Dubinsky Rocks the Worlds with a Hat Trick Rangers center leads Team USA into tournament quarterfinals newyorkrangers.com May 12, 2008, 3:31 PM EDT RANGERS ON DEMAND
Highlights from May 8 Sweden-Denmark Game Watch
Note: For more World Championships video, visit WCSN.com.
MORE ON RANGERS AT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
• Lundqvist shines as Sweden routs Denmark
• Tyutin a winner in first game for Russia
• Russians edge Swedes in final seconds
• Lundqvist stops 36 shots to beat Czech Republic
Playing in his first major international tournament for Team USA, Brandon Dubinsky is making a real name for himself at the 2008 World Championships.
Brandon Dubinsky
On Monday, Dubinsky led the way for the Americans, scoring a hat trick in a dominating 9-1 qualifying-round victory over Norway that gave Team USA (3-2-0) third place in Group F and a berth in the quarterfinals against Finland. The game was played at Halifax, Nova Scotia, where Team USA's quarterfinal game will also take place on Wednesday. Should the Americans advance, they would travel to Quebec City for their remaining games
The 22-year-old Alaska native, who turned heads as a rookie with the Rangers this season, scored a goal in each period, including the game's first goal at the 11:12 mark of the first. His second goal, which gave Team USA a 4-0 lead, came at 5:48 of the second period, and his final tally on a power-play at 11:35 of the third closed out the scoring.
Playing on Team USA's second line with David Booth and Peter Mueller, Dubinsky scored on all three of his shots on goal and finished the afternoon with a plus-2 rating in 15:07 of ice time. He was also called for his first minor penalty of the tournament, a kneeing call at 19:37 of the middle period.
U.S. goaltender Robert Esche stopped 17 shots, as the Americans outshot the Norwegians 48-18. The other Team USA goals were scored by Dustin Brown, Patrick Kane, Paul Martin, Zach Parise and Phil Kessel. Brown had a pair of goals.
The victory was a big lift for the Americans, who suffered a disappointing loss to Finland less than 24 hours earlier.
"I think we've been playing well all tournament except last night against Finland" Team USA head coach John Tortorella told IIHF.com. "It was really good to get out there today in the first game and move on form last night."
Fedor Tyutin
Also on Monday, Rangers defenseman Fedor Tyutin's Russian team beat Switzerland 5-3 at Quebec City to clinch the top spot in Group E. The Russians finished the round a remarkable 5-0-0.
The Russians jumped out to a 4-0 lead and never looked back against a Swiss team that had the potential to pass them in the standings with a win. Former Minnesota Wild player Maxim Sushinsky scored twice for Russia, while Washington's Alex Ovechkin had a goal and an assist.
Tyutin, paired with Vitali Proshkin on defense, saw 13:40 of ice time and finished the game with a plus-1 rating after being on the ice for Sushinsky's second goal, an empty-netter at 17:25 of the third period.
how the fuck can we get to watch this on television ?
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If Jaromir Jagr is intent on remaining a Ranger for at least one more season, as his agent told Larry Brooks (see yesterday's New York Post) -- and the truth is that we're still not convinced that he will return -- then perhaps we ought to be looking beyond this season's free agent crop to next year's. If we assume that a couple of dominoes will fall in line behind Jagr (dominoes named Straka and Rozsival), and if we assume that Sean Avery and the Rangers will figure out that they have no better match for each other than each other, then there is really no room for a marquee free agent, except perhaps on defense where a power play quarterback and crease clearer are still chronic shortcomings.
Should this scenario unfold (and you probably have to add Brendan Shanahan back into the mix for one more season, making next year's Rangers almost identical to last year's), then the 2009 free agent market is what we should really be working toward to find high-scoring wingers, the one thing the Rangers have not been able to acquire in the draft -- there are not nearly enough on this year's ultra-thin menu, especially up front. Granted that some -- many -- of these players will be re-signed by their current teams before they hit the open market, here are the top names currently slated for unrestricted free agency a year from now:
The most important area to consider is on the wing, as the Rangers will remain stocked down the middle a year from now with Scott Gomez, Chris Drury, and Brandon Dubinsky. Candidates in what looks like the deepest positional pool for 2009-10 currently include Marian Gaborik, Martin Havlat, Henrik Zetterberg, Alex Tanguay, Daniel Sedin, Brian Gionta, Maxim Afinogenov, Ales Kotalik, Jere Lehtinen, Erik Cole, and a half dozen or so familiar names we don't want because most are aging and fading fast, some of whom have already been in and out of New York (Kovalev, Sykora, Dvorak -- the first two had good seasons, but does anyone doubt how fast they'd fade if they came here in 2009?).
At center, there is Vincent Lecavalier, Henrik Sedin, Mike Cammalleri, Nik Antropov, Johan Franzen, Shawn Horcoff, Mike Comrie, Tim Connolly, and another half dozen aging veterans, plus a half dozen defensive specialists. Even on defense, next year's list has some intriguing names, though most would only be short-term placeholders until (if) Bobby Sanguinetti is ready to step up: Scott Niedermayer, Sergei Zubov, Mattias Ohlund, Filip Kuba, Derek Morris, Nick Boynton, and Brendan Witt. The most intriguing name, Mike Komisarek, cannot possibly reach free agency, although the way Montreal handled its goaltending situation this spring, one can suppose that anything's possible up there.
In other Ranger news, Fedor Tyutin proved to be the one out of four Rangers in the World Championship to bring home the gold in Russia's win over Canada, with Tyutin assisting on the goal that began Russia's third period comeback from two goals down (see NYR.com). Henrik Lundqvist complained of burn-out after Sweden was ousted by Canada in the semifinals (story here), and Canadian coach Pat Burns boasted about instructing his players to go high on Lundqvist, although he also granted that as a Devils coach his team was only able to beat Lundqvist twice in thirteen tries this season (story here). A Globe and Mail analysis that postulates that coaches control special teams and defense but not five-on-five goal scoring has the Rangers' staff finishing sixth in the league despite their low-ranked power play.
Finally, after taking a lot of grief about our complaints over the officiating in the Rangers' second round series against Pittsburgh, it's interesting to note that complaints have not diminished even though the Rangers and Ranger fans are no longer part of the mix -- NHL commissioner Gary Bettman actually had to answer questions posed by the Denver Post about the league rooting for a Detroit-Pittsburgh final, and Spector at FoxSports.com analyzed Flyer fans' complaints of league bias toward Pittsburgh. Spector is going to have to update his comments to include more than just the number of penalty calls for and against if he, like us, is left wondering how the Pens could score a goal after checking the stick out of the goalie's hands behind the net without penalty and then get a power play for a nearly identical play behind their own net less than 90 seconds later.
The Times's Slap Shot blog seems to think checking the stick out of a goalie's hands is not a penalty in their long examination of the history of claims that the NHL influences games on purpose -- they seems to be making the point that the fix is not in, despite an eye-opening list of incidents that go way back, and they don't seem to make the connection that the only alternative explanation to bias is gross unrelenting endemic incompetence. I know it's a huge stretch to imagine a conspiracy that so many people have to be part of -- though it's not a stretch for me, having been told by someone who was in the room that the NHL asked its officials to make sure the Pens would not be adversely affected by the loss of Mario Lemieux in the 1992 playoffs after he was slashed by Adam Graves.
But it's just as huge of a stretch to see such massive incompetence continue year after year after year without anyone ever looking across the street to the NFL for the simplest of answers: just enforce the damn rules as they are written! That the NHL steadfastly refuses to take such an easy and sensible course of action leaves only two possibilities, and neither of them are flattering to the people making the decisions.
Please scroll down to the next story to read about Blueshirt Bulletin's summer subscription giveaway.
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If Jaromir Jagr is intent on remaining a Ranger for at least one more season, as his agent told Larry Brooks (see yesterday's New York Post) -- and the truth is that we're still not convinced that he will return -- then perhaps we ought to be looking beyond this season's free agent crop to next year's. If we assume that a couple of dominoes will fall in line behind Jagr (dominoes named Straka and Rozsival), and if we assume that Sean Avery and the Rangers will figure out that they have no better match for each other than each other, then there is really no room for a marquee free agent, except perhaps on defense where a power play quarterback and crease clearer are still chronic shortcomings.
Should this scenario unfold (and you probably have to add Brendan Shanahan back into the mix for one more season, making next year's Rangers almost identical to last year's), then the 2009 free agent market is what we should really be working toward to find high-scoring wingers, the one thing the Rangers have not been able to acquire in the draft -- there are not nearly enough on this year's ultra-thin menu, especially up front. Granted that some -- many -- of these players will be re-signed by their current teams before they hit the open market, here are the top names currently slated for unrestricted free agency a year from now:
The most important area to consider is on the wing, as the Rangers will remain stocked down the middle a year from now with Scott Gomez, Chris Drury, and Brandon Dubinsky. Candidates in what looks like the deepest positional pool for 2009-10 currently include Marian Gaborik, Martin Havlat, Henrik Zetterberg, Alex Tanguay, Daniel Sedin, Brian Gionta, Maxim Afinogenov, Ales Kotalik, Jere Lehtinen, Erik Cole, and a half dozen or so familiar names we don't want because most are aging and fading fast, some of whom have already been in and out of New York (Kovalev, Sykora, Dvorak -- the first two had good seasons, but does anyone doubt how fast they'd fade if they came here in 2009?).
At center, there is Vincent Lecavalier, Henrik Sedin, Mike Cammalleri, Nik Antropov, Johan Franzen, Shawn Horcoff, Mike Comrie, Tim Connolly, and another half dozen aging veterans, plus a half dozen defensive specialists. Even on defense, next year's list has some intriguing names, though most would only be short-term placeholders until (if) Bobby Sanguinetti is ready to step up: Scott Niedermayer, Sergei Zubov, Mattias Ohlund, Filip Kuba, Derek Morris, Nick Boynton, and Brendan Witt. The most intriguing name, Mike Komisarek, cannot possibly reach free agency, although the way Montreal handled its goaltending situation this spring, one can suppose that anything's possible up there.
In other Ranger news, Fedor Tyutin proved to be the one out of four Rangers in the World Championship to bring home the gold in Russia's win over Canada, with Tyutin assisting on the goal that began Russia's third period comeback from two goals down (see NYR.com). Henrik Lundqvist complained of burn-out after Sweden was ousted by Canada in the semifinals (story here), and Canadian coach Pat Burns boasted about instructing his players to go high on Lundqvist, although he also granted that as a Devils coach his team was only able to beat Lundqvist twice in thirteen tries this season (story here). A Globe and Mail analysis that postulates that coaches control special teams and defense but not five-on-five goal scoring has the Rangers' staff finishing sixth in the league despite their low-ranked power play.
Finally, after taking a lot of grief about our complaints over the officiating in the Rangers' second round series against Pittsburgh, it's interesting to note that complaints have not diminished even though the Rangers and Ranger fans are no longer part of the mix -- NHL commissioner Gary Bettman actually had to answer questions posed by the Denver Post about the league rooting for a Detroit-Pittsburgh final, and Spector at FoxSports.com analyzed Flyer fans' complaints of league bias toward Pittsburgh. Spector is going to have to update his comments to include more than just the number of penalty calls for and against if he, like us, is left wondering how the Pens could score a goal after checking the stick out of the goalie's hands behind the net without penalty and then get a power play for a nearly identical play behind their own net less than 90 seconds later.
The Times's Slap Shot blog seems to think checking the stick out of a goalie's hands is not a penalty in their long examination of the history of claims that the NHL influences games on purpose -- they seems to be making the point that the fix is not in, despite an eye-opening list of incidents that go way back, and they don't seem to make the connection that the only alternative explanation to bias is gross unrelenting endemic incompetence. I know it's a huge stretch to imagine a conspiracy that so many people have to be part of -- though it's not a stretch for me, having been told by someone who was in the room that the NHL asked its officials to make sure the Pens would not be adversely affected by the loss of Mario Lemieux in the 1992 playoffs after he was slashed by Adam Graves.
But it's just as huge of a stretch to see such massive incompetence continue year after year after year without anyone ever looking across the street to the NFL for the simplest of answers: just enforce the damn rules as they are written! That the NHL steadfastly refuses to take such an easy and sensible course of action leaves only two possibilities, and neither of them are flattering to the people making the decisions.
Please scroll down to the next story to read about Blueshirt Bulletin's summer subscription giveaway.
thanx for postin,,
should be interesting lol
we will be talking soon enough in the free agent thread and here
Blueshirt Bulletin
May 21, 2008 Jags a Dynamo? [Updated]
Glen Sather may have his work cut out for him if there is any truth to a rumor that Jaromir Jagr has been offered upwards of $12 million to play in Russia for Moscow Dynamo next season. Avangard Omsk, Jagr's former Russian club, have already hinted that they were considering offering him the franchise player cap of $7 million. Now, according to James Mirtle in his Globe and Mail blog, Alexander Medvedev, head of Russia's new Kontinental Hockey League, wants to waive some of the KHL's new rules in order to better compete for NHLers and other top players from Europe. So even as North American wire services parrot a New York Post report that Jagr is set to start negotiations with the Rangers, these new rumors -- which Mirtle says are being spread among NHL players themselves -- put him well out of the Rangers' salary range.
UPDATE: The rumor of Moscow Dynamo's offer to Jagr was made public by Georges Laraque, speaking on an Edmonton radio station in late April (thanks to James Mirtle for passing along that information, which was first reported by someone at HF Boards). The timing of that radio appearance was interesting -- Laraque's Penguins were in the midst of a playoff series against Jagr's Rangers at that moment. You have to wonder about a guy publicizing this kind of rumor about his then-current playoff opponent's top player. The Prague Post has a review of the Jagr situation.
Posted by Dubi on May 21, 2008 at 11:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (63)
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May 23, 2008
If It Smells Like a Daisy...
No news might be good news, or at least better news than the slim pickings in Rangerland these days, where fans have not joined in the search party that is beating the bushes looking for the lost Stanley Cup final. Unseen for five days, the NHL's marquee event will be relegated to the Saturday night and Monday night of Memorial Day weekend -- which means that it will continue to remain largely unseen. That's OK -- that means we don't have to see Sidney Crosby's playoff beard (and I use the term beard lightly).
Anyway, in Rangerland, the only news (and I use the term news lightly) being made is by guys who may not even be Rangers again next season. Sean Avery surfaced in New York the other night at the FiFi Awards -- yes, the most hated man in hockey got all duded up to attend the FiFis, where he presented a Hall of Fame award to designer Vera Wang. With the best fragrance FiFi going to a scent named "Daisy", one would have hoped to see Avery do some trash talking on its behalf, but sadly there is no truth to the rumor that Avery yelled as someone (not sure if it was supposed to be Dolce or Gabbana), "Go back to your own country, you freaking foreigner!"
Meanwhile, in the other Sin City -- Las Vegas -- cameras caught Jaromir Jagr swimming in the pool at the MGM Grand. The good news is, cameras did not catch Jagr trying to swim with the sharks in a casino. Although you know what they say -- if it smells like a daisy... If Glen Sather really wants to re-sign Jagr to a contract less than the rumored $12 million being offered him by Moscow Dynamo, maybe he can go back to the strategy that worked in 2005, signing all of Jags's friends to make him happy. We know Straka and Rozsival will want to return if Jags returns. And Martin Rucinsky too -- Rucinsky told reporters in Czech, "I'd accept offers from one, two teams tops. One of them are the Rangers. But it's anybody's guess. I don't know whether they're interested, or whether I want to go back in the NHL." [Thanks to DaTeL for the translation.]
No way does Rucinsky return for a fourth go-round as a Ranger... unless... if Avery doesn't re-sign, or retires to pursue fashion full time... and there's no one else available... nah, too much time on my hands. Enjoy the weekend folks -- unless there is some serious news, we'll just be chillin' and grillin' here.
Posted by Dubi on May 23, 2008 at 11:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)
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May 24, 2008 -- The prospect of holding the NHL Winter Classic at Yankee Stadium on Jan. 1, 2009 is in the bottom of the ninth inning, with the YankeesNew York Yankees attempting to convince the city that a pair of major concerns can be overcome so the RangersNew York Rangers can play an outdoor game in The Bronx before the World's Most Famous Stadium closes its doors.
"We're negotiating with the city on two issues that need to be resolved within the next few days in order for us to be able to go forward with the NHL," Yankees' COO Lonn Trost told The Post last night. "We want to have the game here and the NHL wants to have the game here, so now it's a matter of us settling these concerns."
The NHL needs to make commitment to the Winter Classic's host city within the next week or two. If the Rangers are awarded the game, it is believed they would meet the Bruins on New Year's Day in what would be the first of a home-and-home, with the return at Fenway on a year to be named later.
The IslandersNew York Islanders and Devils have lobbied the league to be named as the Rangers' opponent, but NBC, which will televise the match, has no interest in a game between teams representing the same market.
If the Yankees' issues with the city cannot be resolved, Wrigley Field in Chicago is believed the second choice to host the 2009 outdoor game.
"The first issue concerns Lot 14, the lot directly across the street from the Stadium that's now the players' lot," Trost said. "We have an agreement to turn that lot over to the city on Dec. 1 so they can begin construction on that site for what will be a two-level underground parking facility that's going to be covered by a ballfield for use by neighborhood."
The city's second concern is one that NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman referred to in a press conference last week as, "winterization."
"There's some concern that there would be water damage to the Stadium if the pipes burst, with use in the winter," Trost said. "But we don't believe that's a legitimate danger."
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Jaromir Jagr has been offered $12 million by Dynamo Moscow according to rumors spread by Georges Laraque. Avangard Omsk said they could offer Jagr up to $7 million (before the KLH changed its rules to remove the salary cap on NHL players). Larry Brooks of the New York Post quoted an agent who said a Russian team offered one of his clients (not Jagr) an outrageous sum that would make a commensurate offer to Jagr astronomical.
Those are some of the bullets entering the chamber of the game of Russian roulette the Rangers appear to be in as they work to re-sign their captain and leading scorer, which Brooks says would be along the lines of his prior contract -- a base salary roughly equal to what the Rangers paid him the past three years (close to $5 million), plus bonuses that would allow him to recoup the amount Washington had been picking up (another $3 million, which the Rangers could then defer to the following year's cap calculation if they had to). But how much this Russian league intrigue comes to bear still remains open to speculation.
One thing we know for sure right now is that Jagr has not actually spoken to anyone from Russia, according to our sources (other than his cup of coffee with Avangard's GM during a visit to New York in April). What may be of greater concern to Ranger fans is Brooks's question of what will happen a year from now when Alexei Cherepanov's contract with Omsk expires and he has to choose between a lucrative tax-free offer to re-sign there or a highly limited NHL entry level contract? That could be a real issue now that the KLH have altered their rules to allow them to not only poach NHL players without having to worry about the salary cap, but also to set aside cap concerns in competing for non-NHL players who have received offers from NHL teams.
"The next condition of the rules announced by [KLH Managing Director Vladimir] Shalaev completely causes a sensation," reports Sport-Express.ru, according to a translation provided by reader Laurie Carr. "From now on the League's clubs will have the right to enter a contract on any financial terms with a player who has received a contract offer from the NHL, with the agreement not to be counted against the salary cap. A similar rule will apply to players with active NHL contracts. In other words, Moscow Dynamo can offer any incredible contract to Ovechkin, and Avangard to Jagr."
The KLH has been successful recently in signing several marginal NHL players -- John Grahame is going to Avangard, Chris Simon is going to become their problem instead of ours, one-time Rangers (briefly) Jussi Markkanen and Jason Krog are headed over, and Andrei Zyuzin is the latest to defect back home. And the Rangers lost prospect Ivan Baranka to a Russian team. But beyond that, our connections in Europe tell us that so far, this is all posturing by the KLH -- posturing between the Russian teams themselves as they compete for publicity and players, and between Russia and the NHL as the former tries to stop the latter from siphoning off their best talent (with other European countries ready to join the fray for the same cause).
"Since our relationship with Mr. Bettman's league is still not formalized, we decided to go ahead with this somewhat discourteous behavior," Shalaev said. And this despite NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman insisting that he will continue to maintain courtesy on his side, or at least his version of it. "My goal is to have a cooperative framework for all interested parties, internationally, for the growth and development of the game," he said last week. "Not having a transfer agreement is more of a short-term problem, because it will adjust -- either we’ll get a transfer agreement in some form going forward, or the marketplace will adjust and the players in Europe and Russia who want to come here will either insist on short-term contracts or the right to buy [them] out.
"In the interim, we’re going to try not to throw stones. We’re going to try and work our way through this. We’re going to try and do this right. I did meet recently with [KLH founder] Alexander Medvedev in an attempt to establish a dialog so we can maybe figure each other out a little bit better and understand what our mutual goals and objectives are. And so as I look down the road in the short term, we’re going to try and make things work instead of hunkering down and fighting. Because cooperation is always better than fighting in whatever venue you’re in." Except in hockey, where fighting is an accepted way of solving problems. And unfortunately for Bettman, the KLH has already dropped the gloves.
If the Shoe Fits: So how funny is it that the Pittsburgh Penguins are suddenly whining about the officiating in the Stanley Cup Final, which they trail 2-0 after consecutive shutouts in Detroit? Even funnier is that they're whining about diving -- especially about Johan Franzen, in his first game back after a concussion, diving after taking a glove to the jaw from Gary Roberts. But the funniest of all are the Pens' fan who mocked fans of the Rangers and Flyers for complaining about the officiating in prior series.
We're not going to post a link to their site, but after their holier-than-thou attitude while things were going well for their team, they now have a poorly photoshopped image of Chris Osgood and (I think) Franzen accepting Oscars right up at the top of their whineblog, as well as several other photos and video clips of alleged dives -- they even have a clip that shows several angles of Roberts punching Franzen along with their complaint that Franzen dove! "What really stings about the loss is Osgood's lack of sportsmanship," they write. "His two blatant dives were embarrassing." Maybe so -- I wouldn't put it past Osgood to dive. But that is hardly as embarrassing as the hypocritical whining of fans who already established their stance against complaints about the officiating back when it was all going their way.
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ARBITRATOR TELLS RANGERS: PAY UP
By LARRY BROOKS
CASHING IN: Bobby Holik (left) got the last laugh on the RangersNew York Rangers yesterday when an arbitrator ruled he is owed $3.52 million in signing-bonus payments.
May 29, 2008 -- Perhaps the most dishonorable episode in recent Rangers' history was settled yesterday when arbitrator Richard Bloch ruled that the Blueshirts must indeed pay Bobby Holik and Jed Ortmeyer their respective signing bonuses the team withheld during and after the 2004-05 NHL lockout.
Holik will receive $3.52M, representing the $2M he was owed on July 1, 2005 and the post-rollback $1.52M he was owed on July 1, 2006, under terms of the five-year, $45M contract he signed with the Rangers on July 1, 2002.
Ortmeyer will receive the $150,000 he was owed on July 1, 2005 as part of the three-year, $1.2M contract under which he was working at the time.
And the Rangers, the only team in the NHL to withhold signing bonuses during the lockout, have now received two black eyes in losing this grievance one year after losing a $1M bonus-clause-related grievance to Eric Lindros.
"Jed and I are gratified that the arbitrator found the way he did," Mark Witkin, who represents the current Nashville winger, told The Post yesterday. "We always believed we would prevail in this case, and we're happy that we did."
As originally reported by The Post, the Rangers based their defense on a claim that Witkin and Mike Gillis, who at the time represented Holik and is now the Vancouver GM, both verbally waived their clients' rights to their signing bonuses in the event of a lockout.
But according to one source familiar with the proceedings, the Blueshirts were forced to drop that flimsy and not credible position when cross-examined in the hearing.
The Rangers also withheld a $1M signing bonus due Darius Kasparaitis on July 1, 2005. The defenseman, who was part of the original grievance, reached a settlement with the Rangers last season as part of the agreement that allowed him to play in Russia after having been waived to AHL Hartford.
Even though the Rangers have held the players' money for nearly three (and two) full years, neither Holik nor Ortmeyer - who, by the way, actually played the 2004-05 season for the Blueshirts' AHL Wolf Pack - is eligible to receive interest on the funds, as per the Collective Bargaining Agreement. That hardly seems equitable.
"There is a time value to money," said Witkin, who represents Chris DruryChris Drury . "In the context of labor arbitration when cases are traditionally handled earlier rather than later, interest may not be called for. . . . I think this is something that should be addressed in the next CBA."
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Rangers have outside chance at playing in NHL Winter Classic
BY JOHN DELLAPINA
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
Friday, May 30th 2008, 10:25 AM
Bocchieri/Getty
The Rangers have a shot at playing in the NHL Winter Classic, which would be held at Yankee Stadium.
Duprey/AP
Last season's Classic was in Buffalo.
PITTSBURGH - Down by a goal in the final minute of regulation. Trailing by a run in the bottom of the ninth.
Choose your preferred sports analogy and apply it to the prospects of the NHL staging its next Winter Classic outdoor game at Yankee Stadium on Jan.1.
With desperation setting in, the three parties who must work out the complex logistics associated with the event - the NHL, the Yankees and the Mayor's Office - plan to sit down next week for a Stadium hockey summit.
"This is not dead yet," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told the Daily News yesterday.
Although reports yesterday stated that the NHL will play its 2009 Winter Classic at Wrigley Field - with the Detroit Red Wings visiting the Blackhawks - the preferred option is to have the Rangers play host to the Boston Bruins in what would be the final sporting event at the current Yankee Stadium.
"The only two options at this point are Yankee Stadium and Wrigley Field," Daly said. "Wrigley Field is not done."
But while Yankee Stadium seems the no-brainer choice for a variety of reasons, the one that is most compelling also is the cause of the many headaches that could scuttle the deal. The fact that the Stadium is scheduled to be demolished this winter makes staging a hockey game there a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the NHL and a logistical nightmare.
While NHL officials have performed several site surveys and even reserved the trucks and materials that would be needed to build a rink on the Stadium field, two issues have so far proven to be insurmountable hurdles.
The parking lot adjacent to the Stadium that would house NBC's broadcast trucks is scheduled for demolition Dec.1. And delaying the demolition by a month could run a couple of million dollars in added construction costs in order to have the new park and parking lots that will be built there ready in time for the opening of the new Yankee Stadium in April.
Plus, the Stadium needs to be winterized. If the plumbing couldn't be counted upon to perform in sub-freezing temperatures, for example, thousands of portable bathrooms would have to be set up.
Contrary to what many have assumed, the Yankees have no problem with the final event at the Stadium being a hockey game. Chief operating officer Lonn Trost has been the Yankees' point man for the event. He and Daly have been in frequent conversation over the last several months, speaking as recently as yesterday afternoon.
Said one high-ranking Yankees official: "We're all for it. And I'm sure these issues could be resolved."
A considerable amount of money could be required to resolve some of the issues. While the city, which owns the Stadium, estimates that it would have to spend approximately $2million to cover the cost of extra police for the event and its share of the burden of delaying demolition and construction, the NHL would be on the hook for any other added costs. And those could exceed $10 million.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman also must be willing to pay a different price - angering the owners of the Islanders, who originated the idea for a Yankee Stadium game years ago, and the Devils, who are powerful at the Board of Governors level.
NBC has no interest in having two New York-area teams in the game - a ratings minimizer. But neither the Islanders nor the Devils would react well to being told they must stand aside while the Rangers carry the NHL's New York banner into such a memorable event.
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welcome back J
since youve been gone,
Tyutin helped team russia win their first gold medal ( Worlds ) in 15 years !
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Glen Sather thinking cap with Jaromir Jagr, Sean Avery offers
BY JOHN DELLAPINA
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
Monday, June 2nd 2008, 8:35 PM
Keivom/News
Rangers want to keep Jaromir Jagr, but must decide what to offer him.
DETROIT - The acquisitions of Jaromir Jagr and Sean Avery have been the masterstroke personnel moves of Glen Sather's eight-year tenure as the Rangers' general manager.
Sather now has four weeks, at most, to decide whether either or both players have run their course in New York.
Sather told the Daily News yesterday that while he would like to re-sign both Jagr and Avery, he wasn't about to wreck the Rangers' salary structure to keep them from becoming unrestricted free agents on July 1.
"I think, if you're a player and you really decide you want to play someplace - you like the people, you like the staff, you like the city - you know all the eggs can't be in your basket," Sather said. "They have to be in the team's basket so you can build a winning team."
In Motown to attend the NHL's general managers meeting, Sather said he had spoken "a couple of times" with the agents for both Jagr and Avery. However, he gave no indication that any extensive contract talks had begun.
And while that might not be an immediate problem in Avery's case, Jagr is being pursued by a team that doesn't have to wait until July 1 to talk to him - Omsk-Avangard of the Russian Super League.
Avangard GM Anatoli Bardin acknowledged making an offer to Jagr. While Bardin recently ridiculed reports it was for more than double the Russian League's $7 million individual player cap, NHL sources believe it includes enticing sweeteners such as a promise to sign three players of Jagr's choosing.
Further complicating matters: Jagr's North American agents Pat Brisson and J.P. Barry do not represent his interests in Europe and profess to have no knowledge of the Omsk offer. Brisson spoke briefly with Sather in Detroit and Barry said: "We're waiting for Glen to make an offer."
One of the few loopholes in the NHL collective bargaining agreement would enable the Rangers to sign Jagr, as a player over 35 years old, to a one-year deal in which bonuses could be deferred to count against the following season's salary cap (as the Blueshirts did this past season with Brendan Shanahan). In that way, the Rangers probably could easily get Jagr close to the $8.36 million he made last season while being on the immediate hook for no more than the $4.9 million they paid him - Washington paid the rest as a condition of the 2004 trade that brought him to New York.
Avery would cost significantly less than Jagr. But Sather has so far refused to budge beyond a midseason offer of approximately $2.75 million per year, while Avery is seeking at least $3.5 million per.
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didn't read too much detail on what we just had to pay holik, but how is that handeled? does that come out of the 08-09 cap???
not sure but i think it is applied to the following years cap.
xman?
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Clearly, a difference of opinion still exists between what Sather believes Avery is worth and what Avery believes he is worth. As for whether he is concerned that the abrasive Avery could be wearing out his welcome in the Rangers’ dressing room after two seasons, Sather laughed and replied: “The Avery Factor?
“He’s an interesting guy and that’s going to be an interesting one.
“I respect Sean as a player. I think he’s a dynamic asset to any organization. Just to let him go into free agency is a mistake. But on the other hand, you have to make sure that when you sign anybody you’re not making a mistake for the rest of the team.
“I’m going to try to get him signed. But there is a limit.”
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if he does not sign avery, rangers fans will be putting a price on sather's head.
think theres already one or twon of them
( from The Jed Ortmeyer lovers)
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John Tortorella will not be replacing Tom Renney as head coach of the Rangers after being dismissed as Lightning coach, says John Tortorella, according to John Dellapina reporting in Blueshirts Blog. The rampant rumor that he would step in with Renney moving up to Assistant GM is not true, according to the Stanley Cup winner (pictured left) who coached his first games in New York in 1999 as a late season replacement for John Muckler in the last days of the Neil Smith regime.
In addition to all that Tortorella said to Dellapina, and all that Dellapina added from his own point of view, it is worth adding that Glen Sather has never been known to favor someone outside of his inner circle over someone within it. Indeed, with Tortorella as his sitting head coach when he took over in New York, Sather brought in one of his old buddies, Ron Low, to coach. As the story goes, he couldn't even pronounce Tortorella's name, confusing him with a popular pasta dish. On top of that, Renney certainly has done nothing to warrant replacement at this time, especially since he is working so well with young players he helped draft and develop.
So how different would the playoffs that ended last night have been had the referee in Game 2 of the Ranger-Penguin series been in as good of a position as the referee was last night on the Red Wings' Cup-winning goal? In an identical situation, Martin Straka's apparent equalizer late in that game was whistled dead by a referee who was way off in the corner and couldn't see that the puck was still in play. Still, the referees amazingly gave Pittsburgh one last gasp, calling the most ticky tacky of hooks after allowing everything short of murder in the third period, and then failing to call Ryan Malone for swatting a stick away from a defender in the sequence that led directly to a goal. Hooray for the NHL that the Wings persevered.
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John Tortorella will not be replacing Tom Renney as head coach of the Rangers after being dismissed as Lightning coach, says John Tortorella, according to John Dellapina reporting in Blueshirts Blog. The rampant rumor that he would step in with Renney moving up to Assistant GM is not true, according to the Stanley Cup winner (pictured left) who coached his first games in New York in 1999 as a late season replacement for John Muckler in the last days of the Neil Smith regime.
In addition to all that Tortorella said to Dellapina, and all that Dellapina added from his own point of view, it is worth adding that Glen Sather has never been known to favor someone outside of his inner circle over someone within it. Indeed, with Tortorella as his sitting head coach when he took over in New York, Sather brought in one of his old buddies, Ron Low, to coach. As the story goes, he couldn't even pronounce Tortorella's name, confusing him with a popular pasta dish. On top of that, Renney certainly has done nothing to warrant replacement at this time, especially since he is working so well with young players he helped draft and develop.
So how different would the playoffs that ended last night have been had the referee in Game 2 of the Ranger-Penguin series been in as good of a position as the referee was last night on the Red Wings' Cup-winning goal? In an identical situation, Martin Straka's apparent equalizer late in that game was whistled dead by a referee who was way off in the corner and couldn't see that the puck was still in play. Still, the referees amazingly gave Pittsburgh one last gasp, calling the most ticky tacky of hooks after allowing everything short of murder in the third period, and then failing to call Ryan Malone for swatting a stick away from a defender in the sequence that led directly to a goal. Hooray for the NHL that the Wings persevered.
It seemed like they were giving Pittsburgh every chance to win.
Jaromir Jagr waiting to see if he's still wanted by Rangers
By JOHN DELLAPINA
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
Friday, June 6
Jaromir Jagr is waiting for some love from the Rangers or he might stay in Russia.
Jaromir Jage felt the love from Rangers fans during the playoffs. He has been feeling it from Russia for months, what with Anatoli Bardin, the GM of the Omsk-Avangard team, having courted him heavily.
But what Jagr appears to be waiting for is some sort of comparable affection from Rangers GM Glen Sather. Jagr told the Daily News again Thursday that his first choice is to return to the Rangers for next season but he is not sure whether the feeling is mutual.
"Do I have an offer from Russia? Probably," Jagr said, refusing to discuss details of what Bardin promised him when he flew to New York to meet with him and with Sather on March 30.
But when asked whether it was now a case of seeing whether the Rangers would match the offer or come close, Jagr replied: "No, it's not that at all. I just want to know if I feel any interest from New York. That's what I want to know first.
"I told (the Omsk representatives) I didn't want to talk to anybody before I talked to the Rangers. They know that."
Jagr, 36, just returned to New York from a vacation in Mexico. He hasn't spoken with Sather since May 7, when the Rangers broke for the summer. And he hasn't been in touch with his agents, Pat Brisson and J.P. Barry.
"I didn't talk to them in a while - probably they were concerned with (Sidney) Crosby during the playoffs," Jagr said, referring to another of his agents' high-profile clients. "Probably, they're going to talk to Glen right away now."
Still, rumors have been flying about where Jagr will play next season - his contract expires June 30 - and how much Omsk-Avangard offered him. Bardin maintains that reports of a Russian Super League salary cap-busting offer in excess of $12 million per season were greatly exaggerated.
Jagr, however, insists that money is not the issue. He mentioned how much his girlfriend, Czech-born model Inna Puhajkova, loves New York.
"She doesn't say anything," Jagr cracked. But then he conceded: "Probably, she wants to stay here."
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June 8, 2008 -- ALL RIGHT. Let's get this offseason started. The Red Wings won the Stanley Cup because of their skilled forwards; because of their structure; because Chris Osgood - the most successful IslandersNew York Islanders goaltender of the Charles Wang Era - redefined his career; and perhaps most importantly . . . all together now . . . because of the way their defense moved the puck without sacrificing anything on the other end.
So, tell me: How can the RangersNew York Rangers spend the $4.5-5M it will surely take to land Pittsburgh's heavy-hitting impending free agent defenseman Brooks Orpik following his breakout tournament, when it likely will cost around the same $5M per to re-sign Michal RozsivalMichal Rozsival ?
Yes, Rozsival had a disappointing season. But factor in mitigating circumstances - not excuses - that featured a wonky knee, an insecure response to playing out his contract and collateral concern over partner and friend Marek Malik's downward spiral out of the lineup. Now weigh those against the upside Rozsival displayed the previous two seasons, and most notably in the 2007 playoffs. Is Glen Sather not wiser to pony up for No. 3 rather than get into a bidding war for Orpik . . . if he even hits the market, that is?
The Rangers, we're told, are among a select number of teams interested in former Penguins defenseman Josef Melichar, who played this season in the Swedish Elite League. A physical-oriented defenseman who will turn 30 in January, Melichar probably can be signed for approximately $1M.
So, are the Blueshirts better off with a combined $6M investment in Rozsival and projected third-pair defenseman Melichar, or with a combined $6.5-7M investment in Orpik and, say, impending Montreal free agent Mark Streit, who would play on the third pair and on the vacated power-play point?
Up front, are the Rangers more likely to win the Stanley Cup within the next couple of years if they re-sign Jaromir Jagr for a base of approximately $5M, or if they instead the cut the cord and invest the $7M per for which Marian Hossa, who in his own breakout postseason, was Pittsburgh's most consistently dangerous forward?
Are the Rangers more formidable with Hossa on the first unit playing with Scott Gomez and Chris Drury, and Brandon Dubinsky lined up as second and third pivots? Or are they better with Dubinsky playing with Jagr while Gomez seeks a compatible second-line winger and Drury is again dispatched to the third line? There is no guarantee Hossa will sign with the Blueshirts if he gets to July 1, but we have heard nothing to suggest he would not.
The cap is going to be approximately $56M. If Christian Backman's $2.3M is subtracted from the 2008-09 roster via waivers or a trade, the Rangers should have the space to absorb a fourth $7M commitment.
After plugging in Hossa at $7M, Rozsival at $5M and Melichar at $1M, then subtracting Backman, we have the Rangers at approximately $44.4M, without a back-up goaltender; sixth and seventh defensemen; and without Sean Avery, Brendan Shanahan and Martin Straka.
The puck is in Sather's end of the ice. And the clock is ticking.
*
The NHL's two most glittering U.S.-based teams meet in the Cup final and the ratings skyrocket. Who would have guessed? Not Tiger Woods. Asked on Monday who would win the Cup, Woods said, "I don't really care. I don't think anyone watches hockey anymore, do they?"
We have been told not to be surprised if such a Group II offer sheet is extended to Nigel Dawes, who is owed a $545,000 qualifier from the Rangers.
Why are we getting this feeling that the longer the Rangers take to send out their season-ticket invoices, the more painful they're going to be to open?
Finally, if the NHL has a sense of humor, won't Gary Bettman invite Woods to drop the puck at the Red Wings' banner-raising home opener next season? And wouldn't Woods be wise to accept the invitation?
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Which Of The Follwowing Trades ( in chronological order ) is the worst The NY Rangers have made in the last 30 + years ?
_____ Ratelle, Park, Middleton and Zannussi for Espo , Vadnais, & Hodge
_____ Ridley & Miller for Carpenter , Carpenter & Laidlaw for Dionne
_____ Zubov & Nedved for Robitaille & Samuelsson
_____ Norstrom, Laperierre , Ferrarro, et al , for Kurri , McSorley & Churla
_____ Sundstrom, Cloutier, the 2000#1 , for the 1999 # 1 used to draft Brendl
_____ Svarad and the 1999 #11 overall for Hlavac and tyhe 1999 # 9 overall
_____ Johnson , Brendl and Hlavac for Lindros
_____ Other
on a sidenote i wanted to ask the regulars here who was attending what show(s).? Pre- parties ? After show parties ? ( BB Kings anyone ? )
I may have a few extra 10C as well as non 10C tickets to attend some of these shows- so if you feel you may be interested post here or contact me via PM service.
Also - my email is Bathgate66@aol.com .
my mem # is 205xxx .
I have 1 ticket to :
Camden 1 & 2
( with hotel )
MSG 1 & 2
Mansfield 1 & 2
( with hotel )
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I'd vote for the Zubov one. As good a player as Park was, they did make that run to the cup finals in 1979 with Esposito. Of course Esposito was running the show when the Rangers became a disaster in 1989. But of course if he doesn't get fired or suceeds to a degree to keep his job, maybe the Rangers never hire Neil Smith.
Reading 2004
Albany 2006 Camden 2006 E. Rutherford 2, 2006 Inglewood 2006,
Chicago 2007
Camden 2008 MSG 2008 MSG 2008 Hartford 2008.
Seattle 2009 Seattle 2009 Philadelphia 2009,Philadelphia 2009 Philadelphia 2009
Hartford 2010 MSG 2010 MSG 2010
Toronto 2011,Toronto 2011
Wrigley Field 2013 Brooklyn 2013 Brooklyn 2013 Philadelphia 2, 2013
Philadelphia 1, 2016 Philadelphia 2 2016 New York 2016 New York 2016 Fenway 1, 2016 Fenway 2, 2018 MSG 2022 St. Paul, 1, St. Paul 2 2023 MSG 2024, MSG 2024 Philadelphia 2024
"I play good, hard-nosed basketball.
Things happen in the game. Nothing you
can do. I don't go and say,
"I'm gonna beat this guy up."
Which Of The Follwowing Trades ( in chronological order ) is the worst The NY Rangers have made in the last 30 + years ?
_____ Ratelle, Park, Middleton and Zannussi for Espo , Vadnais, & Hodge
_____ Ridley & Miller for Carpenter , Carpenter & Laidlaw for Dionne
_____ Zubov & Nedved for Robitaille & Samuelsson
_____ Norstrom, Laperierre , Ferrarro, et al , for Kurri , McSorley & Churla
_____ Sundstrom, Cloutier, the 2000#1 , for the 1999 # 1 used to draft Brendl
_____ Svarad and the 1999 #11 overall for Hlavac and tyhe 1999 # 9 overall
_____ Johnson , Brendl and Hlavac for Lindros
_____ Other
on a sidenote i wanted to ask the regulars here who was attending what show(s).? Pre- parties ? After show parties ? ( BB Kings anyone ? )
I may have a few extra 10C as well as non 10C tickets to attend some of these shows- so if you feel you may be interested post here or contact me via PM service.
Also - my email is Bathgate66@aol.com .
my mem # is 205xxx .
I have 1 ticket to :
Camden 1 & 2
( with hotel )
MSG 1 & 2
Mansfield 1 & 2
( with hotel )
What about Doug Weight to the Oil for Esa Tikanen? Didn't Weight play 8 season for the Oil and captain the team?
Van 92.07.21 / Van 98.07.19 / Sea 98.07.22 / Tor 98.08.22 / Sea 00.11.06 / Van 03.05.30/ Van 05.09.02/ Gorge 06.07.22 & 23 / EV Van 08.04.02 / Tor 09.08.21 / Sea 09.09.21 & 22 / Van 09.09.25 / Van 11.09.25 / Van 13.12.04 / Pem 16.07.17 / Sea 18.08.10
Comments
SWEET
the question is
how the fuck can we get to watch this on television ?
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Move to Canada? The good games are coming up.
If Jaromir Jagr is intent on remaining a Ranger for at least one more season, as his agent told Larry Brooks (see yesterday's New York Post) -- and the truth is that we're still not convinced that he will return -- then perhaps we ought to be looking beyond this season's free agent crop to next year's. If we assume that a couple of dominoes will fall in line behind Jagr (dominoes named Straka and Rozsival), and if we assume that Sean Avery and the Rangers will figure out that they have no better match for each other than each other, then there is really no room for a marquee free agent, except perhaps on defense where a power play quarterback and crease clearer are still chronic shortcomings.
Should this scenario unfold (and you probably have to add Brendan Shanahan back into the mix for one more season, making next year's Rangers almost identical to last year's), then the 2009 free agent market is what we should really be working toward to find high-scoring wingers, the one thing the Rangers have not been able to acquire in the draft -- there are not nearly enough on this year's ultra-thin menu, especially up front. Granted that some -- many -- of these players will be re-signed by their current teams before they hit the open market, here are the top names currently slated for unrestricted free agency a year from now:
The most important area to consider is on the wing, as the Rangers will remain stocked down the middle a year from now with Scott Gomez, Chris Drury, and Brandon Dubinsky. Candidates in what looks like the deepest positional pool for 2009-10 currently include Marian Gaborik, Martin Havlat, Henrik Zetterberg, Alex Tanguay, Daniel Sedin, Brian Gionta, Maxim Afinogenov, Ales Kotalik, Jere Lehtinen, Erik Cole, and a half dozen or so familiar names we don't want because most are aging and fading fast, some of whom have already been in and out of New York (Kovalev, Sykora, Dvorak -- the first two had good seasons, but does anyone doubt how fast they'd fade if they came here in 2009?).
At center, there is Vincent Lecavalier, Henrik Sedin, Mike Cammalleri, Nik Antropov, Johan Franzen, Shawn Horcoff, Mike Comrie, Tim Connolly, and another half dozen aging veterans, plus a half dozen defensive specialists. Even on defense, next year's list has some intriguing names, though most would only be short-term placeholders until (if) Bobby Sanguinetti is ready to step up: Scott Niedermayer, Sergei Zubov, Mattias Ohlund, Filip Kuba, Derek Morris, Nick Boynton, and Brendan Witt. The most intriguing name, Mike Komisarek, cannot possibly reach free agency, although the way Montreal handled its goaltending situation this spring, one can suppose that anything's possible up there.
In other Ranger news, Fedor Tyutin proved to be the one out of four Rangers in the World Championship to bring home the gold in Russia's win over Canada, with Tyutin assisting on the goal that began Russia's third period comeback from two goals down (see NYR.com). Henrik Lundqvist complained of burn-out after Sweden was ousted by Canada in the semifinals (story here), and Canadian coach Pat Burns boasted about instructing his players to go high on Lundqvist, although he also granted that as a Devils coach his team was only able to beat Lundqvist twice in thirteen tries this season (story here). A Globe and Mail analysis that postulates that coaches control special teams and defense but not five-on-five goal scoring has the Rangers' staff finishing sixth in the league despite their low-ranked power play.
Finally, after taking a lot of grief about our complaints over the officiating in the Rangers' second round series against Pittsburgh, it's interesting to note that complaints have not diminished even though the Rangers and Ranger fans are no longer part of the mix -- NHL commissioner Gary Bettman actually had to answer questions posed by the Denver Post about the league rooting for a Detroit-Pittsburgh final, and Spector at FoxSports.com analyzed Flyer fans' complaints of league bias toward Pittsburgh. Spector is going to have to update his comments to include more than just the number of penalty calls for and against if he, like us, is left wondering how the Pens could score a goal after checking the stick out of the goalie's hands behind the net without penalty and then get a power play for a nearly identical play behind their own net less than 90 seconds later.
The Times's Slap Shot blog seems to think checking the stick out of a goalie's hands is not a penalty in their long examination of the history of claims that the NHL influences games on purpose -- they seems to be making the point that the fix is not in, despite an eye-opening list of incidents that go way back, and they don't seem to make the connection that the only alternative explanation to bias is gross unrelenting endemic incompetence. I know it's a huge stretch to imagine a conspiracy that so many people have to be part of -- though it's not a stretch for me, having been told by someone who was in the room that the NHL asked its officials to make sure the Pens would not be adversely affected by the loss of Mario Lemieux in the 1992 playoffs after he was slashed by Adam Graves.
But it's just as huge of a stretch to see such massive incompetence continue year after year after year without anyone ever looking across the street to the NFL for the simplest of answers: just enforce the damn rules as they are written! That the NHL steadfastly refuses to take such an easy and sensible course of action leaves only two possibilities, and neither of them are flattering to the people making the decisions.
Please scroll down to the next story to read about Blueshirt Bulletin's summer subscription giveaway.
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thanx for postin,,
should be interesting lol
we will be talking soon enough in the free agent thread and here
Blueshirt Bulletin
May 21, 2008
Jags a Dynamo? [Updated]
Glen Sather may have his work cut out for him if there is any truth to a rumor that Jaromir Jagr has been offered upwards of $12 million to play in Russia for Moscow Dynamo next season. Avangard Omsk, Jagr's former Russian club, have already hinted that they were considering offering him the franchise player cap of $7 million. Now, according to James Mirtle in his Globe and Mail blog, Alexander Medvedev, head of Russia's new Kontinental Hockey League, wants to waive some of the KHL's new rules in order to better compete for NHLers and other top players from Europe. So even as North American wire services parrot a New York Post report that Jagr is set to start negotiations with the Rangers, these new rumors -- which Mirtle says are being spread among NHL players themselves -- put him well out of the Rangers' salary range.
UPDATE: The rumor of Moscow Dynamo's offer to Jagr was made public by Georges Laraque, speaking on an Edmonton radio station in late April (thanks to James Mirtle for passing along that information, which was first reported by someone at HF Boards). The timing of that radio appearance was interesting -- Laraque's Penguins were in the midst of a playoff series against Jagr's Rangers at that moment. You have to wonder about a guy publicizing this kind of rumor about his then-current playoff opponent's top player. The Prague Post has a review of the Jagr situation.
Posted by Dubi on May 21, 2008 at 11:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (63)
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LOL !
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RANGER GAME IN BRONX ON THIN ICE
By LARRY BROOKS
May 24, 2008 -- The prospect of holding the NHL Winter Classic at Yankee Stadium on Jan. 1, 2009 is in the bottom of the ninth inning, with the YankeesNew York Yankees attempting to convince the city that a pair of major concerns can be overcome so the RangersNew York Rangers can play an outdoor game in The Bronx before the World's Most Famous Stadium closes its doors.
"We're negotiating with the city on two issues that need to be resolved within the next few days in order for us to be able to go forward with the NHL," Yankees' COO Lonn Trost told The Post last night. "We want to have the game here and the NHL wants to have the game here, so now it's a matter of us settling these concerns."
The NHL needs to make commitment to the Winter Classic's host city within the next week or two. If the Rangers are awarded the game, it is believed they would meet the Bruins on New Year's Day in what would be the first of a home-and-home, with the return at Fenway on a year to be named later.
The IslandersNew York Islanders and Devils have lobbied the league to be named as the Rangers' opponent, but NBC, which will televise the match, has no interest in a game between teams representing the same market.
If the Yankees' issues with the city cannot be resolved, Wrigley Field in Chicago is believed the second choice to host the 2009 outdoor game.
"The first issue concerns Lot 14, the lot directly across the street from the Stadium that's now the players' lot," Trost said. "We have an agreement to turn that lot over to the city on Dec. 1 so they can begin construction on that site for what will be a two-level underground parking facility that's going to be covered by a ballfield for use by neighborhood."
The city's second concern is one that NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman referred to in a press conference last week as, "winterization."
"There's some concern that there would be water damage to the Stadium if the pipes burst, with use in the winter," Trost said. "But we don't believe that's a legitimate danger."
larry.brooks@nypost.com
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Jaromir Jagr has been offered $12 million by Dynamo Moscow according to rumors spread by Georges Laraque. Avangard Omsk said they could offer Jagr up to $7 million (before the KLH changed its rules to remove the salary cap on NHL players). Larry Brooks of the New York Post quoted an agent who said a Russian team offered one of his clients (not Jagr) an outrageous sum that would make a commensurate offer to Jagr astronomical.
Those are some of the bullets entering the chamber of the game of Russian roulette the Rangers appear to be in as they work to re-sign their captain and leading scorer, which Brooks says would be along the lines of his prior contract -- a base salary roughly equal to what the Rangers paid him the past three years (close to $5 million), plus bonuses that would allow him to recoup the amount Washington had been picking up (another $3 million, which the Rangers could then defer to the following year's cap calculation if they had to). But how much this Russian league intrigue comes to bear still remains open to speculation.
One thing we know for sure right now is that Jagr has not actually spoken to anyone from Russia, according to our sources (other than his cup of coffee with Avangard's GM during a visit to New York in April). What may be of greater concern to Ranger fans is Brooks's question of what will happen a year from now when Alexei Cherepanov's contract with Omsk expires and he has to choose between a lucrative tax-free offer to re-sign there or a highly limited NHL entry level contract? That could be a real issue now that the KLH have altered their rules to allow them to not only poach NHL players without having to worry about the salary cap, but also to set aside cap concerns in competing for non-NHL players who have received offers from NHL teams.
"The next condition of the rules announced by [KLH Managing Director Vladimir] Shalaev completely causes a sensation," reports Sport-Express.ru, according to a translation provided by reader Laurie Carr. "From now on the League's clubs will have the right to enter a contract on any financial terms with a player who has received a contract offer from the NHL, with the agreement not to be counted against the salary cap. A similar rule will apply to players with active NHL contracts. In other words, Moscow Dynamo can offer any incredible contract to Ovechkin, and Avangard to Jagr."
The KLH has been successful recently in signing several marginal NHL players -- John Grahame is going to Avangard, Chris Simon is going to become their problem instead of ours, one-time Rangers (briefly) Jussi Markkanen and Jason Krog are headed over, and Andrei Zyuzin is the latest to defect back home. And the Rangers lost prospect Ivan Baranka to a Russian team. But beyond that, our connections in Europe tell us that so far, this is all posturing by the KLH -- posturing between the Russian teams themselves as they compete for publicity and players, and between Russia and the NHL as the former tries to stop the latter from siphoning off their best talent (with other European countries ready to join the fray for the same cause).
"Since our relationship with Mr. Bettman's league is still not formalized, we decided to go ahead with this somewhat discourteous behavior," Shalaev said. And this despite NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman insisting that he will continue to maintain courtesy on his side, or at least his version of it. "My goal is to have a cooperative framework for all interested parties, internationally, for the growth and development of the game," he said last week. "Not having a transfer agreement is more of a short-term problem, because it will adjust -- either we’ll get a transfer agreement in some form going forward, or the marketplace will adjust and the players in Europe and Russia who want to come here will either insist on short-term contracts or the right to buy [them] out.
"In the interim, we’re going to try not to throw stones. We’re going to try and work our way through this. We’re going to try and do this right. I did meet recently with [KLH founder] Alexander Medvedev in an attempt to establish a dialog so we can maybe figure each other out a little bit better and understand what our mutual goals and objectives are. And so as I look down the road in the short term, we’re going to try and make things work instead of hunkering down and fighting. Because cooperation is always better than fighting in whatever venue you’re in." Except in hockey, where fighting is an accepted way of solving problems. And unfortunately for Bettman, the KLH has already dropped the gloves.
If the Shoe Fits: So how funny is it that the Pittsburgh Penguins are suddenly whining about the officiating in the Stanley Cup Final, which they trail 2-0 after consecutive shutouts in Detroit? Even funnier is that they're whining about diving -- especially about Johan Franzen, in his first game back after a concussion, diving after taking a glove to the jaw from Gary Roberts. But the funniest of all are the Pens' fan who mocked fans of the Rangers and Flyers for complaining about the officiating in prior series.
We're not going to post a link to their site, but after their holier-than-thou attitude while things were going well for their team, they now have a poorly photoshopped image of Chris Osgood and (I think) Franzen accepting Oscars right up at the top of their whineblog, as well as several other photos and video clips of alleged dives -- they even have a clip that shows several angles of Roberts punching Franzen along with their complaint that Franzen dove! "What really stings about the loss is Osgood's lack of sportsmanship," they write. "His two blatant dives were embarrassing." Maybe so -- I wouldn't put it past Osgood to dive. But that is hardly as embarrassing as the hypocritical whining of fans who already established their stance against complaints about the officiating back when it was all going their way.
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how long ago was that?
i can understand jed ortmeyer- he was here last season.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/05292008/sports/rangers/arbitrator_tells_rangers__pay_up_112945.htm
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Rangers have outside chance at playing in NHL Winter Classic
BY JOHN DELLAPINA
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
Friday, May 30th 2008, 10:25 AM
Bocchieri/Getty
The Rangers have a shot at playing in the NHL Winter Classic, which would be held at Yankee Stadium.
Duprey/AP
Last season's Classic was in Buffalo.
PITTSBURGH - Down by a goal in the final minute of regulation. Trailing by a run in the bottom of the ninth.
Choose your preferred sports analogy and apply it to the prospects of the NHL staging its next Winter Classic outdoor game at Yankee Stadium on Jan.1.
With desperation setting in, the three parties who must work out the complex logistics associated with the event - the NHL, the Yankees and the Mayor's Office - plan to sit down next week for a Stadium hockey summit.
"This is not dead yet," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told the Daily News yesterday.
Although reports yesterday stated that the NHL will play its 2009 Winter Classic at Wrigley Field - with the Detroit Red Wings visiting the Blackhawks - the preferred option is to have the Rangers play host to the Boston Bruins in what would be the final sporting event at the current Yankee Stadium.
"The only two options at this point are Yankee Stadium and Wrigley Field," Daly said. "Wrigley Field is not done."
But while Yankee Stadium seems the no-brainer choice for a variety of reasons, the one that is most compelling also is the cause of the many headaches that could scuttle the deal. The fact that the Stadium is scheduled to be demolished this winter makes staging a hockey game there a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the NHL and a logistical nightmare.
While NHL officials have performed several site surveys and even reserved the trucks and materials that would be needed to build a rink on the Stadium field, two issues have so far proven to be insurmountable hurdles.
The parking lot adjacent to the Stadium that would house NBC's broadcast trucks is scheduled for demolition Dec.1. And delaying the demolition by a month could run a couple of million dollars in added construction costs in order to have the new park and parking lots that will be built there ready in time for the opening of the new Yankee Stadium in April.
Plus, the Stadium needs to be winterized. If the plumbing couldn't be counted upon to perform in sub-freezing temperatures, for example, thousands of portable bathrooms would have to be set up.
Contrary to what many have assumed, the Yankees have no problem with the final event at the Stadium being a hockey game. Chief operating officer Lonn Trost has been the Yankees' point man for the event. He and Daly have been in frequent conversation over the last several months, speaking as recently as yesterday afternoon.
Said one high-ranking Yankees official: "We're all for it. And I'm sure these issues could be resolved."
A considerable amount of money could be required to resolve some of the issues. While the city, which owns the Stadium, estimates that it would have to spend approximately $2million to cover the cost of extra police for the event and its share of the burden of delaying demolition and construction, the NHL would be on the hook for any other added costs. And those could exceed $10 million.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman also must be willing to pay a different price - angering the owners of the Islanders, who originated the idea for a Yankee Stadium game years ago, and the Devils, who are powerful at the Board of Governors level.
NBC has no interest in having two New York-area teams in the game - a ratings minimizer. But neither the Islanders nor the Devils would react well to being told they must stand aside while the Rangers carry the NHL's New York banner into such a memorable event.
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since youve been gone,
Tyutin helped team russia win their first gold medal ( Worlds ) in 15 years !
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that penguin thread has been pretty quiet
:eek:
also- something in me tells me we should make sure Avery doesnt get away- then worry about the # 1 centerman or right wing,.
NY Daily News- Dellapina
Glen Sather thinking cap with Jaromir Jagr, Sean Avery offers
BY JOHN DELLAPINA
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
Monday, June 2nd 2008, 8:35 PM
Keivom/News
Rangers want to keep Jaromir Jagr, but must decide what to offer him.
DETROIT - The acquisitions of Jaromir Jagr and Sean Avery have been the masterstroke personnel moves of Glen Sather's eight-year tenure as the Rangers' general manager.
Sather now has four weeks, at most, to decide whether either or both players have run their course in New York.
Sather told the Daily News yesterday that while he would like to re-sign both Jagr and Avery, he wasn't about to wreck the Rangers' salary structure to keep them from becoming unrestricted free agents on July 1.
"I think, if you're a player and you really decide you want to play someplace - you like the people, you like the staff, you like the city - you know all the eggs can't be in your basket," Sather said. "They have to be in the team's basket so you can build a winning team."
In Motown to attend the NHL's general managers meeting, Sather said he had spoken "a couple of times" with the agents for both Jagr and Avery. However, he gave no indication that any extensive contract talks had begun.
And while that might not be an immediate problem in Avery's case, Jagr is being pursued by a team that doesn't have to wait until July 1 to talk to him - Omsk-Avangard of the Russian Super League.
Avangard GM Anatoli Bardin acknowledged making an offer to Jagr. While Bardin recently ridiculed reports it was for more than double the Russian League's $7 million individual player cap, NHL sources believe it includes enticing sweeteners such as a promise to sign three players of Jagr's choosing.
Further complicating matters: Jagr's North American agents Pat Brisson and J.P. Barry do not represent his interests in Europe and profess to have no knowledge of the Omsk offer. Brisson spoke briefly with Sather in Detroit and Barry said: "We're waiting for Glen to make an offer."
One of the few loopholes in the NHL collective bargaining agreement would enable the Rangers to sign Jagr, as a player over 35 years old, to a one-year deal in which bonuses could be deferred to count against the following season's salary cap (as the Blueshirts did this past season with Brendan Shanahan). In that way, the Rangers probably could easily get Jagr close to the $8.36 million he made last season while being on the immediate hook for no more than the $4.9 million they paid him - Washington paid the rest as a condition of the 2004 trade that brought him to New York.
Avery would cost significantly less than Jagr. But Sather has so far refused to budge beyond a midseason offer of approximately $2.75 million per year, while Avery is seeking at least $3.5 million per.
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not sure but i think it is applied to the following years cap.
xman?
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oh boy,,this could get ugly
think theres already one or twon of them
( from The Jed Ortmeyer lovers)
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my brother has 1 since he took over
He'll look good in Orange and Black
The ONLY thing better than a glass of beer is tea with Miss McGill
A protuberance of flesh above the waistband of a tight pair of trousers
yeah, jed is one, and i'd have to say nylander is the other.
In addition to all that Tortorella said to Dellapina, and all that Dellapina added from his own point of view, it is worth adding that Glen Sather has never been known to favor someone outside of his inner circle over someone within it. Indeed, with Tortorella as his sitting head coach when he took over in New York, Sather brought in one of his old buddies, Ron Low, to coach. As the story goes, he couldn't even pronounce Tortorella's name, confusing him with a popular pasta dish. On top of that, Renney certainly has done nothing to warrant replacement at this time, especially since he is working so well with young players he helped draft and develop.
So how different would the playoffs that ended last night have been had the referee in Game 2 of the Ranger-Penguin series been in as good of a position as the referee was last night on the Red Wings' Cup-winning goal? In an identical situation, Martin Straka's apparent equalizer late in that game was whistled dead by a referee who was way off in the corner and couldn't see that the puck was still in play. Still, the referees amazingly gave Pittsburgh one last gasp, calling the most ticky tacky of hooks after allowing everything short of murder in the third period, and then failing to call Ryan Malone for swatting a stick away from a defender in the sequence that led directly to a goal. Hooray for the NHL that the Wings persevered.
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It seemed like they were giving Pittsburgh every chance to win.
Jaromir Jagr waiting to see if he's still wanted by Rangers
By JOHN DELLAPINA
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
Friday, June 6
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June 8, 2008 -- ALL RIGHT. Let's get this offseason started. The Red Wings won the Stanley Cup because of their skilled forwards; because of their structure; because Chris Osgood - the most successful IslandersNew York Islanders goaltender of the Charles Wang Era - redefined his career; and perhaps most importantly . . . all together now . . . because of the way their defense moved the puck without sacrificing anything on the other end.
So, tell me: How can the RangersNew York Rangers spend the $4.5-5M it will surely take to land Pittsburgh's heavy-hitting impending free agent defenseman Brooks Orpik following his breakout tournament, when it likely will cost around the same $5M per to re-sign Michal RozsivalMichal Rozsival ?
Yes, Rozsival had a disappointing season. But factor in mitigating circumstances - not excuses - that featured a wonky knee, an insecure response to playing out his contract and collateral concern over partner and friend Marek Malik's downward spiral out of the lineup. Now weigh those against the upside Rozsival displayed the previous two seasons, and most notably in the 2007 playoffs. Is Glen Sather not wiser to pony up for No. 3 rather than get into a bidding war for Orpik . . . if he even hits the market, that is?
The Rangers, we're told, are among a select number of teams interested in former Penguins defenseman Josef Melichar, who played this season in the Swedish Elite League. A physical-oriented defenseman who will turn 30 in January, Melichar probably can be signed for approximately $1M.
So, are the Blueshirts better off with a combined $6M investment in Rozsival and projected third-pair defenseman Melichar, or with a combined $6.5-7M investment in Orpik and, say, impending Montreal free agent Mark Streit, who would play on the third pair and on the vacated power-play point?
Up front, are the Rangers more likely to win the Stanley Cup within the next couple of years if they re-sign Jaromir Jagr for a base of approximately $5M, or if they instead the cut the cord and invest the $7M per for which Marian Hossa, who in his own breakout postseason, was Pittsburgh's most consistently dangerous forward?
Are the Rangers more formidable with Hossa on the first unit playing with Scott Gomez and Chris Drury, and Brandon Dubinsky lined up as second and third pivots? Or are they better with Dubinsky playing with Jagr while Gomez seeks a compatible second-line winger and Drury is again dispatched to the third line? There is no guarantee Hossa will sign with the Blueshirts if he gets to July 1, but we have heard nothing to suggest he would not.
The cap is going to be approximately $56M. If Christian Backman's $2.3M is subtracted from the 2008-09 roster via waivers or a trade, the Rangers should have the space to absorb a fourth $7M commitment.
After plugging in Hossa at $7M, Rozsival at $5M and Melichar at $1M, then subtracting Backman, we have the Rangers at approximately $44.4M, without a back-up goaltender; sixth and seventh defensemen; and without Sean Avery, Brendan Shanahan and Martin Straka.
The puck is in Sather's end of the ice. And the clock is ticking.
*
The NHL's two most glittering U.S.-based teams meet in the Cup final and the ratings skyrocket. Who would have guessed? Not Tiger Woods. Asked on Monday who would win the Cup, Woods said, "I don't really care. I don't think anyone watches hockey anymore, do they?"
We have been told not to be surprised if such a Group II offer sheet is extended to Nigel Dawes, who is owed a $545,000 qualifier from the Rangers.
Why are we getting this feeling that the longer the Rangers take to send out their season-ticket invoices, the more painful they're going to be to open?
Finally, if the NHL has a sense of humor, won't Gary Bettman invite Woods to drop the puck at the Red Wings' banner-raising home opener next season? And wouldn't Woods be wise to accept the invitation?
larry.brooks@nypost.com
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Which Of The Follwowing Trades ( in chronological order ) is the worst The NY Rangers have made in the last 30 + years ?
_____ Ratelle, Park, Middleton and Zannussi for Espo , Vadnais, & Hodge
_____ Ridley & Miller for Carpenter , Carpenter & Laidlaw for Dionne
_____ Zubov & Nedved for Robitaille & Samuelsson
_____ Norstrom, Laperierre , Ferrarro, et al , for Kurri , McSorley & Churla
_____ Sundstrom, Cloutier, the 2000#1 , for the 1999 # 1 used to draft Brendl
_____ Svarad and the 1999 #11 overall for Hlavac and tyhe 1999 # 9 overall
_____ Johnson , Brendl and Hlavac for Lindros
_____ Other
on a sidenote i wanted to ask the regulars here who was attending what show(s).? Pre- parties ? After show parties ? ( BB Kings anyone ? )
I may have a few extra 10C as well as non 10C tickets to attend some of these shows- so if you feel you may be interested post here or contact me via PM service.
Also - my email is Bathgate66@aol.com .
my mem # is 205xxx .
I have 1 ticket to :
Camden 1 & 2
( with hotel )
MSG 1 & 2
Mansfield 1 & 2
( with hotel )
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Albany 2006 Camden 2006 E. Rutherford 2, 2006 Inglewood 2006,
Chicago 2007
Camden 2008 MSG 2008 MSG 2008 Hartford 2008.
Seattle 2009 Seattle 2009 Philadelphia 2009,Philadelphia 2009 Philadelphia 2009
Hartford 2010 MSG 2010 MSG 2010
Toronto 2011,Toronto 2011
Wrigley Field 2013 Brooklyn 2013 Brooklyn 2013 Philadelphia 2, 2013
Philadelphia 1, 2016 Philadelphia 2 2016 New York 2016 New York 2016 Fenway 1, 2016
Fenway 2, 2018
MSG 2022
St. Paul, 1, St. Paul 2 2023
MSG 2024, MSG 2024
Philadelphia 2024
"I play good, hard-nosed basketball.
Things happen in the game. Nothing you
can do. I don't go and say,
"I'm gonna beat this guy up."
What about Doug Weight to the Oil for Esa Tikanen?