N.Y. Rangers: Break On Through

From the desk of:  RAISE GRESCH WITH THE GREATS

Tex's Rangers 88th Season

OPENING NIGHT

NEW YORK RANGERS

vs.

St. Louis Blues

FROM

The Gateway to the West

NEW YORK RANGERS: They've stepped to the door.  Last season they knocked on the door.  Is 2014-15 finally the season the Rangers break down the damn door?

First....

All hail the new Captain - Ryan McDonagh.  He becomes the 27th Blueshirt to hold the title, and the Rangers 4th youngest player to ever wear the C.

McDonagh, 25, has gained valuable experience over his 4 seasons. But last season he really elevated his game to another level.  Ryan indeed has become the Rangers most valuable skater, and getting better with the shift.  A young, talented, and experienced player such as McDonagh will be exciting to watch.

His confidence, strength of character, sense of accountability, intensity and demeanor presently make him the ideal Ranger to set examples and demand his mates follow.

Let us also take quick pause to thank Scott Gomez for being so bad.  How Glen Sather managed to pull off the deal that sent Gomez to Montreal in exchange for McDonagh will forever remain classified.

The Rangers assigned an A to Dan Girardi, Marc Staal, Martin St. Louis, and Derek Stepan.  I have no arguments with these selections, but the obvious omission was Rick Nash.

There will be no "A" for him.  Although he gets an E for effort in last year's playoffs, he does not get to wear one on his sweater.  He skated the mile in each and every game but consistently came up an inch short of success.  Fans were frustrated for him.

That said, we're prepared for another robust regular season from the team's most expensive important scorer - aren't we?  After that, we'll just have to wait and see.

Here we go again!

These Rangers are pretty much last year's Rangers.  And many of these Rangers played under John Tortorella when they faced the Devils in the Conference Finals a few years ago.

So in a manner of speaking, they've been to the door.  Last season they knocked on the door.  This year marks the 20th anniversary since they last won a Stanley Cup.  Is 2014-15 finally the season the Rangers break down the damn door again?

On that note Henrik isn't getting any younger.  Just saying.

Let's drop the puck and then we'll start tackling the details of this thing we call New York Rangers Hockey...,

and the defending Eastern Conference champions.




Mike