Video: Rashard Mendenhall Gets Frisky with Ben Roethlisberger

There are no words to describe the irony of Rashard Mendenhall humping on the back of Ben Roethlisberger after a kneel down at the end of the AFC Championship game. 

Photo: MSG Fails On Ondrej Pavelec First name, Last name puts up Boucher photo

Atlanta Thrashers goalie Ondrej Pavelec winning player of the game for the team against the New York Rangers last night would come as a surprise to few who watched the game.  What would come as a surprise, and a shame to MSG Newtorks would be the fact that in their graphic giving him the award they incorrectly spelled both his first and last name while also getting his photo wrong.  His name is listed as Andrej Pavalec. and if you look at the photo, you can clearly see that head shot is of Flyers goaltender Brian Boucher.

Photo from @OmairTaher:

Rumor: Kings Inquire About Gaborik

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Bruce Garrioch conveys in the Ottawa Sun that Los Angeles Kings GM Dean Lombardi called the New York Rangers to check on the availability of sniper Marian Gaborik.  To be clear it was the Kings who called the Rangers, so this should not turn into a story of the Rangers shopping Gaborik because they are not doing so.  I am not usually a believer in Garrioch rumors as he is as bad as some of the others who will not be named, but the fact that this call would have taken place makes a lot of sense to me.

This is a scenario of LA who has been looking for a top flight winger for multiple seasons with no success trying to see if the Rangers are willing to shop their immensely talented, but underachieving scorer.  I am scared to say that I agree with Garrioch twice in the same column, but I do when he looked at it from the Rangers side.

It’s doubtful New York — which is also fighting to stay in the playoff race — would deal one of its few offensive weapons unless Sather receives a tremendous offer from Lombardi.

Despite his struggles this season, the Rangers position makes moving Marian Gaborik extremely unlikely unless they get something significant that can help them right now.  Gaborik showed against Toronto what he is capable of with his four goal, five point performance and there is a premium on guys who can have those kinds of nights.  Unfortunately for the Rangers he has not had them consistently and has since gone back to the invisible stage. 

The thinking for Lombardi has to be that if he pairs Gaborik with a playmaker like Kopitar then the magical version of Marian will stick around and help carry their club.  It is much the same thinking the Rangers fans have about adding Brad Richards to the Rangers either via trade or this offseason in free agency.   If Glen Sather could get a package that starts around Dustin Brown then he should start listening intently as I feel Brown would be a perfect fit for this system and is locked up at a very reasonable rate for the long term.  I doubt that LA would be willing to move Brown, so in the end this will end up as one GM doing his due diligence in checking on the possible availability of an asset to help his club and the other informing him Gaborik is staying put.

Recalling Grachev, Del Zotto Wrong Moves

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Following last night’s game in which both Brandon Prust (foot) and Dan Girardi (rib) were added to the walking wounded, the New York Rangers decided to recall Evgeny Grachev and Michael Del Zotto.  Both Prust and Girardi were listed as day-to-day, so the possibility exists that either or both might be unavailable for tomorrow’s game against the Capitals.  There is no denying that the Rangers are decimated by injuries so the options as to which players to call up are somewhat limited.  It becomes further limited when they consider those who are free to move between the AHL and NHL without the need for waivers.  All of that being taken into account I still believe both of these moves are the wrong moves for the long-term development of these players and accordingly the organization.

Video: Tortorella Calls Zuccarello "Lil Shit" After Game

John Tortorella after a game is something that is not to be missed.  Tonight he discussed all the injuries, the rising expectations for Brian Boyle, the toughness of Prust and Girardi and then we got to the fun stuff.  In talking about the shootout he started with "the little shit Zuk" (3:02 of the clip) in reference to Mats Zuccarello.  It was absolutely hilarious that I nearly fell over, and all the writers audibly laugh at it.