Brendan Shanahan got the win yesterday.

Brendan Shanahan got the win yesterday.

As the offseason wears on, us and Matt Josephs of Blue Line Station (Twitter: 11Matt_Josephs8) will be running a tournament for the Best Ranger since the 2005 lockout. Yesterday we saw #2 Brendan Shanahan take out #15 Mike Sauer. Today’s matchup is #1 Ryan Callahan vs. #16 Donald Brashear:

Ryan Callahan (acquired – 2004 draft, 4th round)

The Rangers actually acquired the draft pick used to select Cally from San Jose in exchange for the negotiating rights to Mark Messier. It’s funny how the Rangers traded the rights to their captain, and used that draft pick to draft a future captain. Cally saw his first NHL action in 2006-2007, playing 14 games with the Rangers. He played 52 games with the club the following season, which included an 11 game stint in Hartford. After that Cally stuck with the club and has been an all-round beast for the Rangers since. In his full Ranger career to date, Cally has put together a line of 121-108-229 in 405 games, and has slowly climbed from averaging 40 points per season to averaging close to 60 points over a full season. Cally has been the captain of the team since 2011, and was an alternate captain from 2009.

There’s not much else to say about Cally. We all know who he is and what he means to this team.

Donald Brashear (acquired – unrestricted free agent, 2009)

Brashear was an unmitigated disaster in New York. The fans hated him before he signed because of the cheap shot to Blair Betts, and he was brought in to replace Colton Orr –who bolted for Toronto– even though he couldn’t skate anymore. Brashear, despite signing a two-year deal, spent just 36 games as a Ranger (and 27 more as a member of the Wolfpack). He had one assist as a Ranger, but a line of 2-4-6 with the Pack. He did have 73 PIMs and a few fights won.

Brashear was eventually shipped to Atlanta with Patrick Rissmiller in exchange for Todd White, who played 18 games as a Ranger and scored more goals than Brashear.

So who do you think is the better Ranger, Callahan or Brashear? Vote thumbs up for the higher seed (Callahan), or thumbs down for the lower seed (Brashear). Voting ends at midnight tonight.

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