Will Fear and Loathing in Prague Doom the New York Rangers?

While many Ranger fans were disappointed this off-season with the team's decision not to re-sign fan favorites Jaromir Jagr and Sean Avery in favor of players coming off disappointing seasons (Wade Redden and Markus Naslund), I was more than happy to see the Rangers focusing on getting younger and faster.

These moves, along with trading for Nicolai Zherdev, were going help the Rangers compete with teams such as Pittsburgh and Montreal and had me really excited about the upcoming season. That was until the Rangers preseason schedule was released.

This condensed schedule has them playing six exhibition games in eight days, which includes two flights (unheard of in the preseason) forcing the Rangers to use split squads.

All this is before getting on a plane for two more exhibition games in Switzerland including the inaugural Victoria Cup (I’ll get to that later), then finally on to Prague for their season-opening games on October 4 and 5.

Talk about fitting 10 pounds of “you know what” in a five pound bag.

With training camp scheduled to commence on Sept. 16 and the first preseason game scheduled for Sept. 20, the Rangers coaching staff will have a mind-blowing four days of practice to evaluate talent and experiment with line combinations in a controlled environment.

With numerous players fighting for roster spots, I’m concerned that this compact schedule will compromise Tom Renney’s ability to make an educated decision on personnel. That's especially true with limited practice and half the team jet setting to Ottawa and Tampa.

Last year, it took over half the season for Renney to find line combinations that worked, and that was with a regular preseason schedule. Can you imagine how long it will take this year?

Here’s the kicker. According to John Dellapina at the Daily News, Rangers General Manger Glen Sather, not the NHL, is responsible for making the Rangers preseason schedule.

 In the past, preseason games were limited to trips to Philadelphia, Long Island and New Jersey. Is Sather trying to make a run at potential No. 1 overall draft pick John Tavares?

Once the Rangers finish the North American portion of this preseason travesty, they will head to Bern, Switzerland, and walk into a hornet's nest otherwise know as PostFinance Arena, one of the largest ice hockey stadiums in Europe, to take on the SC Bern.

If you’ve never seen the craziness that is the SC Bern fan base, go to YouTube and search SC Bern. You’ll be amazed.

The very next night, the Rangers complete their exhibition schedule when they take on European club champion Metallurg Magnitogorsk (Russia) in the inaugural Victoria Cup.

You can’t tell me this Russian club team won’t be fired up to prove they can hang with the big dogs. Count on them coming out very physical. The last thing Ranger fans need to see are Russian club players taking runs at Chris Drury or Scott Gomez.

Finally, the team will limp into Prague (you think Jagr will be waiting at the gate with a bouquet of flowers) to open up the regular season with back-to-back games against the revamped Tampa Bay Lightning before heading back to New York for their home opener on Oct. 10.

I’m exhausted just writing about this. I can’t even imagine how run down these guys are going to be when they get back home.

If you need further proof that this trip could affect a team, just take a look at the two teams that started the season in Europe last year.

The defending Stanley Cup champion Anaheim Ducks, who went 3-6-3 upon returning home, were bounced in the first round of the playoffs.

The Los Angeles Kings, who lost five of their first six games upon return, ended the season with the most losses in the NHL.

A once-promising season for our beloved Blueshirts seems destined for disaster before it even starts. Maybe Avery made the right decision signing with Dallas for no other reason than avoiding this nightmare of a preseason schedule.