2 Stanley Cups not on ability but by simply being on the right teams at the right time (Detroit in '02, Carolina in '06), was a locker room cancer worse than Sean Avery, and it was high time he headed for other pastures. Both he and Mara had time left on their deals. Those are harder to predict, obviously, and therefore I won't mention them.

I think it's obvious what the Rangers need: a solid defenseman and possibly a top-6 forward capable of potting a clutch goal. Let's also say that Florida might make the playoffs and won't move Jay Bouwmeester (if he is an option, he clearly becomes the number one target of many, many teams, including the Blueshirts).

However, here is a list of 3 defensemen that interest me as a Ranger fan...

3) Ville Koistinen, Nashville Predators - a solid player who had a real good year last year (17 points, 48 games, but was better than the numbers say) and is having a decent year this year. He will be 27 come July 1, therefore a UFA, and the Predators, solid on the blueline even without him, might be looking to sell him cheap. His one drawback is that he was a healthy scratch most of December, but he seems to have found a spot back in the lineup.

2) Filip Kuba, Ottawa Senators - A good defenseman although he doesn't get a lot of power play time (25 points, 1 on the power play). His 24 assists are misleading, as he had 11 in the first 8 games of the season, then slowed down. However, he has only played 36 games. He's a good player, and the Rangers might take the bait on him. He can't hurt the team, as he is much better than Dmitri Kalinin (and on most nights, Wade Redden), but he won't help them exponentially.

1) Cory Murphy, Tampa Bay Lightning - Recently waived by the Panthers and snatched up by their statemates (I'm going to go ahead and coin that word), Murphy is the power play specialist the Rangers need. He will be 31 at the deadline, and is in his second year in the NHL. Similar to Tim Thomas, he entered the NHL late after playing in Finland for 5 years (and the Swiss League for one). He was grossly misused in Florida, where Bouwmeester and Bryan McCabe get huge PP minutes, but Murphy is better than both of them when used correctly. Last year, he was an Even rating on a team that was outscored by 10 goals. In comparison, Olli Jokinen was a -19 on the same team, and Bouwmeester was a -5. 

Yes, Bouwmeester is a more complete player than Murphy (better defensively; better first-pass), but Bouwmeester might not be available, and Murphy would definitely be cheaper. The Lightning have him probably to just fill holes created by injuries and poor play so they can finish out the season, and I would definitely look for him to be available come March 4.

I won't dwell on forwards, but Mike Comrie, Steve Sullivan, Vernon Fiddler, Kyle Calder, Nik Antropov (highly unlikely that Toronto would trade him and that the Rangers would get another center), Keith Tkachuk, and Andy McDonald (same as Antropov) might be available. 

I will dwell on this though. Of upcoming UFAs from non-playoff-bound teams, I assume these names ring a bell: Jay Ward (currently in the AHL via Tampa Bay), Marek Malik, Dominic Moore, Jed Ortmeyer (Orty is injured, however). They are all Rangers from the year after the lockout. Think Glen Sather would be interested in another dream season like 2005-06? Is Steve Rucchin available?

Notes From the Garden, 12/3/08...

A solid night overall at a packed Madison Square Garden. Lots of people there tonight, including most of the lower bowl where tickets are always sold but the businesses that own them rarely show up. Apparently all it takes to get people there is a Staal Family Rivalry.

- I don't see as much of the Western Conference as I would like to, but from what I see, one of the only people in the NHL better at handling the puck than Nikolai Zherdev is Evgeni Malkin. Zherdev was a true magician out there tonight, and on no less than 3 occasions wowed the audience, but Malkin is incredible as well, causing the guy next to me to say "Wow" to himself for 65 seconds.

- Dmitri Kalinin should, once again, never have become a defenseman. He pinches more than an Asian businessman at a strip club, and would make a better 4th line winger than a crummy 6th defender.

- Jaromir Jagr shooting from the right faceoff circle in 2005 is much, much more intimidating that Chris Drury shooting from the left faceoff circle in 2008.

- In a stunning show of solidarity with the NHL and Gary Bettman, the referees were strongly rooting for the Penguins today. With no double-minor penalties to avoid (like Game 5 last year when Drury had a blade-shaped cut on his face and the ice had to be cleaned of his blood while no penalty was called), one of the zebrae actually ran into a Ranger during what would've been a breakaway. I'm interested in listening to the replay of the game to hear how Sam and Joe play off the "A**hole" chants.

- The Rangers should have blasted Danny Sabourin. When they pressured him in the 3rd, good things happened, and they could've had more than 1 goal if they knew how to finish. Once it went to a shootout, you knew the Rangers would win because Sabourin wouldn't be able to stop Markus Naslund, Zherdev, and Freddy Sjostrom.

- That said, the Rangers managed 5 shots in the 1st period. They were credited with 6, but the 6th was a dump as they were leaving the zone on a line change. Five shots, 20 minutes. That's a shot every 4 minutes. What was happening the other 3:59?

- Petr Prucha's emotional goal was an incredible moment that goes down as one of my favorite in-person hockey memories. His goal in his first game back after being scratched for 10 (and refusing a conditioning assignment) ranks up there with these post-lockout goals...

    :: Jed Ortmeyer's shorthanded penalty shot against Boston, his first goal since returning to the lineup after being out for half a season with pulmonary embolism.

    :: In the 14th round of a shootout against the Capitals, the Rangers were down 3-2, and Jason Strudwick had a beautiful wrist shot to keep the shootout going, setting up Marek Malik's between-the-leg game winner.

    :: Brendan Shanahan's breakaway goal for his first goal in his first game as a Ranger, his second goal of the game that was his 600th career tally, and Jagr's goal :29 into the game during the 2006-07 season opener vs. the Capitals.

- If Wade Redden is known as a first pass defenseman, Michal Rozsival is a pass-first defenseman. 

- Prucha was buzzing all night and the crowd was rooting for him. He missed a nearly-open net in the 2nd period, but had a good game otherwise. Tom Renney must've liked what he say, because he was getting double-shifted too, being put on the 4th line with Blair Betts and Sjostrom at times. Brandon Dubinsky played well too, and Renney had a lot of confidence in the Voros-Dubi-Prucha line.

- When Scott Gomez stole the puck with 11 seconds left in the 3rd period and rushed up ice with Naslund and Zherdev, the whole Garden thought they were going to put it in the net. They almost did.

- I've never seen a standing ovation from a check before, but when Marc Staal rocked Sidney Crosby (who should've had a penalty against Colton Orr as well when Brooks Orpik took his 4 minute penalty) in the extra frame, the crowd spontaneously stood up and cheered. I assume nobody chanted because his name doesn't sound good in a chant. (Try it.)

- Sign me up as someone who loves the shootout, if only because I hated ties with a passion. Nothing was worse than sititng through a game and having it be a 2-2 tie. Here, atleast someone gets an extra point. If it's your team, great, if not, well, you still get a point. They only time I hate shootouts is in March and April when everyone clamps down and we see 3-point games everywhere when the Rangers are fighting for a playoff spot and Boston and Pittsburgh each get points.

I know people hate on the shootout, but for me, it could be a shootout, it could be a game of Three Post (where you take out the goalie and have to hit both posts and the crossbar to win), it could be an accuracy contest like in the Skills Competition, whatever, as long as there are no ties.

- Great resiliency today by the Rangers. They went down 2-0, and while they didn't play incredibly well, they did fight back. Prucha had a great game and deserves his spot back instead of Dan Fritsche. They had no goats today in the lineup on offense. Everyone contributed, from Betts and Orr to Lauri Korpikoski and Ryan Callahan.

My 3 Jerseys...

On June 30, I had three Ranger jerseys of current players.

On July 2, my blue Sean Avery #16 jersey became null and void. I will however, still wear this one to the Garden and even on some road games, because nothing incites a different team's crowd like seeing Avery's name emblazoned on a $185 jersey.

On July 3, my vintage Jaromir Jagr #68 jersey became obsolete. I probably won't wear this one though, and I don't think I did last year either. It was a vintage jersey I had gotten a few years back that I added his name and number on the back. I liked it at first, but when I got some others, it was pushed to the back.

On July 14, my blue Ryan Hollweg #44 jersey became a thing of history. It was autographed by a lot of players from the early 2006-07 team, including Hollweg. Other former Rangers to sign it are Marcel Hossa (he grabbed the Sharpie before I could say "No!"), Brendan Shanahan, Aaron Ward, Fedor Tyutin, Jason Ward (a hell of a nice guy) and Adam Hall. This jersey was worn at certain times last year, although the Avery was my first choice. It will officially be retired in a ceremony before training camp.

This follows a pattern of mine, where I get jerseys of a player who leaves the team after the season. My Russian Pavel Bure jersey (he got hurt and retired), my white Eric Lindros (got it before the lockout, then he went to Toronto), my Liberty Steve Rucchin (signed with Atlanta after the season ended). Hollweg was the first player that I got a jersey of who was on the team for more than one season after I bought it.

I think I'm safe with my planned white Dan Girardi #5 jersey this season.

* * * 

On the Hollweg trade...

He wore out his welcome in NY. When he first came into the league, following the lockout, he was part of the "new corps" of Rangers. Jed Ortmeyer, Blair Betts, Dom Moore, Hollweg, Petr Prucha. He hit hard, he played with energy, and he was a solid checker. In 2005-06, I loved him, and he was a definite fan favorite. Besides mine, Hollweg jerseys and Ortmeyer jerseys became big in the Garden.

In 2006-07, his lack of offensive skills shone through when he played with Colton Orr more and more. Two players with the same style were useless together. They didn't shut down any top lines, they didn't energize the other lines, and they didn't score. 

Last season, Orr became better with his skating and puck-moving games, and Hollweg was scratched heartily. Freddy Sjostrom's arrival put Hollweg on the bench more, and you could now tell he was a borderline NHLer. When he did play, he took bonehead penalties that cost the Rangers more often than not (I will not talk about Game 3 of the Rangers/Penguins series, because I don't want my blood pressure to go through the roof).

The signings of Patrick Rissmiller and Aaron Voros signaled the end of Hollweg for good. These players had more upside than Hollweg did. They could score more than 5 goals in 3 years, and while they take penalties, they aren't a detriment to the team like Hollweg had become.

That said, I wish the Rangers got more for him. I understand a borderline NHLer on a re-building team like Toronto isn't going to get much in return, but I wish he was included in a bigger package. The Rangers have a glut of forward, and packaging him with someone could have gotten back a bigger reward than a previously-acquired 5th round pick.

In the end, though, I'm glad they didn't trade Prucha.

Yet.

* * *

And yes, I really own a Steve Rucchin jersey.

Me in my Rucchin jersey in Boston, January 2007.

Alex Radulov...

Today, news is going to break that Alex Radulov from Jed Ortmeyer's Nashville Predators has defected to Russia.

The new Russian league (now known as the Continental Hockey League) has been a fall-back for mid-level players like Wade Dubielewicz, Bryce Lampman, Mike York, and Ray Emery, who have found that they have no place in the NHL this season (although I still think Dubie should have waited for July 1 to see if teams came calling). The new CHL also has a lot of money to offer players, but so far, the likes of Evgeni Malkin and Nikolai Zherdev have turned them down.

Alexander Radulov, however, wanted to return home, and this was his opportunity. He claims he called Nashville to tell them his intention, and they never returned his call, making it clear he wasn't needed there. I would assume the CHL also offered him more money then he would be getting in the last year of his entry-level contract. Maybe they also offered him the rumored Jaromir Jagr Special - a tax-free contract.

Radulov claims that Nashville won't be able to legally bring him back over, apparently because he never read this story on NHL.com about an agreement between the NHL and CHL to honor contracts made in the other league. However, the Radulov move might have been made before the deal was finalized.

If he does in fact have to come back, I think it's a lock that he will be traded from the Predators. Seeing as the Rangers have their own super-fast, incredibly-talented, enigmatic Russian winger, I say "No thanks," but I do know that this guy is a great player if given the chance, and he has an Ovechkin-like passion for the game. It's a shame we might not see it in North America anymore.