Blue Notes

The CHL (Circus Hockey League) is slowly becoming the place for aging stars and miscreants. Who's next Sundin? If some more defections occur, who knows, they may actually start to develop a fanbase.

Hutchison has gone to the Lightning.

I'm actually upset about Hutchison leaving. He was looked as a leader in Hartford and had good stats. I realize thought he really never had a chance to player here though.

I think the above comment is just as smart as your previous comment: 'Lupul is past his prime'

Who cares about Hutch?? it's not like he contributed to the development of the prospects of the Wolf Pack. If anything, this opens up another spot on the blue line.

Breaking news... Marty Brodeur is headed to the CHL. After hearing that this is the "in" league for monster egotistical whiners who are past their prime, he jumped right in. Also a factor in this move is the fact that the Devils were to play Dallas a record number of times this year.

John...Em Etib.

You should at least clarify a little about your previous statements Jordan.
It isn't hard, you just say... "I opened my trap twice without doing my homework."

then someone else says... "no problem there Jordo~, hey you're not such a know-it-all poser like I thought."

Live Chat tomorrow @ 10:30 am with Sam Weinmen

Journal News/LoHud.com

http://rangers.lohudblogs.com/2008/07/09/first-rangers-report-live-chat-tomorrow-at-1030/

And now Josh Gratton signed with Nashville. They've sure got a lot to show for the Montoya deal.

the rangers waited too long to recieve any kind of value for montoya. his play was getting worse and worse down in hartford. hopefully sojstrom will be a long time ranger for he was the main part of that deal with phoenix

and Marcel Hossa left Phoenix to go to Russia.

Everybody in that trade was a scrub.

If Montoya had any value he'd had been traded for it.

Lets talk about Tyutin for Zherdev and Fritsche, it's way more fun.

Excellent article by Fishler: http://gameon.msg.com/2008/07/the-new-new-ran.html

"Goodman, bristled at the word "Captain" and nearly choked on my words, "Jags will be back." Bob then proceeded to tell me that long before others got on JJ's case, he (Bob Goodman) zinged Jaromir at every opportunity. Naturally, I asked him why he was so hard on The Man. "Because," he shot back, "Jagr quit on the Penguins and then he quit on the Capitals. What kind of Rangers captain would refuse to take a Shootout, as he actually did? As captain, it was his obligation to at least TRY, and he didn't. You never would have caught Mark Messier pulling such a stunt."

Furthermore, you can be sure that under the new, NEW Rangers culture, such an episode will not take place because the boss, Renney, simply won't allow it.

BOTTOM LINE: The secret formula is CC — Culture Change! Get used to it; guaranteed, you'll like it!"

"Jagr's departure not only means new leadership (perhaps Drury gets the C), but more importantly, the NEW CULTURE. No single player will rule the team, dictate its power play, insist on which player skates on whomever's line. It's Tom Renney's team and that IS important."

"Moreover, his mates followed his lead. What better example than the power play during which Jags became the focal point to the extent that teammates were focused on getting him the puck when THEY had the much better scoring opportunities. Fans were driven to frustration and distraction watching missed chances over and over and over again.

This situation was exacerbated when JJ's select server, Mike Nylander, departed for Washington. After that, all the king's horses and all the king's men — not Gomez, not Chris Drury — couldn't put the PP together again.

Worse still, The Monarch's production plummeted. First he told us all that he was trying his hardest. After the season, revisionist history was written. Jags then insisted that he had been pacing himself for the homestretch and the playoffs. Whatever."

"Sean claimed he loved The Apple — and he sure could have made millions here in the world's center with a new pact — but chose to become by contrast, a Texas hick for a bit more.

Make no mistake, Avery's act can — and WILL — be replaced with less fuss and fanfare while enhancing the Rangers image. Maybe it will be ever-hustling Aaron Voros; perhaps someone else. And, by the way, I'm told that some Dallas bloggers are unhappy about Avery's arrival on the Stars' roster. The thinking among the anti-Averys is that Steve Ott can do everything Avery can do without messing up dressing room harmony.

In the end the new Rangers culture will feature a Detroit-style — no prima donnas in Motor City — dynamic. It will be sparked by a Drury-Gomez nucleus up front and a solid defense guarding Henny."

I am dam excited to see the NEW TEAM.,,,there are times I think we'll miss JJ and Avery, but it'll be refreshing to see 4 quick skating lines-all with excellent potential to put the puck in the net.

As far as the Montoya issue...simply put-the Rangers Brass screwed up and didn't handle all too well. Sojstrom is going to have to really impress and be a dominate force and be consistent as well, in order to justify the entire Montoya mess-up.

We still need a big hard checking crease clearing D'man....to me, that is in fact the last piece in the puzzle that's missing.

I am dam excited to see the NEW TEAM.,,,there are times I think we'll miss JJ and Avery, but it'll be refreshing to see 4 quick skating lines-all with excellent potential to put the puck in the net.

As far as the Montoya issue...simply put-the Rangers Brass screwed up and didn't handle all too well. Sojstrom is going to have to really impress and be a dominate force and be consistent as well, in order to justify the entire Montoya mess-up.

We still need a big hard checking crease clearing D'man....to me, that is in fact the last piece in the puzzle that's missing.

The Maven basically threw Jagr & Avery under the bus the second they left town.

good response here to the Maven...(it starts about 10 paragraphs down)

http://theprospectpark.blogspot.com/2008/07/totally-uncool.html

oh and that's another link for the nonsensical douche. Didn't know it was a crime reading blogs "on the internet".

"Sjostrom is going to have to really impress and be a dominate force and be consistent as well, in order to justify the entire Montoya mess-up"

WHY?

The Montoya mess up happened on draft day 2004, not last trading deadline.

The guy has been a total bust but many of the 1st rounders in 04 have been a bust besides the top 2 hall of famers.

Just be thankful to the 2004 draft for Brandon Dubinsky and Ryan Callahan.

And hopefully for Lauri Korpikoski and Dane Byers.

And stop whining about Al Montoya already.

It's a crime Blaze, the nonsensical douche, that you believe everything you read. Not to mention you have considered the tainted opinion of other teams fans instead of going out and doing the homework yourself.
Has anyone ever told you to form your own opinion? That's a major part of being a man, an adult and grow'n up.
Tell me something, what kind of player was Kalinin considered by the TEAM before the start of 07-08. (video, stats, and opinion)
Now take what you have just learned and apply it to Kalinin in the 07-08 season. you might have to find both good and bad videos clips to get the best overall perspective, just like Sather and his crew would do.
There is a name on the Rangers that you should be drawing an instant comparison to, I'll give you a hint pal; it's not Malik.
here's some more, cause I have the feeling you're kind of a slow guy...
TOI
Pts
Incoming and upcoming talent from trades or the farm.

do your homework and form your own opinion Blaze the sheep.

Ba-Ba-Blaze,
let's not forget to point out that you posted a link to a board where you took the first response from a guy that had to guess you were a Rangers fan cause your screen name King Henrik 30 wasn't enough of a give away.
that made you nervous. But the idea to figure what you were getting in Kalinin on your own never accured to you.
Spoiled, lazy and dumb is my final judgement of you.

I don't think Montoya is a bust(yet). Only reason Sather didn't play him is because of the cap space and the ridiculous contract he gave him. He had lots of injuries, but otherwise was ok. Also I think Allaire is some kind of a retard--first he comes here specifically because of Montoya, then he miserably fails to help Montoya develop and improve, then he asks to trade Montoya for his previous pupil who he all of a sudden thinks is much better than Montoya, then 2 months later the pupil left and went to Allaire's brother.

Sjostrom is just a painful reminder of a very bad trade, the sooner he is traded away the better.

As for Kalinin, I am sure everybody hopes the Sabres' fans are wrong and are waiting to see him to form an opinion, but that doesn't invalidate Sabres' fans opinions.

Aaron Ward was awesome, he was the 1st one to have a problem with "captain" Jagr and all the dumb fans trashed him for it.

If you could see clearly and have ability to read between the lines, you would know right away that Jagr is a big problem. Yet pretty much nobody except me had any problems with him for the last 3 seasons. Now in Stan Fischler's article almost all those things that I complained about are there, revealed for all the more simple minded fans to see. And it is funny, how some dimwits still disagree.

Invalidate, yes, the word used for these situations is bias.
there for mute.
now used in conjunction with footage (both good and bad) comprehension of stats and TOI would be, along with the teams overall opinion, a more intelligent, knowledgable opinion that is formed from VALID research.
nothing more will be considered by me. So please keep reiterating the same bad information, short sighted posts.
at least we can talked about each other while we wait for Zip's new angle for the day.

(oh so brave and intelligent Stan waited until the man was gone to voice these little remarks, yet didn't have the balls to speak earlier. Sure the Rangers pay his salary, but it does little for his validity)
I'm voting for Bob and Stan as "most individual"

look at the other goalies taken in the 1st round of the 2004 draft

After Ovechkin and Malkin, look at the 1st round of that draft

Besides some diamonds in the roughlike Radulov, Zajac and Mike Green, the draft sucked.

Unfortunately, we always seem to our highest picks in really crappy drafts.

If Montoya is anything more than a backup goalie in the NHL I will be very suprised.

I guarantee you he will not unseat Brzgalov in Phoenix.

hi, i'm really depressed. i've been trashing the rangers on this website for the better part of a year now. every ranger that leaves, i love. every current ranger, i hate.

my life is miserable. i seek to project that misery onto the rangers and everyone else who visits this board. please humor me.

Jorek
July 9th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
I wont be at the Live Blog due to a dentsl appointment, ouch, and that really hurts. I was saving this for tomorrow, but I have baseball All Star game tickets I cant use (2) due to a prior committment. you guys can reach me as I have to get rid of them soon.

Jorek
July 9th, 2008 at 9:41 pm
Wow I wish I had two all star game tix! But i wouldn’t be getting rid of them if I did.

blaze
July 9th, 2008 at 11:38 pm
anyone looking to sell tickets to games they prolly won’t attend?

See, we aren't dealing with the smartest of posters here.
He's asking for tickets to anything as the convo is talking about giving away free tickets.
I think there might be a comprehension issue here.
There might be the off chance he's asking for Rangers tickets, but it's July. But he never said that and I never when to mind reading school.

bob, I've been quietly on your side with the Jagr issue for the past 1.5 seasons. I give him credit for bringing the Rangers back into relevance in the post-lockout season, but he was such a prima donna that I think it was time for both to move on.

Last year, Shanny was clearly the captain, even if he didn't have the "C." He knew it, JJ knew it. The refs knew it. The team knew it. It's a shame that the team's confidence was so closely tied to whether JJ wanted to show up and play on any particular day, because I think the could/can do fine without him.

hi Bob, I'm miserable too. You see for a long time I thought that making fun of the Rangers was a way to seem relivant and cool.
I have some issues with needing to feel needed, so if we could be friends, I mean if you'd be my friend, I'll validate everything you say by agreeing with it. Pretty fair trade as I see it.
What do you say Bob, want to be blog lovers?
Ask me what KYS stands for.

Just review the line combinations to see we look alot smaller and softer than last year. Teams are going to run us out of the building with this line up of Europeons. (wink 212 753-2222. Blog it.

Jordan,

did you miss the Voros, Rissmiller and Fritsche additions?

Is Jordan the new Bob?
the plug is dumb too.

Zherdev is more physical than Jagr or Straka or Shanahan.

Byers, Jamtin, Moore and Korpikoski also add some hitting.

We need to dump Betts, Hollweg and Orr and likely Sjostrom unless he is something special which I doubt.

Zherdev is physical ????????

I wouldn't include Korpi in that group of 4, but hey we all know you see things a bit differently Bob.
I see Korpi playing a more playmaking type of wing, like he was in Sweden. Though I'm bias, I've been secretly cheering for him since we drafted in 04.
I also don't see Zherdev being very physical Bob. No more than Gomez or Straka were anyway. Do you have the Jackets season DVD set already? Could you back that up with video?
Now Sjostrom I like. I think with the right center he could put 10-15 in every season and with 4th line minutes. He's strong, works hard and has experience. Renney is familiar with him.
Jamtin looks good too. I'd like to see the Swed hit the ice opening night. But unless Dolan and Sather have something up their sleeve that includes offing some of our "extra" wingers, Jamtin is surely going to find himself starting in Hartford. The same goes for Byers. Though, for as big as he is, it might be nice to see a Voros - ??? Byers - line for the shear size and hitting power coupled with a little scoring touch our last 4th line lacked. Ah, to dream.

So with that, I'm willing to bet at this moment Sather and gang are trying to weed out a 2nd line winger that is young, on the local radar and had ok numbers. Shopping as they say.

I woudn't be surprised to see a center traded, Anisimov maybe?

If there isn't a trade, Renney is going to move Drury or Dubinsky to the wing. He'll have to. I'd have to go with Drury's preference. Let's say it's center for now.
Then Dubinsky should be moved and placed on Drury's wing. That will give Drury a winger that will help jam the net with passes-shots and body. I think Dubie-Do is that kind of player.
In this scenario, who plays left wing. Naslund? Korpi? Dawes? Prucha? With Dawes you get Triple D's. and who doesn't like a nice set of triple d's huh?

I thought we had alot of change in the team last year. This year takes the cake.
No one knows what this team will even look like in Oct.
But man oh man am I excited to see it.

I didn't say Zherdev is very physical, read again. Certainly more than pathetic Straka.

Korpikoski is a physical winger that can score and kill penalties--an ideal 3rd liner.

Dawes and Prucha are physical. Dubinsky and Callahan are very physical. So we only have about 4 or 5 forwards that aren't very physical--Drury, Gomez, Naslund, Zherdev, Anisimov??.

But our defense is not overly physical unless some of them step it up a bit.

I would REALLY like to show an above poster just what "Physical" really means.

King Henrik 30 ???

Swing & a miss.

No clue as to what you're saying once again. You're only entertaining yourself with diluted posts.

And douche...it was just announced yesterday that the schedule is coming out on Monday and people are already looking to sell tickets from season tix packages. I'm already set to purchase 3 games from another poster on HF. My post had absolutely nothing to do with the previous posts. Yet you continue to grasp at straws. Put away the mirror & razor blade my friend.

Just to let everyone know....

Sean Avery will be a guest on The Scott Ferrall show tonight, which airs on 101 aka Howard (Stern) 101.

Show begins @ 8 PM eastern

Way to contribute to the discussion KYB. I like the Rangers. I liked them last year, and I like them this year. bob (and your opinion of him) is irrelevant to my opinion, except that I happen to agree with him, and the Maven, on this one.

Last year I think the reason we were having chemistry problems was because JJ is a princess and he would often get his way. Can you honestly say you think JJ could be a good coach, let alone be a good coach and player at the same time? I like Renney, but I think he needed to push JJ around a little more and put him in his place. He didn't, and the team suffered for it.

Does everyone remember how optimistic we were this time last year? Everyone was talking Stamley CUp before the first puck drop. What went wrong? Do you really think we over-rated Drury, Gomez, Shanny, JJ, and eveyone else? Do you think they had us all fooled? I don't. I think we had a Cup-ready team, if only Renney had had the package to coach JJ. Don't want to be in the shootout? Fine. You don't have to be on the first line either. He certainly wasn't playing like he belonged there at that point.

I'm happy with the changes we made and I think Redden will be a surprise to all you haters.

OSSIE what makes you think Renney will ever have the onions it takes ? He's too nice to his players & the refs, while letting Sather hog tie him. NO GONADS, mr nice guy.

Sean Avery is my type of Man, Lean, Mean scoring machine, and wish he was still a Ranger, as I would be his Tonto. Avery, "Sit on My face,", slurp.

hey Ossie...you said we had a "Cup ready team" last year...are you joking or what?.....we couldn't hold a candle against Pit, and we would have been completely out of our league against the Red Wings....for crips sake, why do you think sather made all the moves he made....duuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.....to build and create a team that could play against the Pens and the R'wings! ...the only thing we were made for was being "play-off ready", and itf it wasen't was a late season surge, we would'a never made that!

Shanahan fans, did you know that the old fart only managed 22 playoff points in his last 42 playoff games?

"Sam Weinman - I don't see the shedding Betts unless it's apparent that Fritsche is a huge upgrade. But I'm of the belief that Betts was one of the team's most underrated players the last two seasons."

This guy is so clueless about hockey it is amazing he is covering it for a major newspaper. There is no player more worthless in entire NHL than Betts. He better be wrong about him, I hope Moore or Rissmiller replace this ECHL scrub.

While I don't share bob's utter detest of Betts, yes, I also hope that the some of the new guys replace the entire 4th line, including Blair Betts.

It would be nice to have a guy playing 4th line center with the ability to actually score A goal.

I would settle on a 4th line Center that can actually make A pass...

Zherdev or Naslund should play on 2nd line with Dubinsky to spread the scoring a bit and we don't want Zherdev to have an inflated scoring season and then demand a huge salary.

For the last 3 seasons we had a very bad structure of a team--we had sort of a vassal system of set roles and hierarchy where the lowest peasants had almost zero chance of becoming nobles. We had set scorers--and only they played the PP, nobody else was rewarded with PP time. If "Peasants" outperformed "Lords" like his highness Shana-khan nothing ever changed because nobody dared dethrone a great lord and replace him with some lowborn Peon Prucha. Also we had terrible role players that can do just 1 thing--the true Untouchables--the lowest of the low, yet they were being used because of 1 good attribute--Hollweg(Hitting); Betts(PK); Orr(Fighting).

I hope this idiotic system is over. We need a system that rewards those that play well and punishes those that do not by increasing/decreasing icetime. And we can't afford players who just have 1 redeeming quality. Almost any fool can kill penalties that alone is not enough to be in NHL, even if you are a PK God, which Betts certainly is not.

I think, bottom line, is that when you take into account all the ice time that Orr-Betts-Hollweg got last year, they totaled 5 goals between them and that is just simply ridiculous. 5 frickin goals.

You need some kind of production from the 4th line, especially when you have a coach who insists on using it so much.

bklynblue, I think Renney is soft. That doesn't make him a bad coach in all circumstances. In fact, I think his softness is the reason that so many of our young players are comfortable enough to show their talent without having their confidence crippled by a hardass coach. On the bad side, like I said, it also means he facilitates egotistical superstars. For this reason, I think letting JJ walk was a good idea, and also, that letting Avery walk was good, too, from a team-building perspective(although from a fan's perspective, he was great!).

Rich, hindsight is 20/20. Its easy, now, to say we weren't Cup-ready, because we didn't win. My point is that we had the talent. It was just that the peices didn't fit together. That's why I love hockey - beacuse it truly is a team sport. You can have all the top-name talent in the world, and still not win. Whereas a team like Detroit, (which is where I grew up, BTW) can put together a group of "underrated" guys and make them they fit together to take the whole package. For that, I think Ken Holland and Mike Babcock (and Mike Illitch for hiring them) deserve alot of the credit.

On our front, we have Renney, who is no Babcock, but has his virtues, and Slather (and worse - the Nolans) who, unfortunately, we have to live with for now. It's not ideal, but on a whole, I think the moves this off-season were in the right direction.

Oh and bob, Shannahan brought more than points to the game. If that was what mattered, you could decide the winner on paper - no need to play games.

Steve & NYR fan- what's with all this virtual universal Redden bashing? I've read everything from he's been in decline for 3 years, a major cause of Ottawa's decline, to his signing as being one of the worst, if not the worst of the UFA period. Am I missing something? Prior to the free agency period I was hoping NYR would be looking to Redden rather than Brian Campbell. I see him as a steadying influence on the blue line & a perfect mentor the NYR's young (& getting younger)defensive corp. Based on all the negativity being posted, he should be a shoe-in for comeback palyer of the year. I guess when Chara left, (& Ottawa chose to keep Redden), Redden was not only expected to pick up the slack, but also do everything else but take out the garbage. Coming to the Rangers should (re)invigorate Redden & I'm looking for not good, but great things from him.

I agree. I thing Redden will prove to be a tremendous signing when he returns to the All Star quality player he was a few years ago. He is a tremendous player that had a bad year, just like every other player on an Ottawa team that inexplicably collapsed. And that's why there was a lot of interest in him.

Redden is a excellent player. And he will upgrade the Rangers defense. He will receive 25 minutes of quality, quality defense for 82 games this season.

I think Redden will really help with the development of Staal.

At his best, Redden was what we hope Staal will become, very calm cool defenseman very good at both ends of the ice.

Redden at 6 yrs $ 39 million is a very bad contract. maybe the first 2 years of the contract he'll be decent. the Redden bashing from people is not only about the current year. think long term,

OSSIE they really didn't let Jagr walk, they wanted him back for 1 year at a time. So how much did Sather really want to change the team? And Renney was going to have to coach the same way. And he will again, because that's his style. They have both done a decent job, but they are not equipped to get the NYR to the finals.

Of course that Redden signing is bad. Who wants to pay an aging Dman, whos never been an allstar or in the top 10 in scoring (for defenseman), $6.5 million a year !!????

I dont think it'll be a bad move right away, but down the line, its gonna be a problem. We threw so much money at Drury, Gomez and Redden and none of those guys are what you'd call top level talent. Its pretty pathetic, really, and Rangers fans will be paying up the a$$ in ticket prices as a result of these ridiculous contracts for 2nd tier players.

and yes, the Rangers, in effect, DID let Jagr walk. Jagr only wanted to play for the Rangers, and we pretty much told him "dont let the door hit your a$$ on the way out".

Terrible, when you consider that this team would have been garbage without Jagr. He worked his butt off each year to be the best player he could; he played every regular season game, and he broke the record for most goals and points in a season. Rangers managment has no sense of loyalty.

Drury will be here until he is 36 also and he gets paid over 600K more than Redden. Do you think Drury will be lighting up the league when he is 35? Most of these long term UFA contracts are a bad idea.

This team was garbage WITH Jagr, it had no chance doing anything in the playoffs

"He worked his butt off each year to be the best player he could"

LMAO

Effigy is on that loyalty kick again.

Jagr was talking to Omsk when the season was still going on, there's loyalty for ya.

And, I am a Jagr fan.

don't give me any crap about owing Jagr loyalty.

Jagr is loyal to money just like all of them.

Radulov officially has gone back to Russia.

Cherepanov is never going to come over, why would he risk it, when he got everything made in Russia? No taxes, fewer games, less hitting, native language, etc.

well, NY is more fun for a Russian than Nashville

I can see the Russian league paying Cherepanov top dollar, so he'll have no motivation to come over to the the nhl at an entry-level contract.
Maybe it was a mistake to draft him in the first place.

bob, Jagr work hard in the offseason and before and after games. The guy was committed to being fit and in shape as much as he can.

Maybe you're not thankful for Jagr bringing the Rangers back to being a respectable team, but I am.

Dude, Jagr shouldnt have said that he was meeting with his friend, but he did. It was his friend and there is nothing wrong with going out to dinner with someone, is there ?

If you think Jagr wasnt loyal, why do you think he waited for the Rangers to make a better deal ? He obviously wanted to stay a Ranger, otherwise he would have signed with the Oilers. Instead, he sat on that contract offer of $12.5 million from Russia and waited on the Rangers to offer 2 years, but that never happened, and it seemed that Sather was unwilling to negotiate at all. Jagr was going to take 6 million less to stay in NY.

He signed with Omsk AFTER Sather told him that the Rangers were going to move on without him.

Silly me for trying to be loyal to someone who was a great Ranger.

screw Jagr,

the guy had no heart and zero leadership skills.

Yeah, he sits on the bench during a shootout while Rosival goes....

yeah good leader. Thanks capt.

What always startles me is how many people who never stepped on a field, played a moment of professionals sports, spent 5 minutes in a professional scouting career or even got to be a summer intern in a professional franchise seem to know more about the sport and how to run a franchise then those who have spent years in the career. For those who think they understand how the salary cap works, how players should be scouted and developed and how everything needs to be done, I guess my question is simply "where are you pulling all this experience from?" What makes you more capable then those who have served in a professional capacity in their sport? How can you possibly know what the hell you are talking about? Most can't even pass the age old test of those who can't do teach. Every professional sport has an entry experience level and that is the ability to relate to the play on the field. This experience comes from years of knowledge acquired either in the capacity pf playing or the capacity of scouting and understanding the skill level and the development process in coaching and bringing skills along, and even then those there are superior skill levels in these areas. It is really sad to read all the wantabes who somehow beleive they are more knowlegable then those who have committed their lives to professional sports, real sad!

you're right. All those years of experience really worked well for Mike Milbury. How can any of us peons question his decision making and structure for building a team.

Steve, The posts at 16:02 and 17:11 are definately Not Mine..I can spell better than that,..and you know how I like Jaromir and Milbury, two very misunderstood people here in New York. Thanks.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

The only reason why i respet Milbury is because he ruined the islanders franchise ... other than that hes a tool

The only reason I respect Busey..Is he impregnated me. And it was a 'Screwdriver".

You too, Man, that boy gets around...My check better come first.

nice comment Jordan, you are a scary creep. I wish you simply did not like hockey, and I wouldn't have to read such garbage here. Yuck.

What happened to Mike York that he declined so much.

BTW I am really excited to see Dawes this season, last season he lead the team in +/- and had only 10 PIM. He likely scored around 60 points playing on top 2 lines while also being a good hitter, taking minimum penalties, and playing very good defensively. Not only does he have an excellent shot, but also a much better playmaker than I expected.

Bob...good call on Dawes, but I think he is walking a fine line. I would love nothing more than to see this guy succeed, but I don't think there is going to be any middle ground for him this year. I think that either he is going to score 20-30 or be a total bust.

Bklynblue--have to disagree with you on the Renney comments. Renney would be the first one to admit that he was too much of a hard ass in Vancouver, he lost the team, and it cost him a job. I think without having to cater to Jags this year you will see a different Renney. Lets face it, as a coach you work with the players you are given, and Renney was smart enough to know that he had to keep the one player who could make or break the team happy. I don't expect him to be screaming at officials, but there will be a lot more people held accountable for their actions.

I agree with greatwhitenorth, I think this is the year for Renney to show his true coaching abilities. Let's hope he comes through.

When I said Dawes could get 60 points, that with a horse shoe up his butt, athe moon in his planet, and me turning straight, Wont Happen, hee.