Today was mainly about the rumor mill running wild, no pun intended, as there were rumors with contradicting senses of urgency for the Rangers when it comes to Brad Richards and also ones claiming a connection between the New York Rangers and Minnesota Wild and the additional claim that the one driving that potential deal is star Marian Gaborik. Also today the Rangers played their afternoon affair with the Ottawa Senators and with that comes stories on the outcome of the game and video of another entertaining Tortorella press conference.
In the Richards situation the fan reaction to him for many has been to go and get him because the team needs a number one center to help out Marian Gaborik and Brad Richards is seen as clearly the best one that could be available both in the trade market and the upcoming free agency period. The rumor today was how the Rangers did not want to risk waiting for him to get to free agency and would trade for him before the deadline. The uproar this time was some fans took the comments as something new and ran with the idea of names including Ryan Callahan being involved in getting Richards and Rangers fans do not react well to the idea of dealing Cally. The full story on the rumor from today, where the fans might have gotten the ideas for the names and whether or not the Rangers should even do it can be found in: Rangers Interest In Richards Serious; Thought of Callahan Involved Enrages Fans.
In the Minnesota scenario the talk centered around recently returned Pierre-Marc Bouchard who missed the last year with concussion issues. In the article I talked about my thoughts on trading for him in light of his performance, his concussion issues and his cap hit. Also discussed in: Rangers Want Pierre-Marc Bouchard from Wild? Gaborik Too Much Personnel Influence? was as the title says if Marian Gaborik is being given too much influence on the personnel of the hockey club. Check it out and tell me what you think.
The Rangers took on the Ottawa Senators today in the Garden at the unusual Sunday 5pm start time that I still cannot figure out and apparently neither could the team because they did not show up until at least 6. The team would play better in the last two periods but blew lots of chances to get the lead and eventually would lose the game in the final minutes. The full details of the game in terms of the scoring and thoughts on who played well and who did not just read: Rangers Finally Pay For Playing Down To Level Of Opponent.
Following the game there was yet another entertaining press conference from coach John Tortorella which are becoming a version of must see TV and in it he discussed a number of different issues from the start to the power play to Derek Stepan to an underachieving top line in only ways Torts can. To watch the full press conference just click on the post: Video: Tortorella Postgame - Says Team Asleep; Defends Stepan; Calls Out Top Line
On the prospect front for those of you who missed the BC Eagles take on the Boston Terriers last night I put up the highlights which included a beautiful shorthanded goal by top prospect Chris Kreider and that can be found in the following post: Video: Chris Kreider SHG against BU 12/4/2010. Finally I updated the prospect stats as I do each week and to see how they are all doing and which had especially good weeks just check out New York Rangers Prospects Page.
