FanHouse NewYorkRangers

NEW YORK -- This wasn't the time to wonder where these New York Rangers have been hiding all season, or whether they'll soon suffer through another identity crisis. This wasn't the place to ask if the Rangers will be one-and-done wonders, justifying their owners' satisfaction with mediocrity.

No, this was an oh-happy-joy night to be savored by Rangers fans, because the Blueshirts have slipped into the NHL postseason for the fourth straight season. Even more delicious, the Rangers had to beat their bitter rivals, the Philadelphia Flyers, to clinch a spot, setting the scene for the perfect hockey vortex at Madison Square Garden.

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NEW YORK -- This wasn't the time to wonder where these New York Rangers have been hiding all season, or whether they'll soon suffer through another identity crisis. This wasn't the place to ask if the Rangers will be one-and-done wonders, justifying their owners' satisfaction with mediocrity.

No, this was an oh-happy-joy night to be savored by Rangers fans, because the Blueshirts have slipped into the NHL postseason for the fourth straight season. Even more delicious, the Rangers had to beat their bitter rivals, the Philadelphia Flyers, to clinch a spot, setting the scene for the perfect hockey vortex at Madison Square Garden.

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After a lackluster start to their pre-season, or at least the parts of it that were played on American soil, the Rangers have turned things around in Europe. The team went 1-5 in their first six pre-season games, all of which were played in America against NHL teams. After crossing the Atlantic, the team played two exhibition Victoria Cup games against European teams SC Bern and Metallurg Magnitogorsk. They defeated Bern by an 8-1 margin on Tuesday and downed Metallurg 4-3 last night. So, things are looking up for the team.

I'm sorry to report that things are not looking so good for new Ranger beat writer Michael Obernauer of the New York Daily News. Obernauer is replacing John Dellapina, who moved on to a job with the NHL. Dellapina was the Rangers beat writer since 1994 and did a solid job for what can sometimes be considered a tabloid. Anyway, Obernauer officially started today, and his first report, which he wrote yesterday, left a lot to be desired. And a few Ranger fans grilled him for it. But I guess that's what happens when you follow in the footsteps of a solid beat writer by, you know, writing one paragraph about a pretty important road trip.

Playing their first of two European exhibition games before Saturday's season opener in Prague, the Rangers scored six times in the third period to pull away from SC Bern, 8-1, in the Swiss capital Tuesday night. The Rangers struck six times on power plays and got goals from seven different players. They'll take on European champion Metallurg Magnitogorsk of Siberia tonight in Bern in the inaugural Victoria Cup game.

That was Obernauer's entire report last night. Seriously. I know occasionally blogs can kind of get away with stuff like that, and it is only the pre-season, but what happened to making a good first impression?

After the jump, enjoy a few of the more hilarious comments left by Ranger fans.

Welcome to the NHL FanHouse 2008-09 season preview. While other sites are previewing "30 teams in 30 days," we decided to take advantage of the extra time off before the start of the season to bring you all 30 previews over the next three weeks. We're counting down in reverse order of finish from last season in each conference every weekday from now until October 3. Look for an Eastern Conference preview every morning and a Western Conference preview every afternoon. Click here to read them all.

Who's In: Markus Naslund, Nikolai Zherdev, Dmitri Kalinin.

Who's Out: Martin Straka, Jaromir Jagr, Brendan Shanahan (could still return), Sean Avery, Fedor Tyutin.

What's Changed: Another year and it's still the same old Rangers -- spend, spend, spend. In February the team signed stud netminder Henrik Lundqvist to a six-year deal that came out to about $6.5 million per. During the off-season they nabbed UFAs Wade Redden and Markus Naslund for the low price of $11.5 million this season. Not that this is a bad tactic, they did pretty well this past season with their spending spree from the summer of 2007 (Gomez, Drury). But, in all serious, not a whole lot has changed in terms of the philosophy in New York. The faces, however, are a different story.

With Jaromir Jagr in Russia, Brendan Shanahan in limbo, and the departure of Martin Straka, the Rangers are going to be without three of their top five scorers from a year ago. The trio combined for 158 points last season, something the Rangers will dearly miss. The addition of Naslund and Nikolai Zherdev will help ease the stress, but it will certainly be interesting to see how the new faces, and the loss of some old faces, pans out.

While we've had some healthy debate about how exactly the Rangers' Sean Avery got to the hospital and why earlier this week, today I've got some good news that seems pretty solid. The Associated Press is reporting (via The Globe and Mail) that Avery has been released from the intensive care unit at St. Vincent's Medical Center in New York, but is still hospitalized.

There was no immediate word when Avery would be released from the hospital, Rangers spokesman John Rosasco said. The rugged winger had been in intensive care since he was injured Tuesday night, with doctors waiting for internal bleeding to stop. That occurred Thursday.

It's good to see Avery making progress towards a full recovery. Hopefully he'll be out of the hospital in time for the Rangers' game tomorrow afternoon in Pittsburgh. I doubt he would make it all the way out to Pittsburgh for the game, but if he did, wouldn't that be quite a boost for the team? Obviously he wouldn't be playing -- his season is certainly over -- but it could be one of those inspiring moments in sports that are more of a fairy tale than reality. He probably won't but maybe we'll see him further on down the line if the Rangers can keep their season alive a little longer. Their backs are up against the wall tonight in Pittsburgh, down 3 games to 1 in the best-of-seven series.

Oh and you can be sure this story will not be changed to cover anyone's butt.

Every day from Monday to Saturday, The Ice Sheet will take a look at the biggest stories in the league that happened on the ice and elsewhere the night before.

Things couldn't have been more different last night for the New York Rangers and Colorado Avalanche. Both teams were facing a sweep and the potential of Sunday morning tee times this weekend. Both also had superstars that could have been seeing their last shifts, helping to create what could make for a legendary Hall of Fame class in a few years (Forsberg, Sakic, Shanny and Jagr, oh my!). But two roads diverged in a wood and well, you know how that goes.

This wasn't necessarily the last game for Joe Sakic -- a class act as far as I know -- but, if for some reason it turns out to be just that for the 19-year NHL vet, it was the worst way in which his stellar career could have ended. The Avs were outmatched from the get go in this series. The injuries mounted and they were riding a ticking time bomb between the pipes. I'm not making excuses, but the odds were stacked against them. On the other side of the ice, the Red Wings -- still coming off that President's Trophy -- were given a scare in the first round from Nashville, one that likely shook them and woke them up in a cold sweat at 3 AM. That's what appears to have happened at least. Last night the Red Wings took it to the Avs, firing on all cylinders in front of the home fans in Detroit (whoops ... It was in Detroit) and came away with an 8-2 victory.

As you may know, I'm an avid New York Islanders fan. I also have an avid east-coast bias. Journalistic integrity be damned, at least I'm being honest with you, right? So while the Islanders are setting up tee times for Saturday after they finish up another lackluster season against their cross-town rivals on Friday, I will still be thinking about hockey. And in doing so I have been faced with a rather large dilemma. You see, after the Islanders gained a point against the Devils tonight in an overtime loss, there are now issues at hand that are larger than tee times and putting greens. With 77 points, the Islanders are currently looking at having the 5th most lottery balls in the bucket for the draft lottery. That's a nice spot and with some losses and a little help from St. Louis that position could improve to 4th. With two more games to play, it's also possible that they could win and fall to 7th behind Columbus and Phoenix. But, you see, life is funny. It turns out that those finals two games both happen to be against the arch-rival New York Rangers. The scheduling gods sure had some fun with this one.

I think you can see the dilemma here. I can take the blue pill or the red pill. Take the blue pill, and I root the Islanders to two wins against the Rangers, and with some losses from Columbus and Phoenix they move into the 7th lottery spot. This is completely possible given that the Islanders are 4-2-0 against their rivals this season, an 8-3-2 mark when combined with last season's record. The other option is that I take the red pill and watch the Islanders lose twice in regulation on their way to 5th and potentially 4th on the lottery list. Meanwhile, I would be committing the cardinal sin of sport by rooting against my team when they face their most hated of hockey teams.

Do I root for the Isles to beat their rivals or should I ask the heavens for a better draft position?

Every day from Monday to Saturday, The Ice Sheet will take a look at the biggest stories in the league that happened on the ice and elsewhere the night before.

Remember when every fan in the NHL wanted Miroslav Satan on his team, for his combination of aggressive play and deft offensive touch? I believe the experts call that time "1999." Last season, not even New York Islanders fans wanted him around, as Satan skated to his worst season statistically (27-32-59) since his fourth season in the NHL. That downward trend appeared even steeper at the start of this season, as Satan had as many points (1) in his first six games as noted offensive juggernaut Brendan Witt.

Well, here's the breaking news, Satan worshipers: Miro has 9 points in his last 6 games, including the game-winning goal in the Islanders' 3-2 victory over the Rangers last night at the Mausoleum. Not coincidentally, the Isles won five of those six games. This team has shown it drinks freely from three fountains of emotional inspiration: Coach Ted Nolan, goalie Rick DiPietro and its collection of seemingly mismatched veteran players (Satan, Bill Guerin, Mike Comrie, Ruslan Fedotenko, Mike Sillinger) who just keep making big plays and scoring key goals. They're all leaders, and Satan was speaking like one to Greg Logan of Newsday after the Rangers game:

"For us, it's great that we are able to turn the last two games being down after the second period," Satan said. "It's a good confidence-builder for the future, but hopefully, we can play better in the first two periods so we don't get into too many of these pressure-time situations."

That Al Arbour sideshow a few days ago obscured the fact that an Islanders team that needed a win on the last night of the season to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and then lost Ryan Smyth, is now on top of the Atlantic Division. I'll hold off on saying they're for real until I can see them bounce back from a prolonged slump; then again, what if they never have one? It's the work of Satan, I tell ya ... Satan!

(Coming Up Next: Last Night's Losers, a Blue Jacket the League Wants To Swat, Puck Headlines, Most Embarrassing Stat Line of the Night, Tonight's Games You Should Be Watching, Hockey Arena Etiquette and a Tribute to Eric Lindros.)

Is there anything more satisfying than heading to the arena water closet, sending a few beers back out to sea, looking down and having your team's logo staring back at you from the top of the flusher? Of course not, and that's one of the reasons why the Prudential Center, the Newark-tastic new home of the New Jersey Devils, is, as the kids used to say, "the shizz."

I was in the house for Opening Night at the new ice barn, after two-and-a-half torturous decades in that cement sedative now known as the IZOD Center. The less said about the Devils' pathetic offense -- which looked about as dangerous as a blind double-amputee trying to stab someone with a plastic spork in their 4-1 loss to Ottawa -- the better. Let's focus on the positive ... or at least as positive as a Jersey-born blogger can be, considering the fact that cynicism was actually a study unit in my kindergarten class.

After the jump, photos by yours truly and others, as well as reviews of the Devils' new den ...

A few things occurred to me after I spoke with New York Islanders defenseman Chris Campoli last night. First, the kid bears an unmistakable resemblance to Shia LaBeouf, which made me wonder if the Islanders' team bus was actually a giant robot. But more importantly, watching Campoli play against the Capitals -- to the tune of 4 assists in 18 minutes, 37 seconds of ice time -- made me reconsider the quality of this Islanders defense.

They've got a nice mix of young players like Campoli (23) and established veterans like Brendan Witt and the recently-added Bryan Berard, a player that Campoli admired and now considers a mentor. "You just pick his brain on situations," he said. "The game's easy when you move the puck, skate and do the things you need to do. I usually talk to him about areas on the ice where I can find some space, where he's had success."

Along with Berard, Campoli also idolized Ray Bourque as a young player growing up near Toronto, saying that he tries to move like Bourque. "Well, he doesn't move like he used to," he said with a laugh. "He plays the game like I like to play it. I told him that the first time I met him, and he said, 'You're making me feel real old.'"

If you look at the Atlantic Division's rosters, I think the Flyers have the best defensive corps and that the Islanders, if anything, have an underrated group. Campoli had a slightly different take. "You know what? I don't think we're underrated because we haven't proven anything. If you want respect, you gotta prove that you deserve it. I'm a young guy, Bruno [Gervais's] a young guy, we're playing together. We're going to have to work hard to get respect from people around the league."

When it comes to respect, Campoli has it for the Islanders, saying it's an "honor" to play for the franchise. I explained to him that as a Devils fan, I have an intense, almost genetic hatred for the Rangers -- and I've never even been in a preseason battle royal with the Blueshirts. So as a proud New York Islander, has he been able to develop a deep hatred for the Rangers yet? "That comes naturally," he said. "It doesn't take very long."