Since February 23 I have been trying to put on a good face as a Ranger fan. As a season subscriber, I still had games to go to. As a Ranger fan, there were still young men on the Rangers that I wanted to support. But when that day in February came, my commitment to this Ranger team switched off inside my head. Nothing that has transpired since  to turn it back on.

Quite amazingly, the Rangers earned a playoff spot with only two games left on their season. At that time, I predicted the Capitals would defeat the Rangers in five games. You could have knocked me over with a feather if you had told me then that the Rangers would take it to seven. Even more surprising was going up 3-1 in the series. But the final outcome shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.

The same players who failed to show up and play with heart during the regular season reverted back to their true selves. As I predicted, John Tortorella would behave in some way that would bring controversy and ignominy down on this franchise. The only pleasant surprise is that Sean Avery came back  to provide the “Avery Effect”,  that is until he was benched by a man who has even less self-discipline then Avery.

So the Rangers are out of the playoffs and they have the large, unmovable contracts of their “veteran leaders”  to look forward to next season. The Rangers, by not making the second round, have  regressed. Hell, this team is worse off then in 2004. At least Sather was able to hold the Fire Sale that got us picks and prospects and hope for the future.

What hope for the future do we have now? If we can’t move deadbeats like Redden, Gomez, Naslund and Drury, we won’t be able to resign the kids we do want to keep because there’s no space under the salary cap. And, even if we manage to resign them, whose going to nuture the young talent and bring it along? John Tortorella? Jim Schoenfeld? The rebuild ended when Renney was shown the door on February 23. 

In the every cloud has a silver lining department, at least I don’t have to give Dolan anymore of my money for his overpriced playoff tickets. And, re-upping my subscription while Glen Sather is still GM of the Rangers is going to be a serious decision I’ll have to make come August. I am sure in this economy, many fans are in the same boat.

I can’t see anything happening in the off season to turn the switch back on.

Posted under New York Rangers

If anyone had told me last Sunday after the Rangers final game of the season that today they would have the dreaded two game lead over the Washington Capitals in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, I would have said they were balmy.

After spending an entire season watching the ups and downs of the Rangers, I have become conditioned to the disappointment and failure that is commensurate with being a Ranger fan. I watched some players phone in games, play without heart and pass off the poor play with shoulder shrugs and feeble cliches. It all culminated in the firing of  Tom Renney over which I freely admit I’m still bitter. 

For a team that started the season off so well,  just a mere week ago many wondered if the Rangers would win a playoff spot, back into one or miss entirely. I see no reason why the fans shouldn’t be suspect of this team moving forward.  After all, it’s not that the team has been playing world beating hockey. They have just played that much better then their opponents, who have little playoff experience.

Yesterday the Rangers shut out the Washington Caps in a low scoring, boring game. If played mid season, such a game would have had some fans screaming that they were being bored. But the playoffs are about winning at any cost. Whatever it takes! Boredom be damned.

The fact that the Rangers have one of the top three goaltenders in the National Hockey League doesn’t hurt. John Tortorella is no dope. He realizes that the key to the Rangers getting through this series is to shut down the Caps offense by having his team play a sound, albeit boring, defensive game. The Rangers also had to depend upon their league leading penalty kill to win this game. I don’t suppose I need to remind anyone  who espoused and taught this team  that sometimes “defense first” win games.

I keep getting text messages from my friend Scott that I “gotta believe”. As I have said many time before on this blog, I love Scott’s positive attitude and his youthful exuberance. Last year he went to the final game in Pittsburgh and was on the bus until the final buzzer.

I know he’ll chastise me for being skeptical right now. Regardless of winning the first two games of this series on the road, the Rangers still have to convince me that they will do anything it takes to win. They have to bring the same level of commitment to the rest of the games in this series as they have to the first two.

I want to believe, I really do but the Rangers must continue to show me. I was born and raised in New York City but I must have lived in Missouri in a past life.

Posted under New York Rangers

Unless the Rangers can win eleven of their final fifteen games this season, they will be out of the playoffs. Considering how tight the race is in the Eastern Conference, I feel they’ll need 98 points to secure a playoff spot. Based upon the last game in Carolina and the difficulty of their upcoming schedule, I do not believe in my heart of hearts that they will make it. Frankly, I’m past the point of caring if they do.

I usually dread this time of year. The clocks are moved ahead. St. Patricks Day is upon us. Spring summons the end of winter and thus the regular season. This year is especially more of burden for me because I have been sick with bad cold for the last two weeks. Then to top it all off, the exit of Tom Renney has secured me in the knowledge that the rebuild is over. All the good feeling built up over the last three seasons seems to have slowly drained out of my body.

And while some may accuse me of being melodramatic and negative, the only people I feel badly for  are the die hards and the “Kid Rangers”. I feel sorry for the fans in the Garden and on my favorite messageboards. And even though some of these very same people were among those calling for Renney to be fired, I don’t think they realize the full implication of that request.

Now both of the real architects of the rebuild, Renney and Maloney, are gone. In their wake we have Schoenfeld and Sather and a “leadership” group of players that I have no faith in or respect for. Somehow I can’t see Schoenfeld as the nurturer of young talent. Sather certainly hasn’t done a bang up job in drafting or signing talent, either. Tortorella might work out to be a good coach but that remains to be seen.

So, for those that still care about this season’s outcome, I sincerely hope that the Rangers make it to the Eastern Conference Final. I will be there to support the “kids” on the ice and wish them well. I’ll be there to support my kids in the section and cheer with them. I’m just sorry it can’t be with the same enthusiasm as in the past three seasons.

Posted under New York Rangers

I think many people who read Chris Drury’s comments after last night’s games are missing the point. I certainly do not think Drury was being flippant or cavalier in his dismissal of last night’s miserable loss to the Caps in overtime. What I think he was saying is that the Rangers have had losses like this before.

They have come back from such devastating losses and won their next games (ie in Anaheim after losing badly to the Devils.) To dwell on this loss or the losses in Montreal and Pittsburgh last season or the loss in New Jersey two weeks ago is counterproductive in the short term. As a player and a team, you have to keep positive and focus on the next game.

By gaining one point, Drury is trying to see the glass as half full. Granted two points would have been better. Yes, the Rangers blew a point. In the grand scheme of things if it is this one point that loses them a playoff spot or home ice advantage, it will suck. But it might be the point that puts them over the top.

While many fans, this one included, were both angry and disgusted at last night’s game, we must ask ourselves some questions. Are we perfect fans? Do we always bring a perfect attitude to the game? Are we always supportive of the team? Do we sometimes unduly criticize them? It’s like we only expect them to win and win big. We want this team to dominate their opposition. We never seemed to be satisfied with the fact that they are leading their division. It’s either feast or famine with this team and its fans.

Chris Drury is right. I am not going to let what happened last night ruin my Christmas. I am looking forward to seeing the Rangers play the Devils on Saturday and the Islanders on Monday. I will go to these games with a positive attitude, a light heart and be of good cheer. Life is too short. Each day is a gift and an opportunity to start anew. Enjoy the time off with your family and friends.

The story of the Rangers this season is but half written. It is my humble opinion that the greatest story ever written was “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens. Even Scrooge saw the error of his ways and was allowed to make amends. Are we so perfect, so flawless, that we cannot extend that same charity to the Rangers.

Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did not die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world. Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them; for he was wise enough to know that nothing ever happened on this globe, for good, at which some people did not have their fill of laughter in the outset; and knowing that such as these would be blind anyway, he thought it quite as well that they should wrinkle up their eyes in grins, as have the malady in less attractive forms. His own heart laughed: and that was quite enough for him.

He had no further intercourse with Spirits, but lived upon the Total Abstinence Principle, ever afterwards; and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God Bless Us, Every One!

“I have endeavoured in this Ghostly little book, to raise the Ghost of an Idea, which shall not put my readers out of humour with themselves, with each other, with the season, or with me. May it haunt their houses pleasantly, and no one wish to lay it.” – Charles Dickens

Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, Happy Kwanzaa to All

Posted under New York Rangers

Recently I have been just as critical of the Rangers as any Ranger blogger. I have been angered, disappointed and downright disgusted quite a few times so far this season. I am sure that I will experience all these emotions many more times as the season progresses. But, to lambaste the Rangers for not soundly thrashing Atlanta last night is a tad unfair. 

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.

Posted under New York Rangers