Even though the league's "showcase" event will take place tonight, Ranger fans are mostly concerned with how their team will look once the games resume on Saturday. The good news is that it seems likely some help will come in the form of Wolf Pack prospects. The bad news is that we are still hearing the same old rhetoric about the "rebuild" and not putting young players in situations they are not ready for.

Regular Pack writer, Bruce Bertlet of the Hartford Courant, tells us that at least five NYR execs were on hand for one of Jim Schoenfeld's practices, apparently scouting the younglings for possible call-ups. This group included Tom Renney, Don Maloney, and three scouts, who then met with the Hartford coaching staff to see who may be "ready".

Bruce spoke to Renney:

"We're at a point where we're looking within the organization for solutions first. I think that's only fair to those who have been slugging it out, trying to get it done in New York and prove themselves worthy of it here."

"There isn't a day that goes by when there isn't trade dialogue, but I'm really interested in what's going on in Hartford. That's where I want the solutions to be, first and foremost . . . That's what the rebuilding process is all about."

And then:

"We're a year-and-a-half into rebuilding, sort or redefining the New York Rangers," Renney said. "So we have to be very observant and aware of what's going on [in Hartford], pay close attention to the growth of these players and make sure the fast track is not something we identify with."

First of all, they are approaching three years since the start of the rebuild, which began with the firesale of 2004. (You remember that, it was when some of the players they acquired included Jozef Balej, Maxim Kondratiev, Alexandre Giroux, and R.J. Umberger).

Secondly, all of this talk coming from a coach who has iced a below mediocre team, one that finds itself outside of the playoff picture, one that suffered a monumental collapse last season and unceremonious sweep in its first playoff series since 1997, one that has found itself struggling with almost every aspect of its game including "effort" and "intensity"? All of this talk coming from a coach who has been reluctant (to say the least) to incorporate youth into this year's lineup, while at the same time burying our former rookie-30-goal-scorer on the fourth line, while at the same time utilizing 31-year-old-career-minor-leaguer Jason Krog as the second line center, while at the same time forever giving underperforming players like Marek Malik, Matt Cullen, Adam Hall, and Marcel Hossa opportunity after opportunity to improve, without much success?

Forgive me for not trusting what he says.

There is some more good news, as Don Maloney expressed in a recent radio interview here in NY, among other things, that:

- We should expect some movement in the next week or so, and it very well will be from within the organization

- The team will not exchange youth for players like Peter Forsberg, and that the days of trades like the ones made for Pavel Bure and Eric Lindros are over;

- Petr Prucha will not be traded for an older player, but Maloney stressed, and I mean stressed, that no player is untouchable;

- He and the organization feel that there are 8-10 players in the AHL that are ready and deserve a shot, but at the same time they need to be able to put those young players in a place to succeed and give them the ice time they need.

As to the last comment, I say baloney. Tom Renney cannot even put Prucha and Matt Cullen in spots where they would be successful, never mind some young players.

All in all, they are saying the right things, but at the same time, history tells me it is just hot air. They talk about all of these "ready" youngsters and how they will be able to contribute by September at least, while at the same time signing Martin Straka to an extension and engaging in talks with Shanahan and Nylander for future employment. As I have mentioned, if they were to sign those guys, there would be six 35-year-old or older players already on the 2007-08 roster (Jagr, Straka, Nylander, Shanahan, Aaron Ward, and Kasparaitis), as well as several over-30's (Cullen, Malik, and Krog).

With those players sure to earn a bulk of the ice time, when exactly in the foreseeable future does this staff think they ARE going to find the right ice time and right circumstances for these prospects?

Maloney in particular has pretty much outright lied to us in the past. As Brian Leeds pointed out on the message boards just a little while ago, Donnie Boy told fans that the team was committed to the present rebuilding course just one day after a 30-year-old Patrik Elias rejected their long-term, "franchise player" free agent offer. Maloney is also as inept as he is disingenuous, as it is becoming common knowledge that he was the one guy pushing harder than anyone for the team to draft Hugh Jessiman, which given the success of that 2003 first round class, was an unmitigated disaster. (As Blueshirt Bulletin points out, Zach Parise, drafted just five spots after Jessiman, was named the MVP of the NHL's Young Stars game while Jessiman rides buses in the ECHL.)

So I guess we fans are going to have to take a "believe it when we see it" approach. As I said, the good news is that help is on the way. Where it comes from, and where they go from there, is anybody's guess.

The main news articles focus on the All-Star Game and Brendan Shanahan, but to be honest I could care less. You can read a little on it here, here, and here.

NY SportsDay has a couple of articles, including a mid-term report card and a note on the upcoming changes. How can someone give Marek Malik a "B-" while at the same time giving Kevin Weekes a "D"?

And lastly, the league will not change the schedule format next season, and the division rivals will still face each other eight times a year.

Tonight, it's the NHL All-Star Game in Dallas. The puck drops at 8:00 pm EST on Versus. They should get, what, 300 or so U.S. viewers?

HDH

Recent Articles 19 Years Of Mike & The Mad Dog

Web Hockeybird.com