|
POTVIN SUCKS!
Okay, now that I got that out of the way, this MSG mess keeps me up at night too. The Rangers have been my team since I was a wee tyke staying up way past my bedtime to see games from the Blue Seats (now teal). The way I see it, these things have to change before the Rangers can ever become competitive:
1. A real coach. Yes, the Rangers have most of the pieces in place, but as we saw with the Yankees, Torre's greatest influence on that team was to get the pieces to fit together, kept potential ego clashes in check (most of the time) and produced a winner. NOBODY since Mike Keenan has been able to do this. Yes, Messier is perhaps one of the greatest locker room leaders ever, but clearly with this bunch he can't do it alone.
2. New ownership. Dolan & co. have destroyed not only our beloved Rangers, but the Knicks as well. Both teams are being run the same way: Screw the future, put fans in the seats today. Dolan is the antithesis of Steinbrenner. While George sometimes gets TOO involved in the team, he does truly deeply want to win championships, and does what it takes to deliver them to the fans. Dolan will spend lots of money, but only to get players that will make you want to come to the game and buy overpriced food (though an MSG knish is about as good as it gets). I truly believe that he doesn't give two shits if the Rangers or Knicks ever see the playoffs again.
3. Physical play. The Rangers CAN NOT HIT. They WON'T TAKE HITS. Their play in the corners is shameful. They have no true enforcer, other than Dale Purinton, and he's a healthy scratch most nights. They don't even have a real two-way forward. They allow opposing offenses to set up in front of their net and score goals that any other defense would not.
4. Disciplined play. Stupid penalties and resultant power-play goals frustrate me to no end, and yet they happen almost every night. The Rangers have a terrible penalty kill and an even worse power play. These MUST be fixed if they realistically expect to contend with their own division, let alone the Western Conference.
I will bleed Ranger Blue until the day I die; in fact I'm currently in the process of requesting to hold my Navy re-enlistment on the ice at MSG before a game early next season. As a New York fan I am required to support my teams, win or lose. But I am also required to point out what's wrong with it, and the Rangers have more problems than all the other NY teams put together. We are well on the way to missing the playoffs again this year, and nobody in the front office seems to care.
Hey, at least we kicked Islander ass the other night.
-Mikey
|