Updated 3/30/09
The assist on Crosby’s game winning goal was from Fedetenko, not Talot, though I thought that was what  I heard on the broadcast.
Unfortunately, I am old enough to remember this song by Leslie Gore. I even wore my hair in a flip back in the day, just like Leslie.
For the last month I have been loathe to criticize John Tortorella in any way lest I be accused of sour grapes because I was and am a Renney supporter. But this blog is my party and I’ll cry out if I want to.
As the last month has unfolded, I have seen John Tortorella do some of the same things that got Tom Renney fired. Wasn’t the biggest indictment against Renney his failure to hold players accountable? Wasn’t lack of accountability one of the chief complaints of the Renney haters out there. Renney let the high priced, underachieving players continue to play big minutes. One Wade Redden comes immediately to mind.
Don’t get me wrong. I am not here to crucify Tortorella. I just find it a little ironic and unfair that Tortorella can make himself off limits to the press and doesn’t have to explain his decisions, good or ill. Accountability should start with Tortorella.
The fact is that there are soooo many sub-plots in Ranger hockey now that you may as well be watcing One Tree Hill. Dolan wants as much season subscription and playoff money as he can get. He pressures Sather to fill the seats and make the playoffs. In turn, Sather goes out and pulls the trigger on marque players and overpays them and hog ties the organization with long, no movement contracts.
Sather turned around and handed a stacked deck to Renney, who in his 3+ years as the head coach accomplished his mission. Renney was able to keep peace in the valley while juggling tempermental players, the press and the fan base. In order to do that, Renney had to be the ultimate diplomat. He couldn’t scapegoat players. He couldn’t tell the press to f*ck off and he couldn’t scream and curse at the officials.
Because Renney approached every aspect of his job in a calm, well prepared way he was accussed of being Coach Butterscotch. He was boring. His system was boring and both the players and the fan base wanted him out and to see run and gun, exciting hockey.
Unfortunately, you can’t play exciting hockey without a good defense to cover for the lack of defensive responsibilty by your forwards. Renney knew that. And despite the fact that there were 6 defensemen on his roster, he really had only 3.5 decent defensemen. He rolled four lines playing a boring, defensively conservative game for that reason. And, until the players bought out of that system, the Rangers were winning games 2-1 and in shoot outs. But, they did WIN.
Tortorella comes in and lets the team loose and they do score more goals. But instead of winning 2-1 or in shootouts, they lose 4-3 and in shootouts. Tortorella says he doesn’t need to roll four line like Renney did but he does anyway. And, for some inexplicable reason, he doesn’t use one of his best players in the shoot out. He is also shortening his bench to four defensemen. In my opinion, that’s a prescription for disaster.
If you look at Crosby’s goal yesterday in microcosim, you see why having all three forwards down low on that play lead to disaster. Renney’s five in the frame might have helped there. Avery was being tied up by Orpik, who hooked Avery in the corner. Zherdev plays the puck around the boards to Dubinsky who gets beat by Talbot. Talbot passes to Crosby at center ice who then splits the defense. Unfortunately, two of Rangers slower defenseman were at the points. Redden should have used his head and tripped or grabbed Crosby and taken a good penalty for a change.
Maybe if Sauer was on the ice instead of Redden, he might have been able to catch Cindy. We’ll never know because Tortorella only played the kid for two minutes for the entire game. But God forbid giving Redden fewer minutes.
I’m telling ya, the more things change the more they remain the same.
Posted under New York Rangers
This post was written by m hurley on March 29, 2009
