Blueshirt Boggle

Prospect Tournament Roster

The Rangers' roster for the Traverse City Prospects Tournament has been published at Red Wings Central. The annual tournament, to be held in Traverse City, Michigan beginning September 7th, matches up the prospects of eight NHL teams. It's hard to read much into the Rangers' roster choices. Only two players over the age of 21 are included (Corey Potter and Miika Wiikman) while several viable prospects under the age of 21 aren't (Dane Byers, Bruce Graham, and Eric Hunter). Artem Anisimov will play after the conclusion of the Russia-Canada Under-20 Challenge Series, but Alexei Cherepanov will not (other unsigned draftees will play). David Kveton, who has opted to return to the Czech Republic to play this season, is on the roster, but Lukas Zeliska, who has done the same, is not. Brandon Dubinsky is on the team despite having already cracked the NHL for a few games, but Nigel Dawes and Ryan Callahan aren't. Wiikman is one of the team's two goalies along with recent draftee Antoine Lafleur, but recently signed netminder Matt Zaba isn't. Recently acquired Joe Barnes will play. No college-eligible prospects will.

There are three non-roster invitees who will be trying out for contracts within the Rangers' organization: winger Ryan Baldwin, 18, of the Windsor Spitfires, defensemen Lukas Bohunicky, 19, of the Kootenay Ice, and defenseman Clayton Barthel, 21, of the Kelowna Rockets. Baldwin and Bohunicky were undrafted, while Barthel was drafted by Washington in the third round (#88 overall) in 2004 but was not signed. Bohunicky (6'3, 218) led the Ice in +/- with +28 last season. We couldn't find much information on him, but here is a good picture of him playing in his native Slovakia. Barthel (6'3, 200), who was born in Germany but raised in Kelowna, has already played four pro games in the ECHL. For more on him, see this note in a Kelowna blog about his participation and Hockey's Future's page on him. Baldwin is a 5'11, 206-pound Windsor native who truly looks like a spitfire -- he doesn't score much, but he racks up penalty minutes and is a fierce fighter. His page at the Spitfire web site has a photo and some personal material. An article in the Windsor Star has more about his try-out with the Rangers. Here is one of his fights:

Why pay so much attention to non-roster invitees to some obscure prospect tournament? Dan Girardi came to the Rangers that way (although the Rangers did not participate in Traverse City that year). Ryan Constant was a try-out in last year's tournament and remains within the organization on an AHL contract. Other free agent signees participating this year are Jordan Owens and Michael Busto.

Peca Passed Over For Prospects [Updated 11 AM]

It's over at last. The Rangers have decided not to make Michael Peca a free agent contract offer. There appears to be three reasons for the Rangers' decision. The stated one is that want to let their young prospects fight it out for the opening at center at the NHL level rather than go with a 33-year-old who has been plagued by a variety of injuries the past few seasons. Steve Zipay at Blue Notes quotes "a Rangers spokesman" as saying that GM Glen Sather and coach Tom Renney felt it was best "to give our young guys a chance." An unstated but obvious reason for the decision was the salary cap. The Rangers had already traded away their perfectly serviceable third line center, Matt Cullen, to create some wiggle room for in-season moves. Peca would have come with the ability to defer part of those cap savings into the subsequent season's calculation, but it still would have used up roughly half of what they had left under the salary cap.

But the biggest reason for the move, which is purely speculative on our part, was Peca's reaction to the delay in concluding a Ranger contract, which he believed he had already negotiated. "We had a deal in place with the Rangers for almost three weeks now," Peca told the Columbus Dispatch after he agreed to a contract with the Blue Jackets. "They said they needed a few more days to sort through some things, but we said that just wasn't possible. They had enough time. The deal was pretty close to being done. It was done, really. The coaching staff was on board with it. But, to be honest, it just didn't seem like the commitment has been there from the general manager to get it done. So we moved on."

Some might believe that Sather was asleep at the wheel, going on vacation rather than locking up Peca. But we believe that Sather purposely let the matter simmer to see how truly committed Peca was to the Rangers' cause vs. just making sure he had a contract. After complaining to the press, publicly trying to leverage interest from the lowly Blue Jackets, and finally setting an ultimatum, Sather had his answer -- the Rangers would be better served in what they hope will be a Stanley Cup run by letting hungry young players duke it out and inject energy into the team than in bringing aboard another veteran coasting into retirement. Those days, it is now clear, are indeed over.

There is of course still time before the start of training camp for the Rangers to address their needs at center and on defense, and any hole that stands between post-season qualification and a run for the Cup can be filled cheaply at the trade deadline. But the Rangers, by all appearances, will address those needs with care, with an eye toward both this season's aspirations and the long-term well being of the club. For more, see Blueshirts Blog and Blue Notes for more, as well as brief notes in today's Daily News and Post.

Peca Saga Heads Toward Climax [Updated 6:30 PM]

UPDATE: Michael Peca's agent was just on AM640 radio in Toronto and suggested that Peca has two offers in hand and will decide by the end of the day today which one he will take. No word on which two teams they may be, except that Toronto is not one of them. Is the end finally nigh? [See Pucks on Broadway for a partial transcription of the radio comments.]

The Michael Peca saga will hopefully end today, one way or the other. I suppose we should thank Peca and his agent for giving us something to talk about in an otherwise newsless month. On the other hand, the protracted affair is getting a bit annoying, especially if we're spinning our wheels over what will ultimately turn out to be a non-story, at least from the Rangers' point of view. The latest news is that Peca's agent has set today as the latest deadline for the Rangers to inform him of their intentions with Peca -- which doesn't mean the Rangers, if they are still interested, will sign him today, they may just let Peca know they're still interested.

Or not. It has been reported that Ranger GM Glen Sather is still deciding between signing Peca to fill the hole at third line center or letting his promising young prospects fight it out for that spot. By delaying, Sather may be letting Peca tip the scales himself by exposing his character, in which case Peca may have just ultimatumed himself out of New York. Then again, if Sather decides he needs Peca, this may be the jump-start he needs to finally make up his mind. We may find out today, or we may not -- that has been the way this Peca thing has been going, and that's why it's been so annoying. See reports today in the Daily News, Newsday, and Post.

In other news, NYR.com and Blue Notes have reports on the Rangers' signing of Colorado College goalie Matt Zaba, headed to the minors this year. Jess Rubenstein reports that "2007 second round pick Antoine Lafleur made his pre-season debut, making 24 saves in PEI's 9-0 whitewash of Saint Johns." And PEI native Spector has an article at FoxSports.com about the plethora of NHL players going back to Europe to play this year, a number of them ex-Rangers. While this reverse migration has yet to touch the Rangers at the NHL level, it has hit them at the prospect level. Recent draftees Lukas Zeliska and David Kveton are planning to play in the Czech Extraliga after their CHL teams decided to use their two-man limit on import players on other Europeans, although Kveton still has no team to play for pending Vsetin's ongoing legal action against the league. And Zdenek Bahensky, who bounced between Hartford and Charlotte last season on an AHL contract, has signed to play with his former Czech team too.

Catching Up With Jagr and Straka

Jaromir Jagr spoke to the press after he won his third straight Golden Stick award Saturday night, his eighth overall, beating out Dominik Hasek by a wide margin. Although the Czech media were interested in his overall career and in his position atop the pantheon of Czech players, they did ask him about the Rangers’ upcoming season, so let’s go there first. "I think we signed players we needed." he said. "The team remained the same -- only Nylander and Cullen are gone. They were replaced mainly with younger players as good or maybe even better."

Good enough to win the Stanley Cup? "It’s hard to say, you never know in the NHL," he said. "To win the Stanley Cup is not an easy task. The days when you could have 'bought' one are long gone now. With the salary cap, every team operates under the same conditions. If you’re bad one year, it doesn’t mean you can’t win it all next year. There are thirty teams fighting for the same trophy and everyone has the same chance. Sometimes it’s just a coincidence. One mistake decides the entire playoff. For instance, Game 6 against the Sabres, we got scored on with seven seconds to go. You can say today that that was the key moment of the series. Hopefully we’re on the right track [now]." He listed what he thinks are the keys to winning: "Luck, the actual shape and health of your key players, and smart management. When you sign an expensive player long-term and it’s not working out well, the team is in trouble for the length of that contract. Now more than ever, the coaches’ work is important -- the ability to build a roster that would also make for a good team."

The two finalists came on stage together before the winner was named. Jagr took shots on a goalie figurine that Hasek operated. "I usually shoot five hole and he has a small hole there," said Jagr. He missed his first shot and scored on his second. Before he took the third one, he said, "I’ll try to hit Dominik in the head." He did -- the figurine, that is. But goal-wise, it was a miss, so Hasek won the shootout. Jagr, though, won the Golden Stick. "I don’t think I had an outstanding season," Jagr said. "On the other hand, I don’t think any other Czech player did. It was wide open, but I knew I had a chance. I managed to score my 600th goal, I passed Jari Kurri as the top European scorer in the NHL. The playoff push was something else too. We needed to win seventeen out of the last twenty games, and we did it. And then we were so pumped up that we played very well in the playoffs."

"I lived through three stages," Jagr said about his hockey career. "When I was young I wanted to break through. Nothing else interested me. Then came an era in which I became a little lazy and thought I knew how to play hockey. And that wasn’t true at all. I was doing stupid things. [Now] I’m older, I’m 'rampaged out', and I realize there’s not much time left. And because I love the game of hockey, I try to do the maximum to remain at the top level. But I realize it’s getting harder and harder. I’m thinking today, 'If you had worked 100% back then, you could have been even better.'" Jagr realizes that his days in the NHL are nearing their end. Talking about Hasek’s age (42), he said, "Age doesn’t play as much of a role in net. If you have the talent, you don’t lose it. Maybe you get even better. There are players like Chelios who play at the age of 45. I just don’t think I will play in the NHL at that age. I can see a year, two, three maximum."

Martin Straka attended the ceremony despite a minor knee operation that has disrupted his preparations for the upcoming season. Last Thursday, surgeon Petr Nepras, the only orthopedist in the Czech Republic licensed to operate on NHL players, performed an arthroscopic procedure to repair torn meniscus in Straka’s knee. He expects to be fully recovered within three weeks. This is the same procedure that Michal Rozsival underwent after training camp a year ago, and he was ready for the season opener.

"It happened to me two weeks ago when I was jumping during practice," Straka said of the injury. "I felt a twinge in the knee. But it didn’t bother me much -- just during skating, and only on particular moves. They took a look at it and they knew it was the ligaments or the meniscus, but that it was nothing serious. We called the USA then, and because it is a twenty minute procedure, we decided to have it done here. They took away a piece of the meniscus, cleaned up the knee, and it should be alright soon. I continue to keep the club informed about the entire rehab process.

"I’ll know if it’s okay once I step on the ice again," he went on, explaining that he didn’t have to change his workout schedule all that much. "I just can’t practice on the ice," he said. "Other than that, I ride the bike and [do] all the other things as well." Asked about attending the Golden Stick ceremony on his recently repaired knee, Straka quipped, "Hopefully I won’t have to go on the stage -- they should bring the tenth place award to me." Of course, he now knows that he finished third behind Jagr and Hasek after an outstanding season with the Rangers that may have won him the award had it not been slowed down in its latter stages by an arm or shoulder injury.

Also from the Czech Republic, news that Ranger draftee David Kveton does not, as he had hoped, have an Extraliga team to play with -- his team, Vsetin, lost its arbitration case to remain licensed to play in the top Czech league, with financial difficulties leading to the unprecedented expulsion of the one-time dyansty. Kveton’s choices now are to play with Vsetin at a lower competitive level, or try to hook up with another Extraliga team. Thanks as always to DaTeL for his translations of these articles from Czech -- Jagr’s interview is here, the story of Straka’s knee surgery here, and an article on Vsetin's woes in English can be found here.

NHL.com finally got around to the Rangers in its series on each NHL team’s prospect pipeline. The article has some good commentary by the Rangers’ head scout (now Director of Player Personnel) Gord Clark. "My job is to prepare the Rangers for the post-Jaromir Jagr era, to take care of the future of the New York Rangers," Clark said in introducing his comments on ten of the Rangers' top prospects, all of them already under contract with the Rangers at the pro level (i.e. Alexei Cherepanov is not yet in the mix). Here are some other nuggets:

"The challenge for Montoya is to come in and win the backup job, but is that the best thing for him? Should he sit and back up in the NHL or continue to face shots and work on his game for another year in the AHL? That hasn't been decided yet." On the defense of the future: "In Marc Staal and Michael Sauer, we have big, defensive defensemen coming along in our system. The next thing to take care of was puck movement and Sanguinetti does that." On the chances of rookies making the team: "I would say that Staal, Bourret and Dawes have the best chances to challenge for spots on our roster at training camp. Nigel is not a big kid, but he's a goal scorer and he's got a chance to play on our second line. Nigel has a good chance to be a scorer on one of our lines." On Dubinsky: "It's likely he'll go back to Hartford because we like to see a player dominate for a year at the AHL level because it's such a big jump to the NHL."

Jess Rubenstein reports on the Rangers' CHL prospects returning to the ice: It seems like just yesterday since Prospect Park was reporting on the 2007 Memorial Cup. But guess what, folks? Hockey is back in action, and once again Blueshirt Bulletin has game reports. We start with our new friends at the Rimouski Oceanic (say hello to Isabelle Breton of the Oceanic), where 2007 seventh round selection David Skokan plays. The Oceanic have been playing exhibition games since last Wednesday. Skokan, wearing an 'A' as alternate captain, played in one of their three games, with two assists, one shorthanded, the other on the power play. 2007 second round pick Antoine Lafleur's PEI Rocket opened their exhibition season Sunday night with the first of three exhibition games. Lafleur is expected to play in one of the upcoming games after sitting out the opener. 2006 third round pick Ryan Hillier and his Halifax Mooseheads opened their training camp on Saturday. The Mooseheads and Rocket will meet on Thursday, with Hillier being counted on as one of Halifax's players.

Jagr Golden, Straka Hobbled, Zaba Inked

Jaromir Jagr won his third straight Golden Stick award as Czech hockey player of the year, his eighth overall, all within the past thirteen years. He beat out Dominik Hasek, who has won the award five times in the past. Martin Straka came in third -- he was in attendance despite reports that arthroscopic knee surgery would force him to miss last night's award ceremony. Hockey Rodent has an excellent description of Straka's surgery, demonstrating that it was a minor procedure to repair torn meniscus (cartilage). He also has photographs from the Golden Stick ceremony. We hope to have a full report on all this tomorrow.

In other news, the Rangers have added to their goaltending depth by signing Colorado College graduate Matt Zaba [pictured left]. The Colorado Springs Gazette reports that Zaba "will be competing for a spot for either the Hartford Wolf Pack or the Charlotte Checkers." (Thanks to reader emscam for alerting us to this development.) Having just let three of their own college draftees become free agents by not signing them by the August 15th deadline, the Rangers picked up Zaba after the L.A. Kings allowed him to become a free agent in the same way. Zaba was originally drafted in the eighth round (231st overall) in 2003 by the Kings. To learn more about Zaba, look here, here, and here.

Fast Forward to the Future

UPDATE: Martin Straka has undergone knee surgery, according to various Czech news sources (here is one example where even non-Czech speakers can understand the headline). He should be ready to go by the start of training camp, or shortly thereafter, but he will be unable to attend this weekend's Golden Stick ceremony, where he is one of ten finalists for the award as the top Czech hockey player of the year. Jaromir Jagr is one of the favorites to win. We will have full translations tomorrow or Monday.

In his first four drafts as Ranger GM, only seven of Glen Sather's 30 picks were from the CHL, the top Canadian junior leagues. Only eight of those 30 picks became NHL regulars -- five from Europe, two from the CHL. In his last four drafts, starting with the one immediately after the 2004 purge, 18 of 35 picks, more than half, came out of the CHL. Not coincidentally, more NHL players are expected to emerge from the latter drafts than emerged from the first four -- half of the 18 CHL draftees remain strong candidates to make the NHL as regulars. Having produced only one NHL player out of 23 selections from college and other North American leagues (high school, USHL, BCHL, etc.) -- with one more surely on the way (Al Montoya) -- the Rangers have pretty much stopped drafting from those sources.

Having already taken a look at the Rangers' defense of the future (all CHL products), as well as two highly anticipated forwards coming out of Russia (Alexei Cherepanov and Artem Anisimov, whom you can read about in Hockey's Future's preview of the Russian challenge series team), here is an eclectic video tribute to five prospects drafted out of the CHL whom fans are looking forward to seeing in Broadway Blueshirts down the road -- eclectic because videos of these guys are scarce, so working with what we have, here is an unusual mix. We start with the prospect closest to making the NHL, Brandon Dubinsky, who shows in this off-ice video why he will not only be a good player on the ice, but a popular one off of it too (sorry for making you crane your necks to watch the sideways clip):

Tommy Pyatt brings good bloodlines to the table, his father having played nearly 300 NHL games in the 1970s and his brother Taylor currently playing in Vancouver. He is expected to make the NHL as a defensive center, but during his junior career he has shown a knack for scoring big goals, which prompted Jess Rubenstein to nickname him "Prime Time". Here is a clip of Pyatt scoring a game winning shootout goal for his junior team:

Brodie Dupont's nickname is "Moose", named after rugged defenseman Andre "Moose" Dupont, who became famous as one of the Broad Street Bullies in the 1970s even though he was drafted and brought to the NHL by the Rangers. But it is another "Moose" whom Dupont hopes to emulate -- Mark Messier. No one expects Dupont to become one of the best players ever like Messier, but he brings similar qualities to the table -- a power forward with leadership skills. Here is a video tribute to Dupont that is actually a montage of still pictures:

Dane Byers brings unique bloodlines to his NHL pedigree -- the tough winger is a cousin of Lyndon Byers, "LB", the colorful Bruin agitator and fighter who is now a radio personality in Boston. Here is a clip of Byers throwing a big hit and then defending himself in a fight when an opponent takes exception:

Alex Bourret wasn't drafted by the Rangers, but he would have been had Marc Staal not dropped into their laps. The Rangers got Bourret anyway when they hoodwinked Atlanta into giving him up for the disposable Pascal Dupuis. If you think the life of an NHL player is a cushy one where he gets to have fun playing the greatest game in the world, have a look at how Bourret has been spending his summer vacation as he gets himself ready to meet the rigors of the highest levels of hockey:

Quick Update

Glen Sather is still deciding whether to go with Michael Peca this year -- see updates in Blueshirts Blog and the Post. For more on Anders Hedberg joining the Rangers' scouting staff, see NYR.com -- amateur scouts Christer Rockstrom, Vladimir Lutchenko, and Jan Gajdosik will continue to look at undrafted European amateurs while Hedberg will scout European pro players as potential free agent acquisitions. Three collegians drafted by the Rangers have not been signed by the August 15th deadline and are therefore free agents, no longer Ranger property -- Darin Olver (2004 second round, #36 overall), Dylan Reese (2003 seventh round, #209 overall), and Kenny Roche (2003 third round, #75 overall). All are apparently victims of the 50-man roster limit -- the Rangers have 47 contracts now, may be holding one open for Peca, and want to keep one or two open for in-season multi-player moves.

Jags Weighs In on Peca; Beezer Breezes Into U.S. Hall

UPDATE: Anders Hedberg, the former Ranger star winger, has been added to the Rangers' scouting staff as "Head Professional European Scout" -- he will be responsible for assessing free agent talent playing in Europe.

The Michael Peca watch continues. His agent was still waiting to hear from the Rangers last night, according to John Dellapina's Blueshirt Blog. "Meanwhile," writes Mark Everson in the Post, "the Rangers were still expected to sign Peca, with the negotiations delay characterized as logistic rather than loggerheads." Jaromir Jagr weighed in from across the Atlantic on the possibility of signing Peca. "We should rather focus on defensemen," he told Novinky. "But it's hard to say -- it's always a matter of how much and a matter of circumstances. It's important not to get over the cap." Jagr has been keeping an eye on developments all summer. "Of course I'm watching it," he explained. "I knew which players we wanted to bring in. We had to step in while there were free agents on the market. We didn't want to get in a position where we'd have no centermen. And the offers looked accordingly, they were high and long term, but that's just occupational hazard."

Jagr continues to look forward to the upcoming season. "I have to knock wood that I'm healthy," he said. "It's difficult enough to compete with the best of them when you're healthy, let alone when you're injured. But so far everything's alright. The ease and comfort is always there, as long as you're playing well, and as long as the team gives a full effort. The important thing is for us to thrive on the ice." Jagr spoke during a trip in which he donated 50,000 crowns to a children's hospital, visited a tennis court, and played golf. "It's probably a good thing that I'm not very good at it," quipped Jagr, who'd rather take potshots at golf than golf shots. "I can't imagine tiring myself on the green and then going for practice. It's a huge time consumer, too. And there'll be enough time for that once I hang them up." [Thanks again to DaTeL for the translation from Czech.]

John Vanbiesbrouck was one of three Americans who played in the New York area to be named to the US Hockey Hall of Fame (see USA Hockey, NYR.com, and NHL.com). Beezer came up with the Rangers, carried the team to the conference final and won the Vezina Trophy in 1986, backstopped the Florida Panthers to the Cup final a decade later, and ultimately played for all three area teams (as well as the Flyers). Joining him is Bobby Carpenter, who played 28 games as a Ranger in between stints as a scoring star in Washington and a defensive specialist in New Jersey. His brief tenure in New York was marked by his being part of two horrendous Phil Esposito trades, first when he was brought in for Mike Ridley and Kelly Miller, and then when he was shipped out for retirement-bound Marcel Dionne. Aaron Broten of the Devils was the third area inductee.

In other news, Mike Richter, the Stanley Cup winning goalie who was the reason Vanbiesbrouck didn't remain a Ranger, continues to prepare for his marathon run. And SI.com rates the summer activity in the Atlantic Division, giving the Rangers an A- while being overly generous to the sputtering Devils and Islanders. The Isles signed Josef Vasicek, whom some Ranger fans had their eye on -- being Czech, the Rangers' brain trust no doubt sought input on Vasicek from his countrymen, like Jagr, but they were no doubt scared off by the 26-year-old center's injury-riddled descent since his career season during Carolina's Cup run, reflected in his bargain basement price of $750,000. For more on Peca, see the New York Sun.

Waiting For the Final Call

Michael Peca has gone home after completing his physical examination (as first reported by Blueshirt Bulletin reader Brian in our Comments section) and talking with Ranger management, according to John Dellapina of the Daily News and Blueshirts Blog. He must now wait for Glen Sather to decide whether to tender him a contract offer for this season. The Post also has an update on his situation, as does (in case you missed it yesterday) Newsday. Mitch Beck believes, as he writes in his guest column at Hockey Rodent, that the Rangers will take a stab at Peca because they really have only this coming season to make a run for the Cup -- given their salary cap position for this season and next, Mitch says, they will make a run with the vets this year and turn to the young players they have been developing the following year.

In other news, Darius Kasparaitis and Artem Anisimov are working out in Switzerland, preparing for the coming season with one of the Swiss League teams. Sidearm Delivery has all the links, including a video of Kasparaitis on the ice. In the Czech Republic, Team Jagr lost an exhibition game in a shootout after Jaromir Jagr came off the bench in the last minute in place of the goalie to score the tying goal. He added two assists in the game, in which Petr Prucha and David Kveton also played, along with other NHL players on both sides. "We played for the people in the first place," said Jagr, according to DaTeL's translation of a hokej.cz report. "There were plenty of them, which is good, and I hope they liked it. But then of course, we didn't want to lose. The home side had a strong team, talented guys who play in the NHL. We had to fuel up at the end so we didn't lose. You think you have enough time but suddenly, it's almost over. The home team fought well -- nowadays everyone knows how to play hockey and if you give them a little space, they score on you."

Still a Possibility to Pick Up Peca [Updated]

We should find out today whether the Rangers are truly interested in signing Michael Peca to fill the role of third line center vacated by Matt Cullen when he was traded back to Carolina last month. Stories persist that Peca is talking to the Rangers -- Spector at FoxSports.com picks up on John Dellapina's Daily News story from last week which was the first to discuss the Rangers' renewed interest in the former Islander and Sabre, the Post reports that talks with Peca will resume this week, and a Blueshirt Bulletin reader claims to have spoken to Peca yesterday on his way into New York for a physical examination by the Rangers. By all accounts, both sides had cooled down over the possibility of Peca coming to New York after last Friday's D-Day, as Dellapina described it. But that might have just been part of the negotiating process.

Ten days ago, a certain rumormonger who shall not be named (not because we fear him, but because he does not deserve it, and won't even name himself) said that Alex Auld was coming to the Rangers and Al Montoya was headed to Phoenix (no links -- he doesn't deserve that either). Well, now Auld is in Phoenix (report here) and Montoya is still in the Ranger organization. Who woulda thunk it? His predictions about Peca to the Rangers are meaningless either way (even as a reverse barometer) since he was just parroting the Daily News report last weekend. We don't mean to lump Hockey Rodent in with this loser -- Rodent is on the other end of the spectrum, always posting intelligently and not relying on fictitious sources -- but he weighs in today with his analysis of Peca as a Ranger (we're just trying to balance the paragraph sizing).

UPDATE: John Dellapina updates us on what he knows about the Peca situation at his Blueshirts Blog -- Glen Sather and Tom Renney are deciding between Peca and a pair of rookies -- Brandon Dubinsky and Artem Anisimov -- to fill the middle on the third line during a potential Cup run. Over at Newsday, Steve Zipay confirms the information posted by one of our readers that Peca is in town for a physical exam.