N.Y. Rangers: Slash From The Past

From the desk: RAISE GRESCHNER WITH THE GREATS

STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS

Round One

Pittsburgh Penguins

vs.

New York Rangers

I've been having flashbacks and recurring nightmares about the 1991-1992 playoffs for a week now.  

That team was exciting, featuring several holdovers like Mike Gartner, John Vandbiesbrouck, Darren Turcotte, James Patrick, and John Ogrodnick.  But new Rangers were being planted in the Garden, like Jeff Beukeboom, Tony Amonte, Brian Leetch, Adam Graves, Mike Richter, and league MVP Mark Messier.  The Rangers posted a 50-25-5 (105 points) that season and claimed the Presidents' Trophy.

This year's team posted a 52-24-6 (110 points) record.  Like the 91-92 team who had a young goalie named Mike Ritcher, this team has Igor Shesterkin, and like Adam Graves, who in 1994 scored 52 goals, this team has Chris Kreider, who did the same.  Adam Fox and Artemi Panarin are this team's Brian Leetch and Messier.

In the first round of the 91-92 playoffs, the Rangers defeated the New Jersey Devils in seven, then faced the Pittsburgh Penguins in round two, just as this team will do beginning Tuesday evening at Madison Square Garden.

During game two of that series, Adam Graves earned a four-game suspension for administering a two-handed slash to the left wrist of Mario Lemieux.  The Rangers lost that series in six games.

Sidney Crosby was mentored by Mario Lemieux.

You know where I'm going with this ...

Mario is probably on the phone at this very minute instructing his hockey padawan.

N.Y. Rangers: Henrik Lundqvist's Reign at Madison Square Garden Draws to a Close

From the desk of: RAISE GRESCH WITH THE GREATS

THE KING

The first thing that comes to mind is my son and our time spent together at Rangers games.  I invested in a pair of season tickets when hockey returned from the lockout.  It was Henrik's rookie season and since day one we both knew the Rangers were in good hands.  I gave up the tickets a couple of years ago.  But for the better part of the last fifteen seasons my son and me paid loyal tribute to our Liege.  Henrik is what my son knows best.  Whereas I have Ed Giacomin, John Davidson, Beezer, and Mike Richter to compare him by.  I certainly mean no disrespect to Gump Worsley, but think it safe to say Henrik Lundqvist is the greatest goalie in New York Rangers history.  In fact, to date only five goalies in NHL history have earned more career victories than The King.  Marc-Andre Fleury is the lone active goalie with slightly more wins than Henrik.

• Career Record: 459-310-96   .918 SV%   2.74 GAA   64 Shutouts
• 61 Playoff Victories   .921 SV%   2.30 GAA   10 Shutouts
• 2011-2012 Vezina Trophy

The respective emergence of Igor Shesterkin and Alexandar Georgiev make it plainly clear a new era of Rangers hockey is upon us - ever since general manager Jeff Gorton stood at the podium informing the media of the club's future intentions.  Henrik appeared in 30 games this season and did not appear in any games after the NHL return.  Last season, at 36-years of age, Henrik in 52 appearances posted a career low .907SV% and a career high 3.07 GAA.  

The Rangers are buying out the final year of his contract.  With any luck Henrik will sign a free agent contract with a contending team and win a Stanley Cup before his playing days are through.  In the meantime, I'm going to avoid going through Glen Sather's failure to reconcile the position of center and Rick Nash's major post-season shortcomings during the Liege's reign.

After Mark Messier and Wayne Gretzky signed off, no one made the New York Rangers a topical subject on basketball biased sports radio like Henrik Lundqvist did during his formidable years minding net at Madison Square Garden.

He is and forever will be to New York Rangers fans, The King.

My son and I will be sure to be in attendance when they lift his #30 to the rafters.

N.Y. Rangers: My Kingdom for a Center

From the desk of:  RAISE GRESCH WITH THE GREATS

TRADE DEADLINE:

Jeff Gorton has jettisoned in excess of 15 players within the last year 

in return for 13 players/prospects and a near equal number of draft picks.

• Mats Zuccarello traded to Dallas for two conditional draft picks
• Kevin Hayse traded to Winnipeg for Brendan Lemieux; 2019 #1 pick; 2022 conditional #4 pick.
• Adam McQuaid traded to Columbus for Julius Bergman; 2019 #4 pick; 2019 #7 pick.

New York Rangers: Jeff Gorton wraps up round two of the purge; with newly accumulated assets in hand, he must now seek out, secure, and build around a legitimate first line center.

One championship in 79-years ... Rangers fans know it all too well.  

In 1994, the Rangers snapped what was then a 54-year drought.  The Stanley Cup itself was hoisted up in triumph by a legitimate first line center named Mark Messier.  Sadly, another 25-years have elapsed without winning another.  Not coincidentally, the team has likewise remained hopelessly in search of their next first line center, to no avail.

How do teams go about obtaining one of these so called first line centers?

In the Rangers case, they were fortunate enough in 1991 to acquire by trade a 31-year old future hall of fame center from the Edmonton Oilers.  Previous to Mark Messier, fans need to rewind all the way back to Phil Esposito - another hall of fame, first line, albeit aging center acquired by trade from the Boston Bruins - whom in 1979 led the club to the Stanley Cup finals, only to meet defeat against the dynastic Montreal Canadiens.

Otherwise, first line centers are drafted.  But unless you're selecting first or second overall - outside of the rare wunderkind slipping through the cracks - odds are you're still not securing a legitimate two way first line threat.  In order to be in that position, a team must really, really, suck ... and not just for one season, but two, or three seasons of complete and utter toilet worthy play.

Here are just a few examples:

• Between the years 2003 through 2006, the Pittsburgh Penguins lost upwards of 65% of their games.  In 2004, they selected Evgeni Malkin with the second overall pick of the entry draft.  The very next year, Pittsburgh selected Sidney Crosby with the first overall pick of the entry draft.

• While not a center, Alex Ovechkin was the player selected first overall ahead of Malkin in the 2004 entry draft.  But in order to get themselves in that position, the Washington Capitals in 2003-2004 lost 64% of their games.

• The Chicago Blackhawks are no different.  Jonathan Toews is an example of a top center being selected third overall (in the 2006 entry draft).  The very next year, winger Patrick Kane was the first overall selection of the 2007 entry draft.  However, being in position to draft either player, much less both, required the Blackhawks enduring back-to-back seasons of 60% futility.

• Locally speaking, this is how the Islanders got their hands on their former center John Tavares, and how the Devils were able to draft center Nico Hischier.

The Rangers, on the other hand, have never allowed themselves to sink to such depths.  That, in a nutshell, explains the Rangers decades long lack of elite skill up the middle.  There's been just one instance within my lifetime (1984-1985) in which the Rangers lost 62% of their games.  The previous time before that occurred before I was born, between the years 1964 through 1966, when they lost 64% of their games, on average.  Under Emile "the cat" Francis they would draft themselves back into playoff contention and into the 1972 Stanley Cup finals.

It was one year ago this month when Jeff Gorton (shadowed by Glen Sather) announced the Rangers were embarking on a full rebuild.  A decision I applauded.  But according to the latest NHL standings, the Rangers are presently only the tenth worst team in hockey.  To my point, that's not nearly bad enough in terms of superior draft positioning.

Jeff Gorton has nonetheless amassed a handsome clutch of draft picks to either stock the organization's ranks, or utilize as trade chips.  The latter seems far more likely, particularly if Jeff Gorton decides to accelerate this rebuild.  For example, if the Rangers can not swing a deal for, say, a thirty-something Jonathan Toews, then acquiring a pair of two way/second line centers I guess would be the next best thing.

N.Y. Rangers: Jean Ratelle Honor Is Long Overdue

From the desk of:  RAISE GRESCH WITH THE GREATS..!!

*   *   *  19  *   *   *

336 Goals ~ 481 Assists ~ 817 Points

Career: 491 Goals ~ 776 Assists ~ 1,267 Points
ELECTED to HALL OF FAME: 1985

RANGERS ALL-TIME LISTS

Games Played: 6th

Goals: 2nd

Assists: 3rd

Points: 3rd

Plus/Minus: 4th

NEW YORK RANGERS: Jean Ratelle Finally Getting Sweater Hoisted to the Rafters Alongside Blueshirt Greats.

Jean Ratelle was a member of the famous GAG line (Goal a Game line) featuring Rod Gilbert, Vic Hadfield, and Ratelle at center. 

He recorded six hat tricks during his Rangers career.  In 1971-1972 Ratelle slashed 46/63/109, while leading the NHL with 40 even strength goals, and a 25.1 shot percentage.

I only saw Jean Ratelle play for the Rangers during his final season with the club.  In 1975, he and Brad Park were famously traded to the Boston Bruins.  This occurred shortly after the Rangers parted ways with the great Eddie Giacomin. 

Had I been a little older at the time, I'm sure I would have gotten upset over the situation.

Then again, maybe not.

Jean Ratelle was 35-years old at the time of the trade.  Perhaps the Rangers front office (The Cat) did the right thing.  As a kid, I nevertheless knew this was a huge deal.  After which, I continued becoming only somewhat familiar with Vic Hadfield, and a little more so with Rod Gilbert, whom retired after the 1977-1978 season.  By then I had finally become a full blown, albeit still young Rangers fan.  In exchange for Ratelle and Park, the Rangers received Phil Esposito and Carol Vadnais.  And it was those ensuing Rangers of the mid to late 1970s featuring Espo, Ron Greschner, John Davidson, Nick Fotiu, Don Murdoch, Walt Tkaczuk, Dave Maloney, Ron Duguay, et al, that I first became hopelessly passionate about.

Jean Ratelle is the ninth player to have his sweater retired by the Rangers, but only the eighth number being hoisted up to the rafters.  The number nine is retired in honor of both Adam Graves and Andy Bathgate.

And for that, I must digress ...

... because the Rangers have gotten this all wrong.  And believe it or not, for a change it's not Jim Dolan's fault.  The sweaters of Harry Howell (3), Andy Bathgate (9), and Jean Ratelle (19), all should have been retired by previous owners long ago - certainly before those of Mark Messier (11), Mike Richter (31), Brian Leetch (2), and Adam Graves (9).

Blame Sonny Werblin, or Gulf+Western, or Paramount, or ITT Corp., or whomever.

This honor is long overdue.

When Will The Rangers Finally 

Raise Ron Greschner's Jersey 

Among The Greats?

N.Y. Rangers: After Thirty-Five Years, It's Time To Ooh La La Again

From the desk of:  RAISE GRESCH WITH THE GREATS

2013-2014

EASTERN CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS

Rangers Defeat Montreal 4-2

I - NYR 7; MON 2

II - NYR 3; MON 1

III - MON 3; NYR 2

IV - NYR 3; MON 2

V - MON 7; NYR 4

VI - NYR 1; MON 0

WE WANT THE CUP!

WE WANT THE CUP!

WE WANT THE CUP!

NEW YORK RANGERS: ...And Lord Stanley Said, Let There Be Hockey In June!

PAYBACK!

Payback - for Ken Dryden and the 1979 Montreal Canadiens, for Patrick Roy and the 1986 Montreal Canadiens, and for any other game we ever lost to the Montreal Canadiens.

I don't expect my fellow Blueshirt brothers and sisters to understand unless they've been there, but the team that lost to the Habs in the '79 Cup finals always remained a little more dear to me than the 1994 Stanley Cup champions.

Don't get me wrong.   I attended the '94 playoffs, and felt what every other Ranger fan felt when our boys lifted the Cup for the first time since 1940.  I went to the parade, saved my ticket stubs and made a scrapbook with all the local news clippings.

I was clearly older by then, and there's the rub.  The revisionist history (even back then) is hard to ignore. For all intent and purpose, the 1994 Rangers raised the (Eastern) Edmonton Oilers 6th Stanley Cup championship trophy, only this time at MSG.

Mark Messier was clearly the Messiah, and Adam Graves became a great Ranger his own way.  Then outside of homegrown heroes like Brian Leetch and Mike Richter, most of those Rangers were mercenaries - but very good mercenaries.  We all knew GM Neil Smith created a win now situation by trading away the club's youth, but we fans were okay with that.  Mike Keenan was perhaps the biggest reason why.  But Coach left shortly thereafter, and Neil Smith went on to make several more questionable moves.  After Wayne Gretzky's swan song, the lights off-Broadway went out for a while.

I guess, when you're younger, you're much more impressionable.  I was 10, 11, and 12-years old when the Blueshirts of Ron Greschner, Phil Esposito, John Davidson, the Maloney Brothers, Ron Duguay, Don Murdoch, and all those guys sparked my passion for Tex's Rangers and hockey in general.  Phil Esposito?   Yeah, I was too young at the time to grasp the trading of Brad Park to the Bruins.

I was more part of the Ooh La La generation:

As a late teen, the Smurfs of 1986 were just that, a 4th place, but likable band of smallish blue shirted skaters named Tomas Sandstrom, Mike Ridley, and Mark Pavelich, whom overachieved in advancing to the conference finals against Montreal.  The Beezer was at the height of his popularity, but many years after the fact, fans were still deliberating over the trade to acquire Barry Beck.

It's been 20 years since Mark Messier skated to center ice in MSG to accept Lord Stanley's Cup from Commissioner Bettman, and 35 years since my childhood heroes beat the New York Islanders, and advanced into the 1979 Cup finals.

This era, these Tortorella-Vigneault Rangers, stand to change everything.  My son was 3 1/2 years old in 1994.  His welcoming into the Blueshirt Brotherhood came later in the careers of the Four Horsemen of the Impossible (Richter, Messier, Leetch, Graves).  So this is his first Cup series.

I started taking him to Rangers games regularly after the lockout, in Henrik Lundqvist's rookie season.  Since then, we've experienced many highs and lows together, but obviously none quite like this.

He hates Martin Brodeur and the New Jersey Devils like I learned to hate ALL the Islanders in my youth.  In fact, he chides me for not having the same disdain towards the Devils as him.  But because the Islanders have fallen on hard times over the last two decades(!), that rivalry does not resonate with him as it does with me.

What we do have in common is the Glen Sather era.  (Sigh)  To my son's credit, he did not like John Tortorella.  I did.  He liked the hiring of Alain Vigneault.  At the time, I didn't.  So chalk one up for the kid.

Back in 1994, my wife of five years was quite indifferent to our (then) 54 year plight, and my personal 15-year odyssey getting back to the Cup finals.  After spending the previous 20 years of my life furiously rooting for the Rangers, I was confronted by a strong headed mommy wanting to take our little pookie to Disney World, right in the middle of the Stanley Cup finals no less.  The significance of 1940 meant nothing to her.   Needless to say, I watched the Rangers lose games Five and Six in a Florida hotel room with two people too pooped to stay up and watch with me.

The wife has come a long way since then.  She started out understanding the basics - icing, off-sides, the power play, and stuff like that.  But ever since the lockout, she expects to attend games and becomes quite the vocal one.   She even has her own ticket connection now, and attended the Pittsburgh series without me.

Go figure.

Today, she is at the point where good play is recognized, strategy is questioned, and poor play gets trashed. But where is she exactly?  She enjoyed a good cry this morning while reading Dominic Moore's background story in the Sunday paper.  I think it safe to say blue blood finally courses through her veins.

In 1994, I suffered through the Rangers and Devils Game Seven double overtime thriller as both my son and wife slept.  Twenty years later, the wife and I celebrated the end of Game Six against Montreal together.  (If she only knew how I felt in 1979).  I then waited till 2:00am for my son to arrive home from work so we could have another mini celebration.

...to be continued.




Mike.BTB

N.Y. Rangers: Shouldn't Always Give Players What They Want

From the desk of:   RAISE GRESCH WITH THE GREATS

NEW YORK RANGERS - Glen Sather Set A Bad Precedence.

YOU CAN'T ALWAYS GIVE PLAYERS WHAT THEY WANT

I am not at all interested in having Mark Messier, Brian Leetch, Wayne Gretzky or Adam Graves become the new bench coach of the New York Rangers  - none.  I would consider Adam Graves as the new GM though.  But we know that isn't happening any time soon.  Nor do I want ex-Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff - the change would not be as dramatic as needed.  For some reason, when I think Mark Messier as coach, I think Phil Esposito.


Although, it became apparently clear the exit interviews didn't go well, I still do not necessarily believe you should give players what they want.  John Tortortella needed to change, but he kept the team accountable, and on edge, and I like that.  That's not to say Mark Messier wouldn't as well.  Even though he and Glen Sather are joined at the hip, I strongly believe this is hardly the time for head coaching experimentation.  Of the leading candidates, Dave Tippett interests me the most, followed by Alain Vigneault.


The Rangers took a considerable step back this last season.  The team was glaringly void of last year's toughness, and stripped of its depth.  The power play was completely defective.  Some players woefully underachieved, and injuries took their toll.  For all that, fair or not, Torts paid a stiff price.  I'm still not convinced this was in the best interest of the team.  Okay, the players got a coach fired - what happens to the next guy now?  Glen Sather set a bad precedence.



Mike.BTB

N.Y. Rangers ~ Child's Play

From the desk of:  RAISE GRESCH WITH THE GREATS

NEW YORK RANGERS:  "Great Shot Kid!  But This Is No Time To Get Cocky!" - quote, Han Solo.




Note to Artem Anisimov - Don't do that again!



Mimicking the firing of a rifle with your stick is "bush", and I don't blame Tampa Bay for getting ticked off.   Mark Messier once threatened to beat up Tie Domi himself for riding his stick like a witch's broom after scoring a rare goal.   So I'm not apt for one of our young players getting cocky now.   And I'm sure that's not the way Coach Torts is teaching his guys.   Even though Coach had Artem's back after the game, I'm sure behind closed doors Artem received a different form of support from Torts.



The second period melee that ensued threw everything off for a while.   That's not why we lost to the Tampa Bolts Thursday.   But Artem's actions jump out a little more to me than defensive lapses and losing in a shoot-out does.   As a coach, those things are correctable.   But lapses in judgement and comportment are something I'm in favor of pouncing on...Johnny-on-the-spot.   I believe in keeping a player's frame of mind correct.   So it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if Artem finds himself lacking his usual amount of ice-time tonight.   Mind you, I'm speaking from a hockey state of mind, because what jives in other sports doesn't jive on the ice.   This is what makes hockey such a great sport.   To a large degree, it polices itself.



If Coach takes it easier on the Kid than I suspect, let it show for the record Coach Torts has a heart. Maybe not for Larry Brooks or Sean Avery.   But it should prove to some of Coach's detractors that there are some soft spots in his tough love approach and that he recognizes the fine lines when developing young players but at the same time, teaching them and demanding accountability.



The game itself was our second loss in a row.   That concerns me not.   Should we lose to Buffalo on the heals of Toronto and Tampa Bay losses however, then I'll be looking for reasons why.  For I am expecting a much smarter game tonight in Buffalo against the Sabres, who always gives us fits.  The only clear advantage the Rangers are considered to have over Buffalo is on defense.  Otherwise the Rangers and Sabres are two pretty evenly matched teams in very similar situations within their respective divisions.  The Rangers are in third place of the soon to be extinct Patrick Atlantic Division with thirty four points; good for fifth best in the conference.  Buffalo has played three more games than the Rangers and are third in their Adams division with thirty-two points; seventh in the conference.



We lost to; surprising at least to me; the South's first place Panthers team in a dismally flat performance on our part in Florida.   So playing them at home Sunday evening, I'm also expecting similarly different results.  If we are going to let consecutive wins over Washington, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh speak to us, then it's justified to start having firm expectations from this team at this point of their development.



"You can act like a Man!" - quote, Vito Corleone.

SATURDAY NIGHT

"The Battle For New York State"

NEW YORK RANGERS

vs.

Buffalo Sabres

FROM

The Queen City off Lake Erie

Western New York State

Mike.BTB