No matter how hard the Rangers try, it seems they will never escape reporters trying to include them in every trade rumor in the NHL. Given their history, it wouldn't be unreasonable for fans to worry a little, but credit has to be given to Glen Sather and Don Maloney for keeping themselves under control in the free agent market and the trade front so far.
The latest rumors emanate from Phoenix, and involve, *gulp*, Petr Nedved. Several reports cite the Rangers as one of the teams interested in brining in the Czech forward. Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun wrote that the Rangers might be interested because Nedved played well with Jagr in Pittsburgh.
The Rodent does a fine job of putting fans' minds at ease, noting that Sather has "been there, done that" regarding Nedved. Rodent also points out some statistical evidence proving that Petr wouldn't help the Rangers all that much.
Meanwhile, John Dellapina of the Daily News can't help but talk about Sather picking up the phone to ask about Brian Leetch. John does talk about the fact that Leetch expressed a desire to stay a Bruin, but fails to mention Brian's age, very mediocre production this year, and the fact that he recently suffered another injury (this one to his groin). So now that we got all of the "1994" out of us for the year, can we keep the stories focused on THIS team?
Today the Rangers try to get back on track after the loss to Detroit on Saturday. Unfortunately, they aren't traveling to a friendly building for them. The Rangers have not won a game in the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio since 2000-01. The have lost three times since then, getting outscored 13-3. While Columbus' talent has not really showed up in the standings, they still have some top players in Rick Nash and Sergei Fedorov, and can be a dangerous team.
NY Post: Larry Brooks talks about some of the issues the Rangers face coming out of Saturday's loss. He reports that Ryan Hollweg might be scratched tonight in favor of Marcel Hossa. That is a big mistake in my opinion, as without Darius Kasparaitis and Hollweg, the Rangers have virtually NO physical attack.
The Journal News: Andrew Gross reports that Steve Rucchin will be moved to the third line between Ville Nieminen and Jason Ward, while Nylander is moved up to center the "Petrs", Prucha and Sykora.
NY Newsday: Steve Zipay writes about Thomas Pöck's 2005-06 debut, as he replaces Kaspar who is out with that knee injury suffered in warmups the other day.
NY Times: Considering that these Rangers are unquestionably Jaromir Jagr's team, some may argue that the timing is right for Jagr, who is one of the team's three alternate captains, to assume the Rangers' captaincy on a full-time basis. Except for the fact that Jagr does not want the title. And Rangers Coach Tom Renney does not have a problem with that - at least for the remainder of this season.
Tonight, the Rangers play their last game against a Western Conference team as they travel to Columbus to face the Blue Jackets. The puck drops at 7:00 pm EST. Enjoy the game.
HDH
Posted by Jim at January 16, 2006 09:24 AMeMail this entry!
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