....with Martin Straka, a combination that coach Tom Renney tried in thr third period of last night's 5-1 loss.
At today's practice, Chris Drury centered Brendan Shanahan and Nigel Dawes, and Brndon Dubinsky moved down between Petr Prucha and yes, Ryan Callahan, who was never sent down except on paper, and it appears Renney is leaning toward keeping him here.
Renney said he liked Gomez' ability to carry the puck up ice and set up Jagr for shots.
(Shanahan had been the beneficiary of that skill.)
Henrik Lundqvist (flu) practiced lightly with coach Benoit Allaire and was excused to rest rather than participate in the full workout.
The HBO line was intact and Greg Moore, Marcel Hossa and Sean Avery (on IR) were the spare forwards. So the roster is at the max of 23. It's possible all will stay, depending on a meeting between Renney and GM Glen Sather.
More later...
Comments (31)
It's nice they've finally come to the conclusion that it's best not to pay millions and millions to a third line babysitter.
I wonder how great the chemistry would be if, I dunno, this was done GAME 1 INTO THE SEASON!
Anyone else reading something into the fact that it seems Drury and Jagr will not be put together for any reason at all? It seems like like thats just NEVER going to happen for some reason
Maybe because Drury and Jagr play polar opposite styles? Hmmmmmmm.....
Avery does on the DL and the team just falls to pieces. The correlation is just too great to consider a coincidence. And yet that is the player they decide to take to arbitration, where they trash him before the arbitrator?
The Rangers better pony up the money to Avery after this season because his worth exceeds his stats. He is the unquestioned heart and soul of this team and the Rangers cannot let him walk.
I just hope Avery's love of New York is enough to keep him here, because after the way the front office jerked him around it would not surprise me if he went elsewhere next season to, say, the Flyers who I'm sure would love to have him.
Hip Hip Hooray! Hip Hip Hooray!! Gomez and Straka will change this season around!! You heard it from me!!!
Drury is not suited to play with Jagr...he is better off with a North American line of shanny and avery/dawes.
here are my lines:
Orr, Hollweg and Betts got to go, they can be replaced by Hossa, Moore and Byers/Korpikoski.
Shanahan does nothing on even strength.
Drury looks like a winger, not a center.
Callahan and Prucha never had any real success together. Why does Renney force them to play together? In any case they need a good playmaker to set them up and Drury is not really good at anything (we are paying him 7.1 million because he is a "winner")
Strudwick and Malik are garbage, bring in Baranka and Sauer.
Valliquette can't be relied on.
Renney, Valliquette, Jagr, Straka, Orr, Hollweg, Betts, Malik, Strudwick, and Shanahan better be gone by after this season.
You can't replace Betts, I'm sorry. The guy is a PKing machine and he blocks so many shots! I love the guy. He's a fourth liner, but he had 9 goals last year, and 8 the year before. You can't ask for more! Great PKing, shot blocking and STILL gets a goal every now and then? Come on!
Bored Fan - You are a better GM on paper, than the guy in the executive suite in real life. At least you have a CONCEPT, and are not morgaging the future, which is close at hand, if the team would make your recommended moves. Nicely done.
If Betts cannot be replaced the rangers are really in trouble.. the guy cannot score if a goalie is in the NET..
the 4th line is a joke... this team cannot score and to have only 3 lines with any chance to score is a BIG PROBLEM..
at full health insert avery into the lineup with dawes and Hossa(stinks also but at least can control the puck at times). and then you eliminate all the total brick layers.. Hollwegg and Orr with the intangibles is BS.....
It's easy to be G.M. on paper. You have consider other issues, like experience, commraderie etc., etc. Putting together what looks like a better team on paper is merely fantasy league type stuff. This isn't as complicated as everyone has made it out to be. The combination of Avery's absence, Jagr's pathetic offensive display, Renney's inability to adjust on the fly, lately shaky goaltending and defense and a season long offensive drought sums up what is plaguing this team. Jagr wakes up ad Hank gets back to his dominant self, all will be right in Rangerland.
Midnight - You mean we shouldn't send the Bus full of Rangers to Hartford and have them come back with the Wolf Pack for tomorrows game?
Some of you need to find Hartford Wolfpack message boards and its really quite obvious...
Steve - What is Avery's status for Tuesdays game? This teams needs him, I think it's pretty apparent.
Prucha and Callahan should both be in Hartford
Gomez and Jagr are perfect fit for each other and along with Straka would be a very good line. Drury, Shannahan and whoever (Avery injuried) give dawes a shot or callahan. Third lineDubinsky Prucha and maybe go get somebody big and experience to put puck in net. Fourth line Betts, Hollewg and Hossa. Out of these four lines what I've been noticing is that nobody likes to stand IN FRONT OF THE NET. WHY? I think our defense also needs to be adjusted too. Rosival, Tuytin, Staal and Garaidi along with Strudwick should stay. Malik gone need someone who is not afraid to bodycheck and push the guys away from Hank. Malik has looked lost playing D for sometime now need a change. Hey where's ED Jovanowski.
Jovanowski is 7 million a year ... we cant afford that
Dan at the top of thread was a different Dan. I'm the one that's been calling for Jagrs head the past couple of days. Renny CAN'T call for accountability and not look at the captain (or Chris and Scotty for that matter either). I don't see how demoting Cally does anything besides tell the guys in Hartford it doesn't matter how hard you work, as long as 19, 23, and 68 are stinking it up, your going to get the blame and get sent back down. Nice system. How long do you think Dawes and Moore are ACTUALLY going to be around? I say one stinking game. Anyone want to start a pool? I say one more game where Jags runs around and cries about his back, his hip, his shoulder, his linemates or whatever. One more game where Drury stands at the blueline instead of banging in rebounds, and one more game where Scotty holds the puck too long instead of shooting, and Dawes and Moore will get the blame. If I was Dawes, Cally, Moore, Baranka, and Montoya I would ask for a trade. Oh and I'll say it again, and I think I will now end every post with these words.
"Jags is on pace for 35 points... I said 35 POINTS! He isn't making his option triggers and isn't going to get 9.88 million next year unless he goes to Philly."
Two more pitiful performances for 19, 23, and 28 and Glen is going to demote Dawes, Moore, Baraka, and Cally to Charlotte.
Nuts I already forgot...add this to my last post
"Jags is on pace for 35 points... I said 35 POINTS! He isn't making his option triggers and isn't going to get 9.88 million next year unless he goes to Philly."
its about time they bumped drury up. i may get alot of crap for this but he will be our next captian and he is not a 3rd line player. he was underused and now that he is with shanny he will start producing
good to see Renney having an epiphany while continuing the synapse between his brain & his heart without synchronicity. How is his 5 in the picture going to work when Gomez goes flying up ice with Straka, while Jagr, Rozival, & last & least Malik gets there 20 seconds later? When Renney gets out of his one dimensional D game , & figures out the breakout & transition game the NYR might be able to execute something. When he finally understands that the PP has to get real chances & start scoring enlightenment might be achieved. His has forsaken his Karma for a 'work in progress' excuse. By constantly pointing his finger towards the players as if his perfection is not translatable to mere mortal hockey players. When he finally comes down from the mountain and shows some human emotions instead of 'I am robot' mentality maybe a real hockey game will break out rather than trap crap. Judging by how many lineups have been posted, Renney can continue to flounder until he trips over the right combos , and starts to hold all accountable including himself so a true TEAM will reappear. In the meantime he's on course to try & repeat last season. I wish him good luck, his job will be on the line. Sather didn't go out & get 2 top centers so he could put a rookie on the #1 line. Hopefully the Professor will figure out how to get off his losing island, and stop just blaming his players. When he finally gets a ring, he can join Sather in arrogance. Until that time, he needs to practice what he preaches, and learn a few more lessons.
Finally Renney woke up and decided to show he actually cares how his team does.
They need to re-emphasize the defense to get back in their groove and the offense will come.
Please dont jump on me, but don't you think that had this team turned out to be the "team" that we all thought it would be, that the 4th line of HBO is doing exactly what it should be doing? The first 3 lines should be doing the scoring, the 4th should be the line that plays with the heart, toughness and pep that wears down the other team's top lines. I don't think that you can fault the three boys for doing what they basically are supposed to do, the random goal would just be a bonus if the other 3 lines were producing the way that they should be and people would be heralding their efforts, but because the top 3 lines aren't doing what they should have been doing from the begining the 4th line is taking unnecessary critisisms for not being top scorers. They never were top scorers to begin with. IMO, I dont think the 4th line is the problem with this team, but for some reason they have become the focus while others seem to really be ignored.
Q - I couldn't agree more. For some reason there is alot of thinking here that the fourth line of the Rangers should be Hartfords #1 line.
Dan - you've got to be kidding me. the kid forwards have shown zero so far this yr and you want more of them in the lineup. that would only guarantee a better spot in the draft and if they were to do that they should have done it at the beginning of the yr so they could select 1st or 2nd in the draft and draft a kid forward who can actually play this game. maybe you and rb should go to Hartford if you really want to see these overrated kid forwards..
LI Joe,
What's the difference? The guys making the money aren't doing spit either. You can't blame the kids for 19,23, and 68s performances. My issue is not that the kids should be playing but that they are catching the brunt of the accountability for the bad performances, where as the guys that should really get blamed are not getting anything. Glen is saying, "Good game guys, you lost now go get ready for the next one", in the same breath as "You suck go back to Hartford." It doesn't fit. If Glen started calling guys up whether or not they play well, and benching the others, the ones that can produce, will start doinig so. The fact that Jags, Chris and Scotty are making 41% of the cap hit makes THEM solely, and completely liable for EVERY SINGLE LOSS this season, and they aren't being held to it. Teams like Pittsburgh, and Tampa have similar situations with two or three players making close to 1/2 the cap hit scoring points, and lots of them. NYRs bread winners aren't. They don't even seem to care. They should be benched or sent down on as many conditioning stints as they can to get the message across. Look at Kaspar, Recchi, Leclair, and Yashin. Overpaid, and not producing. What kind of message do you think it would send to Jagr if he got sent down for a conditioning stint, especially after watching those guys have their options ignored, get sent down, or get waived? I'd certainly like to find out. As someone pointed out before, the big problem isn't really Glen because he has been around the block and he knows what it would take to whip a team into shape. The problem is Dolan would axe him if he benched the "big" guns. He doesn't give a hoot if the Rangers win or lose, as long as he's making money. Next season I say Jagr will either retire, or be out in the cold just like all the other overpaid former stars.
"Jags is on pace for 35 points... I said 35 POINTS! He isn't making his option triggers and isn't going to get 9.88 million next year unless he goes to Philly."
the new york rangers are no doubt in trouble but it has nothing to do with the way the guys are playing. The lines need to be changed so the younger less experienced players can learn by being on the lines with the veterans. Maybe a dubinsky jagr hossa line or callahan gomez and shanahan. If the lines were more diverse than the players will know what there on ice roles are and then settle down and learn to play more like a team rather than a young team and an older team.
LI Joe,
What's the difference? The guys making the money aren't doing spit either. 19, 23, and 68 are making 41% of the cap hit. Are they are contributing to 41% of the offense? No. Are they contributing to 41% of the d? Hardly. Until those three guys start contributing at least 41% (and start winning), it's still AHL caliber hockey at NHL prices in my eyes and not worth my money. I will watch AHL caliber hockey on MSG for 40 bucks a month rather than 100 bucks a game, thanks.
"Jags is on pace for 35 points... I said 35 POINTS! He isn't making his option triggers and isn't going to get 9.88 million next year unless he goes to Philly."
What's with this thing?! I lost my post and decided to shorten it up and it got posted anyway! Must be user error.
"Jags is on pace for 35 points... I said 35 POINTS! He isn't making his option triggers and isn't going to get 9.88 million next year unless he goes to Philly."
This has happened before..i dont understand why everyone is complaining about how bad they are playing. The Rangers are ranked 7th in the eastern conference adn teasm 2-8 and seperated only by 5 points..not alot. They can easily start winning again and before you know it theyll be 3rd or even 2nd again.
In my opinion i think some of their bad luck lately has been because their main psychological contributor is out of the lineup (Avery). He gets the Rangers and the teams the Rangers are playing against riled up..and it throws those teams off their games so that they end up making critical mistakes that the Rangers can capitalize on. the only problem is that he has only played 14/32 games this season. I also think that the Rangers should go back to the basics, i remember last year and years before last, when the rangers have been in droughts they have had to go back to the basics. Shooting the puck as often as possible even when the goalie is in perfect position..and simultaneously try to get traffic in front of the goaltender to possibly screen or deflect or just cause confusion.
There is no way around it, they need to start doing stuff differently. If that means changing some lines around then fine. Hopefully they will get some chemistry out of those changes though. Im as dissapointed at the Rangers of late as any other Rangers fan, but i wont give up on them and say their top players are worthless. those all stars need breathing room and thats what they were trying when they had the lines the way they were and it did work throughout novemeber. But the other teams have adapted and are getting smart to the Rangers new ultra conservative defensive play..and so maybe just what they need is to unleash those power forwards that they have and see if there is any change in the numbers that should be going up when they play that style of hockey. Because before when they were the best defensive team in the league and King Henrik was untouchable..those superstars werent worrying about their stats..they were winning hockey games and thats all that matters.
Dan - well I've gone to most games this yr and if I wanted to see the Wolfpack I would go to Hartford. If all the players you want up here were here I just want advanced warning as I'd stay far away from the garden and save time and money. Everyone (well not everyone certainly not me) wanted Dubinsky in to replace Cullen. How is each doing. Why couldn't Cullen play the point. He's averaging about 1 pt/ game. And Cally and Prucha have not exactly been lighting it up. Do you see Straka and Drury and Shanny doing their all on the pk - I do. Straka blocking shots like crazy. I think very highly of Staal and Tyutin and to a slightly lesser degree Girardi. But the young forwards not so much. Could JJ be a lot better of course - and if it continues he'll be gone after this yr along with most of his countrymen. Malik already is sitting most games. His confidence is shot in no small part due to the booing by the vocal minority. So some vets are held to task. If they sit JJ unless he's hurt they'll lose him mentally for sure. And look at Gomez and Drury stats lifetime they're not 80 + points guys but usually step it up at crunch time. and Gomez has been fairly successful this yr offensively.