PARENTEAU SCORES FIRST 

Congratulations to P.A. Parenteau on scoring his first NHL goal in his first game as a New York Ranger on his first shot as a Blueshirt no less. It was a great personal achievement and comes as a result of years of hard work. He should be very proud of himself. More so than even the goal was the fact that he was also the best player on the ice for much of the game for the Rangers. The MSG cameras seemed to be on him constantly. But in terms of the goal itself, for those of us who have seen him play as much as we have, it was a typical goal for the youngster from Hull, Quebec.

So today should be a day of happiness and celebration, at least if he doesn’t read this comment by head coach John Tortorella, who was asked to assess the right winger’s performance after the game. “He was OK. I worry about his skating at this level. You can see he has a nose for the net, he’s an offensive guy. But I worry about his skating.”

Gee, thanks coach…

Our first thought after he said that we can’t print. But our second thought we can. It comes from Bull Durham. After Nuke pitches a great inning he comes back to the dugout for this exchange:

NUKE

I was great, eh?

CRASH

Your fastball was up and your curveball was hanging–in the Show they woulda ripped you.

NUKE

Can't you let me enjoy the moment?

CRASH

The moment's over.

Sound like Tortorella to you?

This display was another, in what seems like, an endless series of disgraceful and childish reactions by someone who's supposed to be a leader of men. Tortorella displayed, once again for the whole world to see, why the Rangers are going nowhere with him at the helm. His team showed just how vulnerable they are without Marion Gaborik in the lineup. To his credit, Tortorella's system is interesting and exciting to watch when he has the players to pull it off. For the first severn games they seemed to get it and played phenomenal and well over their heads. But in terms of the long run, Tortorella doesn't have the troops on this team to pull it off. It's his job to fix it. We're not seeing it.

The Rangers were out-everything-ed by a last place Islander's team that had only won ONE game in regulation. Last night proved one thing and that is that without Gaborik in the lineup, this is a team going nowhere. Even with him in the lineup, they just are a slightly better than average team.

By the way, do you think that Joe Michaletti can say just once that a Rangers oppenent  is NOT a hard working team? Everyone they play that's the first words out of his mouth and repeated throughout. It would be interesting to ask if he feels the Rangers are a hard working team.

But what about the stars of the team?

Let’s look at them to this point.

Vinnie Prospal

There is no player on the team who has benefited more from having Gaborik in the lineup that Vinnie Prospal. Gaborik is making him look like he’s a $7mm/per Center. Without him in the lineup, the $1.5mm he’s getting is about right. Prospal shines because Gaborik finishes so often on the chances that Prospal gives him and conversely benefits from the opportunities Gaborik creates for him.

Ryan Callahan

I'm prejudice when it comes to Cally. We knew him well when he was in Hartford and he was always willing to share plenty of info and taught us a lot about the game. We said to anyone who would listen that Cally would make a great pro. But the truth and the bottom line on is that Cally is a solid and talented third line checker who has the talent to put the puck in the net. But because this team is so thin on talent, he's being called on…as it's been Ranger history…to be someone he's not, a top line scorer. He’s getting pressure from Tortorella to score more and that’s not his game.

Sean Avery

When Avery is on his game as an agitator there is NO ONE in the league better at it than him. As a hockey player overall, he’s okay. He’s not great. He’s not bad. He’s alright. But since the start of the season he looks like he’s playing on medication. Where is the agitation that gets other team off their game? In terms of offense he’s doing fine. In fact in that department he’s off to a good start, but he's not on this team for his offensive output. It’s good that he is, but don’t get that worked up. He’s a 15 goals a year guy. Avery has six points after his nine games (2g, 4a). Terrific. But if he's not agitating and getting the grit in the game that the Rangers need, then he’s being massively overpaid at $4m per for 15 goals.

Chris Drury

We have been rooting for Chris Drury since he was the best player in Little League in Trumbull, CT, the next town over from us. We have hoped to see him in the red,white and blue for as long as we can remember and were thrilled when he was signed to come here. But let’s be real about this. AT BEST, at this point in his career, he’s a third line center…maybe a second, but really a third. But as is the way in Ranger-Land, he’s being asked to do more than he is capable of doing. He’s not been good.

Michael Rozsival

Do I need to even go there?

Wade Redden

While Redden has been a better than he's been in the past, that's not saying all that much. He’s been…at best…okay.

Dan Girardi

Can someone please explain to me who kidnapped the real Dan Girardi and put out this impersonator? If he doesn’t turn it around and soon, I’d trade or release him and bring up one of the youngsters in Hartford. Michael Sauer, Bobby Sanguinetti and Corey Potter are all playing better than Girardi is right now.

Christopher Higgins

He’s holding his stick tighter than Ebenezer Scrooge would to his last shilling. If he can’t come to “grips” pardon the pun, and start relaxing and putting the puck in the net, then he needs to sit and chill out a while. Maybe a stint in Hartford to get his confidence back. He doesn’t pass through waivers and gets claimed, fine. There are enough kids, like Parenteau, like Dale Weise, like Dane Byers that are knocking on the door to play in the Big Apple.

But getting back to Parenteau. The kid was clearly the best player on the ice for the Rangers throughout. We do need to say that at times he looked a bit slow in getting back to the defensive zone and seemed to us like he was coasting a bit at times, but that’s not why he was there. He was there to score goals and he did that. Granted he’s not Alex Ovechkin and he needs to get back and get involved, but that doesn’t excuse the comments that Tortorella made on him on a night when the kid is in his first game as a Ranger and scores the only goal for a team that needed goals and a lift so badly. To say what he did of Parenteau shows the total lack of class this guy has.

He couldn't have said, "The kid had his first goal as a pro tonight and we're happy for him. We'll need to look at the tape and continue evaluating his game at this level, but tonight we're happy for him." Tom Renney would have said something like that albeit in a paragraph and not a sentence, but could you ever imagine Tom Renney ripping the kid like that? We can’t.

Now, it’s clear that Tortorella is not Renney. That was probably a key in the reason the guy was brought here in the first place, but it’s not too much to ask for the guy to show even a little class?

Bottom line is that The Rangers all seem to be playing on edge like scared children afraid of their lunatic father exploding at them rather than a group of players all focused and relaxed looking to do well for one another.

Congratulations P.A.. Your coach might not say it, but you deserve a pat on the back for a job well done.