The big news of the day with the New York Rangers was Michael
Del Zotto being sent down to the Connecticut Whale and Ryan McDonagh being
called up in his stead. There have
been differing opinions on the merits of this move and analysis of the
positives and negatives over the past week or so once it became very apparent
the option was on the table. Obviously
now that the demotion has happened there will be plenty more and I certainly
offer mine and the reasons why right now even if I was not always certain of
late this appears to be the best move for Del Zotto. Also in the article I give some background on
the season Ryan McDonagh has had for the Whale in the AHL, the adjustment
period he went through and what kind of defender I see him as at this level.
In that article detailing the move to send one down and call
up the other I finished it by opining that I hoped in calling McDonagh to the
Rangers they were going to play him and not put him in the press box and maybe
it was instinct/intuition or maybe it was just having been jaded by the organization in
the past. Either way it turns out that
nagging feeling was accurate as it was announced that even with him coming up
he will not be playing on Wednesday.
Personally I do not understand calling
McDonagh up to not play and ranted on that along with wondering if based on
quotes if Del Zotto rejected the premises presented to him in his demotion
discussion. The tone of the quotes
seems to suggest that an at least disagreeable meeting occurred between Torts
and Del Zotto when he was informed he was being sent down. I have no problem with him being upset
because as a competitor he should be.
Maybe the cause of the problem was Torts gave him the same excuses he
gave the rest of us like we are retarded and cannot understand the real causes
of why Del Zotto was demoted. Discussion
of that also in the post.
In other news Petr
Pruch was put on re-entry waivers and that has excited some of his diehard
fans about the possibility of him coming back to the Rangers. I think it is more likely with all the
injuries than it would otherwise be, but not sure if it would happen. I give my thoughts on why I believe it should
or should not happen inside.
Today’s main article was about how the loss of Ryan Callahan
is really starting to show not necessarily in the win/loss column but in the
way the Rangers are going about their business in games in terms of their
forecheck and energy level. Really it
seems that in Callahan’s
absence the team is getting away from their identity. I propose some reasons for that as well as a
player who might be able to change some of the aspects of what appears to
missing from the club right now without Callahan and turn that mentality back
around to where it was for so long this season.
In the video section today there are three items:
There is video
of the Ruslan Fedotenko injury and the reason to watch it is not to see the
injury, but to appreciate the level of dedication to the team shown by Fed on
the play to get up from it and continue to put his body in harm’s way going
down to block more shots on the shift.
Rangers 2010 1st round pick Dylan
McIlrath got into a fight Sunday night with Sena Acolaste so check out that
video.
Finally there is a Toews
crazy/wacky goal winner in the Chicago LA game this evening when the puck
played ping-pong off the goalie in multiple spots and then on a clear the puck
was played in the net off Toews skate.
