New York Rangers: Contenders or Pretenders?

Hello.

I’m a Rangers fan, way back from the 1960s because my father was a fan himself. We lived in South Jersey so it wasn’t always easy to watch the team on good ol’ channel 9. When we could, we did.

This year, I consider the team a bunch of pretenders at this moment in time. It hurts to me say it considering I am a lifetime Rangers fan, but it is the truth.

The forwards are too small and lack toughness that you would need in a playoff series, especially against the Flyers or the Devils. To a certain extent, this team reminds me of the Smurfs from back in the day due to their small size.

Unlike this team, that team could score and had a lot of guts go with it.

This time around, we have Scott Gomez who skates hard every shift, but cannot seem to get on track. Chris Drury, on the other hand, is more of a defensive player. Markus Naslund has been good and shows promise that he hasn’t lost.

Brandon Dubinsky is having somewhat of a sophomore slump. Ryan Callahan plays his heart out and throws his body around even thought he isn’t a second-line player. Nigel Dawes should be sent to the minors or traded because he doesn’t score, hit nor does he have the passion to play. Lauri Korpikoski is young and shows that he will be a good player in the future.

Now, New York’s fourth-line proves that they are our best line.

Blair Betts does a great job on the penalty kill as well as Fredrik Sjostrom. Colton Orr has improved his play and can still knock a player out. Aaron Voros started out very good but has lacked fire and hustle most of the time.

Then, of course, we have Petr Prucha, who hustles every shift. He throws all of 178 pounds at anyone he can get. Sadly, he gets no playing time because head coach Tom Renney continues to screw him, but now he is beginning to prove himself to his team. It’s funny that now Renney raves about Prucha’s play, considering he didn’t even want to play him to begin with.

Before Mats Sundin signed with the Vancouver Canucks, Rangers fans were talking about what he could do for the team. Would he have helped the team score some goals at both even strength and on the power play? Yes.

Would it have helped out in the toughness or helped the poor bunch of defensemen we have? No.

President and general manager Glen Sather has done a terrible job in constructing a defense that isn’t any good. We are lucky enough to have Marc Staal, who is proving to be excellent as his position. Once he adds some muscle and some nastiness to his game, he will be unstoppable. Dan Girardi can be a great defenseman if he does the same. Paul Mara is a good 5’6” defenseman and shows guts and some of the nastiness that we need on our defense.

That’s the end of the good news, now we have the bad and the downright awful.

First, we have Dmitri Kalinin, who is beaten more than a proverbial dead horse. He has no speed, he doesn’t hit anyone and he can’t hit the net. Next, we have Michal Rozsival, who was not wanted back after last year.

Take all the bad qualities in Kalinin, add a $20 million contract and you have Rozsival. All I hear about is his great shot, but he hardly ever shoots the puck. When he does, he misses the net.

Lastly, we have Wade Redden, a big free agency signing that Sather made. While many expected it to be a great move, they were disappointed.

He has two speeds—slow and slower. He should also have a sore neck from watching everyone blow past him.

Thankfully, we have a savior—the king.

If not for Henrik Lundqvist, we would be in last place instead of first. If he were to have an average night, we would lose.

When it comes to coaching, Renney is a great person but he is bad at his job. He doesn’t make anyone with the exception of Prucha accountable for their mistakes.

Perry is downright awful as well, especially with his push for Redden to join the team.

Our general manager should have retired after winning the cups in Edmonton.

Does anybody remember when he said, “If I was GM in New York with all their money, I’d win the cup every year.”

That hasn’t happened.

That’s my take on the Rangers so far this year. Things can get better, but the team would have to eat a lot of money by getting rid of players.

In the infamous words of our general manager, “Piss off kid!”