Blue Notes

Thanks for your answer Steve! I still got a feeling that Shanny has been told by Sather to wait on Sundin if he does want to play for NYR. But I'm going only off of speculation w 0 facts to back it up.

Whats this I hear that we are giving Petr Nedved a tryout? Have we sunk that low, yet cant find a spot for a player like Shanny. BTW, Todays live blog was a "Dude"., great comment there, pal.

Jersey question...
are the rangers planning on bringing back the statue of liberty jersey this season?

I dont't think so brother.

http://hfboards.com/showthread.php?t=540734

wow, why are the majority of fans so stupid?

I say we trade Rozival and a draft pick to L.A. for Kopitar.....

Bob,

I am with you on Betts, I just don't feel as militant as you do about it.

But the guy who says "there is zero reason to move Betts" is definitely an idiot.

We have 4 legitimate centers:

Gomez
Drury
Dubinsky
Fritsche

We have Anismnov on the cusp of being ready.

Blair Betts is a UFA after this season.

Even the biggest Blair Betts fan in the world has to admit that he is very expendable.

John27,

LOL, yeah, I say we trade Roszival and a pick to LA for Kopitar too.

You may be able to make that happen in EA NHL 2009 if you take "fair trades" off, but that aint happenin in the real world.

Here is a realistic trade for Kopitar

Roszival
Dubinsky
Prucha
Byers
Rangers #1 2009

to LA

for Anze Kopitar

and you know what, I would do it

Zippy, thanks for asking me to post my question(s) again. Sorry about the double post.

1. I heard the Rangers are going to be honoring Harry Howell and Andy Bathgate. I know they arent doing a banner raising though. Do you know when and what is being done ?

2. Who do you think is going to be on the 4th line ?

3. What in the world is Nedved doing here ?? Yes, he defected back in 1991 or whenever and has been through a lot, but the guy hasnt won anything in the NHL and played his way out of NY the last time. To me, its a slap in the face to the youngsters who are busting their butts to try and make this team.

His new girl friend, 16, lives in NY and has a younger friend for Glen. :)

DUDE,

Actually LA has to sign a high priced player b/c they are are too far under the cap, so its not too far off that something like that could happen..

Betts is only expendable if you can find someone else with his courage of steel to block 1081928391293 shots a season.

check again, Betts blocked shots took a huge dive from the season before. He stinks.

John,

the Kings would be better off giving Marek Malik a 1 year deal for 10 million bucks to get over the cap floor than to give Kopitar away.

I am not sure why there are Kopitar rumours, he is the face of that franchise and has the potential to be as good as Crosby.

He isn't going anywhere.

Blair Betts blocked 49 shots last season in 75 games

http://www.nhl.com/nhlstats/app?fetchKey=20082NYRSASAll&page=Stats&service=page&sort=blockedShots&viewName=rtssPlayerStats

wow,

Dude at 13:41, don't you wish you proofread your post before you clicked post?

You are embarrassing the name.

Anyone hear Nedved's trying to come back?

How important or not important Blair Betts is to the Rangers line is a silly question. The Rangers had four winger's last year that played a total of five thousand one hundred fourty minutes and change. The Rangers brought in four wingers, who last season, played all of four thousand five hundred fifty nine minutes and change. But another way, thats just short of 10 full games missing from the Rangers lineup.

Jagr, Shanahan, Straka, and Avery, all of whom played almost every game the dressed for on the top two lines, cannot be replaced by the four new wingers in Zherdev, Naslund, Rissmiller, and Voros for obvious reasons. The only hope for a really strong lineup before a trade or signing, is to make three pairs of elite skaters, and hope whoever is the third man can at least keep up, kind of like when Gretzky and Leimuex had a guy named Brian Propp on their line. The same formula seems to be neccisary here.

Obviously, the centers are split. Gomez, Drury, and Dubinsky. We have to hope that there are is a perfect match for each of the wingers on the team. It seems clear that Gomez and Zherdev would make a great fit, but I think Zherdev would fit just as well with Dubinsky, who is used to a star right winger, where as Gomez has done his best with a star on the left. And if we remember the playoffs then Drury was at his best with Dawes.

That gives us three pairs that seem to fit...

Gomez and Naslund (Markus instead of Patrick)
Drury and Dawes (picking up where they left off)
Dubinsky and Zherdev (both young, and hopefully hungry)

Now the problems.

The Rangers have no clear top line forwards left on the roster. I can imagine Renney starting from here, and having his players spend the first half of the season playing musical linemates. I can see only one spot being a logical lock, and that would be Ryan Callahan rejoining Drury and Dawes for the DDR Line.

Realistically, we are looking for passability from these lines. As long as they backcheck then the goals against will be the best in the east, such is the luck of the Rangers in having Henrik in goal and Renney behind the bench. But, if they don't backcheck, and we go for the run and gun 5-4 games, then its likely that Hank will be pissed off, and Renney will play Lucy and have some "ESplaining to do".

Peace.

"How important or not important Blair Betts is to the Rangers line is a silly question."

how is it silly?

Almost any player can be very good defensively if he totally forgets about scoring and concentrates on defense. And on top of that Betts is overrated both defensively and on the PK.

a 4th line center needs to:

1. be physically agressive and throw big hits and possibly fight/agitate.

2. good defensively

3. have ability to produce offense and make good passes

4. solid on faceoffs

Betts fails miserably in 2 of the 4 major criterias.

"Jagr, Shanahan, Straka, and Avery, all of whom played almost every game the dressed for on the top two lines, cannot be replaced by the four new wingers in Zherdev, Naslund, Rissmiller, and Voros for obvious reasons."

Yup and the only name that is true in this statement is Jagr.
Avery. hurt. 3 times. had surgery.
Straka. broke a finger and missed Nov.
Shanahan hurt. knees.
I do believe only Jagr played every game.
That's a really easy fact to check. The only reason you could be dumb enough to say that is if you were a troll. Are you troll? I'll give you the benefit of doubt and say no for you.

Cruncher, did you know that Dubinsky Dawes and Prucha put up more numbers together in a shorter amount of time than Callahan Drury and Dawes together? True. check it out.

Where are all those youth movement guys from the season now.
We're getting what we asked for. This team will be fine. Better than fine, great to watch and hard to forget. There are enough talented guys on this team now that were drafted and trained to play these positions. There are so many young talented kids getting ready to take over MSG. We have first round picks in the line up, we have 9th round picks in the lineup. We have Russians that want to be like Malkin, we have home grown, born and raised in MSG bleeds blue talent, we have Swedish hotheads and snipers, we have Canadian crunchers and playmakers. This team will be good for years to come. Sather and Renney have given themselves the the chance to make things right, to grow their own team and keep adding on.
We have Gomez, Drury and Redden. Naslund, Dubinsky and Zherdev.
Marc Staal and Kalinin.
This team looks AWESOME. on paper.
And if that's one thing we're good at is looking good on paper.

Burt,
Very well put. I'm looking forward to the season and I'm ready for the growing pains as well as the successes. I think it's going great watching it all come together. Yea, a couple of my favorites are gone - but when the dust settles - they're still my TEAM. So hold on folks - I think this season is going to be a great ride! Call me naive - but who knows - this could be the start of an era!!!
Let's Go Rangers!!!

re "Even the biggest Blair Betts fan in the world has to admit he is very expendable."

You are kidding me, there are actually Blair Betts fans out there? If that is so, I guess the Ryan Hollweg Fan Club, and the Jason Strudwick Fan Club legions moved over to Blair Betts Fan Club membership to fill the emptyness in their lives. LOL.

Why is Betts even on the 'worry wort' radar to begin with.
The major complaint all season was Hollweg and Orr. Why Renney played them more than say anyone else? Now Betts. The guy is strong and good at what he does. He had crappy wingers all season long. You guys complain to just have something to say don't you.

Betts is a solid 4th line career, shut down the point type, of player. If he is traded, his value will bring dividends. If not, he will play the 4th line. He won't be scratched nightly and you guys should just get used to the idea that Renney and Sather know more than you do.

hahahhaahahahahaha

Let's Go Betts!-!-!

Sambo, numbercruncher's opening statement took me aback for a moment as well! After rereading it, I'm pretty sure that he was saying that those four he mentioned played on the top 2 lines: When Healthy. I am pretty sure he knows about the injury issues. He doesn't seem to understand, however, that Jagr, Straka, Avery, and Shanny were not Replaced by those he mentioned. Those holes left in the roster were only partially addressed by trades and signings. The rest of the positions are being filled internally, by talent we have cultivated. I think our young guys are very ready to fill the void left for them...

Yes Eric I understand. Thank you for trying to clarify.
May I ask you a question?

If the beginning of the statement is false, than how can the second half be considered relevant or factual if the premiss of this debate is top two lines and replacements?

Jagr can not be replaced. Neither can Shanahan. Avery is one of a kind, can't be replaced.
The old guard is gone. We've had a change in command. It's a new watch, and your luck it isn't the dog. (for you squids)

But, since this seems extremely important as a conversational piece, please tell me who would have made a proper replacement for Straka, Shanny and Jagr?
(save yourself the energy, it's rhetorical)
Do you understand what I'm getting at? That talking about replacing Jagr and his gang with any other UFA or RFA within the means of having a functional team this season is impossible! IT"S IMPOSSIBLE. You'd have more fun/luck debating Red vs. Green jello.

Hey, Robby Bonfire's back!! Well, long time, no hear, goof off. Just Dude listening tosome H Sh.. about this team of losers. Mail me, bud, lets get together sometime. Go Isles!! D.

I'm as big of a Betts supporter as the next guy, but if you look at this lineup, you have wonder where the scoring is going to come from. Since there is a glut on centers, I would use Betts as part of a package to try to upgrade the scoring. One of the big offseason goals was to address the PP and other than adding Redden, i'm not sure Sather did that. Redden will help get the puck to the net on the PP, but who where is the sniper to bury it in the back of the net.

This team got younger, will be one of the top 5 defensive teams in the league and will continue to struggle to score goals. Sather is wasting the investment made in Gomez and Drury if he doesn't get someone that they can pass to for goals.

Ralphie, What kind of player do you think we can get with Betts as part of a trade package? Not much, unless you are going to throw Prucha and someone else in. I honestly feel like we have the finishers this year. Zherdev IS a sniper, with a quick trigger and excellent shot placement. Naslund can put the puck in the net.Callahan and Dawes, given more ice time, are both potential 30 goal scorers. Prucha, with Shanny gone, will get more chances and hopefully plays significant PP time. Just not having everyone defer to Jagr , and force the puck to him, should open up alot of opportunities. Our PP will be better without Jagr, and a whole lot less predictable! I was getting nauseous watching 2 minute pass-a-thons in the hopes of squeezing Jagr the puck. Maybe now it will not be so obvious what the PP unit will do every outing...Sambo: Too true...

Betts, Shanahan, Straka, Jagr are irreplaceable? Why is it that Rangers have more dimwitted fans than any other team?

You think Jagr is replaceable ??? LOL !

Jagr's scoring, "hitting", "defensive work" and "leadership" are certainly replaceable.

But his lazyness, selfishness, turnovers and pouting I doubt.

or were you talking about replacing his stats from the 90's?

Jeez, I wonder how all the other teams in the NHL even competed without having Straka, Shanny, Jagr and Avery on their roster?? How did Detroit and Pitt make it to the finals without these guys? How are we going to survive as a franchise without these guys???? Oh that's right, here's how...

Avery 15 g's 18 a's (1st and 2nd line minutes)
Fristche 10 g's 12 a's (3rd and 4th line minutes)

Jagr 25 g's 46 a's
Zherdev 26 g's 35 a's

Shanahan 23 g's 23 a's
Naslund 25 g's 30 a's

Straka 14 g's 27 a's
Prucha 22 g's 18 a's ('06 - '07 stats used) even better if we go back to '05 - '06 where he had more playing time.

Throw in the fact we will have a far better fourth line and a far better d-corp and for some strange reason I think we will be just fine. Do you guys not realize that if we kept the same team we would have been guaranteed the same results??

Look out chicken littles and debbie downers THE SKY IS FALLING!!!!!

add to the above reasoning's the fact that it will be the second year in the rangers system for Drury and Gomez (without the whole Jagr distraction)

It will be the second NHL seasons for Staal and Dubinsky.

Prucha will either get more playing time or be traded for a key scoring winger.

Zherdev will be playing for a contract

Naslund and Redden will hopefully respond to a change in scenery

ETC. ETC. ETC. ETC. ETC. ETC. ETC.........

Dawes in full season on top 2 lines will double his production and will get about 30 goals, 30 assists.

4th line will score more, especially if "2.5 assists" is gone.