The Rangers got back to work Thursday evening after the all-star break with a spirited high-tempo practice session. While Brendan Shanahan got the day off after returning from the All-Star Game and Martin Straka sat out battling the flu, the group on the ice featured one new player in place of an old friend -- Dan Girardi, looking forward to his first NHL start in Philadelphia on Saturday, in place of Darius Kasparaitis, who will play for Hartford this weekend.
"I found out today [Thursday] that I was coming up here," Girardi said after practice. "We saw all those guys [coach Tom Renney and Assistant GM Don Maloney] on Tuesday in the stands. We were all thinking, 'What is going on?' We had a good practice that day. There was some rumors going around. I'm just real happy and excited about the shot."
Girardi's NHL debut will take place on the same day he was supposed to appear in the AHL All-Star Game in Toronto, his hometown region, along with his junior teammate Ryan Callahan. "I had about thirty people going to Toronto to watch me play," Girardi said of his family and friends. "But I'd rather be here than going to that game. Definitely more excited to be here."
"We looked at a number of people," Renney said of his trip to Hartford. "We always keep an eye on that, what's been going on down there. I went down there to be sure, to confirm in my own mind what I thought and what I had been told. And it was a worthwhile trip. We're content with any number of people down there -- there are some kids there in a position to play here and help us. But at this point in time the numbers don't allow that to happen. We have to make some type of provision for that to happen. Whether or not we're able to do that should we choose to, that remains to be seen."
Renney characterized Girardi as "very steady, good first pass, positional play is real good, he's certainly very reliable, his foot speed was not an issue. We think we've got a guy that can help us, and we'll give him that chance. If I can put Tommy and Danny together, that's appealing," Renney said of Thomas Pock, who was Girardi's defense partner at times last season in Hartford. "So is Toots and Danny together. So I might have to put a righty on the left side" -- a veteran righty rather than Girardi himself. Which defenseman will sit out to make room for Girardi? "I'm not sure yet," Renney answered. "We've got some stuff going through our team here again -- Straka wasn't feeling very good, he's showing a bit of flu symptoms."
"I try to play real hard every night, work hard every day to improve," Girardi said of himself. "I just really try to play my best every game. I really strive to be consistent and staying out of trouble on the ice and make good plays."
As for the team's outlook for the stretch run, Renney definitely sees room for improvement. "We're in eighth place here by almost default," he said. "We've lost games to teams that outworked us that we should beat. There's twenty points out there that if we had ten of them we might not be talking about our team the way we are. To me those were achievable points. That's our responsibility to be a better team and win. We want to do it as bad as the next team and there's no better time than right now."
One way to do that is to start winning games with his world class power play personnel. Renney doesn't believe the power play needs to be torn apart and revamped, he believes it needs to be re-focused on its task, and that it's his responsibility to make sure that happens. "What we've got tp do is come back to a couple, three or four things that we want to see on the power play. We have primary options A, B, C, or D. There are some things we want to pay particular attention to that will allow our power play to click. Maybe the approach of allowing it to be inventive has almost kind of confined them, kind of left everyone to their own devices. It's my responsibility that we have structure there and push it through. In fairness to the players, that's my job."
Jaromir Jagr, for his part, is not looking at how the rest of the team can be successful -- he is focusing on what he himself can do to help the Rangers make some post-season noise. He strengthened himself somewhat during this break with an eye toward that. "I thought I was gonna do more, but a stomach virus [intervened]," he said. "Even with that, I tried to work out every day. I feel like because I started to do something and my body got used to it, I can continue to play and work [on the shoulder] at the same time." He needs to build up muscle that was lost during his idle summer as he recovered from shoulder surgery.
"I truly believe something huge is gonna happen with me," he said. "If it will happen with me, then it's gonna help the team. When you're the top guy and the captain [and you] do well, the team does well. I understand it's a team game -- but when the game is on the line, individuals have to make the difference. That's what I truly believe. If you want to be the special guy you have to have those special moments. That's what I play for -- that's what I live for."
Jagr refuses to pass the mantle of responsibility of carrying this team to his teammates. "I'm not gonna sit here and talk about how the team should do," he said. "I have to be the first guy to do it. I don't play good, the team doesn't play good. That's the way it is. I'm not saying that I'm the team. But I'm spending a lot of time on the ice, the coach gives me the things I need -- I have to be the guy, no question about it. Everybody got their job, I got the job to score goals, make points, to win it. I'm not gonna help anybody if I talk about how the team should play if I'm not gonna play good. I want to make the playoffs and do something in the playoffs. These people in here deserve it. We got everything we need, now we just have to do it."
He was very earnest in his remarks. He wanted to make sure no one misconstrued them as being self-centered. He wanted to make sure that we all understood that he was first and foremost responsible for making sure the team was successful -- that is his job, and he intends to do it. And if his demeanor on the ice during practice was any indication, he is ready.
Jagr's comments are the top story in the Daily News, Journal News, Post, and all the reporters' blogs -- Blueshirts Blog, Rangers Report, and Blue Notes. Girardi is the main story in the Courant, Newsday, and NY Sports Day. The Courant also has a look at the Wolf Pack week ahead. Mark Lee was reassigned to Charlotte after a month in Hartford. Lee Falardeau's hometown paper has a feature on his progress as a pro hockey player. Jess Rubenstein checks in with his daily prospect update:
Trevor Koverko’s Oshawa Generals had a wild night as they took on Windsor in a game that was more pond hockey than anything else. This game had everything from a fight fourteen seconds into the game to fifteen goals scored by both teams. The Generals won 9-6 as Koverko was a force at both ends of the ice despite not scoring. Koverko had six more PIMs to bring his season total to 110. Koverko, one of the nicest guys you will meet off the ice, is playing with more fire and determination with each passing game.
The key match-up of the night was Marc-Andre Cliche’s Lewiston MAINEaics traveling to Halifax to face Ryan Hillier and his Mooseheads, and Cliche didn't fare well, leaving the game in the third period after suffering a jaw or head injury on an open ice hit (see the Halifax Chronicle-Herald and Lewiston Sun-Journal for more information). This was another exciting game as Halifax jumped out to a 2-0 lead only to see Lewiston tie it. Halifax then scored two more goals to go up 4-2 only to watch that lead disappear as well. The game wound up going to a shootout, the Mooseheads winning, 5-4. Hillier and Cliche did not score in the game but Hillier did have a goal in the shootout. Cliche didn't make it to the shootout due to his injury.
Now if you really want some hockey action for your Friday night then boy will we have plenty of action for you. There will be ten games featuring Ranger prospects in the CHL, with our featured match-up pitting Trevor Koverko and Oshawa as they travel to Saginaw and face the Twin Toms Pyatt and Zaborsky. You can catch the audio feed here (click on "Joe Radio" at the bottom of the page). Game time is 7:11. In college action, there are six games featuring Ranger prospects with our recommendation being the suddenly hot Kenny Roche and his BU Terriers (unbeaten in their last eight) taking on arch-rival BC in a rematch from Wednesday night. You can listen to the game here at 7:30. If not, then of course check back with us Saturday morning to find out what you missed, as we will have all the info right here.
Hey Dubi, you wouldn't also happen to have a picture of Dan Girardi managing the Florida Marlins this spring, or even an older one of him backstopping the Yankees a few years back, would you? That is, in addition to the one above of Joe Girardi at training camp?
I'm sorry, that just had to be done. ;)
Posted by: pghas | January 26, 2007 at 06:19 AM
Hey Dubi, does Sather know he has this habit of acquiring the much less talented brother in the family? First Fedor F. Fedorov, the Marcel Hossa, now Joe Girardi. Could you tell him it's Dan Girardi who's supposed to be a good hockey player?
Posted by: pghas | January 26, 2007 at 06:20 AM
Is that Joe Girardi or Chris "Mad Dog" Russo?
Posted by: Chris | January 26, 2007 at 06:31 AM
I love the Jagr bites! This is what made his renaissance last year (and therefore, the Rangers as a whole) so thrilling to watch. I really hope these "big things" come to light, starting soon.
Posted by: Ed McGrogan | January 26, 2007 at 08:25 AM
Lets hope the rest this year has the opposite result of no rest next year.
One question, don't these guys get flu shots, why does it rack the team every year?
Posted by: David | January 26, 2007 at 10:40 AM
I wonder why trolls like CAPTEGO come to a Ranger website. Your team is in worse shape, shouldn't you go take your frustrations out on them instead of trying to make a moot argument?
The flu shot helps prevent the flu. It just reduces the probability of getting the flu. You also have to remember that viruses are always mutating. There are a million (exaggeration?) different strands of flu and manifest in different ways.
I know Jagr doesn't talk much but those comments that Dubi quoted bring me hope, albeit probably false hope. But I miss the Jagr from last year that dominated games. We've just seen flashes of it. It would be nice to see it consistently from one of the game's superstars.
Posted by: Phill | January 26, 2007 at 10:48 AM
i do hope this is start of a series of decision-making.
Wolfpack will be seeing major change on the back line with Girardi up, Kapsar and Taylor joining the lineup, and somewhere i read (here? courant.com/sports/hockey/? hartfordwolfpack.com/?) that Pikkareinen was healed and returning from Finland. That'd make for 9D in Hartford (Lampman, Baranka, Degon, Liffiton, MRichter, Purinton) with Potter, Constant and ex-Pack Rodney in Charlotte. They could ship out Rachunek, Purinton and Richter and still be in good shape.
... and Lesard and Isbister blocking Falardeau, Graham, Jessiman, Bahensky and Kozak (hurt again) serves no long-term goal. Just as Orr and Krog blocking Dawes, Immonen, Dubinsky, Callahan, Byers, Moore or Korpikoski is questionable.
I am not as down on Hall, Hossa, Betts and JWard as others are...
This is Sather's worst year in NY.
and Renney's.
Posted by: elsie | January 26, 2007 at 10:51 AM
James Dolan: Make sure Jagr says this at the morning skate:
Jagr: How much damn selling do I have to do to sell a team that's virtually invisible, I'm a hockey player, no one cares about hockey in NYC, when does baseball start?
Dubi: This helps me sell subscriptions and and keeps our team in the public spotlight.
Jagr: All right, let's get this garbage over with, I have been here three years and no one comes to me for endorsements.
"I even felt better the last game against Atlanta," "The more I produce, the more confident I'm going to be. Maybe it will happen from one game, everything will be great. But I have to work on it, I have to continue what I did the last week and I'll be fine. ...
"That's why I didn't go to (the) All-Star (Game)," "I want to make the playoffs and do something in the playoffs. The people in New York deserve it. Our team deserves it. I live for it. There's no better place to play. There's no better organization to play for.
"We've got everything we need. Now, we have to do it."
Now leave me alone, it was a long night down in Atlantic City.
Dubi: Cut, print it.
Dolan: Let's hawk those AMD powerplays on television and don't show the empty seats, remember we always announce 18,200, just make sure everyone know plenty of seats are available.
Tell Micheletti to sell the club a little more and agree with Sam, Trautwig and Fischler, were selling a product here, not what's really happening.
Dolan: See if Messier can come down and play some table hockey with Bobby Granger and Graves, kill those Kasparaitis ads.
Remember gang, hockey's different here.
Jagr: Walking away shaking his head. God I wish I was in Pittsburgh.
Posted by: CAPTEGO | January 26, 2007 at 11:18 AM
That's two days in a row I made that Dan-Joe mistake. I suspect I'll be making it again down the road. I don't know why I have Joe Girardi ingrained in my mind -- I'm not even a baseball fan! (Anymore)
Posted by: Dubi | January 26, 2007 at 11:26 AM
Ego's comments are pathetic and boring.
If his Fishticks were as almighty as he believes they are, they would have their own site he could visit and talk with all his way cool friends.
They don't, so he is here and there with the same old tripe he has spewed every post. The third rate fan of a second rate organization has nothing better to do than to play here.
He lives in the the past and forgets it is 2007 and not the early 80's, a quarter of a century so long ago.
The only thing that would get him into the Fishstick's locker room would be that mop and bucket he carries around all day.
I used to be amused and read what he wrote for the entertainment value of an elementary schooler's attempt at bashing the Rangers.
I'm not amused any more and he bores the hell out of me.
If you look up the word "dysfunctional" in Webster's dictionary it has Ego's picture next to it.
Go put a clean diaper on and find another sandbox to play in.
Posted by: Ron Boesgaard | January 26, 2007 at 11:42 AM
how bout we put a muzzle on this capt ego character
Posted by: WeWantFishStix | January 26, 2007 at 11:43 AM
From what they were saying...this was one of the most intense practices of the season...hopefully this will help get the Devil-Ranger rivalry back in step.
[email protected]
Posted by: Chris | January 26, 2007 at 11:52 AM
Not to change the subject but the reason I wasn't a fast skater all those years was the air drag from my jersey??? I shouda had a V-8... This team can't score and we bring up a d-man. Am I missing something here??? When Leetch was captain it hurt his play also. Not everyone is cut out to be captain. Some people you should just let play.Captego, don't the islanders have a website to chat on...no??? poor baby...why don't you get both of your friends and start one and maybe someone would care what you have to say.....Z
Posted by: craig z | January 26, 2007 at 11:59 AM
Back to seven defensemen. I bet Pock sits...
Posted by: T_Bird | January 26, 2007 at 12:48 PM
Jagr SPEAKS up; now lets see if he stands up!
Seven D's is not the problem, it's the quality of the forwards that needs to be changed.
If Jagr thinks he has the players around him to succeed, good for him. I hope he finds his scoring touch. Just remember, his lines total points are more now then where this line was last year at this time. I don't care if JJ, Straka or Nylander are getting the goals, we need scoring from the other three lines, and that problem has yet to be fixed. Renney knows what is going on..."But at this point in time the numbers don't allow that to happen. We have to make some type of provision for that to happen. Whether or not we're able to do that should we choose to, that remains to be seen." This comment by Renney is loaded with "we's" meaning Sather. The operative words are..."if we choose to"...! I think Renney is ready to purge this group of non-producers in favor of a younger stable of young bucks, hungry for their shot at the bigs.
Posted by: rangerbill94 | January 26, 2007 at 01:23 PM
On Sam's blog he says what lines were used in practice today. Pock was not paired with Girardi, he was paired, of all people, with Colton Orr. Has Renney lost his mind??
Posted by: lennynyr | January 26, 2007 at 02:26 PM
Renney doesn't have a mind to lose.
Heard that MA Cliche suffered a concussion last night on a big open ice hit. Anything on that?
Posted by: emscam | January 26, 2007 at 02:31 PM
Lenny, that just means that those two guys are going to be scratched tomorrow, not that Renney thinks Colton Orr is a defenseman -- the seventh defenseman always pairs up with an extra forward in practice. So when Renney said Tommy and Danny or Toots and Danny, obviously he ended up going with Toots and Danny.
emscam -- from the Halifax Chronicle (http://www.herald.ns.ca/Sports/555104.html): "The third period saw tensions rise after Halifax defenceman Jiri Suchy levelled Lewiston captain Marc-Andre Cliche with a devastating open-ice hit. Maineiacs defenceman Marc-Andre Crete retaliated just seconds later with a vicious knee-on-knee hit on Halifax centre Logan MacMillan, triggering a melee near centre ice. Both Cliche and MacMillan had to be helped from the ice and did not return."
And from the Lewiston Sun-Journal (http://www.sunjournal.com/story/196405-3/LocalSports/Loss_to_Halifax_proves_costly/): "Cliche was the victim of a solid hit in the neutral zone by Jiri Suchy. He left the game groggy, and did not return. Guay said the problem may be with his jaw, and that Cliche was also likely out for the remainder of the weekend." That's the same problem Sauer had in Team USA camp over the summer that was initially misdiagnosed as a concussion and has since been corrected.
Posted by: Dubi | January 26, 2007 at 02:49 PM
Dubi, you said..
"Lenny, that just means that those two guys are going to be scratched tomorrow, not that Renney thinks Colton Orr is a defenseman -- the seventh defenseman always pairs up with an extra forward in practice. So when Renney said Tommy and Danny or Toots and Danny, obviously he ended up going with Toots and Danny."
Yep, that's exactly the way I was interpreting Renney's moves and just the fact that he is sitting Pock instead of Malik/Ruchunek tells me he has lost his mind.
Posted by: lennynyr | January 26, 2007 at 03:00 PM
Somebody on Weinmans blog provided a link to a video clip of a fight between an Edmonton player and a LA player in 1988 when Sather was their coach.
There is Sather, with fire in his eyes challenging the LA player and calling him a f*n #^@*$. He had that same fire in his eyes when he played for the Rangers and was an outstanding protector. The guy could fight.
Now flash back to today and what do you see? A fat jowled guy with emptiness in his eyes and $$$ in his pockets. What a shame!!
Posted by: lennynyr | January 26, 2007 at 03:14 PM
Sorry, Lenny -- thought you meant the pairing.
Posted by: Dubi | January 26, 2007 at 03:27 PM
lennynyr
Not what it tells me. It tells me that JJ is running the team, and that's worse. However, giving a superstar some say may not be a bad thing. If he doesn't produce what ever it takes to win, then the coach needs to regain control and tell the superstar to suck it up! May never happen.
Posted by: rangerbill94 | January 26, 2007 at 03:28 PM
Rangerbill -- Jagr has some level of influence, no question -- you can see it in his comments where he says "the coach gives me the things I need." That surely includes Renney giving him the guys he's most comfortable with on D (Malik and Rozsival), though his comments do tell us that Renney is making the final decision to give him what he wants, and that he understands it's a privilege he has earned and has to keep earning, not a birthright.
But beyond that, he's not telling Renney whom to sit or start on D. Renney wouldn't be sitting Malik out anyway -- regardless of fans' opinion of Malik, and regardless of his obvious limitations (which Renney readily admits), he is still doing his job as well as anyone in the organization can. Rachunek on the other hand is more on the bubble, and rightfully so. But I have to tell you, despite his nationality, Rachunek is not part of Jags's inner circle -- Jags is not telling Renney either way what to do with Rachunek and Pokey.
Posted by: Dubi | January 26, 2007 at 03:40 PM
Dubi
Thanks for the Cliche info. Hope the kid is alright.
Posted by: emscam | January 26, 2007 at 03:51 PM
Dubi
I simply don't agree on Malik vs Rachunik. Rachunik has shown reasonable improvement over the past 20-25 games. Malik, on the otherhand, has only shown what we have already seen, and somewhat less. He is much slower then Rachunik, won't use the body (Rachunik at least will squeeze people off in the corners) and makes about the same number of bonehead plays Rachunik does. Once Sather brought in the additional D's (Ward, Rachunik, Richter and re-signed Pock) I was sure Malik was gone. He is there ONLY because of JJ, and that's a shame.
Posted by: rangerbill94 | January 26, 2007 at 04:13 PM
the only reason to keep all these D around is the usual 2d half surge of injuries.
Posted by: cwede | January 26, 2007 at 09:11 PM
Renney shows that he can screw up even a good move (bringing up a kid).
This has to be a spite thing between him and Sather/Maloney - ice the worst lineup possible to show how much we stink. Then maybe they'll bring in a 2nd line center and a defenseman. Because nobody can be stupid enough to come up with a lineup that bad.
I'd rather see Pock keep playing than to have him sit out for Girardi.
Pock has shown that he is the best "D" on the team since he's been in the lineup.
There's something really fishy going on - internal politics must have something to do with this.
Posted by: baron34 | January 27, 2007 at 12:09 AM