Because he’s binged and purged more players then any other GM in Ranger history!

After today’s dealings, Sather has managed to purge the Rangers of every post lockout veteran except Henrik Lundqvist. While today’s signing of Ales Kotalik for 3 years at $3 million per year doesn’t exactly constitute a binge, Sather has most assuredly purged Nik Zherdev from next season’s roster. Frankly, I think Sather made the right decision. I have grown weary of having players on the Rangers who are oft described as “enigmatic”.

In an attempt to garner more players for John Tortorella’s run and gun scoring style of play, Sather has disassembled what was one of the best penalty killing units in the NHL. Gone are Sjostrom and Orr. With the signing of Brashear, one can only assume that free agent Blair Betts will not be made an offer to return. Now the question remains whether all the new additions to the Rangers can score enough goals on the powerplay to make up for what might be a much diminished penalty kill.

I suppose it makes life more interesting getting to know all the new boys, their styles of play, their personalities. I wonder if any other team has experienced such a total turnover of personal in the last four years. I remember being at the Nassau Mausoleum and phoning in the player numbers to the HockeyRodent so he could keep the fans informed about the 2005-2006 Rangers. Now, I’ll have to memorize a whole bunch of new numbers but this time I can text them to his Rodentness.

Let’s pretend today is the first day of the preseason. Who could we be seeing in September?

Ales Kotalik RW
Marian Gaborik RW
23 Chris Drury LW
Chris Higgins C
16 Sean Avery LW
Matthew Gilroy C
Donald Brashear LW
34 Aaron Voros LW
Artem Anisimov C
Nikolai Zherdev RW RFA*
29 Lauri Korpikoski LW RFA
17 Brandon Dubinsky C RFA
24 Ryan Callahan RW RFA*

6 Wade Redden D
3 Michal Rozsival D
5 Dan Girardi D
Bobby Sanguinetti D
Michael Sauer D
18 Marc Staal D

30 Lundqvist G
40 Valliquette G

Save for Chris Higgins, that’s a whole lot of right wings and centers and not many left wings. Dany Heatley is still out there but I doubt Sather has enough cap space to make that happen without unloading Rozsival and sacrificing youth. Sather has used restraint and held on to the youths. Let’s hope he can add more finesse to the top left and keep the kids, too.

Who knows how many more moves Sather will make before training camp opens?  At least it’s comforting to know that Sather isn’t in a river somewhere casting a line. He might finally be earning his keep.

Whether the Ranger’s faced Tim Thomas, the brick wall in Boston or the Ovechkin/Semin/Green firing squad in Washington, the odds of their weathering the first round rest squarely on the shoulders of the King, Henrik Lundqvist. With the scoring power of the aforementioned unholy triumvirate, poor Lundqvist will be flashing his glove in his nightmares until Wednesday.

Lundqvist has 37 wins, 25 losses, a 2.32 goals against average and a .916 save percentage. Theodore  has 32 wins, 16 loses and 5 overtime losses. His goals against average is 2.81 and save percentage is .901. While Lundqvist  may have slightly better numbers on the year, Theodore has had a better, higher scoring team in front of him.

In their four games with the Capitals this season the Rangers are 1 and 3. The Rangers lost both games in DC and two of the four game ended in shoot outs. The Rangers last defeated the Caps on February 11th in a shoot out 5-4. Unfortunately, there are no shoot outs in the playoffs. The Rangers all time away record against the Caps is 34-46-9-3.

Considering the Rangers have no powerplay, bad defense and have trouble scoring at the best of times, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out the the odds are clearly against the Rangers making it through the first round.  Compound that by the fact that in Alexander Ovechkin the Caps have a superstar that not only can score but hit and fight if need be. Ovechkin is not the whining, diving Poster Boy the Rangers faced last season in Cindy Crosby. He’s the biggest superstar in the NHL. He’s the league MVP.

At least true hockey fans will be entertained by the antics of Ovechkin. Ranger fans should sit up and watch regardless of the outcome. Afterall, we’ll get to see a team the Rangers could have been. Had not Sather kept throwing money and big contracts at mediocre, washed up players since he arrived here, we too might have an Ovechkin We too might be in the Tavares sweepstakes like the Islanders.

I sincerely hope that Henrik Lundqvist and the Rangers make it through the first round. But, like waiting for shoes to drop, I am not holding my breathe.

When, WHEN, is Henrik going to learn to stay in his crease and stop trying to handle the puck? What does Tom Renney have to do, put an ankle bracelet on him that administers an electric shock every time he leaves the paint? What is wrong with this guy?

As good as Henrik is and has been for the Rangers, he never seems to learn his lesson. Is he that vain not to admit his weaknesses? Puck handling has never been his strong suit. I can recall at least five times in the past when Lundqvist came out of his net and failed to get back into position, resulting in an opposition goal.

After it happened you could visible see Henrik’s game deteriorate. Were I Renney I would have pulled Lundqvist immediately and put in Valiquette. No one is above the team. When any other player does something stupid like that, they should be sat. Lundqvist is no exception, regardless of his star status.

The officials did their best to ensure a Montreal win by screwing the Rangers at every opportunity . There  were some ridiculous calls against the Rangers and non-calls on Montreal.  Montreal usually comes in and pounds the Rangers unmercifully. Not so last night.

Last night they appeared to ease up on their physicality, as though they had been forewarned to reign it in. Devorski and Morton should be called on the carpet in Toronto and sanctioned for their incompetence and stupidity. If it wasn’t incompetence and stupidity then the fix was well and truly in against the Rangers.

And as a  final insult, the row behind me in Section 409 had six Canadiens fans that looked like they were the cast of the Francophone version of  “Trailer Park Boys”. There must be a lot of inbreeding in Le Provence de Quebec to produce such a  motley crew.  These same six seats seem to be for sale on Rangers ticket exchange all the time. Whoever the season ticket holder is who sells these seats to opposition fans should have his subscription revoked.

As I previously stated in this blog and elsewhere in the Rangers blogosphere, the Rangers early success has lead to unrealistic, and might I say unwarranted, expectations. Let’s face it, the pundits over at ESPN and Fox had the Rangers pegged to be out of a playoff spot this season. All of the Rangers fire power, Jagr, Shanny, Straka and Avery,  left over the summer. The only saving grace for the Rangers was Henrik Lundqvist. One goalie cannot save a team. According to experts, the Rangers would finish near the bottom of the Atlantic Division and out of a playoff berth.

The Rangers came out of the box and surprised everyone, making some pundits look foolish. So, now that the Rangers are finding their level, various and sundry naysayers are having a field day putting down the Rangers for hitting one of many speed bumps on the road to the postseason. Who do these critics think the Rangers are, the Detroit Red Wings? The San Jose Sharks?

Notwithstanding their terrible powerplay, swiss cheese defense and the highest shorthanded goals against record in the league, the Rangers have earned 40 out of a possible 62 points. It means the Rangers have 51 games left in which they can earn 58 out of a possible 102 points to secure a playoff berth. How long has it been since the Rangers were this far ahead this early in the season?

All things considered, I find it annoying that some ”fans” out there are whining about the lack of entertainment value of recent games. The Rangers are attempting to play boring, defensive hockey like their cross-river rivals. I can recall how before the lockout the mantra was that the Devils were destroying hockey by playing the “boring” trap. They may have played boring “trap” hockey but they won. They won the Stanley Cup three times since 1994. The Rangers have won once.

My question to fans is: Do you want to be entertained or do you want to be in the playoffs? Not every game will be wildly entertaining. The Rangers need to score more for sure. But, I’ll take some hitting, scoring chances and yes, fighting, where I can get it and put up with ennui occassionally.

Rangers fans sometimes remind me of the actor George Sanders. He left a multi-page suicide note saying he was killing himself because he was bored.