B R O A D W A Y***B L U E S H I R T S

petrocs

Bathgate66 wrote:

http://fanballoting.nhl.com/leaders

it looks like only montreal and pittsburgh fans are utilizing the multiple voting trends,... maybe some of you NYR fans can pony up and start voting?

Jeff Carter should be leading all voting

Bathgate66

ugh im still hungover from that debacle.

this team looks lost right now, and we only lost 2 in a row ( so far ) .

even poor cory potter took a -1 rating ( mostly because his being paired with kalininin )in his NHL debut.

xavier mcdaniel

I find it hard to believe to think the Rangers played well. Ok, obviously it was better than Montreal and Florida but that was bad, especially the "power play". And it would be nice to score first on home ice, I think the only they've done that in the last month was Nov. 24 against Phoenix.

xavier mcdaniel

nice win tonight, must be a miracle to get a shorthanded and a power play goal in the same game let alone the same period..

Bathgate66

why are the posts on the 2 forums all outta whack?

im confused,...

Bathgate66

Are Two Units Really Better Than One?


The top power plays in the NHL contribute a goal per game on average to their teams, net of shorthanded goals allowed. Even bad power plays are worth a goal every other game to their teams. It takes the Rangers' power play three games to contribute one net goal, an average that is second worst in the league. To look at it another way, good power play teams like San Jose are likely to outscore the Rangers' power play 3-1 on average, while average power plays, like the one the Rangers will be up against in Anaheim tonight, are likely to outscore the Rangers 2-1.

That's a huge hole for a low-scoring team like the Rangers to put themselves in. Their league-leading penalty killing closes that gap significantly -- the ratios are reversed in shorthanded situations, with the Rangers allowing one power play every three games, while the worst units in the league allow one each game, giving the Rangers' feeble power play a decent shot at outscoring those league-worst penalty killers and maybe equaling the best power plays. But in the long run, one cannot expect to win games with penalty killing -- you have to win games on the power play.

We've broken the potential problem down to three possibilities -- failure to execute a good power play system, failure to devise a good power play system, or failure to provide proper power play personnel. The Rangers think they have a good system that is not properly executed by the players (the players believe that too, not just the coaching staff). We think the problem lies with a system that too predictably funnels the puck to the points, which makes itself vulnerable to attacks against the point, which lead to shorthanded changes, to the tune of a league-worst ten shorthanded goals against through 33 games.

But what about the personnel? Is there a problem there? We looked at the power play ice time the Rangers' power play units get, and we think we see a reflection in that statistic of a weakness. Most teams -- certainly those with the best power plays -- have a point man who quarterbacks the power play and/or a go-to point producer among the forwards who play almost all of each two-minute power play. The Rangers not only have no players on their power play units who log that kind of dominant ice time, they have few players who ever logged that kind of ice time with their former teams -- and those who did (Wade Redden, Markus Naslund, and Paul Mara) are three years removed from the last time they did it.

This season, Redden is 28th among defensemen in power play ice time, up from 40th last season. Scott Gomez is 31st among forwards, about equal to his 32nd place finish last year and up from 51st place in his last season as a Devil. Chris Drury's current 53rd ranking is roughly the same as each of the prior three seasons, although it is up a little. In other words, the Rangers don't have anyone who is out there for most if not all of every power play. Certainly not the way they did in 2005-06 when Jaromir Jagr was third in the league among forwards in ice time or the following season when he was sixth in power play ice time -- the power play was tied for seventh overall each of those seasons.

Maybe it's not the personnel. Maybe it's the tactic of having two distinct units in which your top forward (we won't make the case that the Rangers have or have had a point man worthy of that kind of ice time) doesn't stay out for most of the time -- last season Jagr dropped to 43rd, not even tops on the club, and the Rangers' power play dropped to 22nd overall. Part of that was the fact that his unit struggled while the other unit did better. No question. But is it a chicken and egg question? Did Jagr struggle to put up the points because he did not get the kind of power play time he was accustomed to getting? He may not have earned the lion's share of power play time the way he did in prior seasons, but could his season have gotten an earlier jump start than it did had the coaches and fans been more patient with him on the power play?

Nikolai Zherdev is not accustomed to getting first unit power play time -- he never ranked higher that 65th among forwards and is currently not even in the top 100 with 3:18 per game. That is obviously because he has played on the second unit most of the season, though he has moved to the first unit recently. But if there is anyone on the Rangers who is a candidate to play a full power play, Zherdev is that person -- he ranks eighth in the league in even strength scoring but only 20th overall because most of the other top scorers rack up more power play points, in part because they get more power play ice time than he does.

If the Rangers land Mats Sundin, can he be the player that makes the power play go? He has a history of getting more power play ice time that any current Rangers -- 30 to 60 to 80 seconds more per game than any current Ranger got in each of the past three seasons. But he hasn't ranked among the very top forwards in ice time -- 22nd, 28th, and 19th in the past three seasons. His Maple Leafs were second overall in the NHL in 2005-06 on the power play with him ranking 19th in ice time. Regardless of ice time, one cannot help but imagine a much improved power play with Sundin, Zherdev, and Naslund on the first unit and a second unit featuring Gomez and Drury.

The Sundin story dominates today's links. The Post, in an article mostly about the Rangers practicing the power play, notes that Sundin stayed in New York after Saturday's game, and the Journal News and Rangers Report quotes his agent as having said that the Rangers have offered the framework of deal. Elsewhere, see Newsday, Blue Notes, Game On!, Vancouver Province, Vancouver Sun, Toronto Star here and here, Globe and Mail, ESPN, NHL.com, and Spector in the Hockey News. The Journal News looks at shootouts. Game previews: NYR.com and NHL.com. From Hartford, the Wolf Pack Weekly. The Rangers drop to the bottom half of Hockey's Future organizational rankings because of the death of Alexei Cherepanov and the successful graduation to the NHL of a number of prospects. The Toronto Star describes the aftermath of Cherepanov's death.

Bathgate66

that penalty shot move by Rozsival was sick !

:eek: :eek:

Bathgate66

Gary Carter

rag$ still suck

Bathgate66

Well, at least the Rangers are making one roster move -- Petr Prucha will be in for Aaron Voros. Remember early in the season when Voros was on fire and someone asked Renney about him and Renney responded with tempered enthusiasm, noting that Voros's history suggested a good start but diminishing returns? If they knew this about Voros -- and it was obvious enough to be a key part of our summer preview of him based on his partial season in Minnesota -- why did they sign him in the first place? And why did they wait a month for him to go goalless before making a move? Forget about underachieving veterans -- with so little cap space and no one in Hartford ready to step up, even a role player like Voros got that much leeway before his first trip to the press box.

Bathgate66

Well, at least the Rangers are making one roster move -- Petr Prucha will be in for Aaron Voros. Remember early in the season when Voros was on fire and someone asked Renney about him and Renney responded with tempered enthusiasm, noting that Voros's history suggested a good start but diminishing returns? If they knew this about Voros -- and it was obvious enough to be a key part of our summer preview of him based on his partial season in Minnesota -- why did they sign him in the first place? And why did they wait a month for him to go goalless before making a move? Forget about underachieving veterans -- with so little cap space and no one in Hartford ready to step up, even a role player like Voros got that much leeway before his first trip to the press box.

igotid88

Did anyone see the New Year's game? I totally forgot about it. I guess cuz it wasn't in Yankee Stadium.

Bathgate66

totally forgot about this,

maybe cuz we just squeeked by the islanders,

and our play as of late has been less than stellar.

we got stung bad by ovechkin last time,

lets see how we react tonight.
maybe we'll be proactive for a change, in regulation perhaps ?

Bathgate66

Bathgate66

Avery At Large ,....



SEAN Avery (above) is a free agent in more ways than one. The former New York Ranger showed up at Bungalow 8 New Year's Eve on the arm of - his brother. A spy at the club said that Avery and his girlfriend of several months, Kelly Klein, have split - "They're no longer together." Avery was dumped by the Dallas Stars last month after he made a nasty comment about his ex, Elisha Cuthbert. He tried to make up for lost time at Bungalow 8, flirting with women and hanging with former teammates Scott Gomez, Chris Drury, Nigel Dawes and Marcus Nasland.

igotid88

King Henrik gets a shutout. And becomes the 5th goalie to have 20 wins in his first 4 seasons.

Bathgate66

One final note: Fans were ecstatic to see Sidney Crosby so frustrated and ineffective, and they let him know it. He heard it too. "Whether the opposing fans are trying to rub it in or not, losing is not fun," he said. "There's always a little bit better atmosphere when you’re playing here." Renney and the Rangers heard it too. "It registers because you love your fans, beacuse they hate the other guys," Renney said of the Garden fans booing and jeering Crosby. "I like that a lot -- why not make it tough on them from your seats too? I'm good with that." Crosby backlash has hit big time -- even the refs are now starting to see through it at last, and even his own coach appears to be sick of it, responding to Crosby's complaints about his linemates by sticking him with a couple of third line wingers last night.

Bathgate66

wheres rygar?

your boys are going down tonight !


Hard to tell what the Rangers will see when the Montreal Canadiens come to town tonight. On one hand, they have won four of their last five and are on a 6-1-1 roll. On the other hand, back-up goalie Jaroslav Halak, who will make his third straight start in place of injured starter Carey Price, has allowed eight goals on 57 shots in the past two games and has allowed three or more goals in eight of his last twelve appearances. On the third hand, the Rangers have a way of making back-up goalies look good. The Habs' once vaunted power play has been only 1-for-22 in the last five, but their penalty kill has been good (2-for-24) in those games.

Rygar

Bathgate66 wrote:

wheres rygar?

your boys are going down tonight !


Hard to tell what the Rangers will see when the Montreal Canadiens come to town tonight. On one hand, they have won four of their last five and are on a 6-1-1 roll. On the other hand, back-up goalie Jaroslav Halak, who will make his third straight start in place of injured starter Carey Price, has allowed eight goals on 57 shots in the past two games and has allowed three or more goals in eight of his last twelve appearances. On the third hand, the Rangers have a way of making back-up goalies look good. The Habs' once vaunted power play has been only 1-for-22 in the last five, but their penalty kill has been good (2-for-24) in those games.

Sorry I'm so late for this one Bathy
You were right, Halak looked pretty good - whether that is your fault or his, I'm not sure.

Bathgate66

Rygar wrote:

Bathgate66 wrote:

wheres rygar?

your boys are going down tonight !


Hard to tell what the Rangers will see when the Montreal Canadiens come to town tonight. On one hand, they have won four of their last five and are on a 6-1-1 roll. On the other hand, back-up goalie Jaroslav Halak, who will make his third straight start in place of injured starter Carey Price, has allowed eight goals on 57 shots in the past two games and has allowed three or more goals in eight of his last twelve appearances. On the third hand, the Rangers have a way of making back-up goalies look good. The Habs' once vaunted power play has been only 1-for-22 in the last five, but their penalty kill has been good (2-for-24) in those games.

Sorry I'm so late for this one Bathy
You were right, Halak looked pretty good - whether that is your fault or his, I'm not sure.

ok, time to take mt foot outta my mouth now, also to petrocs for his eagles making my giants and eli look like a bunch of newbies,....
oh well,

thank god theres hockey !

Big Rivalry tonight, even if the 2 teams are at opposite ends of the spectrum,...

Oh and btw- i got my tickets for both Graves' retirement and Bathgates' retirement, ( the 2 greatest # 9s in NYRs history ) - so i'll be in the house for both of these special nights this Feburary.

anyone else going on Feb 3rd & 23rd ?

ill be in section 102 row A for Graves,
sect 311 row L for Bathgates.