Hooray for the Rangers! (hockey)
 

Any other Rangers fans around? If there are, I think you should all be pleased. The Rangers made good work out of the draft in getting Alvaro Montoya, and now have a rotation of 4 solid goalies (Montoya, Dan Blackburn, Henrik Lundqvist, and Jason LaBarbera) looking to compete for a spot, which should add to their development. Also, they get a bunch of good, physical, net-crashing forwards in the draft. Remember the last time the Rangers had one of those? His name was Adam Graves. Anyway, they also didn't draft any defensemen, and as much as I'd like to have seen them pick up Boris Valabik (the enforcer who went to Atlanta), their not picking up any defensemen implies that they're going to hustle for some good ones on the free agent market (hopefully Leetch is among them). Looks to me like the rebuilding is going well so far. If the NHL is actually in business next season, I'm looking forward to seeing how the Rangers do.

Not to be a dick, but won't the Rangers end up trading all of these draft picks by March for Vinny Damphousse, Chris Chelios, Jozef Stumpel, and Jason Allison? The Rangers have to be one of the worst run franchises in the modern era.

The Rangers have looked good on paper before, and look where it got them. Unless the people running the show have learned their lesson, it doesn't matter who you put on the ice, or how much star power they contain, if you can't get them to work together as a team, then you accomplish nothing.

Despite my general ignorance about the NHL Draft, I like what the Caps got.

I really like what happened to Radek Bonk from the Senators. He got traded to LA, who promptly sent him to Montreal. It's almost as if the conversation went something like:

<B>Ottawa:</B> "We don't want him. You have him."
<B>LA:</B> "Nuts to that. You take him."
<B>Ottawa:</B> "You can't give him back. We just gave him to you."
<B>LA:</B> "Well then...you take him."
<B>Montreal:</B> "Sacre Blue!"

[edit] Whoops. Sorry mods, wrong thread. I meant to post it in the Hasek goes to Ottawa thread.

This is true, it's been run pathetically. However, what with the whole recent firesale, Sather has said that he is actually sticking with the youth movement this time. There's a lot of good developing players coming along. I dont think it will be instant success, but if the Lightning are any implication, the youth movement thing will work.

Least I hope so.

I don't think montoya will be playing until he finishes college

paper and ice are 2 different things

true but I think this team is better than the previous team because with a lack of veterans and more young players, the young talent gets to learn together and may gell easier than the previous star-studded lineups they've had.

It may not come right away but I thought the same about Tampa when they had a lot of young talent and look at them now.

Tampa also has one of the best coaches in the league atleast in my opinion. So if the rangers want to be successful they need to have a good coach to lead their talent in the right path.

Luckily that position is open right now.

However, John Tortorella was the Rangers' coach right after Muckler, when they had a veteran lineup, and he did absolutely nothing for them. I guess working with young players is his thing. Maybe the Rangers can pick up the guy Ottawa ditched (name slips my mind ATM).

Too late. Jacque Martin already signed up with the Florida Panthers.

Damn. Well, there's still plenty out there.

Ted Nolan, I want Ted Nolan back in the NHL, the man is a great coach and Hasek fucked him while he was in Buffalo, from Coach of the Year to no work again.

Dunno if Dan Blackburn is gonna be part of the plans for the NYR... he's having injury problems as of late.

Rangers were very interested in him at the time they picked up Sather. They just couldn't land him.

As for Blackburn's injury trouble, he's recovering now. He had a damaged nerve in his shoulder but he had surgery to remove the scar tissue impacting it and now he's ready to compete for a spot again.

OMG! We finally agree on something, Jay! Seriously, though, Nolan is a solid coach who got shafted. I was hoping the Bruins were gonna take a chance with him but ended up with Sully. I'd like to see him coach again, but I'm not sure the Rangers would be the best fit. The Rangers suck and will forever suck.

...oh... you're a bruins fan :(

you guys always take all the credit for brad park :mad: :p

don't forget Espo! :D we made him and then the Rangers ruined him.

The Rangers have ruined a lot of great players, they just have so many egos to deal with. It ends up being like dealing with children.

Surprised we finally agree on something dylanmarsh, I also agree the Rangers wouldn't be a good fit, hope he finds a job somewhere though.

That's the thing though... the Rangers GET good players and then ruin them. The one exception to this was the cup team in 1993/4. Now that the Rangers have a chance to nurture so many players, though, they have a better chance of success with them.

I just found out that the Rangers aren't picking up Eric Lindros for the next season. It'll be interesting to see if anyone picks him up, in light of his millionth concussion he received last season.

Wouldn't surprise me if the Leafs picked him up ,but that's another decision that might not be for the best.

'

bout damn time...

Off the initial topic, but possibly not quite worthy of a thread itself, the Penguins signed free-agent Mark Recchi today for a 3 year contract.

The Pens are my favorite team.... and things are starting to look up again.