A Trap Waiting to Happen

UPDATE: Confirmed from the morning skate in Atlanta -- Malik will sit, Pock will skate alongside Rozsival; Dawes will skate with Gomez and Jagr, Drury with Callahan and Prucha, Betts with Straka and Shanahan. More info is available at Blueshirts Blog and Blue Notes.

The Rangers always seem to catch opponents immediately after coaching changes, usually a rebound game for teams regardless of what they do afterwards. So it is tonight in Atlanta. The Rangers were already wary of the trap waiting to happen in facing a desperate 0-6 team. Now the Thrashers will have the additional motivation of putting up a good showing for their new coach, especially since he happens to be the GM who controls their ultimate destiny with the team.

On the flip side, sentiment in Atlanta is almost universal that coach Bob Hartley was merely a scapegoat for a team that was poorly constructed by said GM, Don Waddell. So the expected Thrasher bounce may backfire on them if the players feel the same way. The Post and Newsday look at how the coaching change in Atlanta might affect the Rangers tonight. NYR.com has a game preview. There are a lot of columns on the national hockey sites about the coaching change -- we'll direct you solely to Atlanta itself, where you can find a ton of stuff on the AJC Thrasher page if you're interested.

Uncertainty about facing the Thrashers under these conditions may cause Ranger coach Tom Renney to be conservative and avoid using this particular moment to bench struggling Marek Malik in favor of the rusting Thomas Pock, a possibility suggested in the Daily News and Journal News. He may decide to see whether the mere threat of a benching has an effect on Malik before carrying through on it. Nigel Dawes, on the other hand, looks like he will get a chance to play tonight. He may be with Jaromir Jagr and Scott Gomez, or he may be with Brendan Shanahan and Blair Betts -- either way, he'll have a big chance to stake a claim on an NHL job.

In other reading today, Prospect Park looks at Antoine Lafleur, NHL.com has yet another article of the Staal parents, and the Charlotte Observer looks at the Checkers' defense, largely devoid of Ranger prospects. At CBS Sports, we have a point-counterpoint he said-she said face-off that we'd like to direct your attention not because it has anything to do with the Rangers, but because one of the participants is Blueshirt Bulletin subscriber Greg Cimilluca -- good job, Greg!

Comments

[Whachoo Gonna Do When ORRRR Knocks Out Yooou!!!]

Im about to take a nap and wake up before game time. I cant wait for this game to start, im losing my mind.

[zg]

can someone tell me why the rangers goals against average is 2.02? is it just me or has the entire hockey world forgetten what they learned in the fourth grade?

[oleosmirf]

well i think tonight will either be a Rangers display of total domination or a total collapse but I'm pretty sure the Rangers will come out with a W.

[Dan]

Goals against is calculated by minutes played by a goalie, not games, so whenever he goes off for a delayed penalty or whatnot it skews the GAA a little bit

[Whachoo Gonna Do When ORRRR Knocks Out Yooou!!!]

NYR's gonna win 6 - 2. I hope. Shanny will grab 2 goals tonight, and Drury will score. !!!!

[oleosmirf]

zg

that is assuming lundqvist played 60 minutes every game. If Lundqvist is pulled he would play less minutes and overtime would mean more minutes so there you go.

[Whachoo Gonna Do When ORRRR Knocks Out Yooou!!!]

When the hell are we gonna go to a shootout. We usually have at least 1 by now. Hell, the second game of last season was a 12 rounder with Philly, and Hoss scored 1 of his 3 or 4 game winning shootout goals. I think he'll replace Nyls nicely. Then theres Gomer and Dry as well.

[Dennis]

Can someone explain why BETTS is with Shanny and Straka?...betts is a good valuable player but shouldn't be within 500 feet of a scoring line!!!!

Should Be:

Dawes-Gomez-Jagr
Straka- Dubi- Shanny
Callahan-Drury-Prucha
Orr-Betts-Hollweg

[Whachoo Gonna Do When ORRRR Knocks Out Yooou!!!]

See i dont understand Renney. Its no offense to Dru, but Gomer seems the best choice for Cally and Pruchs. Plus it kind of resembles the EGG line in NJD. Dru and Jags havent been playing horrible together. Eh who knows. Then again we havent seen Gomer and Jags since that pre season game.

[Godot]

Sitting here waiting for student conferencees to chow up. So I thought I'd check this. Waiting for tonight's game, too. I think they'll chalk up a win, but it's going to be a nail biter.

Betts is playing with Straka and Shanny because I think Renney is being a bit easy on the time Dubinsky gets on the ice till he can shake the concussion off. We assume he's okay, but Renney may fear Dubi's pushing some....

[Vishnu]

I love the potential of Drury/Callahan/Prucha line. However, instead of putting Betts on the Shanahan/Straka line (and effectively wasting the offensive talents of the wingers), I'd let Dubi sit this one out to fully recover and put Pock on the wing with Straka centering.

Dawes/Gomes/Jagr
Drury Calahhan/Prucha
Pock/Straka/Shanahan
Orr/Betts/Hollweg

[BlueClue]

Surprising how so many people in Atlanta are rallying around Hartley and saying that his firing was not fair.

People there seem to be pretty upset with Waddell-

[kogan]

Rangers will get 1 point loosing in OT.

[wwwc9]

What I also don't get about Renney is that if you're playing really poorly, you ...continue to play? How does he motivate someone and teach him not to make the same mistakes over and over again?

Has he sat him down and had him watch video? Wouldn't it motivate Malik to try harder if he had to sit down and watch a game? If he's so worried about his ego, how competitive can he be if he can't sit and learn and take a benching. What's that say to the players? No accountability. As the coach, he has to act as the evaluator and say you're not good enough right now. We all make mistakes; it's learning to not repeat them over and over.

So far, continuing to play him over and over hasn't been working, so maybe Renney should try something new.

[BlueClue]

Renney always makes the right moves. He can do no wrong-
After all, he got us to the playoffs 2 years in a row.

[Whachoo Gonna Do When ORRRR Knocks Out Yooou!!!]

I hope NYR gets 3 shut out wins in a row, then Sather realizes Malik sucks and is holding us back, and he trades him. oooh thats what dreams are made oooooof. - Cheese fest

[rangerbill94]

Dennis, the way things are going so far, Betts isn't within 500 feet of a scoring line!!!

[Greg C]

Thanks for the plug Dubi! GC

[rangerbill94]

Whachoo

If Malik plays and the Rangers get 3 shutouts in a row, then Sather will think Malik has regained his form! Look, Malik has always been a stead, fairly responsible defenseman. All D'men in this league will tip pucks into there own nets, he isn't along in that. I agree that so far this year his funk seems to be getting worse. Down 2-0 and at the point, you NEVER let you opponent get around you. If he does, hook him down to the ice. That play alone should, IMO, be just cause for benching. ACCOUNTABILITY, that's what teambuilding is all about. If everybody feels that they will not be held accountable, well everybody can do what ever they want. Not Good!

[Whachoo Gonna Do When ORRRR Knocks Out Yooou!!!]

How did Malik play in the 05 - 06 season?? I barely remember him, just the shootout goal. I was bashing Poti at the time.

[joeymole]

ahh...the malik/renney pile on continues. and with blueclue stirring the drink. tonight hopefully we will be malik-free and see where that goes. and coach renney will work his line-juggling magic, and some will have to get onto other debates. i admit having a liking for the old-school style of malik and he's always there, never says no to a situation but he just seems so dang sleepy lately and the game is so fast these days. i hope he gets some rest and stops for some redbull on the way to the rink, if he's playing tonight. and if betts if centering the third line i hope he will shoot for the corners and not blast the puck into the goalie pads when his 2 or 3 chances come. finally, its too bad we can't see hossa vs. hossa but this is the chances dawes wanted, so he has to put the pedal to the metal tonight. oh yeah, and he needs to score! of course, cally will have a big game - he likes shredding the thrashers.

[lennynyr]

Typical Renney move:

Keep Dawes on the bench, insert Pock on LW with Gomez and Jagr, play both Malik and Strudwick and make sure Betts plays with Shanahan.

Leave to the pundits here to make their own evaluation of our maligned coach. You know what mine is.

[lennynyr]

Orr, problem with Malik is after he scored that shootout goal by shooting the puck between his legs, he has been playing with his stick there all the time. :)

[BlueClue]

From Sam Weinman ...quoting Dellapina

UPDATE, 2:10 p.m.: John Dellapina confirms that Malik is out tonight. Thomas Pock will play his first game of the season alongside Michal Rozsival.

[Matty]

o_0

[lennynyr]

In less than one minute, Renney read my post and made the decision in less than a minute. WOW!!!

Maybe I should post more. :)

[rangerman01]

rangers need to win this game tonight! i don't want to be the first team the thrashers beat. msg.com's game on! blog has a bunch of good thoughts on tonight's game about the new lines and the thrashers season among other things...

lines.

rangers vs. thrashers.

thrashers.

[paulf]

lenny, please don't post more often. In fact, if you cut out all the repetitive posts, that would knock you down to about once a week.

[lennynyr]

Up front, just-recalled Nigel Dawes will skate with Scott Gomez (who skipped the skate but said he was fine) and Jaromir Jagr. "Nigel can make plays and he has the speed to get in on the forecheck," said Renney.

I finally have posessed Renney, now what??

[lennynyr]

Paul, my feelings are hurt. :)))

[lennynyr]

Am I really repetitive??? :(

[JBytes]

Didn't our defence struggle last year when Malik was out of the line-up? I think we missed his long reach in front of the net, especially on the PK.

[Ryan]

Out of curiosity, did anyone see the referees hand the Devils their game last night?

[JBytes]

<>

I sure did! A disallowed Penguins goal, six straight PPs to Devils, and a goalie interence goal gift-wrapped to them. When will Rangers get those breaks?

[JBytes]

I meant to write "interference".

[cupcrazy]

i look forward to tonite's game. check out this thing i found where you can ask al trautwig and stan fischler a question here and then they answer it on the air during the game tonight.

[Lowtide10]

Does anyone think that Tyutin and Girardi will be played tonight as the first pair on D? They've been pretty steady.

[Pavel]

Makes sense, lowtide. I doubt Pock will be given Malik's minutes, unless we're destroying Atlanta.

[Brian]

Nice to see Betts get a chance to play with some big guns...he has earned it...167 games as a Ranger, 18 goals, 7 assists, 25 points...he is the perfect center for wingers with a combined goal total of 872...when will Renney learn...Betts might be good at blocki shots, but that is about it. He is a one dimensional player who should be limited to 10 minutes a night, splity between the PK and 4th line. Seeing him on any other line just means that Renney is drinking the corporate cool aid.

[Matty]

Am I really repetitive??? :(

Perhaps .... in your old age you forget that you've already posted what you are about to post ... again .... ;))

[lennynyr]

Guess I'm inflicted with the Senior Moment disease. Thanks to all for your patience.

[Matty]

I call it ... CRS Syndrome Lenny :D

[lennynyr]

LOL

[Phill]

Nice to see Betts get a chance to play with some big guns...he has earned it...167 games as a Ranger, 18 goals, 7 assists, 25 points...he is the perfect center for wingers with a combined goal total of 872...

I don't know why, but I found that sarcasm hilarious for some reason.

[emscam]

7 assist man may not get Shanny and Straka going.

[True Fans Bleed RW&B]

I love everyone bashing Betts. Hell, the guy's not a second line player - but with the crap-show Gomez is putting on you might as well try anything.

[oleosmirf]

We'll the Rangers don't have a 3rd line center but if Anisimov keeps scoring goals in Hartford it will be tough not to bring him up.

[czechthemout!!!!!]

as one who usually bashes tom renney,i at least wan't to give him a shout out on FINALLY benching the human pylon marek malik.I aaplaud you tom for holding accountable for the myrad of gaffs he makes.One thing i would like to add is this.If they win tonight,please stay with the lineup,and also can you please put dubi between shanny and straka,betts is just not the answer their.

[czechthemout!!!!!]

oleosmirf-the rangers have a third kine center and his name is brandan dubinski.Hopefully the coach plays him there tonight.

[rangerbill94]

Ryan & Jbites

I watched the game and the PITT anouncers agreed with each and every call! The refs didn't hand anybody, anything. In fact, when Marty got upended I was sure there was going to be a penalty called, but there wasn't any and that was the right call. I just wish the refs would call that kind of game when they are doing a Rangers game. Guess that's too much to hope for.

The Devils have no defense and the Pens have no goalie.