Breaking: Rangers Recall Carl Hagelin and John Mitchell

According to Andrew Gross the New York Rangers have recalled both Carl Hagelin and John Mitchell from the Connecticut Whale (AHL).  Interesting that the Rangers made two moves up front, which means that someone will get scratched tomorrow. 

Video: Dan Girardi Responds To All-Star Campaign

Fans of the New York Rangers have been doing a phenomenal job in their campaign to get Dan Girardi into the All-Star game.  Girardi came in second thus far amongst all write-in candidates in the first round of voting and he was asked about the campaigns during the first intermission last night.

Will Zuccarello, Hagelin or Another Connecticut Whale Be The One To Replace Deveaux?

New York Rangers forward Andre Deveaux is likely to be suspended for his elbow to the head of Tomas Fleischmann leaving the team in need of another forward.  The problem with projecting either as the callup is the utter lack of knowledge as to what Tortorella is looking for from the player he would bring in from the Connecticut Whale.  The bottom six has been atrocious in each of the last two games to the point that you have no idea about which forwards the promoted forward would be playing with when he got here.    

The recent struggles to generate anything offensively lead to speculation surrounding the potential call-ups of either Mats Zuccarello or Carl Hagelin to provide some skill and spark to the team.  Those two should certainly be considered, but the list of considerations likely includes…

Mats Zuccarello:  Zuccarello is the type of creative and skilled player that the lineup could use right now.  He can create for himself and his teammates with his vision and passing ability that can make the game easier for those he plays with.  Zuccarello has performed in Hartford with three goals and nine assists in 11 games thus far this season.  Working against him is that he has not shown production with any consistency at the NHL level and his cap hit works is large for a team with little cap room.  Also, Zuccarello would need a guaranteed top-9 spot to make the call worth it as he is useless as a fourth line player.

Carl Hagelin: Hagelin is continually getting better as his first full professional season moves along.  He has seven goals and six assists 17 games overall this season.  Those numbers are more impressive this month with four goals and three assists in the last seven games, scoring in all but one of those contests.  Hagelin’s speed is his best attribute and is something that the Rangers have been severely lacking in all areas of the ice.  His two-way play would allow him to play the system, aid the forecheck and create offensively.  The biggest detractor from him being the call-up would be uncertainty of his role in the lineup.

John Mitchell: Mitchell is the leading scorer for the Whale with 14 points (7G, 7A) in 17 games this season.  Mitchell is someone that the team can bring up to play a fourth line role without worrying about his development, but can also potentially pitch in a little offensively.

Jonathan Audy-Marchessault:  JAM is an unlikely choice for the call, but he has the skill and grit to add to the team.  The biggest knock on him will be about his size.

If the cap will allow the move, then Zuccarello is the easy move for management to make as it gives Zuccarello another chance to prove himself as a regular in the top-9 at the NHL level.  In the case that the cap will not allow that to be the move, then Hagelin would be the move for me as long as he is going to get significant ice time.  Playing him 5-7 minutes a game in the NHL is not better for his development in comparison with logging major ice-time in the AHL.  Kris Newbury likely would be the move if all were equal, but he is currently serving a four game suspension that should rule him out of contention. 

In the end it will come down to the role that Tortorella is trying to fill with the move and what he makes of the play from Boyle, Fedotenko, Prust, Avery and Christensen when he makes that call.  Needing more offense should result in Zuccarello (cap permitting) or Hagelin being the guy.

Jaromir Jagr To Miss Return To MSG Saturday?

Philadelphia Flyers forward Jagr attempted to return to the lineup against the Islanders after missing the previous two games with a sore groin.  Turns out that he was not fully ready to be back as he left during the second period after re-tweaking the injury and did not return.

Following the game Tim Panaccio of CSN Philly reported that Jagr will miss the next two games due to the re-aggravation of the groin injury.  Missing the next two games will cause Jagr to be unavailable for the Flyers game at Madison Square Garden on Saturday. 

Rangers Drop Second Straight With 2-1 Loss To Panthers

The New York Rangers didn’t find the sense of urgency they needed following their 4-0 loss Saturday and it cost them again as they fell 2-1 in Florida Wednesday night.  The lack of offense was obvious, but the Rangers are back to the utter lack of energy and effort that was plaguing them to start the season as well.  If that does not change quickly, then the positive of the seven game win streak will disappear in the standings very quickly as the competition level is only increasing and the schedule getting more compact.

Florida outskated the Rangers for the entire first period with Jason Garrison making them pay on the power play at 10:06.  Garrison was left all alone for a bomb from the point scoring his league leading eighth goal by a defenseman.  That didn’t wake New York up as they let Kris Versteeg put them in a 2-0 whole in the opening seconds of the second period.  Tomas Fleischmann completely undressed Artem Anisimov before finding a wide-open Versteeg in front of the net.

Derek Stepan gave the Rangers a sense of hope when he scored 4:18 into the second period to cut the deficit in half.  Marian Gaborik made the goal happen after taking a Ryan McDonagh pass, dancing into the offensive zone and cutting to the middle until finding Stepan for the goal.

The Rangers generated some chances late in the third period, but Jose Theodore made some huge saves to preserve the game.  It should not even have been that close if not for the work for Henrik Lundqvist who made 36 saves on the night.  Lundqvist’s brightest stretch of the night was while killing the 5-minute major to Andre Deveaux. During the kill the Rangers got trapped in their own zone for long stretches, but Lundqvist saved them making seven stops during the kill.

The 5-minute major to Deveaux was from a ridiculously foolish play elbowing Tomas Fleischman in the head.  Deveaux was assessed a 5-minute major and given a match penalty for the hit.  He should receive a significant suspension and likely sends him back to the minors for how stupid and selfish the play was. 

• Stralman made no difference on the power play
• Boyle, Prust, and Fedotenko all seem lost out there right now and are bringing little to the table

Anton Stralman To Make Rangers Debut Tonight While Scratch Unknown

Anton Stralman will make his Rangers debut tonight, but no official announcement of which player will be the scratch.

Pat Leonard tweeted that Jeff Woywitka is the likely candidate to be pulled from the lineup, which would be right if a defender is the scratch.  There is also a small chance that Deveaux would be scratched and the Rangers go with 11F and 7D.  That is unlikely because of coach John Tortorella's stated distaste for dressing seven defenders.

Staal Makes Trip To Florida With Team

Last night the New York Rangers announced that Marc Staal, Mike Rupp and Wojtek Wolski all accompanied their teammates on the short road trip this week.  Having the full team together is always a positive thing and great to see the injured guys making the trip, especially during a holiday week.

For Staal it is the first trip he has made with the team so far this season and is another small step in his recovery process.  The fact that he is on the plane should indicate that he is still symptom free after starting light workouts because if he was still have any concussion symptoms they would not be letting him fly. Any step forward is welcomed news when it comes to Staal's recovery and while this one is small being around the club on the road can be big for him both psychologically and emotionally.

Dan Girardi All-Star Campaign Must Continue

Earlier I shared the All-Star balloting results that were released today and no Rangers really have a realistic chance to be voted into the game.  There is no getting around that fact, but that does not mean that the campaign spearheaded by Kevin DeLury of TheNYRBlog should fail to go forth as planned.  No denying the discouragement at Dan Girardi being 72K votes behind Zdeno Chara for the final defensive spot in fan voting, but the campaign was not one of winning or bust for me.

To me the purpose of the campaign for Girardi was to get him a piece of the recognition that he deserves and that can be accomplished regardless of whether he actually gets voted into the game.  Girardi deserves to have his name amongst the top defenders in the league and even if he is not going to get voted in by fan ballots this year, the continued voting by Rangers' fans will keep his name on that list as he deserves to be.  Beyond that the goal can change to have Girardi be the number one player overall in write-in votes.  In that particular race he is only 3,607 votes behind Bruins forward Tyler Seguin.

Senators Dominate Early Balloting, Girardi 18th Amongst Defense

The first round of All Star voting results were released today and the home town Ottawa Senators dominated the balloting.  Daniel Alfredsson, Jason Spezza and Erik Karlsson were three of the top four in voting with Milan Michalek also coming fourth amongst forwards.  The only player to sneak between the Senators was Toronto forward Phil Kessel who is leading the league in goals (16) and points (29).

Amongst the New York Rangers Henrik Lundqvist was the leading vote getting with 65,441 votes, which placed him fifth in goaltending.  Marian Gaborik was the only Rangers' forward to crack the list in 21st for forwards with 47,980 votes.  Finally Dan Girardi placed 18th amongst the defense voting with an impressive
37,836 write-in votes. The vote total for Girardi was the second highest amongst all write-in candidates.





Girardi's write-in total was the second highest of any write-in candidate thus far.  A large sum of the credit for that feat goes to Kevin DeLury of TheNYRBlog for his relentless campaigning to get Girardi the recognition he deserves with an All-Star appearance.

Turris Ends Holdout Signing Two-Year Deal With Phoenix, But Will He Play There?

According to TSN’s Darren Dreger Kyle Turris and the Phoenix Coyotes have finally solved their contract dispute and have agreed to a two-year, $2.8 million deal.  Turris will earn $1.2 million this season and $1.6 million under the terms of the agreement.  Those numbers are way below the reported figures that Turris was seeking earlier in negotiations.  Despite the new contract the question still remains whether Turris next game will be with Phoenix or for another franchise.  The 22-year-old forward had requested a trade out of the organization in the midst of his holdout while Coyotes GM Don Maloney is on record saying he would not trade the player this season.

Turris signing now should not be surprising as he only had until Dec. 1 to sign if he wanted to play at all this season.  Having the deadline as leverage certainly appears to have made Don Maloney the winner in the contract battle as he got Turris for the price he wanted to pay and now has all the cards in what happens next.  By adding the second year to the deal it could increase the odds of a trade happening as the acquiring team would not have to go through a negotiation with Turris this summer.  The Flames have been the most discussed trade possibility for the young forward, but they have little to offer in terms of cheap, young talent.  When Phoenix is involved you always have to consider the possibility of the New York Rangers getting involved in the discussions as Don Maloney’s familiarity and relationships in his former organization have made them common trading partners.