Too Early to Panic

The Rangers find themselves, after nine games, in a position where "it's not too early to panic," according to ESPN.com. Without trying to sugarcoat their sporadic start to this season, we beg to differ, at least about the "not too early" part. At this same juncture a year ago, the Rangers had a 4-3-3 record -- the only difference, record-wise compared to this season's 4-5-0 start, are a couple of losses suffered in overtime rather than in regulation time. Although Jaromir Jagr was on fire already at this time last year, with ten goals, Petr Prucha had not yet emerged (he would be scratched the next three games and then sent to Hartford), and Henrik Lundqvist was splitting playing time almost evenly with Kevin Weekes.

This season, with Jagr's shoulder limiting him to playmaking, he's not scoring goals, but he has the same point total as a year ago (14) in one game fewer, and Brendan Shanahan has picked up the goal scoring pace (see CBS Sportsline). Prucha and Lundqvist have not yet matched their phenomenal form of last season, but at this point in the season they hadn't yet made that much of a difference anyway, and when Lundqvist rounds into form, the defense may not look as porous as it has so far. Last season at this point, the Rangers got hot, winning seven of their next nine games -- before taking ESPN's advice and starting to panic, let's see how the next ten games go.

Despite the vote of confidence the coach gave him after last game, Karel Rachunek will take a seat in the press box tonight in Phoenix, according to Steve Zipay's Blue Notes as well as a footnote in Larry Brooks's Post story on Darius Kasparaitis, another defenseman on the bubble with Rachunek and Marek Malik. Other game previews from John Dellapina in the News, Zipay's regular beat in the Newsday, and NYR.com, plus a story from Phoenix about the Coyotes' problem taking penalties, which holds out hope of the Ranger power play taking advantage of Wayne Gretzky's struggling club.

Also scratched tonight will be Thomas Pöck (again) and Nigel Dawes, the latter to be replaced by Colton Orr. Will Orr get a chance, if necessary, to do what Chris Neil and the rest of the Ottawa Senators did to Darcy Tucker (see Sportsnet.ca)? Or will the Rangers take the same laissez faire attitude toward any aggression that they did when Tucker ran Jagr et.al. in Toronto last weekend? The Wolf Pack continue to suffer offensive woes, according to the Courant. Prospect update at NYR.com, and of course our own version from Jess Rubenstein, with Prospect Park for today:

We start today in college. Kenny Roche had an assist in a losing effort as BU dropped a 2-1 decision to UMASS-Lowell. Greg Beller was scoreless in his college debut but Yale came from behind to beat Holy Cross 2-1. Dylan Reese and Harvard dropped a 5-2 decision to Hugh Jessiman’s alma mater Dartmouth. Darin Olver scored his first goal of the season as NMU shut out Ohio State 2-0. Jordan Foote may have been scoreless but his Michigan Tech Huskies improved to 4-1 with a 9-0 blasting of Alaska-Anchorage.

In the QMJHL, Ryan Hiller tallied his eighth goal of the season but it was not enough as Halifax fell to Val-d'Or 3-2. In the OHL, it's the end of the world as we know it -- Dalyn Flatt scored a goal! His first regular season goal since 2004-05 helped Owen Sound end a three game losing streak in a 4-3 win over Erie. The Flatter appears to have found himself a home with the Attack. Teammate Bobby Sanguinetti, held scoreless, continues his October struggles. In Sudbury, Marc Staal and his Wolves were blasted 8-2 by Barrie.

In the WHL, first star of the game Brodie Dupont continued his hot streak, scoring two more goals to give him seven in his last six games as Calgary shut out Regina 3-0. Dupont now has ten goals on the season. In Prince Albert, Lukas Zeliska was scoreless but his Raiders defeated Moose Jaw 5-3. A lot of credit has to be given to these young men as they played their first game since a car accident left teammate Garrett Robinson in critical condition. Eric Hunter also was scoreless but Prince George defeated Saskatoon 2-0. Finally, in Portland, Michael Sauer’s efforts may not show up in the box score, but his solid two-way play helped Portland beat Kamloops 6-3.

Prospect Park’s Stars of the Night: first star, Brodie Dupont (Calgary WHL), two goals including the game winner as his Hitmen won; second star, Dalyn Flatt (Owen Sound OHL) -- his first goal since 2004-05 deserves recognition, but more so that he did not quit on himself after being waived earlier in the season; third star, Darin Olver (NMU CCHA), with his first goal of the season as the Wildcats defeated OSU.

Comments

[Scott]

his is absolutely rediculous. What youth movement are we watching, NONE..
Pock never plays, Rosival and Malik are softer then cotton and make mistake after mistake and are rewarded.. Rachunek is terrible, you tell me you can't get Baranka into the lineup.. I used to question Kaspar, but after seeing how the team collapsed without his physical element at the end of last year, he is an anchor we need. He taught Tyutin his only asset that I have seen this year, the hip check..
It should look like:
Tyutin-Kaspar
A. Ward-Ozo
Baranka-Pock
-this would look more like a rebuild.. here we would have offense and defensive accountability on each pair..

As far as the forwards go, Hossa, please...... Why must Dawes sit, he actually has a goal on the year.. Orr, puleeeez, he never see enough ice time.. Where is the rebuild??
Straka-Nylander-Jagr(only Straka knows how to play defense)
Shanahan-Betts-Cullen(Betts is underrated)
Prucha-J. Ward-Hall(ward and prucha are misused and hall is way to soft, and misused)
Hossa-Hollweg-Orr(they are going to get no ice time and waste all of Hollywoods potential)
I likely speak for most Ranger fans when I say we would like to have heart and hustle and that last years Rangers were so good because of the 3rd and 4th lines and that us what was broken up this offseason..
If that is the case:
-bring up a center such as Immonen or Dubinsky to fortify the 3/4th lines and inject some youth like a Jessimen(he has size and grit).... Make a statement. Maybe Montoya should come up.. What we are watching is the 97-2004 style of managment with sitting on veterans..
WE DON'T WANT iT ANYMORE...

[Aaron]

YES! Orr will get his usual 2:48 of playing time, where he will make limited impact and touch the puck a total of 2 times. Yippee. If you're gonna play him, let him play.

[Vlo]

Same old, same old, literally!!!! Is Buffalo considered a N.Y. team, just asking.

[craigz]

Tonight should be interesting. Only guy with good energy OUT. Only guy who keeps you honest is fighting for a job. Second line center should be third line. Third line winger should be second line. Scratched D should be playing. Scratched D should be a) traded b) sent down c) bought out d) all of the above... Later after the game Z

[craigz]

Just a thought between the 1st and 2nd period: WHY IS ROSIVAL PLAYING THE POINT ON THE PP AAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHH why is Dhanny killing penalties... isn't that how JJ got hurt..... Z

[craigz]

Damn, I had to verify 3 times!!!!!!!

[Jess]

Waive everyone fire everyone trade Mitch and Dubi for girl scout cookies

I am taking over both the Rangers and Blueshirt Bulletin in a coup

Up 5-1 in the second is reason enough to fire all of you (damm I love these pain killers)

Sorry folks as much as I like Hollweg he got spanked in the fight

[Jess]

Oh yea how come nobody dares suggest that the Coyos should fire TGO? One day someone is going to acknowledge that just because someone was a great player doesn't mean he will be a great coach.

[Colorado Mark]

Jess-

People are saying Gretz should be fired. Personally, I think he should be given more time, but I also think Renney should be given more time, so what the heck do I know.

Hollweg probably lost the fight, but I think he did pretty well at minimizing the damage and he landed a few good ones.

Nylander is playing well (so is his whole line, but some of the little things Nylander does amazes me.

[craigz]

Between 2nd &3rd, Phoenix is terrwible... JJ is getting too much ice time Z

[craigz]

Nylander is the only legitimate passing center we have. 44 did okay, he's not the biggest guy and I think a lot is asked of him as an enforcer. Now would be a good time to try some line combinations before the real games begin. I loved the Islanders Halloween Jerseys.. Can't wait to see what they do for Valentines Day Z

[Colorado Mark]

Craigz- I sort of agree, but on the other hand, he is our go to guy, and he hasn't been himself all season. Giving him icetime could do a lot for his confidence and strength. If he had been playing like this all season, I would go with the ease up on his icetime and rest him. Not tonight, though, let him run wild.

[Jess]

Colorado You are fired

Craig you are fired too

anyone else?

Seriously how hard is it to get excited about a win over one of the worst teams in the NHL? Let us see what happens when they face the Ducks and Sharks next week

A peek in advance to tomorrow's prospect report

Greg Beller (FR Yale 6'3) earned first star for scoring his first NCAA goal in OT to give Yale a shocking 4-3 upset win over New Hampshire

Jordan Foote (JR Michigan Tech 6'4) earned 3rd star for his first goal of the season as his Huskies are off to their best start since 1993.

[craigz]

Damn, I had to verify 3 times!!!!!!!

[craigz]

You cant fire me. JJ on the ice in the last minute of play of a 7-3 game makes no sense at all. Remember when he got hurt last year. Killing a penalty at the end of a game that was out of hand anyway. Renney makes some bad decisions as does the Defense coach. Ozo or Tyutin or Ward on the PP point okay...not Rozsival. L.A. will be a much tougher game. We need 6 pts on this road trip... Z

[craigz]

Good Night Z

[Matty]

>>>>Seriously how hard is it to get excited about a win over one of the worst teams in the NHL? Let us see what happens when they face the Ducks and Sharks next week<<<

That's all fine and good but had the team lost then everyone would be bitching and complaining that the team lost to one of the worst teams in the League ... it's like everyone jumps down their throats when they lose and yet when they win it's either ... it wasn't perfect, or they weren't facing a tough enough opponent ...

I am not too excited about this win ... they face yet another "weak" opponent in L.A. which are 3-8-3 if I am not mistaken and then the real test vs the Ducks and Sharks but still the team deserves credit for coming to play from beginning to end tonight and even though they had three breakdowns that led directly to goals, at least, they minimized their defensive errors tonight ...

[Jess]

Can we ask where is Benoit Allaire our goalie coach this season? Lundqvist clearly has some serious flaws with his game and that is why we are supposed to have a goalie coach.

Craig you are right I can't fire you as I put you on waivers and you were claimed by Al's Roto Rooter and Sleaze Bar.

Matty

Yes the teasm showed up to play but other than that there really is nothing to be proud of. This team appears to be very fragile on some many levels that one has to wonder when someone will push the panic button

[Lurker Kev]

Who cares if Phoenix stinks (which they do)? Doesn't matter, in my opinion. Rangers completely dominated this one, and it should do wonders for their confidence. Like Matty said, if they blew the game, there would be hell to pay. So let's just be happy they smacked a team in the mouth for once.

Besides the obvious good stuff - like the top line's brilliance and Cullen's great game - the other things that I liked best were that J. Ward/Prucha/Hall did some really nice things as a unit; the defense kept it simple and made short passes to each other instead of each individual trying to break out of the zone on their own; and there was puck support from teammates all game long.

Yeah Jess, I agree Hollweg dropped that decision, but am I the only one who was just happy to see a fight for once? I'm all for the new NHL rules, better flow, more offense, etc., but I make no apologies for the fact that fighting is one of my favorite parts of the game. Nice to see it back tonight, even for a brief instant. I was hoping Orr would drop them too!

[rangerbill94]

Anybody think we could make a trade for Jamal Mayers?

[throwaway]

Agree with everything you wrote, Lurker, except for the part about the fight. I didn't see how it did anything for us other than risk Hollweg hurting his hand. He's the forward on the team who plays physical as part of his regular game; we don't need him sitting in the box for fighting minutes.
Overall, notwithstanding Jess' cautionary note about the level of competition, I was very happy with the team's performance. We finally had some good flow to the game, with momentum developing and lines feeding off each other's success. The forwards came back and helped out down low on the breakout, which was huge. Glad to see Jagr's regular unit back together; we saw much more sublime than ridiculous this time around, with Nylander, in particular, moving the puck superbly and controlling the tempo. Also loved the way Ward and Betts worked together on the PK. To be sure, we're still not where we need to be; but this certainly was a step in the right direction.

[Matty]

>>>Yes the teasm showed up to play but other than that there really is nothing to be proud of. This team appears to be very fragile on some many levels that one has to wonder when someone will push the panic button <<<

You know what? Of course this team has a lot of things to work on, and last night it seems as if what they've been working on is coming together ... Sorry if I don't feel that the 10th game of the season, in an 82 game season, is time to push the panic button ... The fact of the matter is this, if they play games like last night then they give themselves a chance to win every night ... when you compare it to the way they played FLA, NAS and BUF and the other two games that they lost then it is a very encouraging sight ...

Also, Henrik and his goalie coach seem to be very aware of what's going on and that Henrik still has work to do but it seems to me that everyone just wants him to snap out of it in a game or two specially with the kind of defense he was getting in front of him ... Henrik, I feel, will be fine ... Last night he said that he felt better but that there are still things that him and Alleire are working on and that his game still isnt' were he wants it to be ... now maybe it's just me but had he said that everything was fine and that he had a great game and acted as if nothings wrong then I would worry ...

[Bob Merchant]

Throwaway, yeah what you said but my biggest concern is the goaltender situation. This would have been a perfect place for Weekes to start and I can't understand why he did not. 3 GAA and sure some were direct give-aways but still.....those shots were stopped last year. The goals will not flow into the opponents net as easily as they did against Phoenix. 3 and 4 GAA is just not going to cut it. Lets hope they get that under control.

[Bob Merchant]

Throwaway, yeah what you said but my biggest concern is the goaltender situation. This would have been a perfect place for Weekes to start and I can't understand why he did not. 3 GAA and sure some were direct give-aways but still.....those shots were stopped last year. The goals will not flow into the opponents net as easily as they did against Phoenix. 3 and 4 GAA is just not going to cut it. Lets hope they get that under control.

[Bob Merchant]

Sorry about the double.

[Lurker Kev]

Throwaway - please don't misunderstand my comment about the Hollweg fight. I agree with you that it was probably dumb of him to drop the gloves from a hockey standpoint because it only risks injury and firing up the other team. I was only saying that it suited me just fine from a bloodthirsty, caveman standpoint!

I'm not exactly proud of that part of my hockey fandom, but I'm not ashamed of it either.