Avery's Wrist Shot

Sean Avery will undergo arthroscopic wrist surgery tomorrow to correct chronic problems with his left wrist that were exacerbated when it was hit with a shot in Tampa. Although no timetable is set for his return, Paul Mara, who underwent a similar procedure, said he was back to full strength after two weeks. In his absence, Petr Prucha will join the second unit power play, but who will skate on the left wing alongside Shanahan and Gomez is uncertain -- it could be a call-up from Hartford (Nigel Dawes or someone else), it could be Marcel Hossa (who skated there today), or it could be someone else, with Ryan Callahan's return to action opening up some other possibilities. All of this comes courtesy of the reporters at practice today reporting in Blueshirts Blog, Blue Notes, and Rangers Report.

Comments

[brian]

i say get the surgery, take your time, and get back rarin to go around mid to late december but dont rush back...plenty of time and we are not in a bad situation...

[Ros]

crap.

[Cuch]

Put Prucha in there with Shanny and Gomez. Prucha has gotta get going. But he also needs the ice time to do so.

[matt]

ANYONE BUT HOSSA!!! SEND HIM TO HARTFORD!!! HES ONLY GOOD THE S.O.! SHOULD BE PRUCHA-DRURY-JAGR....STRAKA-GOMEZ-SHANNY

[Blaze]

Sad to see him missing from tomorrow night’s game...but I'm also glad it happened now rather than during a play-off run.

I think Avery has been a great addition to the team...I hope he sticks around for a while. Means the Rangers need to give him a decent contract offer.

[Bob Merchant]

Brother, I can't say I hope we don't go on another losing streak without Avery, we're already on one. The Fish have been nothing less than a thorn in our side.

I hope Straka is ready and not hurting.

[baals]

id like to see prucha get a chance to play with gomez and shanny. id like to see dawes called up to play with whoever is centering the third line (dubinsky or drury) with callahan on the other wing. or you could swap either dawes or callahan with prucha on the second line. and id like to see hossa on the 4th line with either orr or hollweg scratched depending on the opponent. although i love colton orr, hollweg has more speed, so he might be more effective in against faster clubs.

[MikeA]

Unless Avery has a monster second half, this helps the Rangers big time with bargaining from a new contract.

I think Cally is going to be a 2nd liner in his prime, so why not give him the shot now? Great hands, lightning speed, good all-around game. Him, Gomez, and Prucha seem like they'd be a good pair.

[LI Joe]

Dubi - do you have any link that shows the salary cap situation for the Rangers including the "exemption" for those salaries when a player misses 10 or more games in a row.

[scinoc]

For the first time in the last three games with Uniondale, the schedule significantly favors the Rangers tomorrow night. We'll be well-rested and Uniondale will be playing their third games in four nights, including a back-to-back scenario after their game with the Sens tonight. Bottom line: no excuses. Let's hammer these clowns.

[czechthemout!!!!!]

Too bad about Avery.Now we will get to see if our coach can find a way to get the team to plat with passion without Avery.My bet is that he can't.That is why i have called Avery the co-mvp with the king.Just look at the record with and without him.And as a wise old football coach once said"you are what your recoed says you are".

As far as the Jagr interview,I was very disapointed in his comments.I too like Dubi will give him the benefit of the doubt because of the translation aspect,but it sounds to me like he's sulking and very selfish.I know he has tremendous stats throughout his career but i always thought he was overrated.He has never led or won a cup without Mario and with the somewhat questionable acception with Nylander has never made anyone around him better like true superstars do.

[czechthemout!!!!!]

Also when will this futile expieriment wiht hossa on any line other than the fourth end?For crying out loud,HE CANNOT SCORE,HE WILL NEVER BE A SCORER,AND ISN'T TWO YEARS AND 22 GAMES ENOUGH OF A LOOK SEE?
Pearn talks about him having the potential to score ten goals,big deal,he plays on the first line so many games and does absolutly nothing except avoid taking point blank shots to go into the corner instead.I don't know if others noticed but he did it against dallas as well.

[cwede]

If this (Avery out for a few weeks) hurts us in the standings, we're not as good as we should be.
I'm expecting Jags, Drury and Gomez to start leading the offense as their supposed to, along with Prucha.
And having Straka and Callahan back is key, they may be our best at seeing and making plays.
Altho I'd give Callahan a handful of games with the Wolfpack first (blasphemy to some folks, I am sure) to get his timing and conditioning back. It'll also be interesting to see what they do with Malik - Stall with Roszi has been effective, Strudwick been steady (low risk). Maybe he tries Malik-Strudwick as 3d pair for a game or 2.

[czechthemout!!!!!]

cwede-

using your logic,shouldn't straka have been sent down for a conditioning stint along with malik?

[czechthemout!!!!!]

using your logic,shouldn't straka have been sent down for a conditioning stint along with malik? or are they exempt because they are friends of jaromir?

[Chris]

I dont get Rennys Logic, Pruhca should be on the first PP. If you missed from my post 2days ago:

"What is up with Renny not putting Prucha on the 1st powerplay.
It worked really nice in 05-06 and when it was actually good.

In 2005-6 Prucha was the 4th highest point getter on the team on the PP. Nylander didnt even have as many as Prucha did.
2006-7 Prucha was down to 6th but this was also with the addition of Shannahan, and a career year for Nylander, and a demotion to the 2nd Powerplay.

The point is prucha knows how to work on the PP, and needs to be part of the 1st unit consisting IMO of:

Jagr/Prucha/Straka/Gomez/Rosival
and
PP2 Drury/Avery/Shanahan/Staal/Mara"

obviously the Avery on pp2 doesnt apply anymore

[lennynyr]

Renney's moves are disappointing to say the least.

[Chris QCT]

First a crappy game against Dallas in which they thought they played pretty well, then Avery is now out of the lineup, and next we face a team that's had our number this year.

I'm worried...the moons are not lining up.

...oh man, if Hossa ends up on the 2nd line tomorrow, I'm gonna puke.

[Dubi]

Lenny, I'm sorry, which moves do you find disappointing? Putting Prucha on the power play? Putting Callahan back in the game? Keeping Malik out so as not to disturb Staal? Not letting Avery put off his surgery to after the Islander game so that he doesn't cause any further damage? Or keeping Hossa in the line-up? The only one that disappoints me is the latter, but that hardly adds up to "disappointing to say the least". The only thing you got right in that statement is that you did in fact "say the least" possible, providing no support for your contention "in the least".

Joe -- the best link is here -- look at the performance bonuses on the right to see which ones are eligible to exceed the cap.

[lennynyr]

Dubi, his disappointing moves I'm referring to is overall for the whole season not what you just described for tomorrow's game. You talk about his good moves, I talk about his bad moves and the board now has some balance.

But we don't disagree all the time. I agree with all those moves you just described except, like you, think Hossa should be out of there.

[lennynyr]

Dubi, also Renney in the past has stated things he was going to do then changed his mind at game time so you really don't know if those moves he describes are going to happen.

[LI Joe]

Dubi thanks. I was hoping there was a link where the injured time for so called long term injuries > 10 games for players like Straka, Avery and Malik (and Cally) were deducted to get a true picture of what our cap situation really is. To see how much might be avail at the deadline and or how much of Shanny's bonus can be applied to this yrs cap.

Any chance you can ask the Rangers cap guy for what his numbers show. Thanks again.

[Dubi]

Well, like I said, you said the least, so I had no clue what moves you were talking about. Now that you've narrowed it down to the whole season instead of just right now, I still have no clue what moves you find so wholly disappointing. Sure, some of them have been, but some have been exactly what we've wanted. Most of them have been attempts to find the right combinations and adjusting for injuries. Overall, there are a dozen adjectives that are more apropos than "disappointing" -- and I don't mean ones that are all rosy, I mean ones that capture the complexity of what has gone on with the defense being so good and the scoring being AWOL, ones that describe a slow start, a hot streak, and some recent stumbles.

[Jameson]

Reading the comments on the past 5 entries I've come to the following conclusion:

It's all Marcel Hossa's fault, with a little blame on the 4th line too. Damnit Ryan Hollweg, in your 6 minutes of ice time each night we expect you to get about 20 or so hits! And Colton Orr, you're useless, you don't strike fear into any of our opponents with the past knockout of Fedoruk and the domination in some of your other fights last season! You're definately not the reason that less Rangers skill players haven't been taken advantage of by other teams goons, no sir. And Blair Betts, jeez man, when are you gonna score some goals!?

Hossa, you are obviously a horrible hockey player, you belong in Hartford, no no, send him to Charlotte! This guy is useless, he doesn't kill penalties at all, and he doesn't use his body or anything either! His problem of not shooting more is not an easily fixed problem at all, and he doesn't belong in the NHL at all. He's a tool, it's all Hossa's fault. Until Malik comes back at least, then it's about 50-50.

Yikes.

[Dubi]

Joe, I don't think we have any way of knowing what the Rangers have asked for in terms of LTI exceptions. I also don't think there is a statute of limitations during the season for such exceptions, so even if they haven't asked for them doesn't mean they can't put them in when the time comes. So if you pro-rate the salaries of the players who qualify, you have an idea of how much extra might be available.

But as far as I know, there is no web site where anyone is doing those calculations for us. Every once in a while, the Rangers will tell a reporter who asks where they are roughly -- so far I haven't seen that question asked or answered, and it wouldn't be until it became an issue, like if there was a big trade in the works or at the trade deadline.

[lennynyr]

Basically the PP combinations which haven't worked plus not giving offensive players who are defensively deficient much ice time (like Dawes) which giving players who have defensive skills but are deficient offensively (like Hossa)lots of ice time on the top three lines.

If he (Renney) would just go with his regular lines during the PP, I bet he would get better results than he is getting now.

Other than that, no beef.

[Dubi]

Actually, Joe, I take it back, having just checked the CBA -- in order to claim an LTI exception, the team has to replace the injured player. They may have done that with Dawes replacing Avery and then Straka, but that's it -- no one ever replaced Straka, Callahan, or Malik. So I don't there has been much by way of cap savings, if any at all, that the Rangers have claimed.

[Dubi]

OK, I don't disagree with you much on your list, except that I agree with the coach that Dawes needs a bit more work to round out his game (not much, just a bit). I'd even add to the list not making better use of Prucha. And he has gone with set PP lines for the past few games, and the PP is still in the toilet, so I believe the problem is more about execution than it is about tactics. But I still don't see how that all adds up to an overall rating of "disappointing".

[lennynyr]

Disappointing in this case I meant to mean the "length" of games that those problems weren't solved, not the amount of problems. It's been more than just the last few games.

[Dubi]

I'm sorry, I just don't get that distinction -- a move is a move, it is disappointing or not. If you want to talk about a series of moves pertaining to a particular area, then we're still talking about two things that we basically agree on -- an inability to solve the PP problems and the continued use of Marcel Hossa.

But there are many more moves and series of moves beyond that have worked out well -- the defense, the penalty killing, the goaltending, the eventual settling on three line combinations that seemed to work (though there is more work to be done in that area obviously), the emergence of marginal fourth liners as good defensive players, the quick rise to prominence of two rookies and several other young player. Overall, the assessment that Renney's moves have collectively been disappointing, either as individual moves or in groups that play out over time, still doesn't hold water.

Even with Hossa, the case can be made that his use is only due to injuries -- he started the season in the press box and was headed back there until Avery's injury ruined the Rangers' first time at full health since Avery first went down in the second game of the season. And as much as you and I might not like it, you have to concede (at least I had to concede) that he earned a least a short look after what he did late last season with Jagr, so that "bad move" in my book has some mitigating circumstances to it.

[Blaze]

I have to agree with anyone who says that Prucha belongs on the PP. I just watched a game form last season where he had a goal and an assist on the PP and he looked pretty damn good. I've not seen. The Pittsburgh announcers had nothing but great things to say about him. They mentioned that he scored 30 goals in his rookie season but during his 2nd season he ended up getting less ice time but still managed to score 21 goals even with the limited role they gave him.

Callahan looked good too on Prucha's line.

[Chris]

Prucha needs to be on PP1 and the second line tomorrow period.

[Colton Orr & Avery Are Not Happy But They Say "Vote for Hank, Jagr, Shanny, and Drury!!!!]

Prucha didnt have a sophmore slump...Tom Renney gave him a sophmore slump.

Im not saying Pruchs is out answer to the PP, but he diserves to play there, on the first unit.

[Colton Orr & Avery Are Not Happy But They Say "Vote for Hank, Jagr, Shanny, and Drury!!!!]

Im not one of those guys who hates Renney for no reason. But i started not liking him after he played Pruchs on the 4th line.

Now im not pissed that he played Hoss, or Isbister on the first line, cause there actually are a few teams who tried this, and did it for a few games. But theres not a coach in this league that would ever play Hossa or Isbister over Prucha, on a top line, and i guarentee that. If you ask me, Renney destroyed Pruchs confidence. He probably feels that he didnt believe in him and believe he was good enough, and now he's playing with Drury and he's not doing much. Im sorry, but i blame Renney, completely.

[cwgatti]

Prucha DEFINITELY belongs on the 1st PP unit, but he is DEFINITELY a 3rd line player. This guy gets POUNDED 5 on 5. 82 games is along road for a guy that takes the hits he does. Another guy that falls into this category is Avery. His style of play leaves him banged up. One injury after the other this season. Girardi is starting to show cracks all of a sudden. Which brings me to Hossa. For all of his mediocrity, the guy is a horse. He plays a physical game along the boards, kills penalties, and until he hurt his knee last year was a good match on the top line for Jagr. He is not my favorite Ranger, but I can see why he gets the nod over some other young forwards on this team.

[lennynyr]

Dubi, think we are arguing semantics more than anything else. You and I speak different kinds of English, :}

You're the writer, I'm just a long retired engineer (not the TOOT TOOT kind) so you got me there.

We're pretty much in agreement about the moves, both good and bad. I forgot to include Prucha who's been so good on the PP in the past.

Regarding the PP, if the execution is not being done, hard to tell if the tactics defined by the coaches are good ones or not. That's why I propose having the regular lines play the powerplay.

In my opinion the execution should be better following the designed tactics because they play together all game. Also won't keep a lot of guys on the bench because their linemate(s) just finished a PP stint.

Hossa deserves a bigger role defensively. I would also bring up Moore, with his good size, good skating, and good defensive skills to play with Betts and Hossa. Hollweg isn't hitting and that was his strength. Orr is a good fighter but short on speed. A line of Hossa, Betts and Moore would be a better 4th line than we have now.

Finally, you heard the expression beauty is in the eye of the beholder? The same is true about what's disappointing to one person compared to another. IMO it's the same as evaluating beauty.

Imagine if we all found the same woman beautiful, we would all be vying for her hand (and other parts) and that would be the only union in the world. One way to control future popualtion! :))

[lennynyr]

cwgatti, you say Hossa is a horse?? Maybe he needs to sow his oats first! :)

[Dubi]

It's not semantics, Lenny. You said the moves were disappointing without providing anything to support that conclusion. When I pressed you on it, you detailed the moves you found disappointing. I even agree that those moves are disappointing. But I provided a list of a lot of other moves that have been partially or wholly successful, wondering how those couple of disappointing moves made the whole shebang disappointing.

It's not semantics and it's not the eye of the beholder and it's not just an opinion to draw an overall conclusion based on a handful of data points without taking all the other data points into consideration. It's just trashing someone without good reason.

[Godot]

Look, you all can be disappointed in move X or move Y by Renney--but really you dislike individual players, and don't trust Renney and Pearn's sense of what those players can do. In the case of Hossa, we have seen his potential, and they see it more than we do, but unfortunately he can't crack whatever husk prevents him from getting out. It's kinda sad, actually.

But we all know that much of what the Rangers do is dictated by the salary cap. Hossa on the third line means not paying a miniscule element of our cap room that we may need later on. So many of you make it sound like Renney makes these decisions by himself, but obviously all roster moves include Slats. I personally like the sound of a Moore, Betts, Hossa fourth line that platoons Hollwegg and Orr when needed, but that's less likely to happen.

As for Prucha, yeah I'd like to see him get more ice time, particularly on the power play. but if you think the problems of not getting scoring out of Gomez, Drury, Jagr, and Shanahan has anything to do with Renney, Hossa, Malik or Prucha you're kidding yourself. We have a top notch offensive line up that is underperforming. If they were lighting it up for three points a night so many of you wouldn't be complaining.

And Hossa can't be sent down to Hartford--he'd get claimed, and obviously there are still people in the organization who believe he has value; many of you don't. Your point is made. But until Renney and Pearn feel the same way all your whining about him isn't going to change anything so how about giving it a rest?

[lennynyr]

OK, Dubi, let me try one more time. If someone has a disappointing grade on a test, doesn't necessarily mean they got zero right (or the whole shebang as you put it), it can also mean that you didn't get enough things right. The grade would only be directly proportional to the number of things that were done right if they were weighed equally, but in Renney's case, I rate the lack of success with the PP as more heavily weighted than some of the other things mentioned.

You mentioned some of the things he is doing well and I agree but his grade is still disappointing to me as I just explained. With you it appears to be black or white, with me, it's shades of gray.

You are one stubborn dude as am I. :)

[lennynyr]

Godot, how would Moore be brought up with Hollweg and maybe Orr sitting affect the team cap?

[lennynyr]

Godot, I didn't say I wanted Hossa sent to Hartford if you are addressing that to me, I said he should be on the 4th line with Betts and Moore.

[Godot]

Someone else said send Hossa down. I wasn't only responding to you, Lenny :)

Moore's salary needs to be paid, so it would count against the cap....

G

[lennynyr]

I wish I understood that cap. Dubi put a link up to the cap site but there was no tutorial so I couldn't figure it out. :)

[Dubi]

The only thing I'm stubborn about is accepting unsupported statements. Your last explanation is a far cry from where you started. A grade of 75 is disappointing, true (not that I agree on giving Renney that grade) -- but you started out implying a grade of 0. What I'm stubborn about are ambiguous statements where you can't tell the difference between 0 and 75.

As for being able to figure out the salary cap, if you could do that, then you'd be a candidate for assistant GM -- apparently, the only guy who really understands it well enough to make it work is AGM Cam Hope.

[Ron Boesgaard]

One thing that came out of the "forum" on Monday night was that Perry Pearn said he was in charge of the penalty kill AND the power play.

That was said after a questioner prolonged his expressed exacerbation with the power play to which Pearn responded "Tom is in charge of the power play" to much laughter in the crowd.

Like I had written before, Renney said the players have been told time and time again to "get in the paint" and the coaching staff agreed it was going to take time...in monthly increments....for the team to do this and improve. Pearn said that the team at both regular strength and on the power play were going to have to learn how to score some "dirty" goals.

All three coaches basically said that scoring in the league was down due to the fact that the goaltending is much better than it ever has been and team defense (trap, left wing lock and penalty killing) have been perfected.

We all were "professional" kids once. How many times were we told to close the door, turn off the lights or to do our homework before we actually made a conscious effort at it?

Yeah, I know these are grown men and professional athletes. The coaches all said the work in progress was to get the guys to commit to doing something they may have never done consistently over their NHL careers. Pelino said the team would get better every month.

My take: The team is not playing that well and look where it is in the standings. The talent is there, it just needs flourish in the system the coaches have designed for it.

[Vishnu]

The lines below might seem a bit radical, but Avery's injury gives us a chance to try some things.

Prucha - Straka - Jagr - Bringback the Czechmates
Drury - Gomez - Shanny - Old school, North America line
Cally - Dubi - Dawes - Hartford line
Hossa - Betts - Hollweg/Orr

Will never happened, but I really want to see Prucha crashing the net while Straka and JJ play their puck possession game.