Ah yes, another July 1 passes and the Rangers make another splash in the free agent market. This year they signed the oft-injured and cranky Marian Gaborik to a five-year deal worth $37.5 million, and tough guy Donald Brashear for two years and $2.8 million. Also, former big July 1 signing, Scott Gomez, was shipped off to Montreal in a seven player deal that brought back forward Chris Higgins, among others.
But will all the superstar swaps and signings pay off for the Rangers? They've made similar moves for the past two years and have a grand total of eight playoff wins and a mid-season coaching change to show for it. So is this summer different, or are the Rangers sticking to the same big money strategy that has failed them before?
Markus Naslund, at one point earlier in the decade an elite winger, has decided to retire. Naslund would be entering the last year of a two-year, $8 million contract with the Rangers in a five-year point decline that saw him disappointingly put up 46 in New York in 2008-09. Unable to keep up with John Tortorella's fast-paced scheme, Naslund could have forced the Rangers to buy out his deal and pocket some money, but he chose to retire outright instead. [New York Post]
WASHINGTON -- If you took a quick look at the box score of Wednesday's game between the Washington Capitals and New York Rangers, you could be forgiven if you were surprised that the home team and higher seed didn't come out on top.
The Caps outshot the Rangers, 35-21, dominated the face-off circle and limited the opposition's chances at even strength, yet still came up short in a Rangers victory in which uber-pest Sean Avery was hardly a factor. How did it happen?
Exactly 1,230 regular season games have been played. We're down to the best eight teams in each conference. The Stanley Cup Playoffs begin Wednesday night with four series lid-lifters.
In the Eastern Conference, the Boston Bruins rallied from a bit of a swoon around the All-Star Break to easily win the top seed. Even if you subscribe to the idea of Boston being favored because of their strong overall record, there are no sure things in these here playoffs. Who will threaten to knock the Bruins off their pedestal?
The playoffs might not start for another week, but Tuesday's throw down in Madison Square Garden between the Rangers and Canadiens might as well be a playoff game. How big is this game? Well, if we believe Larry Brooks of the New York Post, this is the biggest regular season game the Rangers have played since the lockout. Yeah. It's that big.
Flames 5, Flyers 1: The Calgary Flames were the big winners during the NHL's trade deadline, picking up Olli Jokinen from the Phoenix Coyotes and Jordan Leopold from the Colorado Avalanche. It didn't take the two newcomers long to make an impact for the Flames, as they each scored in the first period of Calgary's 5-1 win in Philadelphia.
Jokinen scored a pair of goals in the first period, while Leopold added his seventh of the season to help the Flames race out to a 4-0 lead.
Red Wings 4, Sharks 1: In the fourth -- and final -- regular season installment of Western Conference Finals Preview '09, Detroit picked up a 4-1 win over San Jose on Wednesday night. Henrik Zetterberg scored a pair of goals in the win, including a shorthanded marker early in the second period to give the Wings a commanding 3-0 lead.
Marian Hossa and Ville Leino also scored for Detroit, while Ty Conklin turned aside 34-of-35 shots in net. The loss snaps San Jose's four game winning streak, while the two teams split the season series.
Capitals 5, Devils 2: The Washington Capitals took advantage of their three power play chances on Tuesday night, converting on all of them on their way to a 5-2 win over the New Jersey Devils. Mike Green and Brooks Laich scored a pair of goals with the man advantage just three minutes apart in the first period, while Michael Nylander picked up his second goal of the game at the 10:59 mark of the third period.
Jose Theodore stopped 32-of-34 shots in net for Washington, including 16-of-17 in the third period. The loss for New Jersey snaps its eight game winning streak, despite receiving another goal another Jamie Langenbrunner, who has now picked up seven goals in his past four games.
It was a very emotional night Tuesday at Madison Square Garden. The New York Rangers retired the number of forward Adam Graves before their game against Atlanta. 52 of Graves' 329 career goals came during the Rangers' Cup-winning 1993-94 season. Graves also won the Cup in 1990 while with the Edmonton Oilers, but 1993-94 was by far his best season as a pro. He won the Bill Masterton Trophy in 2000-2001. Tears were flowing as current New York captains Scott Gomez, Chris Drury, and Markus Naslund brought out the banner bearing Graves' old number.
The Penguins and Hurricanes entered Tuesday's game in Pittsburgh separated by one point in the Eastern Conference standings, and when you consider the two teams occupied the No's. 9 and 10 seeds respectively, with an opportunity to jump into the No. 8 seed closing out the first half the season, well, it was a pretty big game. Cam Ward rose to the occasion for the Hurricanes, stopping 32-of-33 shots, leading them to a 2-1 win.
Ward was fantastic most of the night, but saved his best play for the final five minutes of regulation when the Penguins were on a four-minute power play. Over the past two nights, the 24-year-old netminder has stopped 66-of-67 shots.
Ah yes, another July 1 passes and the Rangers make another splash in the free agent market. This year they signed the oft-injured and cranky Marian Gaborik to a five-year deal worth $37.5 million, and tough guy Donald Brashear for two years and $2.8 million. Also, former big July 1 signing, Scott Gomez, was shipped off to Montreal in a seven player deal that brought back forward Chris Higgins, among others. 
The Penguins and Hurricanes entered Tuesday's game in Pittsburgh separated by one point in the Eastern Conference standings, and when you consider the two teams occupied the No's. 9 and 10 seeds respectively, with an opportunity to jump into the No. 8 seed closing out the first half the season, well, it was a pretty big game. 
