Top Line Reunited

After the Rangers went down 2-0 in last night’s game against Montreal, coach John Tortorella decided to “shake up” the lines. And by shake up, I clearly mean reuniting Brandon Dubinsky with Vinny Prospal and Marian Gaborik. With all due respect to Erik Christensen, who played admirably, Dubinsky belongs up front with those two, and is the most productive when he is with them.

Before Dubinsky shattered his hand, this trio contributed for roughly half of the Rangers goals from the forward position. Dubinsky is exactly what this line needs. A tough center who will go to the dirty areas, get the puck to the skilled players, and then plant himself in front of the net, as he did on that brilliant Prospal feed.

It is time to let that line be. No more impulsive line changes, where you insert Sean Avery, or Artem Anisimov, to try and get some new blood flowing. Just leave them alone. Those three are made to play with each other. They just click. It’s not always about putting the best players on a line together, it’s about putting the players that work the best together on a line. Prospal-Dubinsky-Gaborik just works.

Prospal Back, Dubi Dropped

The injured Vinny Prospal will be back in the lineup tomorrow night against the Devils, which is nothing but great news for the Rangers. As per Jim Cerny’s twitter, Prospal will be back on the top line with Marian Gaborik. A bit of a surprise here is that Erik Christensen will be the pivot on that line. Brandon Dubinsky has been dropped to wing on a different line with Chris Drury and Ryan Callahan.

Christensen has earned his spot on the top line with Prospal and Gaborik. He may not be the most talented player, but he gets the job done. It isn’t always about putting the best center on the line, but about putting the center that works the best with Gaborik and Prospal on the line. Good for Christensen, I hope he can keep it up.

Top Draft Picks of The Decade

Yeah, yeah, I know. The decade ended already. We’re in a new one. But, better late than never, right? I’ve seen a lot of these, and wanted to throw in my two cents. Here are the Rangers top 10 draft picks of the decade (Note: I considered time played with the Rangers. Marek Zidlicky was a great pick, but he never suited up. So he’s not on the list.)

10. Lauri Korpikoski

The “Korpedo” was the 19th overall pick in the 2004 draft. In his one full season on Broadway, Korpikoski established himself as a nice defensive forward with some offensive skills. He was later traded for Enver Lisin. He was 6-8-14 last year. I’m kind of disappointed the Rangers gave up on him so early. While Lisin clearly has some great offensive skills, the “Korpedo”could’ve been another Ryan Callahan type.

9. Bobby Sanguinetti

He hasn’t played much in the NHL, but he clearly has a lot of talent. He has offensive skills, and is improving defensively. He’s playing well in Hartford, but still needs time in the AHL. You’ll see a lot of him next year.

8. Fedor Tyutin

Fedor Tyutin was a stalwart on the blueline for the first couple years of the Rangers resurgence. Big, strong, composed, he had a bright future ahead of him. Still does. Only it will be in Columbus. Tyutin was part of the Nik Zherdev deal. Again, I’m disappointed that they gave up on him. We could’ve used him now.

7. Artem Anisimov

Still only a rookie, Anisimov  is showing flashes of offensive brilliance, with an improving defensive sense. So far, he is 7-8-15, and he seems to improve every game. We know he can score; he scored 37 goals in Hartford last year. I think he has star potential. He’s 6-4 and has room to put some weight on his frame.

6. Brandon Dubinsky

Dubinsky is starting to live up his potential, as he’s getting first line duty with Marian Gaborik. Selected in the 2nd round of the 2004 draft, Dubinsky is a talented forward. Score, hit. He can do it all. He has the potential to be a big time player.

5. Petr Prucha

One of the surprises coming out of the lockout, Prucha posted 30 goals in his rookie year. Of course, he fell into the doghouse after that, and saw his goal totals dip, before being shipped off to Phoenix. A fan favorite, Prucha really got the short end of the stick. Once Jagr left, he wasn’t getting the same chances. Making this pick even better was that it was in the 8th round of the 2002 draft. A steal, to say the least.

4. Michael Del Zotto

Taken in the first round of the 2008 draft, MDZ surprised some by making the team this year. He quickly took the lead on the power play, and has been one of the best rookies in the NHL. He has Leetch-like skill. Great vision, unbelievable passing, and a good shot. He’s a keeper, that’s for sure.

3. Ryan Callahan

Taken in the 4th round of the 2004 draft, Callahan’s rise has been breathtaking. He’s an energy winger, who works hard, but it pays off as he scored 22 goals last year. A great penalty killer, and he loves to hit. He is the alternate captain of the Rangers, and was named to the US Olympic team. He’s a future captain.

2. Marc Staal

Another first round pick, Marc Staal is quickly becoming a shut down defenseman. His offensive skills are still a work of progress, but he is always paired against opposing teams best players. He is one of the best young players in the league, and will anchor the Rangers blueline for a long time.

1. Henrik Lundqvist

Some may say this was the best pick of the decade for the entire NHL. He was taken in the 7th round of the 2000 draft. He wasn’t even the first goalie the Rangers took. They took Brandon Snee in the 5th  round. Who is Brandon Snee? Exactly. Lundqvist is one of the best goalies in the league. He led Sweden to a gold medal. He has been nominated for the Vezina trophy multiple times. He is the key to the Rangers success. What a draft pick.

There are others who didn’t make this list. I didn’t include promising youngsters such as Chris Krieder, Derek Stepan, Ryan Borque, or Evegeny Grachev. They haven’t played a game yet in the NHL. Alexei Cherepanov would be on this list somewhere, if not for his tragic death. But, in the last part of the decade ,the Rangers have done a great job of drafting. Some really promising players in the system. I can’t wait.

Dubinsky, Boyle Exchange Fists

The fire in the Rangers eyes seems to have boiled over to practice, as Brandon Dubinsky was seen exchanging fists with Brian Boyle. It must have been tough for Dubinsky, who had to jump to even land a punch on Boyle. Ever jump while on skates? Landing is tough. The fight was over very quickly, and both players were joking about it after the optional skate.

Dubi Coming Back Tonight?

It looks like Brandon Dubinsky is ready to return to the Rangers. According to Andrew Gross, Dubinsky is likely to play tonight against Atlanta.  As Gross said, it’s not 100% confirmed, but looking that way. Here are the line combos if Dubi plays:

Christopher Higgins-Brandon Dubinsky-Marian Gaborik
Vinny Prospal-Chris Drury-Ryan Callahan
Sean Avery-Artem Anisimov-Ales Kotalik
Donald Brashear-Brian Boyle-Enver Lisin

Getting Dubi back is huge. Prospal can play his natural wing full time. It takes some pressure off of Gabby. And, this whole slide really started when Dubinsky got hurt. Hopefully, he will have a positive impact.

Dubinsky Placed On Long Term IR

Now that Ilkka Heikkinen has been called up, the Rangers needed a way to get his salary under the cap. They did it by placing Brandon Dubinsky retroactively on Long Term Injury Reserve. Basically, and Dave can explain this better than I can, LTIR allows teams to go over the cap to fit in a replacement player. Putting Dubi on LTIR allowed them to call up Heikkinen.

Update 5:45pm (Dave): Just to expand on what Jeremy stated, when a player is placed on LTIR, a team is allowed to go over the salary cap by that player’s cap hit. In this case, the Rangers are allowed to go over the cap by $1.85 million, which gives them enough room to recall both Chad Johnson and Ilkka Heikkinen. However, the downside to this is that it does not help them save on cap flexibility at the end of the season, so the temporary (prorated) hits of Heikkinen and the extra forward(s) will stay with the cap number for the rest of the season.

Drury Out, Lundqvist “Maybe”

The injury news for the Rangers is not good. Already out is Brandon Dubinsky, who will be gone at least three weeks with his broken hand. Andrew Gross is reporting that also out is Chris Drury, as the Rangers are taking the safe route with his concussion, as they should. Henrik Lundqvist is a maybe, as his wonky groin (looks like us fans were worried about the wrong groin) may keep him out of action for tomorrow’s game. Enver Lisin is going to play, even though he broke his left foot. Having trouble keeping up?

This is just terrible news for the Rangers. Losing one of Dubinsky or Drury is tough, because the Rangers aren’t that deep of a team, but losing both is going to take its toll on the team. Lisin’s foot is troublesome, but not overly concerning, as he will be playing through it. The worst news here is Lundqvist, as the Rangers can ill afford to have him out for a while. As much as the Rangers will depend on Marian Gaborik to carry the team, if Lundqvist goes down long term, we are looking at a lottery pick.

The lines, as per Gross, for tomorrow:

Speaking of lines, here’s what the Rangers showed today:
Lisin-Vinny Prospal-Marian Gaborik
Christopher Higgins-Artem Anisimov-Ales Kotalik
Sean Avery-Brian Boyle-Ryan Callahan
Donald Brashear, Aaron Voros, Dane Byers.

There are commas instead of hyphens with the fourth-liners because none of them are likely to play center. Instead, if Tortorella decides to use his fourth line for the occasional shift, he’ll most likely double shift one of his three centers.

The defense pairings, as usual, remain the same:
Matt Gilroy-Wade Redden
Michael Del Zotto-Michal Rozsival
Marc Staal-Dan Girardi.

It makes sense to just substitute the fourth line in. If the centers need a rest, both Higgins and Avery can play a shift or two a game at center to compensate.

I guess the silver lining is that Ilya Kovalchuk will not be playing tomorrow night, so it’s going to have to be Rich Peverley and Nik Antropov that do the damage against either Lundqvist or Steve Valliquette.

Dubinsky Out Up To Six Weeks

As per Larry Brooks, Rangers center Brandon Dubinsky, who suffered a broken hand in Calgary over the weekend, will be out four to six weeks. This is bad news for the Rangers, who are going to be without Chris Drury indefinitely due to his concussion.

If Dubinsky is placed on LTIR, then they will get $1.85 million in cap space for the length of the injury to call up a replacement. In that scenario, we could be seeing Evgeny Grachev called up. However, don’t expect any news on call ups until they determine the severity of Drury’s concussion. You always have to play it safe with those, especially when it isn’t his first.

Drury / Dubinsky Out Awhile

As per Steve Zipay’s twitter, quoting coach John Tortorella:

Tortorella: Drury has concussion, Dubinsky probably out for awhile

Clearly, this is not good news. The Rangers were just physically beaten down by Calgary last night, and no one stuck up for Drury after the blindside hit by Curtis Glencross. The Rangers are a soft team, and people will continue to take runs like that at the skaters, and the runs at Henrik Lundqvist that we have witnessed entire season. You have to protect your players. Sean Avery, your comment of “He would have preferred the two points”, also per Zipay’s twitter, is just stupid. Sometimes, you need to make a stand. You can’t get two points in the future if everyone is injured.

The Rangers are lucky in the sense that they now have four days off to allow the other injured players to recoup a bit, specifically Lundqvist. It will be interesting to see who gets called up to replace the two centers. With Hartford playing a game Wednesday, we may not hear anything until then. But for those expecting Evgeny Grachev, don’t get your hopes up. His cap hit is $933,000, and the Rangers only have cap space for an $850,000 hit. Expect P.A. Parenteau, with the four centers being Vinny Prospal, Artem Anisimov, Brian Boyle, and Avery.

Game 12: Rangers vs. Coyotes

Tonight, our beloved Blueshirts take on the surprisingly good Hamilton Phoenix Coyotes. The ‘Yotes are led by Shane Doan and Ed Jovanovski, their leading point scorers this season. The biggest surprise is Radim Vrbata, who got his money in Tampa, only to crash and burn, only to be resurrected in Phoenix (really?) and lead the team in goals with four. The 6-3-0 ‘Yotes will be a tough challenge, and if the Rangers look to right this ship, they will need to play smart.

There are many Ranger stories to discuss for this game, so let’s break it down a bit:

• The Rangers are playing some pretty terrible hockey lately, and have lost three straight, albeit one in overtime. The Rangers’ problems stem from some pretty bad habits that have developed during the seven game win streak, specifically taking way too many lazy penalties, and no longer challenging the puck carrier to disrupt the opponents’ offensive flow. The Rangers are not a good enough team to win while taking seven penalties a game and playing passive defense. Mike Cammalleri’s OT winner on Saturday night really illustrated the second point, as he walked in essentially untouched, save for a Marian Gaborik poke check (sort of), and ripped a shot that Henrik Lundqvist had no shot against. The defense needs to step up, preferably before hitting the crease.
• Chris Higgins and Brandon Dubinsky were benched for the entire third period against Montreal, each committing an egregious error that led to a goal. Dubinsky acknowledged he was upset, and will probably look to maintain control of the puck a little better.
• Higgins, on the otherhand, has been downright awful so far this year, and, as Jeremy stated, his play is generating a lot of concern. He needs to play better, case closed.
• Tonight marks the return of my old-favorite Ranger, Petr Prucha. Lauri Korpikoski is also making his return, but he didn’t have as much of an impact on the Rangers as Prucha did. Prucha was the first homegrown player since Mike York to score 30 goals in a rookie season, and we were all excited. Prucha’s numbers slipped with the addition of Brendan Shannahan, as Shanny took all of Pru’s PP time, but he still managed to net 22 goals that year. After that, he must have beaten Tom Renney’s dog to death or something, because he never saw the ice again. Pru should get a very warm welcome, and I sitting in Section 323 Row C, sporting my Prucha jersey (come say hi), to contribute to the welcome.

As for the lines, the Rangers are putting the Benched Brothers together with Ryan Callahan. Donald Brashear is no longer sore, and will be playing in place of Aaron Voros tonight. Expect a Tom Renney amount of line shakeups tonight, as our struggling Blueshirts look to find some sort of answer to the funk.

Game time is 7pm on MSG. If you’re going to the game, come say hi. Otherwise, use this thread to discuss the game. We had a lot of comments during the Canadiens game, and we definitely want to keep the chatter going. Enjoy the game.