Just when you think its safe to trust Sather – after he didn’t actually trade away any of the kids (just veteran Paul Healey) – you realize that we got screwed anyway.

Interchangeable parts, eh? Just the callups wouldn’t have been so bad, actually. There are guys in Charlotte who have played with the team at times this season and last, and they would have been fine as place holders until the ‘lucky ones’ returned to the Pack in a few weeks. 3 of our regular season guys are on recall to the Rangers, and we currently have 5 skaters and a goalie on the IR. We could have survived that upheaval, as the kids would have pulled together as they have all season and battled through.

No, what's really killing us are the new guys. The ones who arrived, no idea what they are supposed to be doing, lacking the training and discipline that McGill and Fotiu have beaten into this team from day one. We’ve received 7 new players – 6 skaters – in the past few weeks. And not surprisingly, the team is falling apart.

On opening night we had the following lineup:
Goalie: LaBarbera, backed up by Osaer
Defense: Kinch, Aufiero, Filipowicz, Jakopin, Tyutin, Nycholat
Center: Andrews, Moore, Ulmer, Larose
Left Wing: Stals, Murray, Scott, Wiseman
Right Wing: Gernander, Ortmeyer, MacDonald

A nice balance of youth and vets, finesse and force. Great goalie pairing as well – a strong starting goalie with a cheerleading backup. No wonder they did so well out of the gate.

Since opening night, Aufiero went to Charlotte and got hurt, Jakopin got sent to Binghampton on loan, Ortmeyer got called up and never came back, as did Scott, but for different reasons. In addition, Healey was signed and then traded at the deadline, and DeBrusk and Rheaume lasted even less time. Lampman returned from a training camp injury, as did Dusablon. Lawson came and went from Charlotte a few times, as did State, Cuthbert, Jamieson, MacIntyre, and St. Germain. 44 players have dressed for Hartford so far this year.

Our Clear Day roster shows:
Goalie: LaBarbera and Valiquette
Defense: Filipowicz, Tyutin, Paul, Pushor, Lampman, Nycholat, Weller, Grenier
Center: Andrews, Moore, Ulmer, Dusablon, Giroux, Larose
Left Wing: Murray, Wiseman
Right Wing: Gernander, Balej, Ortmeyer, MacDonald
In Residence: Kinch, Stals, Cullen, Heerema

For some reason, we felt the need to get bigger for the playoffs. Bigger and meaner. Five of our defensemen are 6-3/210 or bigger, and four of them have over 100 PIM this season. Even our goalies are bigger, as the 6-5 Valiquette joined the team to replace the injured Osaer. In grand Rangers tradition, the Pack can never have enough centers. McGill always has two guys on the ice who can take faceoffs, so many of our centers also play wing. Besides, some of those centers will doubtless get injured.

*ominous music*

Last night we had:
Goalie: Valiquette, backed up by LaBarbera
Defense: Kinch, Paul, Nycholat, Weller, Grenier
Center: Moore, Ulmer, Giroux, Larose
Left Wing: Stals, Lawson, Wiseman
Right Wing: Cullen, Gernander, Heerema, Hay

Filipowicz has a dislocated shoulder, Andrews has a shattered cheekbone (and, I imagine, a hell of a concussion), Dusablon has another concussion, MacDonald has a sore ankle, Pushor has injured ribs, and Osaer has a dislocated kneecap. Lampman, Tyutin, Murray, Balej and Ortmeyer are all in New York.

That add up to 8 skaters (Kinch, Stals, Gernander, Moore, Ulmer, Wiseman, Nycholat and Larose) who dressed for us last night after starting the season with the Pack – and only 6 of those are on our clear day roster. From another point of view, 10 of our 20 clear day skaters are currently missing.

No wonder we’ve lost 4 out of 6 games since the deadline.

Although I blame the additions for the chaos, they aren’t necessarily the ones who are causing the most damage on the ice – it’s the guys who have been here all season who appear be taking advantage of the turmoil to play at less than 100%. Ulmer and Wiseman have been called out by McGill for not scoring (Layne has always been streaky, but Chad has suddenly decided he’s a physical guy – not exactly appropriate for someone generously listed at 6-1, 205.) Actually, I think Giroux and Wiseman got together after McGill named names after Friday’s game and decided that if they couldn’t score, they were going to hit people as often and hard as they could. Honorable, but if they don’t score, who exactly do they think is going to? Hay?

Meanwhile, the guys who didn’t make the clear day roster have responded in a variety of ways. Kinch seems to be dogging it, and his team leading +/- is starting to sag – his clearing attempts go right to opponents, he’s not skating as hard as in the past, and his physical play has turned from zero into negative numbers. I’ve never minded Matty not playing physical, because he’s a tiny (5-11, 190) defenseman with 17 points in 57 games, but right now, with everything else going south for him, the crowd has been getting impatient. Cullen is running people with a fury, and Heerema looks like he can’t decide exactly what role will curry favor with McGill - puck carrier? Sniper? Hard hitting wing? Stals, bless him, continues to do what he does best – hang around the scrum, steal the puck, and take off at high speed for the other end of the ice as excited as a dog that’s just stolen a steak from the dinner table. He’ll try to hit people to get the puck as well, but I haven’t seen as many kicked boards since Boyd Kane was here.

For the most part, the new guys are enthusiastic, if a bit confused.

Jeff Paul, acquired from San Antonio (Florida), wants to fight everyone all the time. But he always seems to be doing so behind the play, which is appropriate for a defenseman – he’s not taking himself out of the action to slash or cross check someone, with the bonus that the ref’s back is almost always turned. He looks like an underfed Richard Scott at 6-3, 210, and with 184 PIM in 63 games, I am really looking forward to seeing him fight – if he can ever get anyone to go with him.

Alexandre Giroux, acquired from Toronto (Edmonton), was VERY interested in the underage blondes hanging around the glass during warm-ups. In the first couple games he was here, he put up some numbers, mostly by planting himself in front of the net in the manner of John Tripp, and banging the puck home. As I mentioned above, he was determined to actually put someone through the glass last night, delivering several enormous hits than left Pirates down on their knees trying to figure out what that cold white stuff was. He also, for reasons that elude me, fought ten seconds into the game. Alex is listed at 6-3, 189 and has 21-23-44 and 83 PIM in 65 games. His fighting style is to try to land the roundhouse punch, but he’s vulnerable from underneath. Getting hit doesn’t really seem to bother him though – but its not like he was up against the varsity, as the guy he fought has 37 PIM in 59 games. Guess he chooses his opponents well, at least.

Peter Hay, acquired from Worcester (St. Louis), isn’t really an AHL player. Before we got him, he’d only managed one game in the league this season, presumably spending the rest of it down the ECHL or some similar hell. He’s currently rivaling Matt Kinch for the ‘invisible man’ title. At 6-5, 205, hiding may be a survival skill.

Martin Grenier, acquired from Manitoba (Vancouver), is big and nasty – 6-5, 245 with 149 PIM in 43 games. He also apparently hates Hartford, which might explain his total lack of effort since his arrival. Word has it that in one of his first games in Pack uniform he was talking to Springfield fans (he was in Springfield before Manitoba) outside the team bus, complaining about how Hartford sucks, he hates it here, and he told the Vancouver GM that he’d rather sit the rest of the season than report to Hartford. All this, in front of Pack fans and other Pack players, immediately after a game in which he wore our sweater.

And we sent John Jakopin to Binghampton to make room for this moron? No wonder I haven’t seen a single Pack player speak to him yet. If we had more than 5 defensemen right now, I’d wish him a season ending injury so he’d shut up and go home. What a joy he must be in the locker room.

Lucas Lawson and Brandon Cullen have been around enough this year to know the drill. Because McGill clearly hates Dominic Moore, he has been given these two doofi as his wings – and then McGill bitches to the press that Dom isn’t scoring. Lawson has 4 points in 24 games. Cullen has 2 points in 17 games. Moore has 31 points in 59 games. But somehow Moore is slacking for not scoring with these two? *shakes head*

So what do the lines look like these days?

A battle has broken out between the goalies, as LaBarbera and Valiquette try to settle who’s the number one as we head into playoffs. I like Valley as a goalie, but I don’t like what this is doing to Jason – he has always played best as the clear number one. But with Osaer busy doing color commentary for an unknown period of time as he rehabs his knee, we obviously needed another goalie. We would have called up Meyer from Charlotte, but he retired instead. And St. Germain must not have impressed on his tryout.

Defense last night was a circus with only 5 guys. Our left side dmen include Nycholat, Kinch and Grenier, with Weller and Paul left to alternate on the right side all night. Weller, who has been playing forward for most of the season, did well and actually pinched less than the totally offenseless Grenier. Among the forwards, we had lines of: Heerema, Larose, Wiseman; Giroux, Ulmer, Gernander; Lawson, Moore, Cullen; and Hay and Stals inserted randomly when McGill wanted to sit someone.

I am well aware that Rangers fans will have exactly zero sympathy for the plight of the Wolf*Pack in their struggle to hold onto the division lead as the season closes. But remember that in a youth movement, you want confident, enthusiastic youth. And that comes from success, which at the moment is eluding the Pack. I know things will get better. Filipowicz’s arm is no longer in a sling, Pushor hopefully will return from his mysterious rib injury, and MacDonald may get bored of sitting in the stands. Lampman, Tyutin, and Murray will return to us, bringing Balej and Ortmeyer (I pray) with them.

But until then, the team is just trying to hang on.

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