533 replies to this topic

[LongLiveYorke]

After a win last night involving a near comeback by the Flyers and an appearance by Sarah Palin, the Rangers are 4-0 to start the year. We lost some big names, gained some new faces, and are a very different team than last year. We no longer have Jagr, the man who our team was structured around. Obviously it's a loss, but it's also an opportunity to restructure how our team works. Expect it to be more about teamwork and balance than about getting one man the puck. But we have some great new faces and some returning (as well as rising) stars to look out for:


Chris Drury- The captain and the workhorse of the team. Though he'll have some great goals this season, many of his contributions go unnoticed by the scorebooks. Every time he's on the ice, it's a battle, whether he's fighting in front of their goalie for position in our power play, or fighting to intercept passes and block shots on the penalty kill. He's one of the most determined and hardest working men in the sport, and he's going to be a great captain and influence on the younger and newer players.

Scott Gomez- It's like nothing else when this man has the puck. He's one of the fastest players on the ice and I'm always thrilled to watch him skate the puck down the ice, weave through almost the entire opposing team, and fire a shot off at the other goalie or make the perfect pass. He led our points for most of last year, but most of them came from assists (usually to Jagr). I would expect to see him more to a more goal scoring position this year.

Markus Naslund- The veteran from this Canucks, this known goal scorer is a welcomed addition to our team. Though his output dipped with the more defense-based team in Vancouver, he's hoping to add new life to his career and set things off with the fast paced and well rounded Rangers.

Branden Dubinsky- A name that you probably haven't heard before, Dubes is starting his second full year as a Ranger after an amazingly successful rookie start. Every game he looks better. In his first year as a Ranger, he spent much of it centering for his once idol Jaromir Jagr, which shows the faith the team had in this young star. Dubi was probably the best Ranger throughout the preseason, and I'd expect him to really have a breakout year this season.

Wade Redden- The (expensive) acquisition of this all star defensive man represents a real desire to keep the Rangers strong in all areas. With his addition, as well as Michal Rozival, Marc Staal, and others, expect to see strong defense from this Ranger team. And expect to see our D scoring goals.

Nikolai Zherdev- A tricky young player known for his quick maneuvers and one-on-one talent, expect to see some goal production from him and some game-highlight production as well.


And did I mention the King Henrik Lundqvist!!!


Lets go RANGERS!!!

[Zach6668]

Branden Dubinsky- A name that you probably haven't heard before...

You really underestimate us, Yorke.

[LongLiveYorke]

You really underestimate us, Yorke.

Actually, you're right. I forgot that there are huge hockey buffs/people from Canada here. What was I thinking?

[MapleLeafpoker]

You really underestimate us, Yorke.

I think you could have quoted the whole post and said the same.
Its am informative post for the rest of the forums, not so much for hockey.

[ajs510]

Who's this Doopinsky character?

[WestcoastCanuck]

I think Jagr leaving will actually help Gomez's production.

[LongLiveYorke]

I think you could have quoted the whole post and said the same.
Its am informative post for the rest of the forums, not so much for hockey.

Okay, okay, fair enough.


I was lucky enough to attend our home opener at MSG. The place was as excited as ever to see what out new team could do. Yes, we had beat Tampa Bay twice, but they're certainly not the most formidable team that we'd face this year. Chicago is a strong group, and so I was very excited to see us beat them and do so by scoring four goals. If you'll recall, we had a lot of trouble last year, especially early on, scoring lots of goals. Our goal tending won us a lot of low scoring games, but we were never really comfortable with our offense.

Our best line for the past two games has been our second line of Dubinsky (who?), Voros, and Zherdev. They've seem to have developed some early chemistry and have a good feel for each other. They're all quick, young players and their able to move the puck between each other with short passes and seem to work well as a cohesive formation. (I actually heard that they have bonded personally by playing NHL 09 together. They put together their actual line on the team and have been playing together as it.).

I'd like to see a bit more production from our first line of Gomez centering Drury and Naslund. They were good in Europe but have been unable in the past two games to maintain consistent forecheck.

I'm also excited about our power play. Last year, I'd say that our PP was pretty terrible. Yes, we did occasionally score on it, but it was never consistent and it never seemed to have any organization. This is probably because it was often centered around Jagr. Power plays work best when they're a team effort, and that's what I've seen thus far from the Rangers. We have defensemen with really strong shots, and we're really focusing on setting up an offense, working the puck around, and taking some hard shots from the outside. I think we're going to see a lot more success from our power play this year. Our PK was strong last year and should be strong again.

It feels nice to start a year off 4-0, and the team looks good, but I think we still need to grow together before we face Detroit and Dallas in upcoming games.

[Zach6668]

Sad news. RIP Siberian Express.

http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=252547&lid...os=topStory_nhl

[Speed Limit]

Sad news. RIP Siberian Express.

http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=252547&lid...os=topStory_nhl

Yeah saw this over on the hf boards, pretty tragic. Such a high draft pick too, so they expected this guy to come over and perform I guess. Sad story.

[digitalmonkey]

Damn!

[LongLiveYorke]

Sad news. RIP Siberian Express.

http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=252547&lid...os=topStory_nhl

Really sad news!

I was hoping that after his contract ended this season, he'd come over and be our Ovechkin.

He wasn't even 20. Our thoughts are with his teammates, friends, and family.

[LongLiveYorke]

From Wikipedida (no idea if this is true):

On October 13, 2008, Cherepanov collapsed during a KHL game against Chekhov Vityaz following an accidental collision with teammate Jaromir Jagr and was rushed to an intensive care unit.The ambulance that is normally at all games had already departed and had to be called back, taking approximately 15-20 minutes to get him to a hospital. He died later that day.

[InsanityCubed]

From Wikipedida (no idea if this is true):

On October 13, 2008, Cherepanov collapsed during a KHL game against Chekhov Vityaz following an accidental collision with teammate Jaromir Jagr and was rushed to an intensive care unit.The ambulance that is normally at all games had already departed and had to be called back, taking approximately 15-20 minutes to get him to a hospital. He died later that day.

I've read this elsewhere too, I'll try to find a source other than wikipedia.

Edit: I've seen some stuff on other boards that's apparently been translated from Russian news sources. I don't know Russian, so I have no idea how true it is, but apparently Jagr was in tears screaming "Wake up Alexei!" on the bench.

[nell789]

It's a shame, he was going to be fun to watch in the NHL.

[doox]

I'm not a big fan of Jagr, but I really hope for his sake that his supposed collision had nothing to do with it. Imagine the guilt he'd suffer from.



Sad news - nobody wants to see a story like this, especially about a guy with so much promise.

[ajs510]

Wow, that is just unbelievable. My jaw hit the floor when I saw the headline on Yahoo.

RIP Alexei, it's a sad day for hockey.

[LongLiveYorke]

Good first period by the Rangers. After killing some early penalties, were were able to get our forecheck going and every line looked strong. We got a funny one past Marty but we've also had a few other good chances. I really like the way we're playing; it's a fast paced game with consistent offense.

[MapleLeafs]

From Wikipedida (no idea if this is true):

On October 13, 2008, Cherepanov collapsed during a KHL game against Chekhov Vityaz following an accidental collision with teammate Jaromir Jagr and was rushed to an intensive care unit.The ambulance that is normally at all games had already departed and had to be called back, taking approximately 15-20 minutes to get him to a hospital. He died later that day.

I don't see this on wiki anymore, but this is from an article on TSN:

"Omsk head coach Wayne Fleming said Cherepanov collapsed on the bench during the third period of the game and did not see anything that happened on the ice that may have contributed to it."

Sad, sad day for sure. RIP Alexei.

[digitalmonkey]

They just commented during the Rangers game. They said Jagr and Cherepanov returned to the bench after missing a two on one and sat beside each other on the bench. Then Alexei just collapsed.

It's numbing.

[Speed Limit]

Dear Henrik,

Hope your knees are good. Shutout please tonight.
All my best,
Adam