Brendan Shanahan made a surprise appearance in the press room at the Garden to update the media on his condition. He later appeared during intermission on MSGN, an interview which was shown inside the Garden, so everyone who watched has pretty much heard what he had to say. He got to speak to us a bit more extensively, so here is more of what he said.
Shanahan said he is feeling fine overall but is still experiencing one concussion symptom, vertigo (dizziness), and continues to suffer amnesia about the mid-ice collision that knocked him out of action a week ago. "I'm experiencing symptoms, but overall I'm feeling good," he said. "I've never had a concussion before so I have no history to draw on. I have symptoms like vertigo. We just have to wait for the symptoms to go away, and that is when I'll start workouts."
About playing again this season, he said, "I'm optimisitic. I've been lucky in my career with injuries, especially with [not suffering] concussions. I have a hard Irish head. Unlike other injuries, there is no exact science -- it depends on how certain individuals respond. People are starting to think it's genetics, some are more prone to it than others. I feel fortunate that I don't have a history of this, [which makes] me optimistic that I will recover."
Optimistic though he may be, his treatment schedule suggests that he will be out a considerable period of time. "I see our trainers pretty much every day," he said. "I imagine it would be weekly that I would go in for check-ups with the neurologist to try to stay on top of it. They've encouraged me to get as much sleep as possible, especially in the early going, for healing reasons. [But] my sleep patterns are pretty much the same as they were before. I steal away in the middle of the afternoon to get a little bit of rest, just because they told me that's one of the best healings. I've been going down to the rink the past couple of days and getting a little bit of treatment, trying to get up and move around."
He remembers little of what happened to him, but the fans played a role in reviving him. "I don't remember any of the shift or collision," he said. "But I have seen it [on video]. The first thing I remembered, kind of a nice feeling, I heard the fans chant my name. They kind of woke me up. I thought I had scored. It brings me back to the Garden fans and what they have given to me in my short time in New York. I was out a long time and they woke me up. It scares you to be unconscious like that and lose your memory and wake up in a situation you don't know how you got there or when or why."
But he said that it will not change his attitude toward playing, even at his age and having seen what players like Eric Lindros have gone through. "By no means had it changed anything about my passion for playing," he insisted. "I can't stress enough how, regardless what other people have gone through, we all have a different history and genetics. I've had lots of fights and lots of opportunities to get one and I've never had one. I seems like I just had a head for the game of hockey. But it hasn't changed my passion for getting back -- I can't wait to get back."
His history of injury -- or remarkable lack thereof -- also encourages him. "There's hurt and there's injured," he explained. "I've always played hurt. I haven't missed a game because of injury in about seven or eight years. The last one was in 1998. But there is a difference between playing injured and playing hurt. This is something where it'd be stupid for me to play with symptoms. There's no disguising it or masking it or biting your teeth. But it doesn't diminish my desire to get back the moment I'm medically cleared."
One would hope that would happen in time for the playoffs, but after the Rangers' dismal showing in the game tonight, you can pretty much stick a fork in them -- they're done. Five games into their homestand and they're 1-3-1, including ugly losses to two of the three worst teams in the league, including tonight's 3-2 loss to Columbus (and even the one win was a dissatisfying 2-1 win over another poor team). Once again, the culprit was the power play. Not only was it unable to win this game, it flat out lost it -- two shorthanded goals within minutes turned a 2-1 Ranger lead into a 3-2 deficit that stood up as the Rangers could not equalize over the last 24 minutes of play.
Aaron Ward was scratched in this game because of his errors that cost the Rangers the last game, and because Karel Rachunek was healthy enough to go. But Rachunek again made costly errors. On the Rangers' first period power play, the fans shouted "shoot" every time a player touched the puck -- three passes later, Jaromir Jagr had an easy one-timer. Just before Rick Nash's shorthanded game winner, Rachunek had the puck on the point with the crowd yelling "shoot". With Jagr wide wide open for a point blank one timer, Rachunek shot, the shot was blocked, Nash beat Jagr to it, then he beat Rachunek's feeble attempt at defense and hit the top corner on Henrik Lundqvist. Rachunek should have passed to Jagr. "Some guys see it, some guys don't," Jagr said when I asked him about it later.
Michael Nylander's overindulgence with puck handling also cost the Rangers. His puck control can be remarkable, but surely he knows that what he does along the boards he is being allowed to do by the opposition, who just love having the puck harmlessly on the perimeter. On the first shorthanded goal, he started the Columbus breakout by knocking the puck forward to a Blue Jacket. Lundqvist admitted to being caught by surprise by Jason Chimera's shot -- with Petr Prucha draped all over Chimera, he wasn't expecting a bullet to the top corner. But there's just no way a wisp of a player like Prucha is going to stop a 6'2, 210-pound checker like that.
Also hurting the Rangers tonight was yet another goal off their own sticks. No Blue Jacket player could've deflected Anders Eriksson's harmless floater from the point through Lundqvist better than Matt Cullen did. At that point, four of the last five goals scored against Lundqvist would not have gone in had it not gone in off a Ranger. The Rangers have not been able to that for their own benefit, but they routinely do it for the benefit of the opposition.
With twenty games left, the Rangers are far from out of the playoff hunt. But the way they've been playing? Fuggedaboutit! Not that it's going to slow the brain trust from making a desperate attempt at salvaging something -- after the last game, Tom Renney answered questions about personnel moves by saying he felt he could win with this team, but tonight he was singing a different tune about the need to replace Shanahan. Things could get uglier before they get better -- if they ever get better.
Game reports: Daily News, Journal News, Newsday, Times, Post, Columbus Dispatch, AP, SNY, and NY Sports Day. More from the reporters' blogs -- Blueshirts Blog and Rangers Report -- and USA Today. More on Shanahan from the News, Post, Newsday, Rangers Report, AP, SNY, and NY Sports Day. More on Jagr and the shootout as Daily News reporters duke it out -- John Dellapina pro-Jagr in his blog, Sherry Ross anti-Jagr in her Sunday column. The guys who do the Sunday column at the Times warn of more fighting if the instigator rule is changed while Larry Brooks in his Sunday column in the Post welcomes the potential increase in violence.
With no games between now and the trade deadline, the Rangers would appear (based on Renney's comments after last night's loss) to still be buyers, hoping to jump start a playoff drive that remains stuck in neutral and may even be going in reverse. Steve Zipay of Newsday expects a last minute flurry of trades, and he thought the benching of Aaron Ward might signal that he was about to be traded. Keith Tkacuk is off the table, as the free-falling Thrashers make a bid to keep themselves in the playoff race by acquiring him and Alexei Zhitnik. Check out Spector at FoxSports.com and Phil Coffey at NHL.com for a list of who might still be available.
The guy who makes the most sense is Columbus's 22 year old enigma, Nikolai Zherdev, who was scratched from last night's game for missing a mandatory workout. I spoke briefly to him in the press box -- he just shrugged and smiled sheepishly when I asked him if he thought he would be traded. When I asked him if he would welcome a trade to New York, he rolled his eyes and gestured to the blue seats behind him, where fans were loudly booing the Rangers at the second period buzzer.
How much of a loser image do the Rangers have? A list of the five best movies in each sport this Oscar weekend has "Mystery, Alaska" on it -- that's the one where Russell Crowe and a bunch of nobodies from a small town in Alaska beat the Rangers. Ross has some Oscar-related one-liners in her column, including some that ridicule the Rangers. But she's off base on her joke about the new Jim Carrey movie "The Number 23" -- this horror movie has already played out on Broadway all season, where the Rangers' #23 has been a horror show. And some blogger at Sports Illustrated thinks the Rangers should be fired as a whole.
Down on the farm, Al Montoya got into a goalie fight in Hartford's win last night. And Jess has a big night of prospect action for us:
While the Rangers were dropping further out of the playoff race, it was business as ususal for the prospects on Saturday night. We start our journey around the world of the prospects with the college ranks, where for many it was their last home game for their respective teams. Dylan Reese of Harvard has served this season as captain of the Crimson. In his final regular season game, he went out in style, scoring an unassisted power play goal to help lead Harvard to a 3-1 win over Cornell. Harvard will face Greg Beller and Yale in a best of three first round playoff matchup. Greg Beller played but did not score in the Bulldogs' 4-3 win over pesky RPI. Kenny Roche ended his regular season college home career with assists on both BU goals in a 3-2 loss to Vermont. Jordan Foote and MTU finished off a weekend sweep of Wisconsin with a 4-2 win. The Huskies are now 15-14-5 with two regular season games left. Billy Ryan is just a junior, so Maine has his services for another season. Ryan set up the game winner as Maine finished off their weekend sweep of Merrimack, 5-1. Darin Olver ended his home college career with an assist on NMU's first goal as the Wildcats defeated Miami, 4-1.
Switching to juniors, third star David Kveton set up the game winner with the first of his two assists and finished the game with his fourth goal of the season as Gatineau won in front of the largest QMJHL crowd (15,303) of the season. In the OHL, the playoff push is where we'll see which prospects rise to the big games. Marc Staal and Sudbury had to go to a shootout before defeating Mississauga, 5-4. Staal had an assist but missed his shootout chance. Trevor Koverko had a solid game defensively but Oshawa fell to Plymouth, 6-5. Bobby Sanguinetti helped Owen Sound clinch a playoff spot by scoring his 23rd goal and adding an assist in a 6-3 win over London. Tom Pyatt scored the game winner with his 33rd of the season to earn first star of the game as Saginaw beat Belleville, 3-2. Pyatt also added an assist while teammate Tomas Zaborsky was scoreless.
Our night would not be complete if we did not check on the WHL, where Ryan Russell led Kootenay into Moose Jaw. Russellâs two assists led the Ice to an easy 7-1 win. Michael Sauer and Medicine Hat had no problem with Red Deer, winning 4-1. We end our journey with Eric Hunter and Prince George, who finished a rough road trip with a 6-3 win over Kamloops in a fight filled game. Hunter had an assist along with a fight in the win.
Stars of the Night: Since it is Senior Night, we at Prospect Park are going to follow tradition and honor our college seniors. So tonight our stars are Darin Olver (NMU), Kenny Roche (BU), and Dylan Reese (Harvard). Blueshirt Bulletin salutes the hard work these seniors have put in over the last four years for their respective programs. Where their journey takes them next we do not know, but having covered them over the last couple of years, I thank them, their coaches, and their SIDs for helping us track their progress for Ranger fans looking to the future of a franchise still mired in mediocrity in the present.