Who Am I?: Your 2009-10 New York Rangers Season Preview

After all the changes and personnel shifting that occurred in this offseason for the New York Rangers organization, the question that needs to be asked is this: Is this team really all that different?

Rangers' general manager Glen Sather seems to be convinced that there is a formula to this. So, it seems he hits a lab, adds a pinch of high-talent winger, some leadership, a great goaltender, some serious snarl, and stirs vigorously until he comes up with a roster. This is just another version of the same team we have seen since Sather took the helm.

Rangers resident bad boy and fashion king Sean Avery has talked about smoke and mirrors being used to hide team deficiencies.  It's interesting that Avery puts it like that. I'm not sure that Sather didn't do the same thing this off season.  He tried Scott Gomez for two seasons and gave up. He shipped Gomez and his enormous albatross-style contract to Montreal for North-South forward Chris Higgins, and two prospects. Honestly, Sather, for all his shortcomings, deserves a medal for that one. 

However, it was to clear cap space for Sather's latest high-risk experiment, Marian "Mr. Glass" Gaborik. The skilled, oft-injured forward has a great deal of expectations on his shoulders coming off another injury-riddled season where questions of his durability resounded across the NHL community. So, Gaborik along with his high speed and quick hands, land on Broadway.  

This writer finds it interesting that Gaborik, who was nursing (surprise-surprise) a tender groin, did not play in preseason until just two nights ago. I'm sure that the Rangers faithful will gasp every time anyone so much as glances sternly in Maid Marian's direction.

Also of note is the addition of Donald Brashear to the Rangers' lineup. Brashear is familiar to Rangers in recent history for sucker-punching Blair Betts right out of the playoffs last year. Sather, who clearly is losing his grip on reality, signed Brashear as a free agent in response to Colton Orr departing for Toronto.

Brashear does have a bigger upside than Orr. He's more of a positional player, and a multipurpose forward simply because he has the most coveted of skills in the "new" NHL: size and speed.  The downside is that he has a tendency to play without discipline, and seems to love to commit acts of violence that result in suspensions.  It will be interesting to see how tightly John Tortorella holds his guard dog's leash as the season progresses.

The Rangers, overall, have a decent depth chart at wing, and with Lundquist in goal, they are solid there, however there are two major weaknesses that this team has to fill as the season progresses. The first is at center.

Marian Gaborik is exciting to watch, but like most skilled wingers, he needs a top notch center to create plays and help guide the puck into dangerous situations. Sather has never fully grasped this concept. The Rangers got lucky two seasons ago when rookie center Brandon Dubinsky clicked with Jaromir Jagr.  owever, Dubinsky, now the proud owner of a new two-year contract after an eight-day holdout, needs to prove that last season was just a speed bump. 

If Dubinsky does not work out as Gaborik's new wizardry partner, Tortorella will turn to favored son Vinny Prospal. Torts has already laid the framework for Vinny to center the Rangers' top line by proclaiming Vinny to be the best player in training camp.

Rounding out the center position, we have rookies, rookies, and more rookies. Look for the ever impressive Artem Anisimov to make this team, along with preseason standout Evgeny Grachev to fight for a spot on the team's third line. After watching the two play, my money is on Anisimov. 

The second gaping wound in the Rangers' line up would be the oft-maligned defense. It's such a shame that Tortorella didn't become coach of the Rangers at the start of last season. One could surmise that, if that had happened, Wade Redden would not be the laughingstock of the NHL defensive corps. Whereas the bloated contract given to him, and doghouse roommate Mychal Roszival, isn't entirely his fault, he rewarded the Garden faithful's well-earned ticket money with the lowest point total of his career.  

Now, Redden's play did improve once Tortorella took the coaching reigns, but there is a big question mark next to Redden's name every time it is printed in a player handbook. Let's not even get started on Roszival.

Now, on the upside, the Rangers seem to have built a stable of blue line prospects that could fill in the holes. Matt Gilroy, who chose to be here, seems to be the next contestant on "Who is the Second Coming of Brian Leetch?" Watching him play reminded this writer of Leetch. He skates with a wide stance and, although he may not have Leetch's explosiveness, he does, however, have Leetch's soft hands. If Gilroy continues to impress, look for Torts to start grooming him as the next power play quarterback.

Besides Gilroy, Corey Potter and Mike Del Zotto will undoubtedly remain on the big squad, rounding out the stable and ever progressive pair of Marc "The Other One" Staal and Dan Girardi.  

Staal continues to make Dan Girardi look good, and is quickly becoming a well respected and highly skilled defenseman. Look for this trend to continue this year, as Marc adds some offensive punch to his game under John Tortorella's high flying system.

Overall, the Rangers are improved from last year only if, and this is quite an if, Marion Gaborik remains healthy. If the rigors of day-in and day-out, all-go, no-quit, Torts hockey prove to be too much for the fragile winger, then the Rangers may find themselves outside of the playoffs looking in. And captain Chris Drury may find himself answering some more uncomfortable questions. It seems like its all in Sather's plan, as high risk as it is.