Great news this morning as Rick Nash is on the ice for practice, per Pat Leonard. Nash is also in a contact jersey, which hopefully means he will be playing tonight. Leonard also noted that Ryan McDonagh is not on the ice this morning, and neither is Marc Staal. Staal is probably just off for maintenance, but McDonagh is likely still feeling the effects of that Max Pacioretty hit that didn’t warrant a suspension.
Even though McDonagh isn’t out there, let’s focus on the good news that Nash is back.
There was a lot going on today in Rangerland, and there may be some significant roster changes for tonight’s game. Per Andrew Gross, the Rangers are dealing with the following injuries/lineup changes:
- Arron Asham is out with back spasms. Christian Thomas has been recalled to take his roster spot.
- To make room for Thomas, Rick Nash has been placed on IR, retroactive to last Saturday.
- Marc Staal has the flu, and is a game time decision.
- Michael Del Zotto is a game time decision with the lower body injury sustained on Thursday.
- Martin Biron is starting tonight.
I think that sums it up at the moment. There’s a lot going on tonight.
Gaborik needs to step up, the Rangers need him.
I almost didn’t want to write this post out of protest at losing valuable sleep having to watch the Montreal game Tuesday night. That said, it probably should have sent me to sleep. Anyway, it’s another musings on another game day. Let’s get at it.
Brad Richards and Marian Gaborik need to be much, much better. Inconsistent at best, invisible at worst these guys should be difference makers in turgid affairs like the one on Tuesday.
Gaborik: I’m a huge fan, one of my favourite Rangers. That said, he’s started to play more on the perimeter again and is getting away from what makes him successful when he’s been scoring as a Ranger. We need to see him in open ice, yes. However, we also need to see him around the net, looking for rebounds, looking to sneak behind defensemen. Gaborik needs to step up.
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Bringing on Ryan O’Reilly would upset the Rangers’ salary structure
For years financial ineptitude crippled the Rangers franchise, but what was once an enormous weakness has turned into the backbone of the organization’s success.
Last week I advocated for the possibility of trading for Ryan O’Reilly (before news of Colorado’s asking price of Michael Del Zotto + Chris Kreider/J.T. Miller broke). A few days later, Larry Brooks reported that the Rangers would not pursue O’Reilly because of his contract demands and more importantly, how they would affect the organization’s salary structure.
As much as I would like to see O’Reilly on Broadway, Brooks makes a very strong point. Read more »
Update 1:30pm: Per Andrew Gross, Nash will not travel with the team to Ottawa, which means both Kreider and Mashinter will play tomorrow. Gross adds that Nash may travel with the team to Montreal this weekend.
Original Post: There was a lot of panic in Rangerland yesterday when Rick Nash was a last-minute scratch due to an undisclosed injury. This is the same injury that caused him to miss the Season Subscriber Forum last week, but didn’t prevent him from playing 20 minutes in the 2-1 victory over Washington. The Rangers haven’t released any details on the injury.
Reading between the lines of the Rangers (lack of) roster moves: Nash is still questionable for tomorrow’s game against Ottawa, as the Rangers have not sent Chris Kreider nor Brandon Mashinter back to the Connecticut Whale of the AHL for their game tonight.
I am Nash. HEAR ME ROAR
It’s Musings day. I’m in Germany as you read this on a game day, so enjoy. Unfortunately the Islanders game is the first game I’ll not have caught live this year to any extent but I’m sure you’ll all cope without me.
The Rangers win in Boston; if that finishes 3-0 then half of Ranger nation will be booking time off to attend the Cup parade. It didn’t, and it was almost a shambolic collapse, but lets stay away from the ledge. For most part the Rangers played a great game and at times controlled the Bruins in their own barn. That’s tough to do.
There are goal scorers and then there are truly elite offensive, superstars. Marian Gaborik is a great goal scorer for the most part. Rick Nash is a superstar. He can dangle and create offense out of nothing that maybe 5% of the league (if that) can do. Going on a small sample size, Nash is going to be in New York for a long time and successfully too.
Marc Staal (for the most part) is truly back. Carrying the puck, playing physically, decision making, offense, sound positioning… he’s doing everything he needs to do at an All Star level again.
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The Rangers had plenty to celebrate tonight.
The Rangers rode an offensively strong first period and turned it into a pretty dominant 5-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning. Aside from a somewhat defensively suspect first period (which gave Lundqvist some nice practice time…) and a brain fart on the Lightning goal, this was as near to a complete game as you’ll get.
The Rangers had strong performances all over the ice. Led by Hagelin followed by Nash, Staal, Lundqvist, the fourth line and Ryan McDonagh, but in particular Girardi was up there with Hagelin displaying his exceptional decision making all game long. The Rangers controlled the boards, controlled the tempo and controlled a highly skilled team allowing them just 20 shots. This game makes you excited to be a Ranger fan as the depth really came to the fore tonight.
On to the breakdown folks.
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Googled ‘desperate for offense’. I kid you not, this was the 3rd picture found.
Hello everybody! (*Dr Nick voice*). It’s a musings day but in Ranger-land there’s not much to be happy about, so let’s just get straight into it. It’s all business folks.
I read yesterday that we give the ‘star’ players a pass on this site? Not so. If you look back through the musings I was pretty critical of Gaborik recently because he has lacked consistently. That criticism still remains, and it goes for all three of them. When you ice a top heavy line-up the one thing that line has to give you is a consistent effort, even when it doesn’t score, and that trio were generally lousy against the Devils.
Whose return to the line up Thursday is more urgently required, Girardi’s or Callahan’s? Given the constant team wide defensive gaffes you could argue Girardi’s, although with the Edmonton Oilers of the 80’s in no danger of losing any scoring records to this Rangers, maybe its Cally. Hopefully both return.
Peak in to the past time: Bobby Sanguinetti: 6 GP, -4, 0 pts, 13:38mins/game. What a shame.
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“Some fans don’t like me? … Oh no!” </sarcasm>
There’ll be no Marc Staal defence’s today (kudos Suit), no long-winded rants, just lots of discussion. I’m feeling concise today so let’s get straight into the Le Musing (ooh, very French…)
Michael Del Zotto: The young and oft maligned blueliner is off to a great start to the year. He’ll never win over all his critics but he’s been the Rangers best blueliner at both ends so far. For a unit that struggled early on, and for a player with much to prove, he’s doing exactly that. Several big plays already this season.
Glen Sather deserves a ton of credit for Del Zotto’s start. Sather challenged Del Zotto to earn a bigger deal. He called him out while at the same time ensuring he publicly acknowledged the young defenseman’s worth to the franchise. He doesn’t speak in public much but Sather hit this one on the head. Sather dealt with the MDZ situation perfectly.
If I were to personally grade Marian Gaborik after 6 games, I’d probably be harsher than most people. I’d give him a B+ where some people would see the totals and assume excellence. I’m one of Gabby’s biggest fans, but he’s at times dominated and at times been found wanting. Of course, the times he’s impressed have outnumbered those he’s struggled in. The only thing missing from Gaborik’s season thus far is that elite level of consistency.
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Plenty more Nash celebrations as a Ranger to come
What do Theo Fleury, Eric Lindros, Pavel Bure, Brendan Shanahan and even Jaromir Jagr all have in common? Despite varying levels of success as a Ranger, each of the aforementioned stars were acquired by the Rangers on the downside of their career.
In the case of Fleury and Lindros both players had productive spells as Rangers even if their spells in NY were classed as failures. Of course Jagr had a substantial impact on the Rangers, including perhaps the greatest scoring season in Ranger history. But even the great Jaromir Jagr came to the Rangers labeled as ‘damaged goods’ and past his Pittsburgh prime. Of course, Jagr managed to reclaim some of the shine from his career in New York. All this brings us to the Rangers’ newest superstar, Rick Nash.
As a player that brings the potential for so much more upon (and not before) his arrival in New York, Nash breaks the mold of these past superstar acquisitions. Brad Richards is also in this mold, but not as much so as Nash. This is a refreshing change for the Rangers and perhaps the greatest reason for optimism in the current squad.
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