The Rangers currently sit in 9th place in the conference and could fall as low as 11th tonight. 14th place is only four points away, though! Weeee! And this isn't a deceptive look at the standings as most teams in the East have as many as four games in hand on New York. I say again, weeeeeeeeee!

I've been rooting for them to lose, actually. Making this extremely long and nasty losing streak even longer and nastier will more than likely facilitate some necessary changes.

One of these changes being a move of Tom Renney back "inside" while hopefully Jim Schoenfeld takes over behind the Blueshirts' bench. I like Tom Renney, I do. Seems like a smart, classy individual, and by all accounts, is a rather nice person as well. But I think two massive losing streaks within about 40 games of each other have shown that Renney is more of an Xs and Os guy rather than a motivator and manipulator of men. During this streak, Tom has often come off befuddled and bewildered as he needlessly (and constantly) shakes up the lines, benches the wrong people and waxes positive right to the very end. Make no mistake, despite what Ranger PR will tell you, this is a team built to win now. As such, I think Schoenfeld's balls and brimstone approach would be a better fit.

What to do with the rest of them? Not easy. Exactly what do you do with Jaromir Jagr? If you ask me, he was just plain bored and disinterested with the regular season, now thanks to the losing streak he's sullen and mopey. Bench or scratch him? I honestly can't say that would have a positive effect. I throw my hands in the air here. I don't know what to do.

Henrik Lundqvist needs more competition. Sometimes he plays well, sometimes he plays poorly, but as I said last weekend, he gets out goaltended about 95% of the time this season. Like last night, for instance. Lundqvist played a very good game, but Ray Emery played a better one. Lundqvist made one major mistake, Emery made none, Emery's team won. That's how it works. If Kevin Weekes isn't the answer to a 50/50 or 40/60 platoon mate of Lundqvist's, then why not try Al Montoya? Lundqvist always seems to respond well to competition and a lighter workload.

The Rangers defense sure isn't great, but I'm not sure it's as bad as many make it out to be, either. Their biggest problem is they're slow. All of them. Slow. The next biggest problem is they aren't physical in front of the net. But who exactly is the problem now? Scapegoat #1 Ozolinsh is gone and goat #2 Malik has been hurt for most of this losing streak. So who's fault is it, then? That's what I'm saying, this defense is not quite as bad as people like to think.

Shanahan is tired. Clearly. One goal in his last ten games. While he's a very good PK'er, take him off the unit, please. This is a must, and I'm frnakly surprised Renney hasn't done this yet. We have an entire team full of penalty killers! Use them instead!

And finally, one of the Rangers biggest killers is supplemental scoring. Cullen, 7 goals. Prucha, 6. Hall, 4. These are the Rangers "second tier scorers" and should all be over 10 goals each by now. Even worse: Ward, 3. Hossa, 1. Hollweg, 0. Those are three players who are always in the lineup, and they have amassed a grand total of 4 goals on the season. Ryan Hollweg is a joke, he can't even get a shot off on the net without falling down, and lordy knows he's had some good chances. And while I like the strong checking styles of Ward and Hossa, they contribute zilch offensively. What happened to Brad Isbister? Called up, played two games, amassed a goal and six shots, which is more than any of the other 3rd and 4th liners can accomplish, and just like that he's banished again.

This is why the season is so frustrating. They have some decent talent but both in the off-season and now they aren't making the big push to become a great team. But they're certainly not rebuilding, either. Right now they're doing everything half-assed, which is why I want them to keep losing. Extreme circumstances bring about changes.

- Rocha

Recent Articles 19 Years Of Mike & The Mad Dog

Web Hockeybird.com