BB Plus

The New BB+

BlueshirtBulletin+ is up and running on the new BB.com platform. Though I am no longer the editor, I will be a contributor, and have just posted my thoughts on the Rangers' opening weekend. Click here to access the new BB+. As was the case here, the new BB+ is for subscribers only and requires a login and password. Access information was E-mailed recently to all subscribers who were registered at this site. If you haven't received that information, contact Dan Akeson at [email protected] to get you login and password. You can also find coverage at the new BB.com.

Season Preview: Fewer But Bigger Ifs This Season

What to expect from this year's model Rangers? Ah, the perennial question. Perhaps the only thing we know for sure is that this franchise will somehow confound all expectations. Coming out of the lockout, they were routinely predicted to finish out of the playoffs yet again and ended up being one of the best teams in the league until they ran out of gas after Henrik Lundqvist won the gold medal at the Olympics. Expectations were flipped on their head the next season despite Jaromir Jagr's iffy shoulder, but the results were inconsistent until Sean Avery joined the team in mid-year. The addition of Scott Gomez and Chris Drury in 2007 was supposed to get the team past the second round -- instead it was a fight for their playoff lives.

Last year's massive makeover left everyone with nothing but a bunch of ifs, which all seemed to be going in a positive direction in a record breaking month of October but which all broke the other way by the end of the season, with the coaching staff fired and more than half the team starting their trek through the revolving door out of town. So forgive us if we have little to offer after this year's makeover but another bunch of ifs. There's only one thing I know for sure -- the last time I took a step back from the team to tend to burgeoning business and family obligations, the Rangers were coming off a dismal year in which they failed to make the playoffs, and they promptly proceeded to win the Stanley Cup. So maybe it's just me and this is going to be The Year.

But really, there's little mystery about how this season is going to break. If Marian Gaborik stays healthy and Henrik Lundqvist isn't beaten down by having to singlehandedly keep other teams from scoring, the Rangers will do well -- maybe not win the Cup, but will generally be an entertaining team that produces many more wins than losses. But if Gaborik goes down or is even hampered by nagging injuries, or if Lundqvist cannot consistently prop up what would be a porous defense even if they concentrated primarily on defense rather than John Tortrella's attack game, then fasten your seat belts, Ranger fans -- we're in for a bumpy ride. These are two elite players, among the very best at what they do, and they can carry the team a long way. But they cannot do it on their own, and there are a good number of ifs left over even if they do their part.

Up front, there are nothing but ifs. Chris Higgins has to rebound from an injury-riddled season too, and even if healthy, he has to ramp up to front-line scoring threat if he's going to be the first line left winger. He stands a good chance of doing just that if he can play the role of garbageman to whatever Gaborik cannot put into the net himself. Brandon Dubinsky will have to step up his point production as well, and he too stands a good chance of doing so if he maintains his work ethic while centering Gaborik. Vinny Prospal, regardless of what position he plays, will have to continue his career pattern of good season, bad season, due for a good one after a bad one last year. Ales Kotalik has to find consistency at age 30 -- or he has to at least help revive a perennially moribund power play with his cannon shot from the point. Sean Avery has to stay physically and mentally healthy without losing the edge that makes him what he is, Ryan Callahan has to just keep grinding away like he always does, and Chris Drury, well, we need the real Chris Drury to please stand up.

Speaking of ifs, just how well can the Rangers do with a defense that is iffy at best? Even the best of the bunch, Marc Staal, has to step up to the role of number one stopper while meeting Tortorella's demand of adding offense. As good as Staal is, as good as he can be, he still has to prove that he can match up against the league's best every night. If Dan Girardi is going to be his defense partner, he will have to be an order of magnitude better than he was in pre-season -- a solid second pair defender, I'm not sure there is even a valid if that can be attached to him as top pair D. But he will have to try, because the duo earning first pair money will have their hands full just trying to be a productive second pair. Wade Redden and Michal Rozsival will munch up cap dollars -- can they munch points and opposing forwards as well? And what precious few cap dollars remain will be used to sign Alexei Semenov, heir apparent to Marek Malik and Dmitri Kalinin.

Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of this team will be how well an enticing group of young players do, if given a chance to contribute -- always a big if in Rangerland. It looks like the Rangers will find their power play quarterback of the present and future somewhere between Matt Gilroy and Mike Del Zotto, both of whom won jobs in pre-season with eye-opening performances. But can they play defense in the NHL for 82 games? Will the Rangers even let them once they start hitting the inevitable bumps in that long road? At forward, Artem Anisimov was alternately electrifying and electrocuted during pre-season -- how much of a chance will he get to do the former, especially if he experiences too much of the latter once the games start counting? He will not be able to do much of anything as fourth line center -- he needs more of a chance than that, especially since he will get little help from his wingers (unless they end up being countrymen Enver Lisin and/or Evgeny Grachev somewhere down the road).

In net is where the Rangers seem to be most set, with Lundqvist returning along with steady understudy Steve Valiquette. Lundqvist has always had to erase the myriad mistakes of his defense. But they haven't gotten any better and will be taking more chances under Tortorella, so he will have to show even more fortitude than ever. Valiquette too, if he's going to get more playing time in this Olympic year, Lundqvist expected to be Sweden's starter in their gold medal defense. How the Rangers have improved themselves by flipping out one of the league's best penalty killing duos (Blair Betts and Fred Sjostrom) and a popular and effective young enforcer (Colton Orr) in favor of the tall trio of the reviled Donald Brashear, the ineffective Aaron Voros, and a non-entity in Brian Boyle remains to be seen. It may not even matter much if they rarely play, unless they take away ice time from young players who have some upside.

Then there is the new coach, sinking his teeth into this team from the start, and doing so under the vigilant eye of a massive media contingent with whom he is frequently at odds. A lot of what Tortorella does with the media is an attempt to manipulate them to his own ends -- for example, he knows full well why Ranger fans boo Brashear, but it's more productive to protect his player by blaming the media than the paying customers. But -- and here's another big if -- he is simply going to have to win if his act is going to work both in the dressing room and in the press room. All of his machinations will appear masterful if the results are there -- or they will backfire loudly if fails to get more out of the likes of Redden and Drury and a whole new cast of characters than his predecessor did with the tools Glen Sather gave him to work with.

In the end, so many faces change both on and behind the bench, so many ifs are asked year in and year out, but one thing remains constant -- the GM, completing a decade in New York with just two playoff series wins to show for himself over the first eight seasons. There's the biggest if of them all.

In the news: Del Zotto making the team, for at least nine games, was the story in Newsday, NYR.com, Ranger Rants, Rink Rap, Blue Notes, and Blueshirts Blog. More from the Post on Higgins, the Record on Girardi, the Post on Anisimov, and Ranger Rants on this and that. The Record begins its season preview as well. On the farm, Hartford cut down to its final roster size -- see analysis in Beyond the Blueshirts and HF Rangers Blog. Chris Doyle, the Ranger draftee who could not attend training camp for medical reasons, has had personal problems this season, having been suspended for tripping a linesman and now having spent a night in jail for assaulting two women in a bar -- see the PEI Guardian and CBC for more on him. Fellow Q prospect Ryan Bourque sustained a concussion in his most recent game (see Prospect Park and Le Journal) -- and more prospect news from Prospect Park.

Some programming notes: This season's first issue of Blueshirt Bulletin is going to press this week -- look for it in your mailboxes next week. The new Blueshirt Bulletin web site is days away from going live -- look for news at BB.com, where you'll find an announcement about Ranger Nation becoming the official BB bulletin board. I will be traveling from Thursday through Sunday, so expect only a post of two during that time in this space.

Grachev Goes Down [Links Added]

OK, a huge part of me understands fully that Evgeny Grachev is just 19, has never played a minute of NHL hockey when it counts, and can only benefit by spending some time in Hartford learning the pro game. If he dominates, and dominates quickly, then he will surely be back, and not in the fourth line role that would be the only role available to him had he made the team at this moment. The kid, named Hockey's Future's 25th best prospect, looked good scoring a goal in the Rangers' final pre-season game, but he was also taken to school a couple of times by mor experienced players like Alexander Ovechkin. He obviously has more to learn.

But another part of me looks at it another way. I see one player who stands 6'4, 215 pounds who can't fight, can't score, and can barely skate making it ahead of another player who uses his 6'4, 220-pound frame and his skating and skill to create room along the boards and in front of the net and generally contribute more than the other guy could ever contribute, and that with zero experience. Aaron Voros, that first guy, makes just about the same as Grachev (a tad more, actually), and he gets to stick around. And do nothing. So much for going with the best player, regardless of age or experience.

John Tortorella said several times that he would get young guys into the line-up. In the Rangers' season preview, aired this week on MSG Network, he used the number four in this context -- four young guys. Artem Anisimov will be one of those guys, especially after another good showing today. Matt Gilroy will be another. Does Enver Lisin count? He has 78 games of NHL experience already. Mike Del Zotto is still here and may yet stick. But Grachev will have to wait until Tortorella gets tired of watching Voros accomplish nothing before he gets his chance. Well, at least Voros adds something off the ice, where he is close friends with the two most important Rangers, Marian Gaborik and Henrik Lundqvist (neither of whom fared well today). But why the heck is Brian Boyle still a Ranger? Why was he ever made a Ranger?

But these roster moves at the depth positions are nothing compared to the disaster that's brewing on the back line. It's only pre-season (though the Rangers and Caps both had much of their regular season line-ups out there), but the Caps' first goal, after the Rangers had dominated play from the start, speaks volumes about the Rangers' defense. Wade Redden made a terrible lazy play off the boards under pressure, the puck kicking out front. The Rangers recovered, with Artem Anisimov dropping the puck to Michal Rozsival. Roszival, under no pressure at all, fumbled the puck away to Brooks Laich, and was then outworked by Laich in the slot. Rozsival gave up on the play at that point as Laich scored. Redden came in too late, not hustling whatsoever, and raising the question as to why he was already up ice.

Standard operating procedure in Defense 101 is that the defenseman without the puck guards the front of the net in the eventuality that the one with the puck loses it, which is exactly what happened here. But Redden was already up ice anticipating a break out and rush. Did he go on his own volition, or are the defensemen under orders to break out that way? Tortorella has said he is willing to gamble that Henrik Lundqvist will make the save almost all of the time in that situation (though obviously he did not make the save this time). Tortorella's aggressive offensive imperative will surely be fun to watch most of the time, as it was leading up to that goal and and in the third period. But will it be offset by this kind of abandonment of defense?

Or maybe the problem is not the system but the players executing it -- Redden and Rozsival made the errors and then failed to hustle back to erase them. By contrast, Mike Del Zotto, barely 19, defending against Alexander Ovechkin much of the time, made many good defensive plays, and when he did cough it up to Ovechkin, he hustled back into the play immediately and helped negate the resulting scoring chance. Similarly, Marc Staal and Grachev hustled back hard to harrass Ovechkin after he stole the puck from Grachev in the neutral zone for a near-breakaway. Grachev berated himself for his play in the first, telling reporters after the game, "The first period for me was the worst period for me, ever. I didn't think I'd get more ice time. I was way too bad in the first." But at least he hustled back to try to do something about his mistakes -- not everyone else did.

On one hand, Tortorella recognized that it wasn't the kids screwing up. ""Everybody was bad," he told Newsday after the game. "It wasn't like one of the young kids struggled -- it starts with our veteran guys." On the other hand, he had no business singling out Dan Girardi ahead of Rozsival, who was just awful. "He's got some work to do," Tortorella told Ranger Rants of Girardi. "We've had running discussions going through training camp, him and I and the coaches. He's got some work to do. It's a pretty big week for him. To say the least, I've been disappointed with his camp." Girardi has been a solid, consistent defenseman for the Rangers since he came out of nowhere to make the team. He has always had difficulty playing one-on-one defense against skilled forwards. But the rest of his game didn't just go sour all of a sudden.

For more on the game and on Grachev's demotion, see Ranger Rants here and here, Blue Notes here and here, NYR.com, and BB.com here and here. More from Newsday here on Gaborik and here on Tortorella, from the Record on the roster, and from Ranger Rants here, here, and here, Blueshirts Blog, and NYR.com. The Wolf Pack was routed in its exhibition game today -- see Howlings and Beyond the Blueshirts. BtB also has the latest Wolf Pack cuts. Prospect Park has other prospect news. MONDAY LINKS: Post on Girardi, Record on Grachev, Howlings and HF Rangers Blog on the Pack, Prospect Park on the prospects.

AV, Evgeny, or DZ

John Tortorella told reporters after yesterday's practice that Enver Lisin has made the team (for now) and Artem Anisimov has the inside track for an NHL job, even it is as fourth line center (which we're on record as saying would be mistake, but perhaps it's still better than sending him down and keeping a lesser player around). The Post does the math and discovers that, because Sean Avery's injury is likely to force him to miss next Friday's opener, the Rangers are right up against the cap and have to make a tough roster decision.

Assuming that the Rangers sign Alexei Semenov to a minimum salary, the Post postulates that Aaron Voros has to be the odd man out because of his $1 million salary (and that fear of a re-entry claim would keep him in Hartford for the entire season). But that also assumes that the Rangers keep Evgeny Grachev and Mike Del Zotto -- the former has a cap hit of almost a million, the latter over a million.

Unless Tortorella has decided that he has no use for Voros (and the way he's been used in pre-season says otherwise) it seems far more likely that one of the rookies goes down instead, the Rangers having always relied on the waiver rule to rationalize the retention of veterans. With the choice boiling down to AV vs. Evgeny as minimal minutes fourth line winger, Grachev would surely be the first to go, since he can always be recalled at a moment's notice from Hartford. DZ has a ten-game window before the Rangers have to choose whether he spends the rest of the season in the NHL or OHL, so he would likely get a reprieve for that long.

For more from yesterday's practice, see the Record, Newsday, NYR.com, Ranger Rants here and here, and Blueshirts Blog. The Record has more on Torotella blaming the press for fans' treatment of Donald Brashear. Inside Shots has a team update. Hartford won last night -- see Howlings, Beyond the Blueshirts, and Hockey's Future. Ethan Werek talks to the Kingston Whig-Standard. Prospect Park has other prospect news.

Diss Is the Way It Is

There were a number of important developments in last night's Ranger win over Washington, some good, some not so good. The least important was Donald Brashear, not the fans booing him nor John Tortorella's paranoid defense of his hand-picked enforcer. First the good -- Marian Gaborik was simply stupendous in his second exhibition game, one which was close to a regular season game in roster and instensity. Brandon Dubinsky was excellent in his first game, showing no ill effects of his holdout, indeed showing a desire to prove that it was justified. Matt Gilroy played another eye-popping game on the heels of winning the Lars-Erik Sjoberg Award as the best rookie in camp. And several other players were once again very good -- Enver Lisin, Vinny Prospal, and Christopher Higgins.

It wasn't all good. The Rangers seem intent on keeping Alexei Semenov even though he seems intent on making fans forget Marek Malik with his soft and errant play, and the way Tortorella is talking, that may lead to Mike Del Zotto's return to junior even though he has been better and has a ton more potential. And Artem Anisimov was dreadful in the role of fourth line center, skating between a pair of wingers in Brashear and Aaron Voros who cannot possibly help him be any better than dreadful (though to be fair, he did fare well as a penalty killer). We wrote yesterday that it was important to not just retain promising young players like Anisimov but to utilize them properly -- having him center a couple of enforcers is setting him up for failure.

Tortorella would chastise me for coaching the team from the media box for saying stuff like that. The head coach had quite a few words of disrespect for the beat writers who cover his team, as reported in Blue Notes. Disrespect was the watchword last night, with Tortorella blaming fan treatment of Brashear on what he perceived as "disrespect" from the media after the former rival was signed as a free agent. Never mind that Brashear was one of the most hated of rivals from his years of playing against the Rangers. Never mind that Tortorella and GM Glen Sather showed disrespect for our own resident enforcer, the popular Colton Orr, who did his job so well that routine Ranger-running ceased the moment he laid out Todd Fedoruk to earn a regular roster spot. Least of all, never mind the extra cap dollars wasted on Brashear when Orr, who is a lot younger, could have been kept for less.

Look in the mirror at your own actions and the disrespect you routinely show everyone before you start accusing others of disrespect. Or better yet, maybe ask yourself whether the disrespect the fans are showing Brashear is warranted and that signing him was unwarranted. The only way that disrespect will change is when Brashear proves himself as a Ranger -- give him credit for recognizing that even when the coach hasn't. To do that, Brashear is going to have to do better than he did in his pair of bouts against former Wolf Packer Brandon Sugden -- he lost the first when he tripped trying to throw his first punch, and he earned no better than a draw in the long second fight with a good comeback after losing the first half soundly. But why are we even wasting time on this when we have a guy like Gaborik out there playing real hockey?

For more on Brashear: Newsday, Record, Daily News, NYR.com, and Blueshirts Blog -- the Post has a bit on him as well after a main article on the Ranger defense. For more on Anisimov: Newsday. For more on Dubinsky: Game On! and HF Rangers Blog. For more on Matt Gilroy being named camp rookie of the year and Bobby Sanguinetti being named odd man out: Ranger Rants here and here, Blueshirts Blog, and BB.com. For more on last night's game and other issues: Ranger Rants here and here, Blue Notes, BB.com, NYR.com, NHL.com, AP. The Wolf Pack made their first training camp cuts, with a couple of minor surprises -- see Howlings and Beyond the Blueshirts for more. A couple of Rangers made the bottom half of Hockey's Future Top 50 Prospects. Prospet Park has news from last night's action. A Ranger fan is suing the Garden over his season tickets, according to the Daily News.

Rubber Must Meet the Road [Updated Again]

5:00 PM UPDATE: Matt Gilroy has been selected this year's winner of the Lars-Erik Sjoberg Award as best rookie in training camp. Marc Staal will sit out tonight's game with continued soreness in his groin.

1:00 PM UPDATE: Well, one shoe has dropped -- Sanguinetti was assigned to Hartford today.

The time has come for John Tortorella to put his money where his mouth is, for him to walk the walk after talking the talk, for the rubber to meet the road, and any other metaphors you care to mix in. This is Rangerland, where much of the discussion since -- well, ever since the ill-fated trade of Mattias Norstrom for Jari Kurri --has been about developing Rangers from scratch, not importing them from elsewhere only after they have seen the top of the hill (actually, you can go back Rick Middleton for Ken Hodge or even back to the dark ages of the 1940s and 50s for other egregious examples). This year is no exception.

Like so many coaches and GMs who preceded him, Tortorella promised a good strong dose of youth in this year's line-up. After all, he said, he doesn't even have any choice in the matter, with roster spots open and no cap space left to sign veterans -- that after the Rangers signed a few of thirtysomething veterans in Vinny Prospal, Ales Kotalik, and Donald Brashear. But even more to the point, Tortorella reiterated his oft-repeated mantra that with him you have to earn your ice time, you don't get it just because of the name on your back or the numbers on your stat sheet (we'll give him a pass for Marian Gaborik, since the whole shebang really does hinge on him being healthy and offensively productive).

So now we'll see. The roster is down to 24, one above the NHL limit and two more than the Rangers will likely carry into the season. But the real test will not be who survives the final cut or two, but what kind of responsibility they will get -- having earned a spot on the team is not good enough if you end up being the seventh defenseman, spare forward, or even lightly used fourth liner, not if you're Artem Anisimov or Matt Gilroy and you have not only won a roster spot, you have already made some lists of Calder Trophy candidates, a potential difference maker as a rookie at key (and vulnerable) positions.

Both of these players came to camp with NHL jobs to lose, not win. And both have held onto their status, resoundingly. Anisimov brings skill and size to center, a position where the Rangers lack a true number one pivot. His competition -- a good two-way center in Brandon Dubinsky who is also still a youngster but who is not a proven point producer, an aging Vinny Prospal who has spent most of his time on the wing, at least in recent seasons, and a veteran earning first line money who may not even qualify as second line center, Chris Drury having been the de facto third center for much of his first two disappointing seasons here in New York.

Curiously, with all the talk swirling around the other candidates, Drury's name has barely been mentioned, certainly not as first line pivot, which he is not capable of, but not even as aging logjam, which he may very well be at this point. Tortorella will earn huge accolades from this observer if he has the guts to tell everyone that Anisimov has earned a more central role as an offensive player than Drury, but we're not taking that bet to our bookie just yet. Sure, it's just pre-season -- Anisimov has to prove he can do it consistently during the regular season. But he needs a chance to prove it, and that will not come if he is relegated to fourth line center or the press box. Blake Wheeler got that chance in Boston last season -- AA has earned that shot as a Ranger this season.

And if AA does get the chance, it should not come at the expense of fellow Russian prospect Enver Lisin, who has also won a long look in the regular season with his pre-season play. He too has to prove his consistency, but he should not have to prove it (or be kept on too short a leash) in favor of a veteran like Kotalik who has proven in his years in the NHL that he is nothing if not inconsistent. When you add up the number of forwards, there is no room for Lisin on the top three lines if Prospal playes the wing. But that equation presupposes that all nine wingers ahead of him on the depth chart are known quantities -- the truth is, at least three (Prospal, Kotalik, and Christopher Higgins) have as much to prove as Lisin does. Or Anisimov, if Lisin gets the spot on the wing with Prospal moved into the middle.

The situation on defense is similar -- two youngsters, maybe even three, have earned a shot, and all three possess a quality that has eluded the Rangers since the departure of Brain Leetch, the ability to quarterback a power play. It remains to be seen whether any of them -- Gilroy, Mike Del Zotto, or Bobby Sanguinetti -- can do it at the NHL level during regular season play, and still take care of business in the defensive end. But again, which veteran has excelled at that position? Certainly not Wade Redden and Michal Rozsival. And even more certainly, not Alexei Semenov, who hasn't shown any reason to still be under consideration for a contract other than his status as a veteran. Hence our concern about the rubber meeting the road. Keeping Semenov as seventh D in case one of the rookies stumbles may be a good idea -- signing him as a starter because you don't trust having a pair of rookies out there is business as usual in Rangerland.

Catching up on the last two days of news: Newsday, Record, Daily News, Post, and NYR.com from today's papers, mostly on Sean Avery as he recovers from a knee sprain, and Newsday, Daily News, Post, NYR.com, and NHL.com here and here from yesterday on a variety of subjects. Also, see Ranger Rants here and here, Blue Notes here and here, and Blueshirts Blog. The Wolf Pack won last night -- see Howlings and Beyond the Blueshirts for game recaps, HF Rangers Blog for a treatise on P.A. Parenteau's chances. Prospect Park worries about some of these same issues in addition to other prospect news here and here.

Newton's Third Law in Rangers' Third Win [Updated Below]

For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. So states Newton's third law of motion, as it is commonly simplified. For the Rangers to remain in motion -- forward motion -- they are going to have to defy Newton. Yesterday, they did not -- they finally got their star forward Marian Gaborik back onto the ice after groin soreness slowed him down through training camp, but at the same time they lost spark plug Sean Avery to a sprained knee after a collision with Ryan Callahan at practice. One comes in, another goes out. The sprain that has been terms mild, but it will keep Avery out of action for at least a few days.

As the team then proceeded to demonstrate in an exhibition win over Detroit, they have the potential to be a pretty darn good hockey club, especially when the dynamic Gaborik is out there. But they have been crafted to so delicate a balance that they cannot afford to lose too many key people to injury. Gaborik and netminder Henrik Lundqvist are the two most prominent players that must stay healthy. Avery is not in the same class, not when you look at the stat sheet. But look at the Rangers' record over the past few seasons with him and without him and, as fans know, the team just cannot afford to be without him for long.

Like last year, Avery's absence creates an opportunity for Aaron Voros, and indeed the rangy winger is making the most of an unexpected opportunity to make the team. He strengthened his case with another strong showing last night. It helps Voros that the Rangers' top two players, Gaborik and Lundqvist, count him among their very best friends. But Voros has a history in his two NHL seasons that cannot be ignored -- he always gets off to incredible starts, but fizzles out even faster. The Rangers' last coach understood that history and would not allow himself to get too excited when Voros shot out of the gate last October -- does John Tortorella understand that too? Because if Voros makes the team ahead of a truly promising young player, Tortorella does himself and his team no favors.

For more on Gaborik, Avery, Voros, yesterday's practice, and last night's game: Newsday, Record, Daily News, Post, NY Sports Day, NYR.com, NHL.com, AP, and the reporters' blogs -- Ranger Rants here, here, here, here, and here; Blue Notes here, here, here, and here; and Blueshirts Blog here and here. Game On! argues in favor of the young defensemen (one of whom will be trumped by Alexei Semenov despite outplaying him in pre-season). Ranger previews: ESPN, NHL.com, and Puck Daddy -- more from NHL.com on Ryan Callahan. Howlings has an update on former Rangers and Packers. Beyond the Blueshirts has updates on a pair of Russian prospects -- Mikhail Pashnin and the injured Pavel Valentenko.

PM UPDATE: Two more players are battling aches and pains in addition to Avery -- Marc Staal missed practice today due to a sore groin and Wade Redden left practice with a sore back. Avery himself was seen on crutches. P-A Parenteau was reassigned to Hartford. For more on all of this, see Ranger Rants here and here, Blueshirts Blog, and Howlings. Other links: BB.com and HF Rangers Blog on Gaborik's debut, Game On! on resting Lundqvist, and THN touting Artem Anisimov as an early Calder candidate.