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Tag: Alain Vigneault

Podcasts • Rangers

Mar 3, 2014

Podcast: Kevin DeLury

Kevin DeLury of The New York Rangers Blog joins me to talk about whether the Rangers should sign or trade Ryan Callahan and why Glen Sather is deciding to draw the line for the first time with his team’s captain.

The clock is ticking on Ryan Callahan and the Rangers. With Wednesday’s 3 p.m. deadline quickly approaching, I realize that at any moment I can open Twitter and see that the Rangers have signed Callahan to a six-year deal or that they have traded him, which would send a confusing message to the rest of the Rangers and the fans of the team. But after what has now been a month of trade rumors surrounding Callahan, we will soon have a resolution.

Kevin DeLury of The New York Rangers Blog joined me to talk about whether the Rangers should sign or trade Ryan Callahan, why Glen Sather is deciding to draw the line for the first time with his team’s captain and how far the Rangers can go this season.

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Podcasts • Rangers

Feb 25, 2014

Podcast: Brian Monzo

Brian Monzo of WFAN joins me to talk about the Ryan Callahan trade rumors and why trading the captain would be the most significant move of Glen Sather’s tenure.

The Olympics are over and the NHL is back. The Rangers begin their post-break season on Thursday night against Chicago at Madison Square and will play in Philadelphia on Saturday and then host Boston on Sunday for a very tough three games in four days. And with 23 games left in the Rangers’ season and just eight days until the trade deadline, it’s looking more likely that these will be Ryan Callahan’s final days as a Ranger.

WFAN Mike’s On: Francesa on the FAN producer Brian Monzo joined me to talk about the use of NHL players in the Olympics after some recent devastating injuries, the growing Ryan Callahan trade rumors and why trading the captain would be the most significant move of Glen Sather’s tenure.

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Blogs • Rangers

Dec 16, 2013

Searching for Two Points

As of Sunday, it had been 10 days since the Rangers picked up two points and a win, so it felt like the right time to do a Retro Recap of the third period against the Flames.

It’s been 10 days since the Rangers earned two points. In that time they have played four games, earning just one point and allowing four goals in all four games. What makes it even worse is that in the four games, the Rangers scored just seven goals with three of them coming in one game (Dec. 7 vs. New Jersey) and to make it even worse than that, all four games were at home and to make it even worse that that, Henrik Lundqvist started all four games. The Rangers’ high-water mark of the season has been one game over .500. They have achieved that six times this season, but have managed to fall back to .500 following each win to bring them over .500 (with the exception of that Dec. 7 shootout loss to the Devils, which made them 15-14-1).

With 33 games gone (40 percent of the season), the Rangers found themselves in seventh place in the Metropolitan Division and 13th place in the Eastern Conference entering Sunday’s game against the Flames at Madison Square Garden. And then 15 minutes into the game against the Flames, they found themselves trailing 2-0, marking the third straight game they trailed by at least two goals before finding the back of the net. But Derek Stepan would score with 4:35 left in the first (his first goal in 10 games) and Carl Hagelin would tie it at 2 at 7:29 of the the second period, which is the way it would stay through the second. And that’s where we pick things up in this Retro Recap.

THIRD PERIOD

20:00: The Rangers fought back to tie the game at 2 and now they will try to successfully complete a comeback by winning the third period or winning in overtime or a shootout. It’s been 10 days since the Rangers’ last win, but it feels like it’s been a month. That win came over Buffalo on Dec. 5, which probably shouldn’t even count for two points this season, considering Buffalo has an NHL-worst 17 points.

As they always do, Swedish House Mafia takes us to the opening faceoff of the period with “Save The World,” which asks, “Who’s gonna save the world tonight?” It’s probably going to have to be Henrik Lundqvist and it should be since he hasn’t done anything worthy of a king since signing his extension on Dec. 4, going just 1-3-1 since then.

John Giannone is doing the play-by-play with Sam Rosen in Atlanta today calling the Falcons-Redskins game for FOX. When my girlfriend heard Sam’s voice earlier in the day and put two and two together that it was the same voice she hears during Rangers games, her face lit up as if a light went off in her head and she looked like a little kid seeing and hearing Tim Allen in The Santa Claus and realizing that guy who turns into Santa is also the voice of Buzz Lightyear.

17:32: It’s been a slow two and a half minutes to open the period with not much happening for either team. The puck just hit Derick Brassard in the middle of a line change near the Rangers bench, which drew a whistle, but not a too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty, which the ref then had to explain to both benches to delay the game. That’s all the action we have seen so far in the third.

16:42: The Rangers lead 19-14 in shots, which isn’t good for Lundqvist’s save percentage. AV has Carl Hagelin playing with Brian Boyle, which completely cancels out Hagelin’s speed. Why would you want Hagelin and Boyle on the same line? You wouldn’t.

15:16: The Flames score. Anton Stralman and Mats Zuccarello both get beat in the corner (with Zuccarello falling down) and then Derick Brassard gets beat to the net by Sean Monahan as Curtis Glencross finds Monahan and he gets one past Lundqvist. Another odd, bad goal scored against Lundqvist and the Rangers will have to come back again.

14:03: Usually these Retro Recaps work. Actually I think they pretty much always work. Whether it’s the Rangers needing a win, the New York Football Giants needing to win the 2011 NFC Championship Game or Phil Hughes needing to pitch a gem, whenever I do a Retro Recap for a game, it turns out to be for the best. Just thought I would throw this fact out there now, while there’s still 14 minutes for the Rangers to tie it.

13:36: Michael Del Zotto rips a shot from the point into some Calgary shin pads the way that only Michael Del Zotto can and the puck comes out of the zone. Just when it looked like Del Zotto was playing his way out of the lineup for good and possibly out of the organization, he had to go and score that goal against Vancouver in his first game back following two consecutive healthy scratches and five of eight healthy scratches.

12:37: Chris Kreider receives a long pass as he streaks down the left side and lets a slap shot go from just inside the blue as the crowd gets up and excited for the first time in the third period. It’s never a good sign when you’re trailing by one goal, not generating any offense and the crowd is creating artificial excitement off a low-percentage shot on a 1-on-1.

10:34: Since I already touched on putting Hagelin and Boyle on the same line, let’s talk about the idea of pairing Del Zotto with Dan Girardi. Is this real life? You’re going to put the worst defenseman on the team with the second-worst defenseman on the team? When I wrote that last sentence/question I meant for Del Zotto to be “the worst defenseman on the team” and for Girardi to be “the second-worst defenseman” on the team, but then I realized they interchangeable and could be classified as either.

We know that Del Zotto serves limited purpose since he isn’t a defensive defenseman and hasn’t evolved in the offensive defenseman we thought he might turn out to be. So he’s now just a defensive liability who doesn’t do enough in his own zone to be worthy of playing time and doesn’t score enough to be worthy of playing time, but he’s still getting playing time and plenty of it. Remember when the supposed strong, young defensive core was the future of the Rangers? (Crickets … crickets … crickets.)

As for Girardi, I hope I don’t hear anyone mention the need to extend him between now and the end of the season. He scored his second goal of the season for the Rangers on Thursday night, but he has a long ways to go to make up for the 15 goals he has scored against Henrik Lundqvist this season.

And the best part about this defensive pair is their inability to hit the net with any shot from the point. They are the opponent’s best breakout strategy.

10:12: Dylan McIlrath gets his stick up on Mike Cammalleri on the way to the corner after Cammalleri initiated contact with McIlrath to position himself in a way that would avoid him getting destroyed along the boards. McIlrath gets called for high-sticking and the Flames have a chance to put this game away.

9:45: A whistle on the power play and we’re reminded that coming up is the “Foxwoods Final Five,” which is when Foxwoods sponsors the final five minutes of the game. In December, the Rangers have played six games and have lost five of them and have been trailing by at least two goals for the final five minutes of the five losses. Is anyone even watching the final five minutes of Rangers games? Wouldn’t Foxwoods be better off sponsoring the first five minutes of the game?

8:12: The Rangers kill off McIlrath’s penalty as the Flames aren’t able to put together or set up anything in the Rangers’ zone. It looked like what I imagine the Rangers’ power play against the Rangers’ penalty kill looks like at practice.

8:02: With just three shots so far in the period, Joe Micheletti says, “The Rangers need shots.” Thank you, Joe. Here I was thinking there would be another way for them to tie this game.

7:53: The Rangers score! Derek Stepan makes a nice move near the bottom of the left circle and gets the puck to the front of the net where Kreider is to put it home. And how exactly did the Rangers score? With a shot on net, of course. Joe Micheletti, you genius you!

4:58: There was a TV timeout with 6:44 left and since then it’s been all Calgary as the Rangers are having a tough time clearing the zone and getting a chance. It feels like a Flames goal is coming any second now and probably will before I finish writing this.

4:33: And the puck is finally out of the zone.

3:56: Cammalleri gets called for roughing, which is some nice payback after he drew the penalty earlier against McIlrath.

3:16: Rick Nash makes a nice move along the goal line and with the puck in the air headed toward Karri Ramo, Ramo paddles it out of the air and it goes over the glass for a delay of game penalty. It’s going to be a 5-on-3 for the Rangers for 1:20. Flames head coach Bob Hartley looks like he just got back to his car in the parking lot of a grocery store only to find a note on it that says, “Sorry, I hit your car. I picked up your bumper and put it on top of your trunk. I was in a hurry and had to go and you weren’t around. Here’s my number.”

2:44: The power play unit is Nash, Stepan, Kreider, Brad Richards and Ryan McDonagh. In other words: only people that should be playing on the power play.

1:56: Kreider gets called for high-sticking in front of the net on the power play and it’s going to be a double minor. What a terrible turn of events. From a 5-on-4 to a 5-on-3 to now 4-4 to then being down 5-on-4 for the rest of the third and then 4-on-3 in overtime.

Guns N’ Roses’ “Nighttrain” is now playing at the Garden, so maybe everything will be fine.

0:00: That will do it for the third. We’re headed to overtime. One point for the Rangers, but getting one point once every four games isn’t going to cut it.

OVERTIME

5:00: The Flames start overtime with a 4-on-3 advantage and the Rangers have Boyle, Girardi and McDonagh on the ice. Over/under 45 seconds until this game is over? If you want to use Boyle to kill penalties during regulation, I get it. I don’t agree with it, but I get it. But when you’re using him in overtime to kill penalties and to kill a 4-on-3, well that’s just irresponsible. He is no way the best forward on the team suited for this role

4:23: A huge save by Lundqvist in front on Glencross, which momentarily saves the game for the Rangers. 30 big save on glen

3:26: Dominic Moore is now on the ice as the lone forward in the 4-on-3 and McDonagh is still on the ice, having played all of overtime so far.

2:56: Kreider’s penaty is killed off and I lost that under bet from earlier too.

2:16: Del Zotto sends a nice, long flip pass across the ice to lead Kreider, but it’s too hard to handle for Kreider to turn into a breakaway and he gets stopped. “Sandstorm” now blaring at MSG. With this soundtrack, how can the Rangers lose?

:40: Kreider and Del Zotto have a 2-on-1 chance, but with the puck bouncing on the ice, Kreider can’t handle it and the play is broken up.

0:00: That will do it for overtime. We’re headed for a shootout.

SHOOTOUT

Rangers: Mats Zuccarello starts things off by fooling everyone in the world. Instead of his patented move that has led him to a 50 perecent career success rate in shootouts, he comes down the right side and cuts into the middle moving slowly like usual, but then just snaps a shot off top tit on Ramo. 1-0 Rangers.

Flames: Former Bruin and lanky fourth-liner Joe Colborne comes down and somehow dekes Lundqvist to tie the shootout at 1.

Rangers: Nash makes a nice moves, but at the end when he tries to slide it in just inside the post on his forehand, Ramo’s right pad is there to stop it. If Nash had lifted the puck, it’s an easy goal.

Flames: Jiri Hudler gets stoned by Lundqvist

Rangers: Stepan can’t score.

Flames: Lundqvist stops Monahan.

Rangers: Richards comes flying down and wrists one medium tit or maybe three-quarters tit on Ramo. 2-1 Rangers and with a Lundqvist save, it’s over.

Flames: Lee Stempniak loses the puck and regains it in time to backhand one on the ice through Lundqvist’s legs as he moves right to left. We’re tied again.

Rangers: Brassard gets stopped.

Flames: I thought Cammalleri would end it, but he can’t.

Rangers: Dominic Moore rips one from the slot to the left side to give the Rangers a 3-2 shootout lead and a chance for Lundqvist to close it out again.

Flames: Lundqvist wants to see how long this Retro Recap can be as Paul Byron scores on him to tie it again.

Rangers: Benoit Pouliot goes to Nash’s one-hand move and gets the puck past Ramo with ease. Out of all the times I have seen the move done, never before has it pulled a goalie so far to one side, leaving basically an entire half of the net for Pouliot to slide it in. Come on, Lundqvist.

Flames: Lundqvist closes it out by stopping Mikael Backlund and looks tired and worn out doing so after raising his arms to the Garden rafters in triumph.

It wasn’t easy and it wasn’t pretty and it wasn’t against a good team, but a win’s a win. After 65 minutes of play and seven shootout rounds, the Rangers have their two points. They earned them.

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Blogs • Rangers

Dec 4, 2013

The Henrik Lundqvist Extension

Glen Sather made the one move he’s absolutely had to make as Rangers general manager: extend Henrik Lundqvist.

Here were my reactions in order after hearing Alain Vigneault was going to bench Henrik Lundqvist in favor of Cam Talbot.

1. (Laughter)

2. What?

3. Is this real life?

4. Are you effing nuts, AV?

Henrik Lundqvist has been the sole reason for any Rangers success in the post-lockout era with maybe the exception of his rookie season in 2005-06. Then again, the Rangers’ success that season was going to be defined by just making the playoffs for the first time in forever (or nine years) and that’s why their five-game, first-round loss to the Devils wasn’t viewed as much of a disappointment. The face of the franchise, the backbone of the organization and the one man responsible for the Rangers’ postseason drought not running into its 17th year was going to be benched for a 26-year-old rookie with seven career starts? Oh …

Benching Lundqvist wasn’t going to go over well with Lundqvist (even if he pretended like he was fine with the decision) and it wasn’t going to go over well with a fan base wondering why a first-year Rangers head coach would decide to shake things up like Coach Orion taking over for Gordon Bombay. The only way for the controversy to end would be if the Rangers were to lose when Talbot started in place of Lundqvist. So in order for everything to be righted, the Rangers would need to give up two valuable points. And that’s what happened.

But let’s live in an “if” world for a minute. What if the Rangers had won against the Jets on Monday night? Talbot would have to start in Buffalo on Thursday after winning back-to-back games as the now No. 1 goalie, which would then turn a seemingly harmless one-game break for Lundqvist in an Olympic-condensed season into a full-blown controversy. A win over the Jets would have forced the Vigneault-created crisis to take on a life of its own. What would be made of AV’s inability to manage goalies after the Roberto Luongo-Cory Schneider disaster in Vancouver? What would become of Lundqvist if Talbot were to win again in Buffalo on Thursday and consistently win? What would happen with the relationship of the new head coach and the face of the franchise? What would this do for Lundqvist’s impending free agency? Most importantly, what would become of Lundqvist’s contract negotiations and extension?

Luckily, none of that matters now and not because the Rangers lost to the Jets in their quest to never separate themselves more than one game over the .500 mark. It doesn’t matter now because Glen Sather did the one general managerial he absolutely had to do since becoming Rangers general manager in 2000: extend Henrik Lundqvist.

Lundqvist will be a Ranger next year. After signing a seven-year extension, he will be a Ranger for the next seven years. He will be a Ranger for his entire career (well, unless he is looking for some money when he’s 38 and the Rangers aren’t willing to give it to him, but that’s something we can worry about for the 2020-21 season).

A lot of people are unhappy with the years and dollars committed to the 31-year-old and the belief of paying him for what he has done over the last seven years and not what he will do over the next seven years. But it was going to take the Rangers giving Lundqvist a seventh year and it was going to take at least $8 million per season to keep him in New York with the free-agent market waiting and teams with better futures and more realistic Cup-winning chances ready to break the bank. So if you wanted Lundqvist to retire as a Ranger and one day watch him raise his Number 30 in MSG then that means you were fine with what it wound up costing. And if you wanted Lundqvist to stay, but at a lesser price, then you never really wanted him to stay or at least were fine with him leaving.

Sure, there’s a very good chance and pretty much a certainty that the 37- and 38-year-old Lundqvist won’t be posting the 1.97 GAA that the 29-year-old Lundqvist did or the 11 shutouts that the 28-year-old Lundqvist did. But right now this Rangers team (and by “this Rangers team” I mean the 2014-15, 2016-17, and so on teams because he is already on and under contract with the current Rangers team) needs Lundqvist. They can’t worry about what his level of play will be like in 2019-20 and 2020-21. This June it will be 20 years since the Rangers won the Stanley Cup and without Lundqvist the chances of that drought ending in the near future weren’t going to improve. In the spirit of Christmas, let’s borrow the Ghost of Rangers past to show how every post-Cup Rangers season has ended.

1994-95: Lost second round
1995-96: Lost second round
1996-97: Lost conference finals
1997-98: Missed playoffs
1998-99: Missed playoffs
1999-00: Missed playoffs
2000-01: Missed playoffs
2001-02: Missed playoffs
2002-03: Missed playoffs
2003-04: Missed playoffs
2005-06: Lost first round
2006-07: Lost second round
2007-08: Lost second round
2008-09: Lost first round
2009-10: Missed playoffs
2010-11: Lost first round
2011-12: Lost conference finals
2012-13: Lost second round

Still worried about and want to complain about having a 36-, 37- and 38-year-old Lundqvist? Does anyone really want to complain about having the best goalie in the world in 2014-15 because of what he might be in five-plus years?

The biggest knock on Lundqvist during his career has been his “inability” to lead the Rangers to the Cup or even the Stanley Cup Final, which is a comical knock since one person isn’t going to lead any team to the Cup by single-handedly winning four seven-game series against only the best teams in the league. Once the 83rd game of the season starts everyone seems to forget that Lundqvist is actually the one mostly responsible for getting the Rangers to that 83rd game and the “What have you done for me lately?” crowd takes over. The same crowd that booed Marian Gaborik because he didn’t want to use 40-goal scoring body as a shot-blocking pylon for John Tortorella and muck it up in the corners like a fourth-line grinder. The same crowd that jumps on their seat and causes chaos in the aisles over free T-shirts during TV timeouts. But here’s something that crowd probably doesn’t know or doesn’t care enough to know.

The Rangers have reached the postseason in four of the last five years. In that time, they are 19-25 in the playoffs, which means Lundqvist is 19-25 in the playoffs over that time. In those 25 playoff losses, the Rangers have scored 36 goals or 1.44 goals per game. Here is the breakdown by goals scored in the losses and how many times they scored each amount of goals:

0 goals: 5
1 goal: 9
2 goals: 8
3 goals: 3
4 or more goals: 0

That’s 14 playoff losses when the Rangers couldn’t score more than one goal and 22 when they couldn’t score more than two.

No, Lundqvist’s career will never be complete without winning it all. He knows that. That’s why the thought of going to the open market and a better place caused these negotiations to drag on through the first two-plus months of the season. He knows that when it comes time to raise his Number 30 that if it he must do so without his name on the Cup, it will as empty as buying a brand new house, but being unable to furnish it.

The Rangers and their fans need new memories. The 1993-94 season was two decades ago and the team, the Garden and the MSG Network have exhausted every possible perspective to recapture and remember the Cup run. The first step in trying to create those memories has always been locking up Henrik Lundqvist.

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Blogs • Rangers

Oct 29, 2013

The Last-Place Rangers

The Rangers were shut out again on Monday and with each loss, the chances of Henrik Lundqvist’s departure increase.

On Monday night, for the grand opening of the latest and last renovation of Madison Square Garden, the 2013-14 Rangers were introduced and took the ice one by one by forming a circle around center ice rather than a traditional line across their blue line. This decision was likely done to symbolize the team aspect with all the players facing each other in a circle under the scoreboard that’s a decade overdue, but it made me think that it gave Henrik Lundqvist a better look at the faces of his teammates and a chance for him to look around and wonder which, if any, of his teammates was going to score that night. None of them would score and the Rangers would lose their home opener 2-0 to the Canadiens.

Monday night’s 2-0 loss was the third time the Rangers have been shut out this season as they have been held to three goals or less in every game and have scored just three goals in their last five games. They have scored a league-worst 15 goals scored and are proud owners of a league-worst -2.00 goals per game differential. They were embarrassed by the Devils and scored one goal on a bad-angle shot against the Flyers. They have played for a possible 20 points in the standings and have earned six. After 10 games it’s clear that the 2013-14 Rangers are no different than the 2012-13 Rangers, who were no different than the 2011-12 Rangers, who were no different than the 2010-11 Rangers, who were no different than the 2009-10 Rangers, who were no different than the 2008-09 Rangers.

With each loss and especially each shutout, comes more of a reason for Lundqvist to leave the Rangers after Game 82 for a better team and a better chance at winning it all. Why wouldn’t he? Nothing has changed on the ice in front of him for the last five years and it’s hard to fault him for leaving the door open to play the second half of his career somewhere where winning 1-0 isn’t the game plan every night. Thinking back to Lundqvist’s introduction you can’t help but wonder if it would be the last time he would be introduced on an Opening Night at Madison Square Garden as a member of the home team.

Without Rick Nash since the first two minutes and 42 seconds of the third game of the season on Oct. 8 and without Callahan since Oct. 16 and without Henrik Lundqvist for two games because of injury and also the game that forced Martin Biron into retirement, it’s easy to see why the Rangers are in last place in the Met and why only the Sabres, who started their fire sale on Sunday, are the only team with less points in the NHL. But just 26 days into the season, fans are wishing John Tortorella was still behind the bench rather than Alain Vigneault and longing for the days of skill players being sacrificed as shot-blocking bodies in his heavy defense system.

Meanwhile in Columbus, Marian Gaborik has five goals and five assists in 10 games for the Blue Jackets, which means he has more goals than Derick Brassard, Derek Stepan, Brian Boyle, Benoit Pouliot, Chris Kreider, Mats Zuccarello, Derek Dorsett, Dominic Moore, J.T. Miller and Taylor Pyatt combined. But hey, it was definitely worth trading a three-time 40-goal scorer because the head coach didn’t like him because 40-goal scorers are really easy to find! I’m much happier with Derick Brassard, Derek Dorsett, John Moore and a sixth-round draft pick than I would have been with Gaborik. (No, I’m not over the Gaborik trade yet and likely will never be just as I’m still not over the non-Rick Nash trade from February 2012.)

I’m not ready to start frequently “Ladies and gentlemen-ing” Alain Vigneault because that’s that the gateway drug to turning your back on someone and once you cross that bridge it’s hard to go back. I’m not ready to do so yet because Vigneault is just 10 games into his Rangers tenure and hasn’t been able to implement his proven system from Vancouver because he hasn’t had his real, true roster. The 3-7-0 start isn’t all on Vigneault given injuries to star players and a roster full of underachievers, but there are a few things that could and should change. Scratch that. They have to change.

Let Kreider Play
If Chris Kreider is a former first-round pick that the organization believes was and is their best prospect and someone they weren’t willing to trade for Nash in the team’s best season since 1996-97 then he needs to be on the Rangers for good. (Not “for good” like forever, but “for good” until they can properly evaluate who he is.) The Rangers need to stop Joba Chamberlain-ing Kreider’s role and sending back and forth between New York and Hartford and settle on a decision that they are either going to let him develop in the NHL with a set plan.

Kreider is now 22, which doesn’t seem that old, but he has two career regular-season goals in 26 games and 15 of the 18 players drafted ahead of him in 2009 have had better production. If he was drafted in the first round for a reason and hyped as much as he was and sold to us that he is a top-six forward in the league and a potential dynamic scorer then let him try to be that. There aren’t any better options right now.

Use Brian Boyle Properly
For all of the negativity I use toward Brian Boyle, I will admit that he could serve a purpose on this team. That purpose is being a fourth-liner with some penalty-killing time. Apparently AV is on the same page that John Tortorella was with Boyle and shares the same beliefs on Boyle that Mike Babcock shares when the Red Wings coach said, “Boyle always impresses me … He came to New York and became a good player,” which was the ultimate “Is this real life?” moment. (Maybe Babcock is interested in making a move?!)

Once upon a time, Brian Boyle was a scorer. That time was his junior and senior seasons at Boston College and his first full pro season with the Manchester Monarchs. He has 13 goals over the last two-plus seasons and 130 games despite ample playing time, but even with that alarming lack of scoring, he is still given ample playing time and this season he is being used on the second power-play unit, as a penalty-kill specialist and in crucial situations like the final minutes of games. I would be willing to accept Brian Boyle as a Ranger if he were used correctly, and while it’s not his fault that AV believes in him the way John Tortorella did and not the way the Los Angeles Kings didn’t, something needs to change.

Sure, you could cite Boyle’s 21-goal season in 2010-11 as a reason to believe that he could be a reliable secondary scoring option, but he’s going to be 29 in December and he is what he is at this point. Career backup catcher John Flaherty had a 27-game hit streak in 1996 and finished the year at .284, but you didn’t see teams other than the then-Devil Rays give him a chance to be a starter, did you?

Fix the Goof Troop
I have had several variations of the Goof Troop when it comes to the Yankees, including the combination of Robinson Cano, Alex Rodriguez, Nick Swisher, Mark Teixeira and Curtis Granderson during the 2012 playoffs, and it’s time for the first edition of the Rangers Goof Troop featuring Michael Del Zotto and Dan Girardi.

Del Zotto is just 23 years old, but can we all agree that we know what Del Zotto is and just accept it? Del Zotto is supposed to be an offensive defenseman, a potential power-play leader and real scoring threat, but he’s none of these things. Del Zotto is possibly the biggest liability in his own zone for any defenseman in the entire league and with no points in eight games, it’s hard to defend his lack of defense by citing his offense as a reason to keep him in the lineup when there hasn’t been any offense. And it’s Del Zotto’s fellow net-missing blueliner, Dan Girardi, that is equally as frustrating to watch.

Like I said at the start of The Rangers’ West Coast Embarrassment Tour, it’s a good thing some people are worried about the Rangers giving Lundqvist too much money and that the team will have its hands tied and be unable to re-sign Girardi. Why would you ever want to possibly overpay for your franchise goalie and best player when you have a so-called defensive defenseman with no points and a minus-7 rating through the first 12 percent of the season?

Girardi’s Sunday Skate-look in his own zone and apparent lack of responsibility around the net has become a consistent problem and one that leaves me wondering how the Rangers could ever think about re-signing him after the season and extending his time with the team. The Rangers are committed to Girardi and Del Zotto as one-third of their top six defensemen and it’s Vigneault’s job to figure out how to get the most out of them, even if there isn’t a lot to get.

It’s certainly early, but the Rangers aren’t exactly doing a good job of treading water until they can get healthy and dress a team that can score a goal. Right now, the Rangers are a bad team and on Tuesday night on the Long Island, the New York team with a real future and Henrik Lundqvist’s possible future team will want to show the Rangers just how bad they are.

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