Rangers Get Back to Basics Thus Bringing Back Winning.

The other day I wrote that the Rangers in general, and especially in this stretch without Gaborik, Prospal and Drury to add offense, need to get back to playing basic fundamental hockey.  To me basic fundamental hockey includes sound defensive zone coverage, 5 man team hockey in both zones, blocking shots, killing penalties, not taking bad penalties, consistent hard effort, fore-checking the offensive zone, opportunism in transition/counter and a goalie coming up with a few critical saves each game.  Based on that definition I have to give the Rangers outing last night in Toronto an A. 

New York Rangers @ Toronto Maple Leafs Recap: Biron Plays Like a Number One

New York Rangers goaltender Martin Biron makes a save on the Toronto Maple Leafs during second-period NHL hockey game action in Toronto on Thursday, Oct. 21, 2010. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Frank Gunn)

The Rangers came into tonight at 1-2-1 and many calling it a must win in October.  I don’t buy that part of it, but the Rangers came out with that kind of intensity and when they faltered, Martin Biron bailed them out.  The point of bringing in Biron was to have a backup for Henrik Lundqvist who you could trust to start any game and let Henrik rest more.  If this is any indication of Biron is going to play this year, then the Rangers can take it a lot easier on Hank as the year moves along. 

New York Rangers @ Toronto Maple Leafs: Points over Payback

NEW YORK - APRIL 07: Phil Kessel #81 of the Toronto Maple Leafs is knocked off balance by Marc Staal #18 of the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on April 7, 2010 in New York City.

(Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Rangers @ Toronto (4-0-1)

Key Opposing Player: Phil Kessel

Previous Matchup: Toronto 4, NYR 3 OT (MSG) 10-15-2010

Projected Lineup:

Brandon Dubinsky-Artem Anisimov-Ryan Callahan
Sean Avery -Derek Stepan-Ruslan Fedotenko
Alex Frolov - Erik Christensen - Brian Boyle
Derek Boogaard- Todd White -Brandon Prust

Marc Staal-Michal Rozsival
Michael Del Zotto-Dan Girardi
Matt Gilroy-Michael Sauer

Martin Biron

Pregame Thoughts inside.

Marc Staal Gets an 'A'

In the absence of both Captain Chris Drury and Assistant Captain Vinny Prospal the New York Rangers have been down to just Ryan Callahan wearing a letter on his sweater.  That changed today as the team voted unanimously to give an A to Marc Staal during the absence of their two other captains.  I like the move as Staal already has the responsibilities of leading the defense, now he gets the letter to prove it and if anything it might make him more vocal, but I don’t want him to change who he is just for the letter.
Tortorella

"I think it's the right thing to do...he's a big part of our core...hopefully thrives in that position"

Join me after the break for more thoughts on what this means to the Rangers and the future.

Another Day, Another Line Combination - Will It Unlock Goals?

According to the Rangers twitter feed we have a new set of line contestants in attempting to find the right price for offense with Gaborik, Prospal and Drury on the shelf.

Brandon Dubinsky-Artem Anisimov-Ryan Callahan
Sean Avery-Derek Stepan-Ruslan Fedotenko
Alex Frolov-Erik Christensen-Brandon Prust
Derek Boogaard-Todd White-Brian Boyle

New York Rangers Need to Get Back to Basics

I touched on this last night in reviewing the game, but I feel the need to touch on it and maybe even expand on the idea today.  It is easy to focus on the offense and whatever struggles it is likely to have with Gaborik, Prospal and Drury on the shelf because it is a storyline everyone relates to and understands from prior seasons.  I would rather skip that discussion, assume it to be a fact on most nights we are going to only get 1, 2 maybe 3 goals and move on to how we survive this stretch and it does include going back to principles this team used to employ under the so called boring hockey of Tom Renney.

Rangers Continue to Forget How to Kill Penalties: Stewart Makes them Pay

For the second time in three games the Rangers would take what was a game they very much had a chance to win and turn it into a loss by being outplayed in a 3^rd period.  Against certain teams and certain players you can get away with leaving a man wide open in front but a player the caliber of Chris Stewart is not going to miss those chances and he didn’t netting his 2^nd PPG of the game, 5^th of the season.  I said early in the game that I love Chris Stewart’s game and New York along with a national audience that didn’t know about him before got a lesson in the skill he has.  His first goal was a play where he outmuscled Marc Staal getting to the front of the net and converted with a beautiful deflection on the John Michael Liles shot.  The third goal was purely academic as it never felt like the Rangers were going to get a 2^nd tonight.

New York Rangers New First Line: Development Happens At It’s Own Pace

Time is one of those concepts that can be very simple in terms of the clinical amount of minutes, days, months, years something takes but also abstract in that for each person the time required in development differs.  The Rangers have been on a transition to younger players they are developing from their system and a move away from the bigger ticket items.  The key to sustainability of that kind of transition is that the players you are developing from your system must develop and show enough to produce the belief of the management the course is worth staying on.

A perfect example of the differing forms of development will be on display tonight when the Rangers and Avalanche play tonight in the Garden.  The top line for New York will consist of three homegrown players in Brandon Dubinsky, Artem Anisimov, and Ryan Callahan, who all have had a somewhat different path in developing to where they are right now.

NY Rangers Practice News 10-17-2010: Lines, D-Pairs, Call-ups

According to Andrew Gross and Jesse Spector the lines at Rangers practice today were as follows:

Frolov-Stepan-Fedotenko

Dubinsky-Anisimov-Callahan

Avery-Boyle-Prust

Boogaard-Christensen-White

My take on the lines, the projected D-pairs and other thoughts inside.

My Top 18 New York Rangers Prospects: Who, Where, Why, Maybe Even When, How They Hit Broadway

Ranger Prospect Rankings Oct 2010

1. Derek Stepan
2. Chris Kreider
3. Ryan Mcdonagh
4. Mats Zuccarello Aasen
5. Evgeny Grachev
6. Ethan Werek
7. Roman Horak
8. Dylan McIlrath
9. Carl Hagelin
10. Christian Thomas
11. Pavel Valentenko
12. Michael Sauer
13. Chad Johnson
14. Tomas Kundratek
15. Ryan Bourque
16. Dale Weise
17. Mikhail Pashnin
18. Andrew Yogan

HM: Scott Stacjer, Brandon Manning, Kelsey Tessier, Jyri Niemi, Cam Talbot

Details of the guys and why I put some where I did inside.