Hank Out Tonight

As per Andrew Gross’s twitter, Chad Johnson will get the start again tonight, as Henrik Lundqvist will be out with a stomach flu for the second game in a row.

Update 7:00pm: Ales Kotalik and Donald Brashear are scratched again. Strong trade rumors swirling, as there was a 35 minute delay for Tortorella’s pregame press conference.

Don’t Sweat It

Yeah, I know I haven’t posted much outside of the game thread, but if you saw my schedule, you would understand. I’ll take this rare free moment to talk about the Rangers. Mostly, about the game last night. Yeah, it sucked. No goals in two straight games. Unacceptable.  Too many games with no effort. Again, unaccetpable. But, there’s one thing that gives me confidence: Henrik Lundqvist. It may be trite, but in the lackluster Eastern Conference, you don’t need to score that much to win. You just need a great goalie. Lundqvist is playing at an extremely high level as of late. He’s been almost unbeatable. And while the lack of scoring is frustrating, and tough to watch, take solace in the fact that you can make the playoffs with a stellar goalie. The Rangers are lucky to have a stellar goalie. While the scoring could haunt them in the playoffs, Hank is good enough to steal a win or even a series. In the playoffs, it’s all about a hot goalie. To make the playoffs, a stellar goalie can get you there.

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.

Lunqvist Named Swedish Goalie

This is relatively old news, and unsurprising news, but Henrik Lundqvist has been named the starting goalie for the Swedish Olympic team. In the 2006 Olympics, Lundqvist backed the Swedish team to a gold medal. Although the 2010 Swedish team will lack Mats Sundin, they are making up for it with new comer Niklas Backstrom.

I get the feeling that Sweden will be defending their gold in the medal round this year, possibly against Canada.

Which Rangers Will Be In The Olympics?

With the Olympics around the corner, and the announcement of rosters just days away, it’s time to break down which Rangers will be heading to Vancouver.

MORTAL LOCKS:

Henrik Lundqvist, Sweden

Marian Gaborik, Slovakia

What, you thought these guys would be staying home?

ON THE BUBBLE:

Chris Drury, USA

Ryan Callahan, USA

Vinny Prospal, Czech Republic

Marc Staal, Canada

I think Drury’s recent hot streak helps him. He’s an unbelievable penalty killer. And a great leader. But, he may not score enough to make it. Same with Callahan. Will he provide enough offense for USA to take him? He’d be a hell of a 3rd liner, though. Prospal is interesting. He probably wasn’t on the radar at the beginning of the year. But, he’s had a such a good year, and he can really set up some of the big stars. Staal is probably a long-shot. He hasn’t had a great year, offensively, but he can be a shut down defenseman. I think 2014 is more likely for him.

Anyone I’m missing?

Chris Higgins Can’t Buy A Goal, And Other Random Thoughts

As we try to digest yet another Rangers loss, I couldn’t help but think. So here are some random thoughts coming from my mind to yours.

-Chris Higgins can’t buy a goal. Honestly. He’s been playing so well. He’s been aggressive on the forecheck. He’s creating chances. He just can’t bury the puck. And I don’t know why. I don’t know why. But,  I have a feeling that he’s going to get hot. He has to at some point. He’s playing to well.

-Lundqvist needs a break. Whether he’s been worked too hard, or whether is mind is elsewhere, having Valliquette start a couple more games cannot hurt. Hank needs to be Hank for this team to win. Right now, he’s struggling.

-Marian Gaborik is close to breaking last year’s high goal total. Markus Naslund had 24. Gabby has 21. He should break it this week.  And it hasn’t even been 30 games!

-Gaborik is why this team is better than last year. Immediately, you have a better scoring presence. Power play is imporved, markedly. This team should make the playoffs. They are better than last year. This is probably just a rough stretch.

-I miss Wade Redden.

-Bobby Sanguinetti does nothing for me.

-Chris Drury looks like a different player, in a good way. Much faster, much better skating-wise. He’s doing a hell of job on the point.

-Ales Kotalik has found his way into the doghouse.

-P.A. Parenteau is pretty good. He should stay for awhile.

-Like I said, this is a playoff team. This is just a rough (very rough) stretch. All teams go through it. If the Rangers can come out of this and get some points, everything will be okay.

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.

Protecting Your Stars

Behind every star player, there is an intimidating force that strikes fear into the opposition. This fear is what prevents players from targeting stars. Wayne Gretzky had Marty McSorley, and Dave Semenko before him. Martin Brodeur had Scott Stevens. Mike Richards / Jeff Carter have Chris Pronger. Cindy Crosby has Hal Gill. John Taveras has Brendan Witt. Enforcers aren’t necessarily goons, but they are the big physical force that will make you think twice before laying out any of the stars.

The Rangers brought in Donald Brashear, and to a lesser extent Aaron Voros, to protect their stars. Brashear and Voros (and now Dane Byers) are out to protect Marian Gaborik, to ensure that no one takes any unnecessary liberties with one of the stars on our beloved Blueshirts. After all, if Gaborik is hurt, the Rangers are at a severe disadvantage. We’ve seen it the past week.

But what about that other star? The one that in the long term, means more to the organization than any player on the roster, and any player since Brian Leetch was forcibly removed.

Henrik Lundqvist seems to be on the receiving end of many an opposition hit lately. I say hit, because usually when running a goalie, the opposition at least pretends to avoid the netminder. But when it comes to running Lundqvist, it looks like players are lowering their shoulder and just plowing into him. They do this because there is no penalty for doing so, and I’m not referring to sitting in the box, although a few calls might help alleviate the situation.

When he was in the lineup, Brashear did nothing to punish the opposition for running their most important star. Voros has at least tried to fight. I’ve seen Michael Del Zotto, all 19 years of him, get in the face of some Phoenix Coyotes. That’s about it though.

How many times does Hank need to be down for an extended period of time before someone makes the opposition pay? Sooner or later, he’s not going to get up. Everyone’s heart skipped a beat when he didn’t get up immediately in Montreal. How many more times does that need to happen?

Someone needs to step up, it doesn’t matter who it is. If Del Zotto can face wash people twice his age, then someone else can step up and dish out some punishment. Sooner or later, Hank won’t get up.

Where Will Hank Rank?

Last night, Henrik Lundqvist stole the show, and won game #150 in his young career. Lundqvist, just 27 years old, got to 150 wins in a little over four seasons. At this rate (averaging 35 wins a year), assuming he plays until he is 38 (another 11 years), The King will finish his career with over 500 victories. To put this in perspective, he will get win #302, and set a Ranger record, before he turns 33. His peripherals are outstanding, and he already has 21 shutouts. Of course, there are many factors that come into play here, such as injuries and the increasing workload in the form of shots against, but in his first four years, he has been nothing short of phenomenal.

When it comes to all-time Ranger greats in net, two prominent names come to mind: Mike Richter and Eddie Giacomin. Both are numbers 1 and 2 in pretty much every Ranger goalie stat, and in the fans hearts. There will never be a clear cut line between Richter and Eddie, as fans will never seem to agree who was “better”. Both were flat out great in net, and while Giacomin may be the more decorated of the two, Richter is the one with the Cup and the all-time wins record.

This brings us back to Hank. What if he never wins a Vezina? There needs to be something said for consistency, and usually the most consistent players don’t win that many awards (see: Rivera, Mariano). Vezina’s go to the top goalie in the league for that year, and while the finalists, or even the top five, are consistent, the winner is generally the goalie who was just abnormally great that year (see: Theodore, Jose). Can one trophy be used to measure his success? What if he never wins a Cup? Is that his fault? Hockey, after all, is a team game, and we have seen that the supporting cast has been less than Cup-worthy in the past years.

Then there are the stats. Hockey isn’t mature enough in the metrics department to help account for the many changes in the game since Eddie’s, and to a lesser extent, Richter’s era (like the way ERA+ helps account for this in baseball). Sure, goalie equipment is bigger and lighter, but the skaters are bigger, stronger, and faster. Composite sticks have changed the way pucks are shot. But, you can’t ignore gaudy numbers, such as 150 wins and 21 shutouts before his 28th birthday, no matter what era they come from. How many teams would kill to have that kind of consistency in net?

There’s no denying the fact that if it were any other goalie in net the past four years, we may still be talking about a playoff drought in New York. So in that regard, Hank is already one of, if not the, most influential Rangers of the “new NHL”, and rightfully earned him a spot as one of the top-100 Rangers of all time. Are numbers alone enough to vault him past Eddie and Richter? Or does that Cup mean that much? This debate has only just begun, and it will be become a wild debate as Hank starts approaching these records.

Puck Prospectus: Hank #2 in Quality Starts

Puck Prospectus, who has given us new metrics such as GVT to help put some better numbers behind the NHL stats, now gives us stats to better evaluate goaltenders. It’s a very interesting read, and you should check it out. I’m not going to re-hash the article here, but the key points were comparing goals allowed to what you can get for the same price, called GVS (Goal-Versus-Salary). Obviously Tim Thomas, his Vezina, and his $1.1 million salary topped that list.

The other stat, called Quality Starts, is when a pitcher goes 6+ innings allowing three or less runs is determined when a goalie has a save percentage of higher than XXX% for the season (varies per season, was .913% for 2008-2009). This does not take team offensive production into account. The stat is clearly incomplete, as it doesn’t take into effect the quality of shots taken, but it’s still a good start. Coming in at #2 in the league in quality starts, Henrik Lundqvist.

Side note, I like these metrics, it adds some value to hockey stats, as opposed to just counting stats.