Tonight Sean Avery got a 10 minute misconduct for yapping at Ilya Kovalchuk. Yapping. Avery didn’t drop his gloves. It was Kovalchuk who dropped his gloves and Clarkson was the third man in but Avery got the misconduct.

Here was the Ref’s answer when Avery asked him why he got the penalty:

“He’s (Kovalchuk) a superstar and you can’t go after a superstar.”

Too bad Sean Avery wasn’t miked up. Now it becomes a case of Avery said/Ref said.  I’m just waiting to see how long it will be before the NHL (Nazi Hockey League) will try to invoke some damage control and fine or suspend Avery for his indiscretion in revealing what the ref said to him.

Isn’t it bad enough that, since the sloppy seconds comment, Avery has been a target for every punk in the league who wants to take a cheap shot while the refs have turned a blind eye? Let’s see what two faced Bettman and the suits on Toronto have to say about this.

If anyone should get a misconduct and sanctioned for yapping it should be that disgrace to hockey color commentators everywhere, Chico Resch. Is this guy kidding me? He is the biggest homer ever. MSG should dump Chico and give the job to Ken Daneyko.

I’m not a big fan of Joe Micheletti but kudos to Joe for taking a verbal shot at Chico when his biased comments went over the top. Were I Joe, I would have been hard put not to smack Chico in the mouth.

As far as the game, Fedotenko made a case for himself to be signed. Anisimov deserves a job as does Gilroy. Eminger and Exelby aren’t showing much. Boogaard might prove to be another bad contract by Sather. Callahan and Michael Del Zotto are off to a great start but I wouldn’t expect anything else.

The biggest news of the day, the waiving of Wade Redden has taken backseat after the game. I never liked the player or the signing and I cannot say that I will be sorry to see him go. Too bad about the timing of the waiver but it was inevitable. I wish him and his family well and hope he has more success somewhere else.

Posted under New York Rangers

After watching him play last night, I am sure that  Brian Boyle always came home when his mother rang the dinner bell.  Being from a large Irish family, Brian probably had to fight his siblings for the last potato.  Last night young Brian literally and figuratively fought for and surely has won a spot on the 2010-11 New York Rangers.

In all my years of watching young players fighting for a spot during preseason, I do not think I have ever seen as convincing a performance as Brian’s. Boyle skated well. He made smart plays all over the ice. He used his body. He fought. He took shots. He killed penalties. He scored a goal. He had everyone asking if he was the same player from last season. Clearly he is a new, improved Brian Boyle.

Boyle was the third star of the game, only superseded by Frolov and Gaborik. To wrest the third star away from Derek Stepan was quite a feat. Stepan looked amazing with the even more amazing Victor Frolov and the ever amazing Marian Gaborik. How can Stepan not stay and center that line for at least 20 games?

In fact, all the new players looked very promising. I wasn’t really disappointed by any of the newbies except maybe Semenov. He was far better last preseason. The Hobbit, Mats Zuccarello Aasen, is crazy fast and has great skill but needs to adjust to NHL  speed on the smaller ice surface. It shouldn’t take more then a season in Hartford.

Sauer and and McDonagh looked better at times then Staal, who had a rough night. And Rozsival? Well, enough said. Girardi had good game. I wish Boogaard’s brain was as big as his body. I still don’t understand what the hell he said to the ref to earn a ten minute misconduct. No matter. Brandon Prust showed that he has size enough to take down a goon like Mills. Dubinsky was just a dog on the puck and played his usual hard nosed game. Fedotenko and Kennedy looked fine but I didn’t see them shine.

Biron was the better Marty last night but he could have been better. It warms the cockles of my aging heart to see Brodeur entering the twilight of his career. I was hoping to see how Johnson and the skill kids like Stepan and Zucca handled a shoot out but Gaborik put the kybosh on that.

Any victory over the Devils, even in preseason, is a welcome win. Can’t wait to see the next group take on Ilya and the boys in the Pebble tomorrow night.

Posted under New York Rangers

We all know the penalties imposed by the NHL on the New Jersey Devils. These penalties are not unjust. I was really surprised they were as punitive, considering Lou has been such a favorite on 6th Avenue. Now, if Sean Avery can get back in the heads of Brodeur and Kovalchuk, things will be as right as rain in Rangerdom.

The contract settlement between the Rangers and Mark Staal also seems pretty fair. Glad to have the Rangers only homegrown, first pair defenseman locked up for the next five years. When you think of the salary the Rangers have been paying Wade Redden for his lackluster performance since his arrival on Broadway, the urgency to excise him from the lineup seems all the more acute.

I will be really curious to see which incumbent defenseman and which invitees will make it through training camp and on to the opening night roster. Throw enough spaghetti at a wall and some of it will stick. Wonder if Sather will hold a grudge against Semenov? About the only name not on the list is Sheldon Souray.

The head count in camp so far is 61 – 34 forwards, 6 goaltenders and these 21 defensemen. If it’s a given that Staal, Girardi, Del Zotto , Redden/Rozsival will be in Blue on opening night, that leaves maybe 3 spots open.

Posted under New York Rangers

New Jersey and the NHL. A  tale told by an idiot…full of sound and fury signifying … nothing.  Nothing, in a nutshell, is the sum total of the outcome of controversy over the Kovalchuk signing. 

The only negative repercussion for the Devils is that the Kovalchuk cap hit in the early years is now going to increase to $6.6 million, up from the $5 million dollars (as per that first cap circumventing contract which was rejected by the NHL and the arbiter).  Oh, and they had to shorten Kolvalchuk’s contract. I’m sure Lou isn’t going to lose sleep over not having Kovalchuk when he’s 44. 

“The New Jersey Devils acted in good faith throughout this entire process and operated solely on the assumption that our negotiations and both contracts reached were fully compliant with the CBA, as written and applied. Arbitrator Bloch reached that same conclusion in his August 9 decision. We are pleased that this matter has finally been concluded to all parties’ satisfaction.” – Lou Lamoriello.   

Really Lou? I call bullshit. This episode hasn’t been concluded to my satisfaction. And, unless the 26 other NHL GM’s and Owners are brain dead, they shouldn’t be satisfied either. Any team could have pulled this stunt and gotten the most sort after unrestricted free agent of this summer. Question is, why didn’t they?

This whole thing smacks of collusion on the part of the NHL, Lou, the Devils ownership AND perhaps all the other NHL teams. The geniuses at the NHL, lawyers Bettman and Daly, left loopholes in the CBA so big Lou (or any other GM) could and did jump through them. New Jersey gets rewarded by being allowed to keep Kovalchuk. Chicago gets to keep Hossa. Boston gets to keep Savard and the Flyers keep Pronger. The NHL gets to close its loopholes into the next CBA. 

Why aren’t the other owners and GM’s screaming? What’s in this for them? Has Gary placed some sort of gag order on everyone? If another GM (Sather) had pulled this, their teams would have been fined or punished. How does Lou keep getting away with this sh*t? Inquiring minds want to know.

The truth is out there. Lead on, McDuff…

Posted under New York Rangers