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

Bathgate66 wrote:

June 19, 2007
Hossa a Hero
Marcel Hossa played the role of hero back in his native Slovakia, helping save a man's life after fellow NHLer Branko Radivojevic and a friend fought off the gang who attacked the man. Our friend DaTel sends in this translation of a report on the incident from Pravda.sk [warning: do not open the link if the sight of blood disturbs you -- there is a very graphic photo of the bloody knife used in the attack at the top of the story]:

"Hockey stars Marcel Hossa along with Branko Radivojevic probably saved the life of a 39 year old man who was attacked in Trencin on Saturday by a group of young neo-nazis. There were about 20 skinheads in the square around midnight. Half of them attacked a local citizen, cut the man's throat, and stabbed him in the back. Officials have no idea about what caused the incident. After the initial attack, the man fell to the ground. The aggressors started kicking him and jumping on him.

"At that very moment, Radivojevic and a friend of his came to the rescue. They fought the attackers and forced the skinheads to run away in no time. The entire incident took about 20 seconds. Afterwards, both guys along with Marcel Hossa took the wounded man to the hospital. Doctors found shards of the knife he was stabbed with close to his spinal chord. The attacked man is now out of danger. Radivojevic declined to comment on the matter. 'Until the investigation's over, I will not comment,' said the Minnesota Wild forward."

In other Ranger news, scout Tim Murray appears to be headed to Ottawa to work for his uncle Bryan Murray, the newly minted GM there, as previously relayed by Blueshirt Bulletin readers in our Comments section based on an Ottawa Sun article. Murray has always worked wherever his uncle was GM -- he broke into the NHL as a scout when Bryan was head man in Detroit, he worked his way up to director of amateur scouting under his uncle in Florida, and he was director of player personnel before the lockout for Murray in Anaheim when the Ducks drafted Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry, key members of their Stanley Cup team. He came to the Rangers after the lockout as a scout working under head scout Gordie Clark.

Bathgate66 wrote:

Blueshirt Bulletin

June 21, 2007

Shanny Returning
Brendan Shanahan told Larry Brooks of the Post that he wants to play again next season and will only play for the Rangers -- add him to the list of players whose agents will talk to Glen Sather during the draft. That brings one of the two top-line UFAs back into the fold -- Michael Nylander remains a question mark until his new agent talks to Sather this weekend. If July unfolds the way the past two have, the Rangers will be priced out of the market for big name centers and will have to dip into lower tiers -- one of the possible replacements for Nylander as Jagr's center is Robert Lang, who was told by Detroit that he will not be offered a contract there (report here).

Two Blueshirt Bulletin columnists are on their way to the draft -- Jess Rubenstein and Mitch Beck will both be roaming the vast confines of whatever they call their arena in Columbus looking to get us firsthand information on whatever the Rangers do and on whomever they select. So check in with us throughout the day Friday (especially during the first round) and again on Saturday for their reports. During the waits that always occur on draft day, you can chime in with your own ideas on what's going on. In the meantime, here is part two of Jess's mock draft, taking us through the Rangers' #17 pick:

As someone heads out the door, running to the airport on his way to Columbus, here is the second part of the mock draft through the Rangers' #17 pick for you to argue over. Hopefully this time I sent the right version in. Once I get to Columbus, I hope to start with whatever news I can find from the scene. When we last left the draft floor, Christer Rockstrom was jumping up and down on the Ranger draft table begging both Gordie Clark and Glen Sather to move up two spots by trading with the Oilers. But there was no need, as the player Rockstrom wants the Rangers to take will be there at #17.

16. Ducks: TSN picks Thomas Hickey -- Brian Burke will tease the heck out of his partner in the Chilliwack Bruins (Sather) trying to swap places in the draft, but Sather will not bite. Burke still has plenty of options to choose from, but California native Jonathon Blum, a smallish defenseman who played for the Memorial Cup champion Vancouver Giants, is too much for him to bypass. It is a solid win-win pick for the Ducks -- they get a mobile defender who comes from an excellent program, the first native son to be picked by the Ducks.

17. Rangers: TSN picks Colton Gillies -- Yes, the Rangers need a big forward, no doubt about it. However, Gillies will be long gone by the time the Rangers pick, so the Ranger draft table will be fun to watch as Christer Rockstrom argues for Swedish prospect Mikael Backlund, a 6’0 195-pound center. The western scouts will want Oscar Moeller (5’11-179), another Swedish center, and the eastern scouts will say Logan MacMillian (6’1 172), whose father Bob was the Rangers' first round draft choice (15th overall) exactly 35 years ago (but who played only 22 games as a Ranger before moving on to a long career elsewhere). In the end it will be Rockstrom who wins the argument.

Backlund would not have dropped this far had he not suffered a left knee injury. Concern over his knee has been misplaced, as he recovered nicely and was back playing the strong two-way game he is known for. Backlund will win Ranger fans over because he does not know how not to play hard at either end of the ice. On offense, Backlund attacks the net as if he was a bigger player, while defensively he has strong hockey sense that makes him appear to be a play ahead of the other team.

In other draft reading, go to NY Sports Day for part 3 and part 4 of Anthony Mastantuoni's preview series. SI's mock draft has the Rangers selecting speedy forward Lars Eller. E.J. Hradek brands Hugh Jessiman one of five worst value draft picks among active players in his look at the best and worst ever at ESPN. The NHL approved a few minor rules changes and rewarded Boston owner Jeremey Jacobs for leading the lockout by naming him chairman of the board of governors -- ironically, on the same day he named his 17th coach in the past thirty years. If he leads the NHL like he leads the Bruins, we'll all be soccer fans in few years.

Marek Malik is back in the Czech Republic preparing for next season after a short family vacation in Florida along with the families of Martin Straka and Michal Rozsival. He was interviewed after a soccer exhibition in which he played, interestingly, not for Team Jagr, but for Team Kubina. He characterized the Rangers' past season as, "Kind of strange. In the beginning, it wasn’t very good. Then the middle part was great, and the ending fantastic. And then came the elimination, which was a disappointment. We had it in us [to go farther in the playoffs]. We were unable to protect leads -- they kept vanishing. We didn’t manage to turn it on, to finish them when they were stumbling. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find a way to finish them off."

Asked about his own performance, he expressed some level of unhappiness with himself but mostly stuck to what he has always insisted, that the team comes first. "I keep saying that individual output is good for nothing when the team can’t proceed. It’s kind of puzzling -- I have mixed feelings." Thanks again to DaTeL for the great translation -- if you want to read more in Czech, see the complete interview at iDNES.

Posted by Dubi on June 21, 2007 at 11:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

Bathgate66 wrote:

agree, nylander has to be priority.
It is also in his better interests to resign , he had his best career hockey playing alongside Jagr and the other various linemates- an overall good mix and chemistry.

nylander amazes me sometimes how he appears to defy laws of physics and gravity with some of those abrupt turns and changes in dircection he makes regularly. i hope he tweaks that " need to pass first " mentality and shoot some more. The guy is crafty.

this friday and saturday will be the days the names will be tossed around in the draft, then july 1 not far behind. ( i hope ) it should be good for NY.