Blue Notes

Thanks for the clarification Steve.

yeah,great article

Long Island goons coming Friday. Thugs.

you guys did nothing to replace the great loss of nylander, who made jagr a better player and was a consistent scoring threat. i remember against buffalo, when the rags were down by 2 goals in the final game last year and nylander really stood out when he scored that goal in the final minutes that gave the rangers a chance. gomez just wants to come to the rags so that he can show his ugly face more and keep up his pipe dream of being discovered by hollywood! he will be a bust. drury will obviously be a solid player, but if you ask jagr, he'd take nylander any day over both of them.

When Gomez 7 year contract is over, he will still be younger than Nylander is RIGHT NOW.

Nylander has never won a CUP.

Gomez has won 2.

Nylander has played for twice as long as Gomez has.

Gomez has had 3 years of over 50 assists, Nylander has had 2.

The Capitals will be paying Nylander 4.5 million when he is 39 years old.

Are we still wondering why the Rangers chose to have Gomez instead of Nylander?

I don't get it. We have some isles and rangers fans here that don't want to do anything but throw insults at the opposing teams and the opposing teams fans (I assume these are children whos mommys and daddys don't know they are on the computer), and we have Ranger fans pushing the panic button because a team with a lot of new faces hasn't gelled during PRESEASON? What the hell is wrong with all of you? Like I said in an earlier post, this place is a jack ass festival.

1. For the last two season Hank hasn't shown up until after January, and in the last two seasons he was a Vezina candidate. So "blaming" Hank and predicting a bad season based on a poor preseason on his part is very foolish.

2. Chemistry is everything. With all the new faces (including two KEY players) its going to take time to get all the components to work right. If you expect everything to start clicking before January you are a fool. Yes, it COULD happen but don't hold your breath. Last season it looked really, really bad for the blushirts until close to the trade deadline.

3. It's the PRE-SEASON! Do you think they might be holding back a little? Do you think they really care if they win a game? Don't you think there is a bit of experimenting going on with players, plays, and strategy right now? Don't you think they are mmore concerned with getting into "game shape" rather than actually winning games? Of course!

4. Some Treky Islander fan who argues about whether Star Wars or Star Trek is better, sits at his computer and plays Warcraft all night, and has never had a girlfriend is going to "flame" me about this comment rather than discuss hockey.

I wouldn't say that Hank hasn't shown up the last two seasons until January.

His rookie year he was fabulous immediately and took the #1 away from Weekes.

Last year, yeah, it took him awhile to get rolling, but until January he also had to deal regularly with Kasparitis, Ozolinsh and Aaron Ward on his defense.

will gomez make an aging jagr the best he can be, like nylander did? you're right, statistically, gomez is younger and better and maybe after jagr retires, he'll be more valuable than nylander. the most important thing presently for the rangers, however, is having jagr be the superstar that he is, or at least WAS, and nylander was one of a handful of players in the league who could bring out the best in him. i may be completely wrong and i'd hardly even heard of nylander before he was a ranger, but he was a star with you guys and was a perfect fit for your best player. sometimes one little moves can change alot of things for the worse

see yashin

No, the most important thing the Rangers can do is yes, try to win now, but also make the sure the team continues to be good after Jagr retires.

The Rangers didn't win a damn thing with the Jagr - Nylander combo, a total of 6 playoff wins in 2 years.

i think the jagr/nylander combo pretty much carried you into those 2 playoff appearances, no? with all the young talent you have, why give 7 yrs to a guy who doesn't score many goals and may have only thrived because of elias and gionta?
be careful of someone who says that they always wanted to play in ny...it's usually so that they can do everything BUT play good hockey

Nylander never had a season of 33 goals like Gomez has.

Henrik Lundqvist carried us into those playoff appearances dude.

reality check:

fair enough, i think that i was just overly impressed with that nylander goal in that last playoff game. even though i was routing against the rangers, he showed me alot of guts and you can always use a player like him. i'll stop trolling now and go back to my own blog

You can stay as long as you'd like, I am gonna win the arguments though, can't help you with that!

reality check:
word to the wise...when you want to excact revenge on simon for last year's incident, don't send your toughest guy after him and have him get knocked down with a thunderous left hand!
the only lesson simon learned was that, not only can he destyroy holweg, but colton orr as well!! no, he's not todd fedorick!

Anonymous,

I really don't have anything to do with who goes out on the ice, but I appreciate the advice.

flukeqvist being protected by a trap because he could not stop a beach ball for five months and faced the least shots of any goalie in the second is why he got another token vezina nomination from Sather's golf buddies.

rico faced more shots per game than any NHL goalie and had a higher save percentage than flukeqvist last season.

those little things called facts just beat you every time..

Well, you would hope someone the Islanders spent the #1 overall pick on the in the 2000 NHL draft and passing on Dany Heatley would have some talent.

Of course the Rangers took Henrik in the 7th round of that same draft, and our guy is the one with 2 Vezina nominations and an Olympic gold medal.

oooooh, you lose sucka

Why don't you call yourself Rag Contraction? I know its you ya dumbarse!

you are the only moron who has the word flukeqvist in their limited vocabulary!

what, you are conceding you lose?

It is quite funny when the joker RAG disappears. One or two others magically appear and then a bunch of anonymous as well. You are real smooth there RAG. You trick us every time.

Let's see, Islander comedians have noted that Lundqvist is a fluke, the signings of Drury & Gomez will create chemistry problems, by signing Drury & Gomez they're trying to "buy" success (when every term has the same cap ceiling), NYR lacks Nolan-Type-Players so how can they succeed, Hollweg was at fault & Simon "may" have overreacted, any writer, commentator, or analyst predicting the Isles to finish near the bottom of the Conference either "knows noting about hockey" or "this guy never liked us", but the lastest & most absurd assertion (up until now) is that "Nylander made Jagr", currently #12 of all-time in points, 13th in goals. Seems the intent is to deflect attention from their team by tossing out as much nonsense as possible. We're still waiting for an Islander backer to logically &rationally explain how their team is better than this year's Rangers. Any takers?

Duh, the NTP and the NTF make them better. lol

Blue,
You aren't going to get what you're looking for, which is common sense from a reasonably logical Islanders fan. Good Luck though.

It just might be time for Renny to cute loose the Irish pennants and solidify the starting line up now. Give them the last week of pre-season to prepare together.

Will- but you have to either laugh at the comedy or just shake your head. Not a word about their squad, but all the warts they can think of, largely baseless, about the Rangers. Guess I shouldn't expect a response to my posted challenge. By the way, think we'll hear anything from them regarding the 6-1 pasting the took from the Devils last night, WITHOUT mention of the Rangers?

You’ll hear something alright. That’s for sure. It’ll only be more relevant crap that has nothing to do with today or tomorrow. It’ll hold no foresight. It’ll be all about the Rangers and nothing to do with the Isles or Devil. They’ll call us imposters or trolls.
They’ll bring up 94, only to have Reality Check hand them a reality check. That poor dude talks until he’s blue in the face only to have every point completely ignored.
I won’t play that game anymore. Some advise, you shouldn’t either.
You know, no one ever mentioned that Sutton hit on Callahan. Or should I call it an elbow to the face. Suttons been around a long time, there was no need for a guy like him to use those tactics so early on. Shows little and poor sportsmanship. I bet he fights dogs.

Anyway,
I’m like the sound of Marc Staal making the team this year. I think the average fan will expect Staal to perform more like his brothers do. It would be nice, but I’d like to see him clear out the crease to help Henrik as much a possible.

11:04am was me

when the rest of the rangers folded like a cheap suit against buffalo last year, nylander stood tall till the end. so what do the rangers do? get rid of him and bring in a couple of mercenaries....typical

see, it didn't take long.

Blue,

“get rid of him and bring in a couple of mercenaries....typical”

How can you argue a point from a guy who thinks like this? There is nothing you can say to him that hasn't been said a hundred times all summer long that will help him understand. You can’t change his mind because RAG CONTRACTION will only reiterate the same garbage again. Now he’s using different names. Fine by me, it’s still the same old crap. “Folded like a cheep suit” is such an R.C. comment.
Just yesterday someone put him in "check" and he ignored everything written.

Maybe it’s only fair. I ignore him.

Funny how Nylander was a god because the Rangers got rid of him. Had they kept him and the Islanders got Gomez or Drury the story would be the opposite. Something like " WE got Gomez the guy is a Nolan type player, he is the best he is going to have a career year. And the Rags kept Nylander the old man..HA HA"

Really sad around here. It will be quite funny when the Islanders are done and out in December and the Rangers are just getting started. But, then we will hear about how we bought this team.

Up in the Blues,

Are you reading my mind or something? I have been saying this ever since this topic came about. As soon a player leaves the Rangers, Islanders fans think the world of those players. I am sure before Drury and Gomez signed with the dreaded team from Manhattan, Isles fans were probably drooling at the hope of signing one or the other. You can't win with people that refuse to think rationally. Ryan Smyth was Captain Canada when they had him. As soon as he jumped ship, insults like Cryin' Ryan and Captain Crybaby were being tossed around by Isles fans. Same with Blake, he goes from being a fan favorite to being a selfish, me-first player. Most, not all, but most Islander fans are hypocritical and petty.

The Islanders will not be out of it by December. They were out of it by the end of July.

2 first round picks, Smyth, Blake, Yashin, Kozlov, Robitaille, Poti and Hill
For
Comrie, Sutton, Fedotenko, Sim, Vasicek and Guerin.

You don't win a Stanley Cup in the spring -- you win it in the summer, when the acquisition of even one player can turn a contender into a champ. (Exhibit A: Scott Niedermayer and his title-defending Ducks.) This past offseason, more than a few clubs signed a dynamic skater or two, giving them real hope for playoff glory.

ESPN

"They’ll bring up 94, only to have Reality Check hand them a reality check. That poor dude talks until he’s blue in the face only to have every point completely ignored"

Don't worry, I take their silence as a sign that they know I am right.

I'm not going to let anyone disparage 1994 on these blogs without making them look severely foolish.

i'm not "rag contraction" and don't even know what that means. i would never say that lundquist is a "fluke" because that would be a ridiculous statement. i think that the rangers are a playoff bound team. however, in losing nylander, you've lost your 2nd or 3rd best player, who's obviosly clutch and more importantly, weakened jagr, who's nearing the end anyway. you guys also don't have any leach like d-men or any buekeboom type d-men either.we have two big bruisers on our defense that make opposing forwards think twice when skating into our end of the ice. the isles were just as good as you guys last year and have also improved. you guys have a dismal history of losing and i find it funny how confident you all are! your confidence is based on WHAT??? please tell me some success stories that i might have missed about the rangers recently, or historically?? when any player says that " i always wanted to be a ranger"...it's not for the same reasons that a player would want to play for the canadiens, for example, it's so that they can enjoy the good life manhatten has to offer them. this is why most players who've ever come to the rangers from another team has gone downhill, with the exception of adam graves and maybe a couple of others. we will be better than you this year and hopefully will win our 5th cup!!

Reality Check = Jim from Woodbury

Hey Jim, where did your boyfriend tj rangerville go?

I hope all you ranger fans are ready for Avery playing tommorrow he seems so eager to fight. I don't have a problem with him putting the Islanders on the power play all night

Anonymous,

who was "Leach"?

You are right, buying Comrie, Guerin and Fedetenko has brought you ever so close to that 5th Cup.

Good luck dude.

I don't know where TJ from Rangerville has been, probably show his face once the season starts.

Where did this "John" guy go? the guy who said that the Rangers had a payroll of 70 million in 1994, is he that embarrassed with himself he really will never post again?

Anyone have any info. as to who'll be in the lineup tomorrow night? Renney mentioned Lessard may play. If he does & Avery's playing could mean more of Monday.

reality check:

good answer, you really got me there with your spell check, and yes those players have brought us closer to the cup, closer than the rangers anyway. don't forget sutton and vacisek also. you're talented in the way you always get in the last dig. what witty answer do you have for 1 cup in 67 years??? there's really no stat that can make the rangers francise ever look better than the isles, but i'm sure you'll make somelame attempt

Sutton and Vacisek! WOW

ooooooooh, let me run over to Hempstead Turnpike now and start the prelim parade planning!

How come you used Anonymous instead of Jim from Woodbury? You hijacked that name a long time ago.

Hey anonymous, are you also the "John" from yesterday, the dumbest hockey blogger in the history of hockey blogging?

I like how Islanders are so so so excited about Sutton.

The fact that he was on a Thrashers team last year that many Islander fans have told me was basically an AHL team and the Rangers were lucky to get them in the first round of the playoffs.

Now, he is great, now he is a NTP.

Last year, he was an AHL player.

That's funny to me.

5th Cup. Now that's comedy.
Thanks I need that.

Nylander is and has been great with Jagr. He had down sides though. For one, he wouldn't shoot the puck. It would be him and the goalie, and he'd pass the puck off. Second, unlike Gomez, Nylander doesn’t play the PK. Nylander is not as good at face-offs, like Gomez. Nylander wanted a long term deal. At 35 and the money he wanted, Sather and gang weren’t avoiding the truth. Nylander can't play forever. Why not take the high road now with Gomez and let Nylander go. If Jagr is pissed, than oh well, we only have him one more season is what Sather and Renny were thinking. If Jagr pisses the season way, don’t think he won’t be on the block come Jan. His return will be HUGE!

You seem to miss the one very important point:
This team not only finished it's building to contend for the Cup, but ensured that next year the building process wouldn't need to start all over again.

Exactly,

I do not want to be the team that is still paying Nylander 4.5 million when he is 39 years old like the Caps are.

I wish Nylander well, we upgraded though.

Rangers defense concerns me. Also, the grit factor is not high enough for a playoff team. Orr is a waste.

Some real funny stuff being tossed around. Thanks guys, you've made my day.

now you're talking about trading jagr? i guess i was right about the major effect the loss of nylander will be. before you go and trade jagr, please remember that he is the difference between you guys making the playoffs and maybe more and being in last place!! also, you guys may not think sutton was a good addition, but if you asked the ranger players, they would probably tell you different. he may have had a weak series last year in the playoff, like all the thrashers, but he's an ISLANDER now and will be a force!, as you've already seen. avery's job of intentionally hurting the opposing goaltenders just got alot tougher,as far as the isles are concerned, with sutton's addition

I cant wait to yap and hide Friday.

Orr is a big factor for the team playing against others with Goons. Like the Islanders. He's like a deterrent I guess. Sure, it is nice to have someone like him that could score, set up plays or even pass well. He did play 53 games last season. Maybe break that down to 40, use some rookies in his place, and save him for the playoffs.
Hollweg needs more points on average to complete the fourth line threat capabilities.
10pts would be ok. 20pts would be great. We’ll see.

The defense will be just as good as it was last year from Feb-Apr.
Staal will be a major factor as well. Faith.
Dubinsky is going to surprise us all. (gut feeling)

Anonymous,
you need to a read comprehension class man.

1:51pm was from me also.

Did you know that before last year, Michael Nylander had never made it to the 2nd round of the playoffs ?

Yes, the guy played great in the playoffs last year. Hell, I was at game 3 vs the Thrashers when he got a hat trick. Still, why pay an older player a huge amount of money that has never made it as far as the conference finals ?

you need a reading comprehension class man....

I'm dumb. lol

I feel dumber and dumber every time I check in here. Anybody else?

We are all wrong the Islanders fans know it all. Even the Hockey experts and analysts got nothing on their fan base.

I give up...

Broadway if I remember correctly Lessard has packed his bags and is in Hartford which means the Rangers probably aren't looking forward to another Monday night.

GOD!!! Again with Avery and Hollweg bashing. Does any Rangers fan here look to the two of them to drop their gloves? Please, show of hands.

Reality check & slick willy- your right on about Nylander. Gomez is younger and brings more to the table than Nylander. And your right about what he means to the future and the rebuilding process in years to come.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9538975/

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9539135/

Islander and Ranger previews....say goodnight Isles fans

LOL, you use MSNBC as your hockey source?

I was wondering when you were going to hijack this name too
LOL

Hey guys, it's Jim from Woodbury with a new name.

Outlook: No team was gutted more than the Isles during the off-season. Gone are six of the club's top 10 scorers from last season, as well as two of their top three defensemen. It's going to be a long year on Long Island.