Blue Notes

"The idea of possibly having a hockey mom in the White House just blows my mind."

Those are the words of Dayton Bombers owner Costa Papista, with whom I just spoke after watching a CNN shot of him presenting Bombers jerseys to both John McCain and VP candidate and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, a self-described "hockey mom", after the GOP rally at Nutter Center---where the ECHL Bombers play.

In the crowd milling after the speeches this afternoon, Papista and three players---captain Greg Labenski, Joe Van Culin and Dan Riedel---gave McCain a dark blue "McCain 08" Bombers jersey and Palin one without a name or number.

"Because it was such a secret, we didn't have time to customize one," said Papista, who played in the OHL and has owned the team for five years. "But she was really excited to get the jersey. I'm passionate about the sport and I imagine (NHL Commissioner) Gary Bettman has got to be pleased today."

One of Palin's sons, Track, who will be deployed to Iraq on Sept. 11, played junior hockey in Michigan.

It's a TV windfall for Rangers fans.

Newsday has learned that MSG Network will televise all six pre-season games in the U.S.---for the first time that I can recall---as well as the exhibition game against S.C. Bern in Switzerland on Sept. 30 and the inaugural Victoria Cup against the European champ, Russia's Metallurg Magnitogorsk, on Oct.1 from Bern, as well as the two games in Prague against Tampa Bay, the regular-season opener on Oct. 4 and the next day, Oct. 5. A Rangers executive said last night that he believed it will be the first time all preseason games are televised.

The broadcasts from Bern, on a Tuesday and Wednesday, will air in the morning and afternoon here; the weekend games in the Czech Republic will begin about noon ET as well. (Versus also will carry the Oct. 5 game). No radio broadcasts for any of these, however.

Here's the lineup:

Sat. Sept. 20 at Ottawa 7 p.m.
Mon. Sept 22 Ottawa at MSG 7 p.m.
Tues. Sept.23 at Tampa Bay 7:30 p.m.
Wed. Sept 24 at New Jersey 7 p.m.
Thurs. Sept 25 Tampa at MSG 7 p.m,
Sat. Sept 27 New Jersey at MSG 1 p.m.
Tues. Sept 30 vs. SC Bern 10 a.m.
Wed. Oct. 1 vs Metallurg Magnitogorsk 1:45 p.m.
Sat. Oct. 4 vs Tampa in Prague, noon
Sun. Oct 5 vs Tampa in Prague, noon

Some news:

Nineteen players have been selected to represent the Rangers at the Traverse City, Michigan prospects tournament that opens Sept. 13. And Lyon Messier, the 21-year-old son of Mark Messier, is one of four defensemen among five tryouts invited to rookie camp.

The Rangers prospects won the tournament last year against seven other young NHL squads. The players set for next month's tourney are:

G Matt Zaba
G Antoine LaFleur (unsigned)

C Artem Anisimov
C Joe Barnes
C Chris Doyle (unsigned)
C Evgeny Grachev (unsigned)
C Thomas Pyatt
C Tomas Zaborsky

F Brodie Dupont
F Siarhei Dzemahin
F Justin Soryal
F Mike Taylor
F Ryan Hillier (injured)
F David Skokan
F Dale Weise (unsigned)

D Michael Del Zotto (unsigned)
D Vladimir Denisov
D Tomas Kundratek
D Bobby Sanguinetti
D David Urquhart

Dzemahin (a 22-year-old who played for Dynamo Minsk and Belarus in the 2007 IIHF Worlds with Denisov), Skokan, Taylor and Urquhart have AHL contracts.

The tryouts are Messier (6-1, 180), who was 5-12-17 in 46 games for the Lincoln Stars last season. He also has played for the Texas Tornado. Tysen Dowzak, 20, is a big (6-5, 225) Minnesota native and like David Stich, is a stay-at-home D. Stich (6-2, 215) is 19 and from Plsen in the Czech Republic. He played for the St. John Sea Dogs last season. Nick Pageau of the OHL Bellville Bulls (6-24-30 in 53 games) d another look after opening eyes in the post-draft development camp at the MSG Training Center. Matt Meropoulis (5-11, 190) is a 19-year-old right wing from Edmonton who played in the WHL.

One quick item:

Tomas Kundratek, the 18-year-old Czech defenseman selected by the Rangers in the third round of June's draft, has signed an enrty-level deal. This season, he will play for the Medicine Hat Tigers of the WHL, who chose him 15th in the junior draft during Rangers' prospect camp..

Have received word that my story is likely to be cut significantly because of a space crunch in the paper. We'll see. Bathgate and Howell richly deserve the tribute from the Garden and they deserve recognition here as well. So, just in case...


BY STEVE ZIPAY

The Rangers will raise not one---but three---jerseys to the Madison Square Garden ceiling next February: the No. 9s worn by Adam Graves and Andy Bathgate and the No. 3 sweater worn by defenseman Harry Howell.

In two ceremonies that will bring the number of jerseys in the rafters to eight, Graves' sweater will be retired in a ceremony on Tuesday, Feb. 3 prior to the game against the Atlanta Thrashers and Bathgate and Howell will be saluted on Sunday, Feb. 22, before the Rangers host the Maple Leafs.

Graves, 40, had learned of the plans to retire his jersey when Brian Leetch, his former teammate on the 1993-94 Stanley Cup championship team made the surprise announcement during the ceremony to retire his No. 2 sweater on Jan. 24. But the Bathgate and Howell plans had been kept under wraps until today.

One of the most popular Rangers ever not only for his on-ice performance but for his tireless community service, Graves played 10 years in New York and was voted the team MVP in 1992-93 and 1993-94. The Rangers said his jersey would be the last retired from that team, which brought the first Cup to New York in 54 years. Along with Leetch, Mark Messier's No. 11 and goaltender Mike Richter's No. 35 already are on display.

Graves, who also won a Cup in Edmonton in 1989-90, scored 329 goals and added 287 assists in his 17-year NHL career that ended in 2003. The left wing, a Toronto native who currently works in the team's hockey and business operations office, ranks third on the Rangers in career goals (280) and 10th in points (507).

Bathgate and Howell starred in another era: the 1950s and 60s. They were called up to the Rangers on the same day in October 1952 and were teammates for 12 seasons.

Captain of the club from 1961 to 1964, Bathgate was the first Ranger to score 40 goals in a season (1958-59) and is fourth in career goals (272), assists (457) and points (729.) He holds the record for most goals in consecutive games (11 in ten games in 1962-63). On Broadway, he was an eight-time All-Star and league MVP in 1958-59. Bathgate, who tied Bobby Hull for the league scoring title in 1961-62, was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1978.

Howell, a steady defenseman who won the Norris Trophy in 1966-67, holds the franchise record for games played (1,160 in 17 years) and is fifth in club history for assists (263) and points (345) by a defenseman. He was named to the All-Star team six times as a Ranger. Howell followed Bathgate into the Hall of Fame in 1979.

"Rangers history is enriched by players like Andy Bathgate and Harry Howell, who laid the foundation for what a Rangers player should be," said team president and general manager Glen Sather. "They will take their rightful place alongside those players who have carried the tradition through the years."

Make that three...

Adam Graves' No. 9 jersey will be raised to the rafters before the Feb. 3 game against the Thrashers at the Garden, the Rangers said a few moments ago...This will be the sixth jersey retired, and the last from the 1994 Cup champions, the team said.

And in a long overdue move, Andy Bathgate, who also wore No, 9, and defenseman Harry Howell, who wore No. 3, will be honored on Feb. 22 before the Leafs game in a separate ceremony. Both players, who came up together in October 1952, are in the Hall of Fame .

For more, see tomorrow's paper and my story here on this site in a while...

Morning all,

Less than a month to go before training camp and I see while the cat's away, the mice will....
Impersonate.

No need to reply to the "refs"; our admins don't post on the message boards.

We're moving to a registration system soon.

Ah well, time for the broom.

Will check in later.

OK, let's roll back the pages, folks.

In late July, right here on Blue Notes, I wrote about "The Summer of Sundin" and that the Rangers were one of the six teams interested in the Maple Leafs center and why...

Earlier this month, under "Three for Tuesday", I detailed Sundin's past references to NYC and detailed the possible cap shuffling if he decided to take less money (which he has done before) say $4 million, for what could be his final season or seasons.

And before that, in a live chat here, I described the possibility of Mats coming here as a longshot but never closed the door.

Go check the archives, down to the right of this post. Some people were outright dismissing it.

Now, while I've been away on vacation, the Post has taken the next step and reported (from reliable, but unnamed sources) that Sundin's reps had been speaking with the Rangers front office all last week, but not yet negotiating a contract.

Could Sundin end up at MSG? There's a ways to go, but maybe.

But I don't need to remind the daily readers and commenters here. They've known about the interest and the possibilities for a month. Whether they wanted to believe is another matter...

See ya soon...

No Jagr, no Avery?

No problem for Versus, which will televise eight Rangers games this season, including one of the two games in Prague.

Versus will broadcast the Oct. 5 game against Tampa from Prague at noon ET on Oct. 5, followed by Pittsburgh-Ottawa at 2:30 from Stockholm. I assume MSG will carry the season opener from Prague on Oct. 4. Will check.

The Bruins, Pens, Sabres and Wild also will be featured eight times in the 56 regular-season telecasts; the Flyers, Red Wings and Caps seven times. Think Isles have four games scheduled, including Dec. 29 against the Rangers.

Here's the other six Rangers games: Jan. 5, Pittsburgh; Feb. 9, Devils; Feb. 16, Blues; March 9, Carolina; March 24, Wild, and March 30, Devils.

Brian Leetch and Mike Richter won't be at the Garden watching the Rangers home opener against the Blackhawks.

Instead, on Oct. 10, the two former Rangers will be in Denver for the induction ceremonies of the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame, along with the rest of the '08 quartet, Brett Hull and Cammi Granato, who will be the first woman enshrined. All worthy and obvious choices.

USA Hockey made the announcement this morning...

Officially, I'm on vacation, but have grudgingly moved off the beach chair for a few seconds, so figured I'd chime in on a couple matters...

* The league's pre-season schedule is out and some fairly large, out-of-NHL-market, U.S. and Canadian cities will host six games: Kansas City; Las Vegas; Halifax, Salt Lake City and Winnipeg. Here they are: Sept 22, Boston/Montreal in Halifax and LA /St. Louis in KC; Sept. 24, Calgary/Phoenix in Winnipeg; Sept. 25, Boston/Detroit in Halifax; Sept. 27, Colorado/LA in Vegas and Oct. 5, LA/San Jose in Salt Lake.

* Favorite sets at Newport Jazz Festival Saturday, all on the smaller stages: trumpeter Warren Vache's quintet, the sublime trio of Bill Frisell/Charlie Haden/Ethan Iverson, and drummer Brian Blade's Fellowship.

* Flashback: Rangers prospects won four straight games at last September's tourney in Traverse City, Mich. Brandon Dubinsky (3-4-7) and Marc Staal (two goals and a plus-6) made the big club. Alex Bourret (now with Phoenix) also was 3-4-7. Antoine LaFleur and Miika Wiikman were the goaltenders. This year's tournament is Sept. 13-17; rosters haven't been announced.

* Assume Wiikman will be the No. 1 keeper in Hartford this season (Al Montoya is gone, David LeNeveu is in Anaheim and Chris Holt's in Peoria). Among the other Wolf Pack players who've departed: Andrew Hutchinson (Tampa), Josh Gratton (Nashville), Ivan Baranka (Moscow), Jake Taylor (Springfield), Frankie Lessard (Phoenix) and Mitch Fritz (Isles).

With LaFleur, Matt Zaba and journeyman Mike Ayers in Charlotte, the Rangers probably could use netminders from somewhere. And more defensemen in Hartford: Right now, the injured Mike Sauer can't start the season, which leaves Pock, Potter, Fahey, I assume Sanguinetti, and Busto and Denisov???. Expect some transactions here...

* In July----the offseason, mind you---Blue Notes was the most-viewed of all Newsday sports blogs, breaking the monthly record for any sports blog at the paper. Got a big boost from the first few days of news during free agency, but we're steadily on the rise, so many, many thanks again for making us a daily stop.

For the pre-season and beyond, please continue to swing by a few times a day for up-to-the minute reporting from morning skates, practices and games, home and away, as well as the usual pithy commentary, notes, live chats, stuff from around the NHL and the wide array of flotsam and jetsam that washes up on the shore of my senses.

One other note: Before the season, we hear, the powers-that-be are planning registrations on the message boards to allow us to continue the fever pitch of discourse and thought-out inquiries, presumably with less interference from those pesky trolls. Think that will be another improvement.

Til later....

"I'm buying an island, somewhere in the sun
Hide from the natives, live only on rum...
I'm selling my memoirs, I'm writing it down
If no one will pay me, I'll burn down the town...
I'll rent out an aircraft and print on the sky
If God likes my story then maybe he'll buy..."

---Gary Brooker/Keith Reid

Aside from Procol Harum's rum tales, here's three stories I'm relaying today, just a handful of afternoons before escaping to Rhode Island, Newport to be exact, for the annual jazz festival amidst the bay breezes of Fort Adams State Park.

* In an exhibition game in the Russian Kontinental League, Alexei Cherepanov, the Rangers' first-round pick in the 2007 draft, scored a hat trick. His Avangard Omsk teammate, of whom you may have heard, had two assists: Jaromir Jagr.

* For the sake of TV viewers in Western Canada, the Calgary Flames asked the Rangers to push back their Dec. 7 matchup at MSG from 7 to 7:30 p.m. The Rangers agreed, but asked for Dion Phaneuf for compensation. Kidding. Game will start at 7:30, though.

* Now let me toss a little more kindling on the cinders of the Mats Sundin speculation:

According to my calculations, Sundin has earned slightly more than $74 million in salary since 1989. Let's assume he invested wisely.

He was paid $5.5 million by the Maple Leafs last season, $2.1 million less than he made in 2006-07. Would a cut of another $1.5 million---to $4 million---be out of the question for an opportunity to play in New York? Will he opt for the bigger dough in Vancouver or Montreal---or hang it up?

I mean, even without another $4 mil, Sundin and his fiance, Josephine Johansson, 26, could scrape by and rent a nice loft in Manhattan for $12,000 a month and still have a little bit of spending money for restaurants and the theater.

After all, in last season's Toronto media guide, Sundin listed New York as his favorite road city and the Garden as his favorite road arena, and in an interview with a Toronto paper during last season, Sundin made it clear that he's a cosmopolitan fellow, comparing Toronto to the Big Apple:

"What is there not to like? The city has everything that New York has. Theatres, ballets, restaurants, sporting events."

Johansson, who hails from a small town in Sweden, also likes the bright lights. The Canadien press has noted that the couple enjoyed Toronto's cultural events and films. Who knows, maybe he will just retire (with $74 mil, I would) and they'll visit New York whenever?

Anyway, how could the Rangers carve out $4 million if they so desired? And I'm not saying they so desire---the following is just some toying with the math...

Here's a 22-man "ghost" roster with possible options:

Player Cap Hit

Gomez $7.357 mil
Drury $7.050
Lundqvist $6.875
Redden $6.5
Rozsival $5
Naslund $4
Zherdev $2.5
Kalinin $2.1
Girardi $1.55
Voros $1
Rissmiller $1
Fritsche $875,000
Sjostrom $840,000
Staal $827,000
Valiquette $725,000
Pock $667,000
Dubinsky $633,000
Dawes $588,000
Callahan $575,000
Potter $550,000
Orr $537,000

21 $51.749

Add Sundin $4 million

$55.749/The cap? $56.7 mil

The roster assumes these trades (only for picks or prospects...)

Prucha $1.6 m
Mara $1.95
Betts $615

Total $4.165

OR

Prucha $1.6 m
Kalinin $2.1
Betts $615,000

$4.315

OR

Prucha $1.6 m
Mara $1.95
Rissmiller $1

$4.55

UPDATE (I apparently neglected the reported cap hit for the Shanahan bonus and Jagr buyout, which is $1.5 million, according to posters who studied this whole configuration closer than I have. So that would put the Rangers $500,000 over the cap in the first scenario: Prucha/Mara/Betts.
Other combos are nearer the mark. Maybe Betts stays and someone else goes? Sjostrom? Orr? Point is, and we've made this observation in previous posts and chats, the machinations would be difficult, improbable and perhaps untenable, but yes, GM-for-a-day fodder for August...Unless you're more interested in the Olympics...)

OR
Your assignment for today, if you think there's any value in these ramblings, to come up with your own viable space-clearers.

Or tell me to shut up, that the D would be weakened, the Rangers need to keep Prucha and the rest, that it's smart to pass on a 37-year-old Sundin and that I should keep my foolish butt in Newport until the season begins.

Hey, I'd survive.

Nine power-play goals.

The 2007-08 Rangers scored 61 goals with the man-advantage and finished 22nd in the league in total PPG.

Forget the number of opportunities for a second. Nine more---reaching 70---a little over one a month, would have lifted them into a tie for sixth. Can they generate nine more this coming season?

Last year, Jagr (7), Straka (3), Shanahan (11) and Avery (2) combined for 23 of the 61.

On their teams, Naslund (9), Zherdev (7) and Redden (4) combined for 20. Close.

For the Rangers, Drury had 12; Gomez 7, Rozsival 5. They're all back. Dawes had 3, Prucha 2 in limited ice time. Dubinsky had 1.

If each of those 9 contributes one PPG more....

***

The PK finished sixth in efficiency, one percentage point out of third and a percentage point above ninth. Can the units maintain that level? Perhaps.

Without Straka---who averaged 1:50 TOI shorthanded---and presumably Shanny (2:32) as well as Avery (50 seconds), there will be a couple new faces or added shifts. Jagr rarely killed penalties; eight seconds a game.

Drury (3:06) again will be counted on, as will Betts (2:45) if he remains here. The forwards who will be counted on for more? I'm assuming Callahan (1:04) will be tabbed for more time, as well as Sjostrom (1:15), Rissmiller (2:00 on the top-ranked Sharks PK unit) and Gomez (48 seconds).

On defense, Redden (1:45) or Staal (2:09) will replace Tyutin's 2:24, and both presumably will get more minutes to lease the load on Rozsival, who led all Rangers D with 2:58 shorthanded. Girardi, by the way, averaged 2:32 shorthanded. Kalinin averaged 1:14 in Buffalo.

Guy by the name of Sundin would help any team on both (10 PPG last season and averaged 1:04 shorthanded.) Nothing new on that front at this point, far as I can tell.

Click here for an update and to leave your comment about what you think the chances are of Sundin coming to the Rangers . . . and tell us if you would want that.