A new New York state of mind?

The season is finally here.

After an action packed off-season which saw the Rangers revamp their entire roster, Ranger fans can now sit back and enjoy the ride of a new team, a new season. Or flip out again and blame Marek Malik. Wait, he's no longer a Ranger. Finally!?

After 3 preseason games so far there are still holes in the Rangers game that need to be fixed. Wade Redden has been beat a few times on the defensive end, Scott Gomez has had trouble clearing the puck, and other minor problems. But this can all be fixed before the season officially begins.

Long gone are the days of building an entire team around one aging, slow star in Jaromir Jagr and here today is the new wave of hockey in New York.

Bringing in Redden, Markus Naslund, Nikolai Zherdev, Dan Fritsche and Dmitri Kalinin only made the Rangers better.

In Naslund the Rangers know they got a player who hasn't play up to his full potential the last few seasons but brings veteran leadership and offense to their weak offensive corps. Redden they knew the same. He hasn't played up to his big billing in Ottawa the last couple of season which Ottawa now regrets letting go of Zdeno Chara instead of him.

But in New York, with a fresh mind, Redden has the chance to make amends for his play and really put himself into the spotlight.

Bringing in Zherdev though is another story. The young Russian has an ego problem from what sources in Columbus have said and rubs the coaching staff and fellow players the wrong way. Tom Renney isn't new to this kind of a player, taking on Sean Avery and seeing him become a star in New York the last two seasons.

If definitely came for a price though as the team traded young defensemen Fedor Tuytin for him. Will it come back to bite them in their hockey pants?

The Rangers had a decent year last year. They made the playoffs and lost in the second round again. But this year is different, they expect to do even better after shelling out millions of dollars and hope to finally get past that 2nd round hump.

Do the Rangers have it in them to finally do this?

We will find out. But the real question that bothers me is, without Malik, who will be the new scape goat in New York?

See ya Marek!

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