So, where has Heather been?

Well, first I went to Aruba, where my Rangers cap made me many friends. One day I had a long chat with a gas station attendant as he filled up my motorbike – specifically, he was very excited for this season with Kovalev back but was Messier going to retire or what?

Then I went to Canada to see my parents, who have just moved there. For those of you who have never been, Toronto is the Disney version of New York, terrifyingly clean, quiet, friendly and….oh yeah, just to make sure everyone is clear, I had nothing to do with the fire on the roof of Maple Leaf Centre. Yes, I was nearby and yes I was joking about doing just that earlier in the day, but I have an alibi – I was at the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Although I enjoyed learning my history and even getting my picture taken with the chalice, the best part of the HOF was the gift shop. My mom offered to buy me an early Christmas present, and I nearly knocked her over running for the wall of jerseys. My father, who understands that hockey is that thing that sucks up his daughter’s time, decided he also needed one now that he lives in the land of lacrosse. As I perused my choices (Lindros? Bure? Giguere? Bertuzzi?), weighing team allegiance against liking individual players versus already having a white Rangers lace-up jersey, my dad was searching for the most outrageously colored jersey he could find. He disappeared for a time as my mom and I talked through the virtues of name or no-name, but then reappeared with a clerk, trying to explain that he wanted a larger size of the ‘Aztecs’ jersey. Confused but desperately wanting to help (Canadians summarized), the clerk was asking was that a minor league team, did he know where they played?

Unfortunately for Dad, they didn’t have any more Phoenix jerseys in stock.

Speaking of jerseys, seeing as I was staying halfway between Ottawa and Toronto, you’d think there would be an equal mix of Sens and Leafs apparel in the stores and on the populace. Truth is local fans may not have been aware there is a team in Ottawa (a.k.a. “Looters ‘R’ Us”.) It was Leafs throughout, although occasionally Canadians jerseys could be seen on the type of pretentious twit who would be wearing an Italian soccer jersey in the States.

The Player

So the season is fast approaching, and I’ve been neglecting my duties – but that’s okay, because the players I have featured to date keep disappearing. Tripp and Ekman have signed with LA and San Jose respectively, Murray wasn’t at prospect or development camp (indicating he is still recovering from surgery, I assume) and we have tragically lost Lyashenko as well. It’s gotten to the point I am starting to worry about jinxing players. However, I am going to risk it because there is one I really want to talk about:

He weighed in last season at 235 pounds, a size matched only by Oliwa and Burnett.

At 6 foot 6 inches, he usually was the tallest man on the ice.

After a summer of boxing lessons and working out with a trainer, he recently weighed in 30 pounds heavier than last year.

He’s a stay at home defenseman who excels at clearing the puck and the bodies of opponents.

And he’s only 23 years old.

#37 Defenseman Jeff State
9/17/79 6-6 235 shoots right
Signed 2002 as a free agent by NY Rangers - signed
39 GP 1G-3A-4P +7 18 S 5.6% 103 PIM

Jeff’s game is simple – get the puck, and get it out of the zone. If someone has the puck, knock them over and take it. If someone else is on the puck carrier, knock over the guy who is trying to set up shop in the crease. He doesn’t wander beyond the red line, and tends to stay close to the net unless an opportunity to squish an opponent against the boards presents itself. He’s the perfect complement to the stable of offensive defensemen that has been accumulated in the organization during Sather’s reign. Imagine that – a physical defenseman who actually stays in the zone to breakup the odd man rushes that inevitably result with a free ranging Tom Poti as the fourth forward.

It is his physical play that catches your eye, but what he really excels at often goes unnoticed – the ability to clear the puck quickly and with control. He does an excellent job of playing the angles off the glass – both horizontally and vertically - positioning the puck perfectly for a breakout by our forwards. Sitting down low in the stands, it’s like watching 3-D billiards with a pocket’s eye view. This tendency to play the glass does result in the occasional airborne puck escaping the rink instead of landing in the neutral zone. To anyone who questions the wisdom of playing the glass and taking the occasional delay of game, I have two words for you: Igor Ulanov. Remember those clearing passes through the middle? So do I. I’ll take the delay of game.

After two years at Merrimack College, Jeff signed as a free agent with the Rangers last fall and was at Wolf*Pack camp, looking very strong partnering Vlad Chebaturkin on the blue line. Here’s what I had to say back then:

Jeff State. Wow. He’s huge, he hits hard, and it’s really funny to watch people try to hit him. It’s like watching someone try to hit Lindros – they bounce off and he barely notices. He skates very well for a big guy, though, and he has a good slap shot. Passes well too. This one has a lot of promise, reminds me in many ways of Chris Pronger - skates with his long neck stretched up, looking around, and his butt stuck out behind him - a giraffe on skates. Even has that ‘how the hell has that not been broken yet?’ nose like Pronger does. If he looks this good in a few months, Tomas is gone for sure.

While I was looking up the description above, I came across this as well, from an early season game against Albany – note the name of the guy on the receiving end of this beating…Jeff goes after the right guys.

Remember Jeff State and the twerp he shoved a while ago? Puck gets dropped and gloves go flying. State, who is 6-6, has the reach of the man I compared him to earlier in the year, Chris Pronger, and after a few little slaps on both sides, Jeff grabs his man and beats him for awhile, then goes for the take down. Win, Jeff. J State, Hfd (major fighting game misconduct), M Rupp, Alb (major fighting game misconduct).

For a guy his size, he is steady on his skates in a fight (as opposed to, say, Chris Gosselin, who always appeared to be surprised he lacked a toe pick.) He wasn’t a complete write-off, as was Garrett Burnett, the most recent wearer of the ‘Everlast’ title in Hartford. But Jeff just never seemed to be entirely comfortable fighting, although he was always willing to give it a go if the situation seemed to require it. Apparently he likes the rough stuff, just wasn’t that confident in his skills. To deal with that, he has spent the summer working with a boxing instructor in his hometown near Buffalo. It seems to me that his skill as the stay-at-home blueliner we desperately need would be sufficient to win him a spot in Hartford for sure, but apparently he doesn’t think so. Without question Sather and Schoenfeld are gooning up the minors, and clearly Jeff thinks that the best way to claim a spot is to make sure he can hold his own against all comers. Perhaps a requirement for anyone who didn’t score 20 goals last year is that they must fight Richard Scott before being given a roster spot.

Jeff bounced back and forth between Charlotte and Hartford this past year, and spent some time in the stands as well – unfortunately while his parents and sister were in town to see him play. As a big guy, Jeff was urged to play physical, but when he took penalties he was benched for lack of discipline. This seems to be a consistent inconsistency with Hartford, the need to take their tough guys and send them out on a mission, then punish them for doing what they were told. We saw it with Tomas, a player I was sure would be a star, and it broke him. With Jeff, a season of it left him unsure of himself, seemingly so afraid of screwing up that he was paralyzed on the ice.

I’m not sure how boxing lessons will address the problem of inconsistent coaching, save the possibility of simply beating some sense into Fotiu and McGill. If he wants to go that route, I’ll sell tickets because there are a few thousand fans who’d like to watch. If nothing else, Jeff has made himself more tradable, which as we all know is the only way for young kids to escape Hartford.

For this year, though… man oh man, I can’t wait for Worcester to come to town. Mike Danton can take all the ‘ultimate fighting’ lessons he wants… my money is on Jeff State.

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