Blueshirt Boggle

Varsity Blues

UPDATE: Reader Marc Thiessen tells us there is a way to watch tonight's game on TV -- see Islanders TV at their web site. They may even be showing the game right there. And Jess Rubenstein writes about Bobby Sanguinetti at Prospect Park, and has a round of up other prospect action.

FURTHER UPDATE: Laurie Carr says, go directly to http://www.nhl.tv/team/. You have to register, but it's free and they don't ask for credit card info.

Get used to it, Ranger fans. Teams will be gunning for the Rangers this season. Two years ago, the Rangers measured their progress against the better teams in the league. This year, other teams will be measuring themselves against the Rangers. We've already seen it in pre-season. While the Rangers have (and will continue, tonight and tomorrow) to use their exhibition games to evaluate their roster, opponents are icing their varsity squads, for the most part. That's what the Devils and Flyers did, and what the Red Wings have already said they will do tomorrow night -- as the Detroit News reports, "Expect the Wings to have their strongest lineup of the exhibition season against the Rangers, as close to a regular-season lineup as they can put out, before using many younger players during the weekend."

With only 29 players left on their pre-season roster, the Islanders will not prove to be an exception (see their remaining roster here). The Rangers, meanwhile, will continue their own evaluation process, as Sam Weinman reports at Rangers Report -- they will ice two lines of veterans (second and fourth lines) and two lines of prospects, and give Al Montoya the whole game to show his stuff, with Steve Valiquette out with a cut on his hand. But only one prospect, Marc Staal, will play on defense. Also dressing will be three others -- Hutchinson, Pock, and Strudwick -- competing with Staal for the last two or three spots on the blue line. Jagr, Gomez, and Lundqvist, but not the slightly injured Sean Avery, according to Blue Notes. Sam also speculates that Darius Kasparaitis will soon be sent to Hartford. See also the game preview at NYR.com, and ESPN's Ranger preview, written by E.J. Hradek, who is based out of New York and therefore sees a lot of the Rangers.

Three Cut After Embarrassing Outing

It didn't take long for the shoes to drop after tonight's 5-0 embarrassmant to the Flyers at the Garden -- embarrassment despite it being a pre-season game, embarrassment because it came immediately upon the heels of such an encouraging performance one night earlier vs. the Devils. And so Ivan Baranka, who will not need any more ice time to prove that he is far from NHL-ready, and Dave Liffiton, who despite being a physical defenseman was hammered repeatedly by the Flyers, are headed to Hartford even as we speak.

And the Hugh Jessiman Experience is also being dispatched back to the bush leagues, even though Hugh played well last night and showed more good boardwork tonight. But with the rest of the team falling apart around him, Hugh's weakness on his skates was glaring. And those ballyhooed boxing lessons? They were in a ring, not a rink -- talk about embarrassing, Hugh went after Steve Downey and looked like a rag doll before being taken out with one shot to the kisser. But if tonight's game was to be the sole judge, Michal Rozsival and Jaromir Jagr would be headed to Hartford too -- Rozsival was the worst player on the ice (or maybe second to Baranka), and Jagr looked like he had plans to be elsewhere.

As hard as it was to single out the top performers in the pre-season opener because there were so many good ones, it is even harder to single out anyone immune from criticism tonight. Maybe Chris Drury and Petr Prucha did enough good things to make up for their goals against, or maybe nothing they could do short of making up for those goals against with goals of their own could be good enough. Still, they weren't as bad as Jagr and Gomez, who did nothing, and that despite controlling the puck for long stretches of power play time. Nigel Dawes, with a no-show performance on the top line, fell to the bottom of the list of NHL hopefuls who outshone him the night before.

On the blue line, one night after three young defenders outplayed three veterans by a country mile, three young defenders in this game were every bit as awful as the three veterans. Baranka matched Rozsival mistake for mistake, even though they were not as obvious, coming more from an inability to defend against Philly's near-varsity line-up than Rozsival's flat out gaffes. Thomas Pock did no better than spin his wheels, just like Fedor Tyutin. And Liffiton may not have been as bad as Paul Mara was early on, but Mara came on later while Liffiton continued to be a non-factor. Henrik Lundqvist's five goals against may be easily attributable to the awful defense in front of him (when they were in front of him, which was rarely), but after some good saves early, he couldn't stop a thing.

About the only positives one can come up with: I guess you could say Dane Byers played a decent game, playing his second straight -- at least he looked like he cared. And Colton Orr did his job in winning an early fight decisively, although he is incapable of doing anything else. And I guess you can applaud Lauri Korpikoski for a good second half to the game after a horrible first half. But most of all, the only good thing about this game is that is a pre-season game that is easily forgotten -- that must be forgotten as the team presses on with its preparation for the games that count.

Game reports can be found in the Daily News, Newsday, Post, and NYR.com. Philly area report here. Rangers Report has some good stuff from yesterday. From Hartford, the Courant has a piece on Jake Taylor. At NHL.com, there is one feature on Scott Gomez, another piece on John Vanbiesbrouck. At Prospect Park, Jess has a round-up of last night's action and a look at Antoine Lafleur's post-draft blues (thus far in the season).

Post-Game Press Clips

All was bright and rosy in Rangerland last night, with Brandon Dubinsky moving to the head of the class in today's local area news reports on last night's pre-season opener (see the Daily News, Newsday, and NYR.com). But on the Jersey side, there was indignation about Sean Avery's hit that knocked out Kevin Weekes. "I couldn't stop really, so I think I would have hit Weeksie anyway," Johnny Oduya admitted to the Record about the play that would have turned out to be harmless had Oduya been skating under control while cutting Avery off before he got to Weekes while driving to the net for a rebound. New Devil coach Brent Sutter, who excused his son's uber-dirty hit on Alexei Cherepanov in the Super Series as being unintentional, told the Star-Ledger, "I never saw the actual contact, but I saw a punch after to the defenseman's head." Apparently, he also didn't see Oduya's stick into Avery's groin before the return punch.

The Post reports that Alex Bourret was re-assigned to Hartford earlier than expected because he came to camp in the wrong kind of shape, having bulked up too much over the summer. Writes Larry Brooks: "He was gone with the first wave of cuts after not making it into the Blue-White intrasquad match, perhaps because of a bruised shoulder, perhaps not." Brooks has earned the right to take shots at Blueshirt Bulletin after the shot we took at thim over the summer, especially since he had that one right. And what he reports about Bourret comes directly from Tom Renney. On the other hand, Bourret himself told me about his shoulder, and he told Bruce Berlet of the Courant that he injured it while working out with weights over the summer. Since teams have been known to hide injuries now and again, perhaps what Renney was actually talking about was Bourret self-injuring his shoulder during his weight training.

Additional reading: NY Sports Day on Steve Valiquette, the Journal News on the new jerseys, USA Today with Ranger game notes, SNY with a Ranger preview, the Philadelphia-area Courier Post on the first meeting between former Sabre co-captains Daniel Briere and Chris Drury, Stan Fischler on Marc Staal and other topics at MSG.com, and the Courant on Mitch Fritz. And over at Prospect Park, Jess explains what the story is with his blog, what Ranger prospects did elsewhere last night, and adds part two of his look at how to rank prospects fairly.

Some Serious Kidding Around

Some hungry young Rangers fired their opening salvo in their bids for NHL jobs tonight in the Rangers' pre-season opener, a 4-3 Garden win over the Devils. And they began the process of making it extremely difficult for coach Tom Renney to make the final roster decisions as the Rangers head into a year of great expectations. Brandon Dubinsky was first star of the game with a pair of sweet set-up passes, and was energetic and effective throughout. Ryan Callahan, making sure no one questions the place he earned with the team late last season, was second star, converting one of Dubinsky's passes and also playing an energetic and effective game. Sean Avery was in mid-season form -- agitating, yapping, running the goalie, and still playing well -- in earning the third star.

The truth is, there weren't enough stars to go around in this game. Blair Betts, wearing the third "A", was beyond mid-season form, doing everything he always does -- blocking shots, winning draws, killing penalties -- plus scoring a goal that he created with his forechecking. Marc Staal leapfrogged back ahead of Mike Sauer with a commanding performance in both ends of the ice, and that despite the fact that Sauer himself was pretty darn good too, despite his role in the Devils' third goal. Hugh Jessiman showed Ranger fans why he had created a buzz in training camp, playing a grinding physical game that was highlighted by drawing an early penalty by driving to the net and then deflecting a point shot for Dane Byers to slam home (Jessiman was not credited with a deserved assist). Byers himself was good. And Artem Anisimov proved to be stronger than his skinny frame suggests, and was good with the puck too.

Indeed, the young guys were so good that the veterans dressed for this game paled by comparison for the most part. On defense, Darius Kasparaitis demonstrated that salary cap considerations were not the only, or even main, reason that he will start the season in Hartford. His partner, Andrew Hutchinson, demonstrated that salary cap considerations were his best chance to start the season in New York, because his spotty performance was not going to earn him a spot otherwise. Mark Smith, a veteran fourth liner trying out for a contract, didn't look bad, but he did look like a guy who it would be a crime to keep ahead of one of the prospects who look so ready for prime time.

Brendan Shanahan did not look good either, which has been the case throughout camp. The conventional wisdom had been that he did not want to jeopardize his easily achievable performance bonus -- $2 million for ten games played -- with a Pavel Bure-like career-ending pre-season injury. But considering what he told us at the end of last season -- that he comes to every training camp to prove that he still belongs in the NHL, and that any tie should go to a younger guy -- we expect to see more from him at this point. What is most telling is that he looks frustrated with himself, looks like he does not want anyone making any excuses for him.

In net, Al Montoya started and tended goal well, but his stickhandling skills show why he needs more time to develop -- he obviously likes to handle the puck, but is seriously error-prone. That too has been evident during camp scrimmages. Steve Valiquette was making a good case for why he would be a sufficient back-up keeper until he gave up a bad one that got the Devils back into the game late in the contest. Forget about recently waived former Ranger Dan Cloutier as an option -- his salary could not be handled by the Rangers under the cap even if they did want to pay someone that much to play ten games or fewer this season.

The usual caveat of pre-season games does not apply to tonight's game -- the Devils had almost all of their expected starting line-up on the ice for this game, with only a handful of likely starters (and most of them not front line players) sitting out tonight for reasons other than injury. The major execption to that rule, of course, was Martin Brodeur, who did not dress. His back-up Kevin Weekes, tonight's starter, was knocked out of the game with an apparent concussion in the opening minutes after giving up an early goal. Avery, driving to the net, was cut off by Johnny Oduya at the top of the crease. Avery shoved Oduya, who lifted his elbow into Weekes to protect himself (way to go, Johnny!) and drove him into the goal post. Avery got a penalty that Oduya really deserved -- had he not skated into Avery's path, Avery would have stopped short of Weekes with no harm done.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the ledger, the Rangers played without their leading scorer, their top two centers, their top four defensemen, their franchise goalie, and two other regulars. So it was extremely encouraging to see so many guys battling for jobs outplay a team that iced 75% of its expected NHL roster. Also encouraging for the Rangers was the edge they played with -- they were tough, they were physical, and they were the nastier of the two sides. The Devils, having had much by way of fisticuffs in their prior pre-season outings, were fairly well deterred in this one. Let's see how that works Saturday night vs. the Flyers as the Rangers try out at least three more young guys (and some of those we saw tonight possibly getting another look), but this time surrounded by all of the front line players who sat out tonight's game.

Rangers Finally Take to the Garden Ice Tonight

The Rangers completed their training camp on Thursday with team-building exercises in West Point that included a mock hijacking of their bus, moving large objects, and a paintball war (see Newsday and Blueshirts Blog). They open their pre-season tonight at the Garden, the last NHL team to do so. They will give fans a first look at their new jerseys (appropriately enough against New Jersey), and give centers Artem Anisimov and Brandon Dubinsky a major audition as their top two centers as they try to land a job in the NHL (see game preview at NYR.com and season preview at the Sports Network). Jaromir Jagr and Scott Gomez (the subject of an article in the Times today), along with Chris Drury, will play tomorrow night against the Flyers.

In Hartford, the Wolf Pack opened training camp yesterday. Their current roster includes 13 players reassigned from Ranger training camp (Joe Barnes, Clayton Barthel, Alex Bourret, Brodie Dupont, Mitch Fritz, Bruce Graham, Chris Holt, Greg Moore, Jordan Owens, Corey Potter, Tommy Pyatt, Jake Taylor, Matt Zaba), five other players who played in Hartford and/or Charlotte last season (Michael Busto, Ryan Constant, Rick Kozak, Mark Lee, Mike Ouellette), Ranger draftee Eric Hunter, and fourteen other players trying out for a roster spot (see the complete list at the WP web site). However, with the Rangers still having to cut 14 players from their roster before the start of the season, most of the players currently training with head coach Ken Gernander and his staff will end up in Charlotte or elsewhere rather than in Hartford. Bruce Berlet has a report from the first day of camp in the Courant, which includes the news that Bourret originally injured his shoulder lifting weights over the summer (which we showed you on video a few weeks ago). But Bourret scrimmaged yesterday and was involved in some feistiness, according to Bruce.

In the past, we've brought you daily prospect updates throughout the season here at Blueshirt Bulletin. This season, we're pleased to introduce you to the Prospect Park blog recently launched by Jess Rubenstein, where you will be able to get more detailed updates than we have room for, as well as Jess's analysis of Ranger prospects. Today, Jess writes about how to fairly rate prospects. Also check out his prior article on Hugh Jessimen. There is more there too. The Rangers' top prospect outside North America, Alexei Cherepanov, returned to action the other night and scored in his first game back. He was named second star of the game in Avangard Omsk's win. Here is a video clip of his goal -- that's Alexander Popov making the great move for the initial shot, which Cherepanov knocks in while being taken down in front after releasing from the man defending him -- a gritty goal for a finesse player in his first game back from a concussion:

By the way, for those who may wonder based on his surname why Dubinsky is playing on Yom Kippur, he told us last week that he is Catholic (both of his parents are).

Pre-Season Line-Up

UPDATE: Pyatt re-assinged to Hartford, Sanguinetti to Bramptom of the OHL.

Steve Zipay was at West Point this morning and got the lowdown on the line combinations the Rangers plan to use this weekend in their back to back Garden contests against the Devils and Flyers. On Friday against the Devs, Artem Anisimov will get the call in what we expect will be Drury's usual spot between Shanahan and Avery, Brandon Dubinsky will center Straka and Callahan, Francis Lessard will take Colton Orr's spot with Hollweg and Betts, and a fourth line of hopefuls will feature veteran Mark Smith centering plugger Dane Byers and the closely watched Hugh Jessiman. On defense, the playoff pairing of Tyutin and Girardi will be reunited, Strudwick will skate with Mike Sauer, and bubble boys Kasparaitis and Hutchinson, on opposite ends of the salary cap, will pair up. Valiquette and Montoya will split time in net.

On Saturday vs. Philly, Nigel Dawes gets a huge audition along with the still-together Gomez and Jagr, Drury debuts between Hossa and Prucha, and Tommy Pyatt will center Lauri Korpikoski and Orr. With only three lines of forwards left over from the first game, we may seem some of the same forwards carry over, and that may cause changes from these projected lines, which Zipay reports were together today in practice. But if there are too few forward lines to form a complete set of four, there are too many defensemen for the usual set of three pairs. The way they practiced today: Baranka with Mara, Malik with Sanguinetti, Staal with Rozsival, and Pock with Liffiton. Chances are two will not play. In goal will be Lundqvist and Wiikman. See Blue Notes for the line layout, as well as Scott Gomez's reaction to not having to face his former team in his first game as a Ranger.

I may be reading too much into these lines, and certainly Tom Renney would never say as much in public, but do you thing we can discern where players stand at this moment by who they are being lined up with?

Gomez Adjusts to the Big City and his Big Wingman

Scott Gomez has listed a number of reasons why he came to New York as a free agent this summer -- playing on the big stage of the city and the culture created by the current management and coaching team among them. But he hadn't considered the possibility of playing with Jaromir Jagr as a major draw. "That wasn't even one of the options," he said. "I've been in the league long enough where you think it's gonna work with certain guys and it doesn't." Now that he's been matched up with Jagr during training camp, he continues to sound notes of caution and patience, but he gushes about Jagr off the ice as often as he sets him up with seeing-eye passes on the ice. "I've been fortunate to play with some talented wingers and guys that are just amazing," he said. "But I think this guy right now, we're talking about probably top five greatest hockey players ever to play. He's that good."

Head coach Tom Renney said on day one that he would experiment with different line combinations, but so far Gomez and Jagr have been together almost exclusively, even as their third linemate has changed. "It's something I wanted to give enough time to," Renney said. "To recognize what potential was there for success. There's a chance that you'll see different combinations moving forward, but I did want to make sure I gave it enough of an experiment to make sure there might be some chemistry. You're talking about veteran players who have great hockey instincts who can assimilate with anybody."

"We're getting used to each other right now," Gomez said. "Jagr, from what I've seen in a week, he's probably the strongest player I've ever seen. And I've played with them. He gets the puck in the corner. I've never really played with a guy that likes the puck too, that doesn't mind skating with the puck in the zone. So we'll tinker with that. It's still a learning process. I've always had the same mindset that it's my job as a centerman to get my linemates the puck, put them in the position where they have the easiest thing to score. I'm not going to change that. But you forget he's on your line. You just kind of watch what he does. I gotta kind of stop, forget I'm on the ice with him, because sometimes I just sit and watch what he's doing on the ice. I forget I have to get open for him."

Gomez is keeping an open mind about the various possibilities, even though he and Jagr look like a lock as linemates. "You gotta give it time, give it patience," he said. "Who knows what's gonna happen, we might be on a different line. But hopefully it works out. Hopefully it clicks right away and we can help [do] whatever we can do to win. It's going to be interesting how it works out. The good thing right now is we've got options -- you've got guys you can plug in here and there. If me and him work out, it would be great. If not, it doesn't matter as long as we're getting in the points night in, night out."

The former Devil is still adjusting to living with the enemy. His points of reference are still his experiences in New Jersey, his various linemates there serving as examples of how he sees his situation with the Rangers evolving. It's also strange to be in the same market as his former team. "I was downtown," he recounted the other day. "My cousin owns a Ranger sausage stand, so I hung out with him. I see this guy with Devil [gear], his wife had Devil [gear]. And I'm, 'I hope they don't notice me.' They walked by and I gave them a free hot dog, and I explained to them [why I came to the Rangers]. The guys goes, 'When you come play [in New Jersey], we're not gonna play you that bad.' So I say, 'Alright, thanks.' He goes, 'First couple of times you get the puck, you won't hear it from us.'"

Also the other day, Jagr asked Sean Avery if he really said the Rangers would start out 18-2. Avery said yes. Jagr asked, why didn't you just say we'd start 20-0? Well, Avery shot back, I'm gonna have a couple of bad days. For more on Avery, see today's Post. The Daily News has an article on the Rangers' team building trip to West Point. Jason Strudwick is the subject in the Journal News. Paul Mara is interviewed at NYR.com. Rangers Report has various comments on various issues here, here, and here. Blue Notes does the math and notes that the Rangers have gotten younger since last year at this time. Hockey's Future reviews Ranger training camp.

Hugh Fighting to Make Rangers

Will the real Hugh Jessiman please stand up? In three training camps, the 2003 first round pick has always stood out. In his first, with his potential still burning bright, his presence alone was sufficient -- his height, his stature as a top ten draftee, his popularity with fans as a fellow Ranger fan. By last year, his NHL future was clouded -- at 22 he still hadn't filled in his rangy frame and he did not make a mark on the ice until scoring two goals in the Blue-White game. This year, he again stood out in the Blue-White game, scoring the game winning goal while skating on a line with Chris Drury and Martin Straka.

"If you can play a certain style, that will complement any line, as long as he works to his strengths," coach Tom Renney said of Jessiman. "He seems a little more comfortable, more sure of himself. We've been straightforward with what we've been looking for from him that will help him simplify his game, have him have success. His game is going to be a linear game, north-south, hard to the net, stick around, stop there, be a responsible two-way player, use his size and strength to protect pucks, get it to the tough areas, be physical, when necessary be prepared to protect his teammates."

Jessiman has taken an interesting course of action in trying to prepare himself for the latter. Never known as fighter despite his size, he took boxing lessons over the summer. "I worked with a boxing coach in the city," Jessiman said. "He not only helped me physically, but mentally. That helped me wrap my head around the fact that this is the year that I’ll be playing in Madison Square Garden. I haven’t fought out on the ice but I plan to quite a bit more. I didn’t really know how to throw a punch at the beginning of the summer. Last year I was fighting a little bit, but I really didn’t know what I was doing. I need to add it into my game. It’s not something I'm focusing on, but it's something that will help me, and help my teammates at times."

He did not just to learn how to fight but to increase his self-confidence and improve his quickness. "We didn’t just box, we did all sorts of stuff, like balance and core work," Jessiman said. "One of the things he noticed was I was throwing all arms and I didn’t have much core. So a lot of core strength was added by working with him." Working out with Darius Kasparaitis also helped. "Kaspar has always been a good buddy of mine," Jessiman said. "He’s been a guy I’ve looked up to all along. We got together this summer, skated over at Chelsea Piers a couple of times. Training with him is motivating. He tries to pick me up, and I try to pick him up."

Is his showing the past two days a sign that he is finally ready to step up, or is it a repeat of last year, in which Jessiman ended up splitting the season between Hartford and Charlotte and fell off every radar screen except the one that tracks draft busts? A big part of the answer is in what the team expects from him and in his confidence in being able to deliver it. The way he talks, he seems to have bought into what Renney wants him to do rather than his draft day notices.

"It was just a tip in," he said of his goal. "With these guys, they’re buzzing around at a million miles an hour. So obviously I want to be there to support them down low in the zone. But I know my role, which is to go to the net to create space for them, and forecheck hard. And that is really what I took into the game today. A lot of the game is just going to the net. It’s comfortable, not really thinking, just going to the net. Tom says you should go to the net and play a straight line game, and that is what I’m trying to do. But it's something that creates space for myself. Playing big is not just fighting, but believing that you can take on anyone. That’s where this boxing thing really helped out."

We'll get to see Hugh carry it one step further in pre-season games, Renney saying yesterday that he would get that chance. He got it last year but didn't make anything of it. How will he do this year? We will find out beginning Friday when the Rangers' pre-season schedule commences at the Garden with a pair of back to back games against the Devils and Flyers. If the first meeting between those two teams is any indication, Hugh stands a good chance of trying out his newfound skills as a pugilist pretty quickly. For more on him, see reports in Newsday, Journal News, Post, Blueshirts Blog, and Darien Times.

Renney spoke about several other prospects. "Michael's been really good starting in Traverse City," he said of Mike Sauer. "This is his first pro camp of any magnitude. He's been playing with nothing to lose other than making a good first impression for most of us. He's done that. He's been very communicative, which he always has been -- he makes life easier for his linemates. I see a kid who's well thought out, playing to his strengths. He doesn't do anything extraordinary other than playing hard and thinking his way through shifts." His communication skills are evident to all watchers -- he shouts loudly to his teammates during the course of play. The other day, a young boy observed this and said to his brother, "He's giving his position away."

On Lauri Korpikoski, Renney said, "He was really good at Traverse City, and I saw some really good things in today's game. I see the pendulum swinging upwards. He'll be around for a while longer, where he'll get an opportunity." On fellow 2004 first rounder Al Montoya, he said, "He's shown me a pro goalie. He's come in here to make a statement on behalf of himself, and every chance, he does so. So far so good for him." And on 2006 first rounder Bobby Sanguinetti: "He's coming along nicely. He's a proactive offensive player. What I like that I've seen the past few days is his thought process, his instincts. There's still some work to do defensively, but he's improved in that area. The offensive instincts are in place, and we won't stifle those. The biggest thing for him is to play at the highest level he can. I just wrote a note to myself --he'll play in the NHL. Not like that's any great revelation, but he will play. The big thing for us is taking our time with it, make sure we bring as complete a player as we can when the time comes."

And that is the attitude the coaching staff and management are determined to stick to, even if fans and the players themselves are chomping at the bit to see these promising young guys play in the NHL. "There is always opportunity," he said. "There are ways and means to make room for people. Sometimes [that] takes time -- young guys don't often have that type of patience. But we've been able to develop our people to the point where they're competing for those opportunities. Nothing's impossible, we've made that clear. Guys can look at the roster and say, 'That might be a chance for me, that might be a chance for me.' As much as we tell them to give it their best shot, they're not far off. You can't hand anything to anybody who's not ready for it. We have to make sure we apply ourselves in that manner. That's how you become a winner. The culture continues to emerge as being one of accountability, discipline, effort, and those kinds of things."

For more news: Daily News on Lundqvist, Hartford Courant and Rangers Report on the first cuts, Blue Notes on Renney's quotes, MSG.com on Glen Sather's expectations, Hockey's Future top 50 here and here and Leslie Treff's top 20 Ranger prospects (with Montoya ranking ahead of Staal on both lists), and articles on Scott Gomez here, here, here, and here.

Finally, as we reported a couple of weeks ago, Brian Leetch is one of four winners of this year's Lester Patrick trophy for outstanding service to U.S. hockey (see reports here and here). The other three also have ties to the Rangers, two directly and one tangentially. John Halligan, who writes our monthly All Around the Rink With the Rangers column, was a longtime writer, editor, historian, and communications professional with the Rangers and the NHL. Stan Fischler, a TV personality and reporter for MSG Network, has written extensively over his long career about the Rangers, including co-writing many books with Ranger players. And Cammi Granato, sister of one-time Ranger Tony Granato, who set a Ranger rookie goal scoring record the same year Leetch was NHL rookie of the year, will be honored for her impact on the U.S. Women's hockey program. Congrats to all, especially to John, a true gentleman.

First Cut

Twelve players to Hartford camp, no surprises: goalies Chris Holt and Matt Zaba; defensemen Clayton Barthel, Corey Potter, and Jake Taylor; forwards Joe Barnes, Alex Bourret, Brodie Dupont, Mitch Fritz, Bruce Graham, Greg Moore, and Jordan Owens. Maybe Bourret would have been considered a surprise until learning today of his shoulder injury. Maybe Tommy Pyatt not being in this group is also a bit of a surprise, considering Dupont is already on his way down. Bobby Sanguinetti, the only player eligibile for junior hockey, will eventually be sent back to Brampton, but there's no rush -- it's worth giving him a taste of team-building and pre-season games.

Whites Wipe Out Wiikman

The underdog White team came back to win 3-2 over the Blues after falling behind 2-0 in the Blue-White game that traditionally closes the formal part of training camp. Blue had taken a 2-0 lead, with Henrik Lundqvist shutting out Steve Valiquette over the first 30 minutes of play. Either Nigel Dawes or Artem Anisimov scored to extend the lead Sean Avery gave them in the first period (or maybe it was Marcel Hossa). But the Whites came back on Martin Straka's second period goal, a third period power play goal by Dave Liffiton, and the game winner that was either scored by Marty Straka on the shot or Drury on the deflection at the top of the crease (or maybe it was Hugh Jessiman). Al Montoya withstood a couple of late charges by Jaromir Jagr's line to shut out Miika Wiikman 3-0 over the latter half of the game.

Looking good in this contest were Jessiman, skating on the right with Straka and Chris Drury on White's top line (both Straka and Drury also played well), Brandon Dubinsky centering Petr Prucha and Lauri Korpikoski (Prucha was a dynamo again, despite not scoring, but Korpikoski has faded steadily as the level of competition has ratcheted upward), and Anisimov skating mostly between Nigel Dawes and Hossa (who were both good too) and in the third period as a winger with Jagr and Scott Gomez (who were together throughout camp as they work toward developing chemistry between themselves).

The lines not mentioned: For White, Mark Smith centering Dane Byers and Colton Orr, and Tommy Pyatt between Brodie Dupont and Francis Lessard (not much to note either way about these units other than Lessard continuing to throw dangerous hits on Ranger regulars like Fedor Tyutin); and for Blue, Ryan Callahan on the wing with Blair Betts and Ryan Hollweg (and not getting a chance to shine there), and Bruce Graham centering Mitch Fritz and Greg Moore (yawn).

Defense was where Ranger regulars sat out in numbers to give young guys an extra look. Liffiton was a stand-out player and his partner Corey Potter looked like he has potential. Mike Sauer was steady again, but his partner Marc Staal struggled with the puck all game long and again had difficulty handling Jagr. Thomas Pock was error-prone, with his partner Dan Girardi not having his best outing of camp. The pairings of Tyutin and Andrew Hutchison as well as Darius Kasparaitis and Bobby Sanguinetti were not notable either way (other than Tyutin making sure to go back at Lessard when he had the chance).

Tom Renney told us he will re-assign ten to twelve players today and take 39 with him to West Point tomorrow after a practice here at the training center. The cuts are not likely to be announced before 4:00 PM today -- we'll have them for you as soon as we know, but we don't expect any surprises. He said there will be an additional round of cuts before the team starts its exhibition schedule Friday at the Garden. Check back later today for an article based on Renney's post-game comments.