BY: Bruce Berlet
Composing preseason previews is always a fun exercise but hardly an exact science.
As New York Rangers assistant general manager/assistant coach/Connecticut Whale GM Jim Schoenfeld said in early September, “Pre-camp interviews are always kind of hazy because there are too many things that happen that you don’t expect.”
Another of Schoenfeld’s favorite lines is “that’s why there’s training camp.” The biggest story as Rangers camp started Sept. 15 was who would earn the left wing spot alongside center Brad Richards, the plum of NHL free agency this year who signed a nine-year, $60 million contract in the hope he could rejuvenate right wing Marian Gaborik and a power play that struggled much of last season.
Wojtek Wolski had the inside track until he sustained a groin injury late in the preseason, causing coach John Tortorella to break up his top line last season of former Hartford Wolf Pack players: new captain Ryan Callahan, Brandon Dubinsky and Artem Anisimov. Dubinsky moved alongside Richards and Gaborik while Ruslan Fedotenko played with Anisimov and Callahan as the Rangers opened the season Friday with a 3-2 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Kings in Stockholm, Sweden, the fifth of six games they will play in Europe.
But while that issue was being settled at least temporarily, All-Star defenseman Marc Staal had to sit out virtually all of training camp, including seven preseason games, because of recurring headaches from post-concussion symptoms initiated when hit by his brother, All-Star center Eric Staal, in a game against the Carolina Hurricanes on Feb. 22. Staal skated off and on with the Rangers and on his own until joining the Whale on Sept. 30 and then was put on injured reserve at the start of the season because of headaches that resurfaced after his skates in Connecticut.
Schoenfeld had been made to look like Kreskin when it came to “too many things happen that you don’t expect” occurring in training camp. Only the loss of All-Star goalie Henrik Lundqvist could have been more debilitating for the Rangers as they seemed on the cusp of joining the NHL’s elite with a lot of hard-working homegrown products, including Callahan, who succeeded Trumbull native Chris Drury as captain. Drury retired Aug. 19 after the Rangers bought out the final year of his five-year, $35.25 million contract on June 29.
Appropriately, Callahan scored the first goal of the season and feisty Brendan Prust engaged in the first fight for the Rangers, who also got a goal from Marian Gaborik and 27 saves from homeland hero Henrik Lundqvist, who lost on Jack Johnson’s power-play goal with 52 seconds left in overtime. Anze Kopitar and Mike Richards each had a goal and an assist and Hamden native Jonathan Quick made 24 saves for the Kings.
The Stanley Cup runner-up Vancouver Canucks claimed Dale Weise off waivers from the Rangers earlier this week, and defenseman Tim Erixon, an offseason acquisition and among the Rangers’ final cuts, flew back to his native Sweden to rejoin the Rangers, and left wing Sean Avery and defensemen Stu Bickel and Brendan Bell cleared waivers. Avery was assigned to the Whale but has not been told that he has to report, while Bickel and Bell remained with the Rangers for at least the first weekend of the season. But Bickel was headed back to Hartford after the Rangers claimed defenseman Jeff Woywitka off waivers from the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday. Bickel will join the Whale this weekend as they also play Sunday in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
“It’s really exciting, very special,” Erixon, the Calgary Flames’ first-round pick (23rd overall) in 2009 who was acquired June 1 with a fifth-round pick for two second-rounders and Roman Horak, said of making his NHL debut in his homeland before a crowd that included his father, Jan, who played with the Rangers for 10 years. “My parents already had tickets for the game in case I was going to play, so it’ll be fun. It’s great.”
Weise felt likewise – for an entirely different reason.
“I really wasn’t expecting to be claimed, but when the coach (Ken Gernander) came in and told me it was Vancouver, I was ecstatic,” Weise told The Province in Vancouver before being in the Canucks’ opening-night lineup Thursday night in a 4-3 shootout loss to the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins. “Vancouver was a Cup finalist and it’s playing for a Canadian team. I feel I can play any role, but if they want a fourth line guy who finishes his checks, sticks up for his teammates and scraps when necessary, that’s no problem. I’m more than willing to be an energy guy if that’s what they need.”
Weise is in the final year of a contract that pays him $605,000 in the NHL and $85,000 in the minors. Weise had a good preseason, but there really was no real place for him on the Rangers roster. With Mats Zuccarello claiming the last spot on right wing, Weise was bound to be sent back to the Whale and was among seven players assigned to the Whale last Saturday. (Sept. 30)
“We’re going to miss Dale, but we’re happy for him and wish him good luck,” Gernander said. “He’s a guy who showed a lot of promise and potential, and right now Vancouver feels is has a spot for him. It’s good for him. Dale is a valuable commodity that we hoped would be a New York Ranger. He wasn’t sent down because the Rangers had no plans for him. He was sent down because the Rangers felt he needed a little more seasoning.
“It’s good for him and tough for us, but it’s all part of helping players advance. It’s going to leave a pretty good size hole for us, but as we always say, it gives an opportunity for somebody else.”
But with the Rangers playing four preseason games and their first two regular-season games in Europe, the Whale didn’t have their final players available for practice until Tuesday. And Weise lasted only one practice before heading to Vancouver.
“The whole thing is bizarre for them,” Gernander said. “Usually there’s a little more movement at different times, but because of the distance (from Europe), it’s a little different. One of our luxuries has always been our proximity to the parent club geographically, but it wasn’t the case this year.”
But Gernander has never been one for excuses, so he and assistants J.J. Daigneault and Pat Boller jumped head-first into forming lines and defensive pairings so they could have four days of intense preparation for the opener. That could have been an intriguing matchup since Andre Deveaux was with the Whale and Tom Sestito with the Phantoms. Sestiso made a madcap rush before slamming Deveaux face-first into the boards from behind in the Rangers-Flyers preseason game in Philadelphia on Sept. 26. Bickel immediately came to Deveaux’s defense, fighting Sestito as a melee broke out. Avery and Brian Boyle also jumped in quickly, and Sestito received a five-minute major for boarding, five minutes for fighting and a game misconduct.
Two days later, Sestito was suspended for the remainder of the preseason (two games) and the first two games of the regular season by former Rangers wing Brendan Shanahan, a future Hockey of Famer who is the new NHL Senior Vice President of Player Safety. Shanahan has earned high marks for the penalties he has been doling out, notably the 10-game suspension to repeat offender Jody Shelley and eight games for James Wisniewski. And Shanahan has received bonus points for offering video explanations for his decisions on nhl.com.
Shanahan again posted his reasoning on the Sestito ruling on the NHL website, saying it was an illegal hit from behind but Sestito had no prior suspensions and Deveaux wasn’t injured. According to the AHL by-laws, a player who is under suspension in another league or organization who seeks to play in the AHL while under that suspension will have the relevant disciplinary matter independently reviewed the president, who may in his discretion deem the player ineligible. AHL president Dave Andrews ruled Sestito ineligible to play until Sunday (Oct. 9), meaning he missed the Phantoms’ last two preseason games and their opener against the Whale. If he is called up to the NHL, he’ll still have to serve two games.
“I’m just happy I wasn’t hurt,” Deveaux said. “I didn’t see it coming, but it’s a fast game and that’s going to happen. Whether he meant it or not, guys unfortunately make mistakes out there sometimes. I’m sure if he could take it back, he would. But that stuff happens, and this time I was on the receiving end of it. I’m just lucky I’m completely fine. But it’s in the past now, so I’m just going to forget about it and move forward.”
That included continuing to take the high road on Sestito’s punishment. After the game in which Sestito ran him, Deveaux told the New York media that it was “pretty dangerous. I’m in a pretty defenseless position. I’m sure they’re going to look at it.” When asked in Whale camp about Sestito getting a four-game suspension, Deveaux said, “It doesn’t matter what I think about that stuff. If that’s what they decide, it’s fine with me.”
Deveaux, the only person from the Bahamas to play in the NHL, did say he liked Bickel, Avery, Boyle and others coming to his defense.
“I was happy with it, but you also expect it,” said Deveaux, who has done plenty of his own dirty work in eight pro seasons. “If you’re not going to stick up for your teammates, you shouldn’t be playing hockey. I don’t usually look for stuff anymore, stuff usually comes finding me, but I’ll always stick up for one of my teammates.”
The Whale likely will need guys like Deveaux, Bickel, Kris Newbury and Jared Nightingale to stick up for their young smallish forwards. The Whale appear as if they’ll start the season strong in goal and on defense.
Veterans Newbury and John Mitchell were among the Rangers’ final cuts up front and are joined by rookies Carl Hagelin and Ryan Bourque, son of Hockey Hall of Famer Ray Bourque. And the Whale’s other forwards include second-year pro Kelsey Tessier and rookies Tommy Grant, Scott Tanski and Jonathan Audy-Marchessault, who was signed as a possible top player with Greenville in the ECHL but played so well in the prospects tournament in Traverse City, Mich., and Rangers and Whale camps that he’s starting the season in the AHL. Ditto for Tanski, who had been invited to Whale camp but got a late call to report to Rangers camp.
Tanski signed a one-year, two-way (AHL/ECHL) contract on Thursday, (Oct. 6) and wing Jordan Owens and defenseman T.J. Fast signed professional tryout contracts. Meanwhile, Avery hasn’t been asked to report to the Whale after clearing waivers and being assigned to get his $1.9 million off the Rangers’ salary cap, just as defenseman Wade Redden’s $6.5 million deal was wiped out when he cleared waivers last season. If the Rangers recall Avery, he could be claimed for 25 percent of the price, with the Rangers paying 25 percent and the Dallas Stars 50 percent, according to a recent ruling by the NHL.
Though the Whale is smaller up front, Gernander stressed their speed could be lethal.
“I hope that without losing any team toughness we can be a tenacious, forechecking team and really make things miserable in that regard with more frequency,” Gernander said. “We might be a few pounds lighter than we were last year, but I think the willingness to finish hits and just the increase in speed should allow us to finish more hits and create more turnovers. We’ve always talked in the past that the hits aren’t all about the impact they’re about separating a puck from the player. So if we can be tenacious and in someone’s kitchen all night and creating turnovers, I think that’s a great way to play.
“The pressure that we put on the opposition hopefully will create some mistakes. Or we can get in there before they have time to move the puck, we’ll have a little bit more puck possession. Before, we had bigger bodies, but now we have a different skill set. There’s pros and cons to everything, so this will be a little more dynamic group, but the willingness has to be there to get in and get your bumps and create those turnovers and to use your speed. It’s all for naught if you’re not going to really force yourself to push.”
Gernander knows he and his assistants might have to stay patient with more young forwards, but he believes those he has inherited will adjust better than most.
“It all depends on the kids,” Gernander said. “Sometimes they’re young and eager and hungry and want to learn. Other times they come in and are a bit stubborn. Some people are a bit little slower learners; some people catch on right now. It’s a mixed bag. Everybody develops at a different rate or a different pace. The emphasis as far as development goes could be on any number of things, some of it physical, some of it understanding the game, some of it skill development. So every person you work with kind of individually.”
Rangers and former Wolf Pack defenseman Dan Girardi said most of the young players in the organization expect to play in the NHL and all carry themselves that way. Gernander agreed they all have high expectations for themselves and have a little more focused goals.
“A lot of times that helps you to keep from straying from the path,” Gernander said. “And after watching training camp, I don’t think any of them are going to shy away from whatever it takes to do the work to get it done. I thought it was a very competitive camp. I thought everybody was very fit, and I thought they all worked very hard, from top to bottom.
“We tell kids the best thing they can do for themselves is to take care of business right where you are right now. There’s no skipping steps if you’re going to make it to the NHL. You’re going to pay the price here. You’re going to improve yourself here. So I would hope that people aren’t looking beyond saying, ‘Well, here’s a spot that I could fill’ or ‘eventually this guy will get pushed out because of salary and that will create an opening for me.’ You have to make some space or create a demand for what you bring.”
The loss of Weise gave more opportunity and put more pressure on newcomers Thuresson, Deveaux, Audy-Marchessault and Tanski, the Whale’s leading goal-scorer in preseason with three in four games. Audy-Marchessault also earned a contract after playing with Kelsey Tessier and Bourque with the Quebec Remparts of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
The Whale have only 12 forwards, including Tanski and Owens, who rejoined the team after being traded to the Detroit Red Wings for Newbury on March 3, 2010.
“You’re always trying to find some kind of chemistry and a mix that can create offense, but you want to be strong from top to bottom,” Gernander said. “We’re going to try to avoid front-loading a line, and I think we have a lot of depth. There’s not a huge disparity between this player and that player, so we can maybe create more even lines and should be able to use some team speed and tenacity in that regard to create some offense.
“Audy-Marchessault is a different kind of player than Weise, but everybody has got assets and attributes, and as a player, you have to find ways to make them productive to contribute.”
The Whale has much more experience in goal with Chad Johnson and Cam Talbot and on defense with the likes of Redden, Nightingale, Valentenko, Blake Parlett, Jyri Niemi and Tomas Kundratek. Other defensemen are Bickel, Fast and Lee Baldwin.
Gernander wouldn’t say who will start in goal, but Talbot and Johnson both performed well in preseason with the Rangers and Whale. Talbot excelled in his only Rangers game, stopping all 23 shots he faced in relief of Lundqvist before a Steve Eminger turnover to New Jersey Devils’ All-Star wing Zach Parise led to Petr Sykora’s goal at 45 seconds of overtime that beat the Rangers 2-1 on Sept. 21. Two nights later, Johnson went one better as he stopped all 10 shots he faced and picked up the win when the Rangers beat the Devils 4-3 on Bell’s goal with 3:04 left.
Johnson had a 16-19-3 record last season, with a 2.72 goals-against average, .901 save percentage and two shutouts in 40 games before being called up Feb. 28 after Martin Biron sustained a broken collarbone when hit by a shot in practice. Talbot was 11-9-2, 2.84, .902 with two shutouts in 22 games.
“Yes, we’re expecting more (from Johnson),” Gernander said. “I don’t think last season was satisfactory as far as his self-evaluation. We’re going to have a little bit higher expectations of him moving forward as far as this being his third (pro) year and having some opportunity working in the NHL. He didn’t have a lot of NHL minutes or game experience, but he had the opportunity to work with the NHL club, and if he wants to push for a job there, he’s going to have to prove himself here.”
The Whale won’t have a captain to start the season and haven’t had one since left wing Dane Byers got his request to be traded and was dealt to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Kolarik last Nov. 13. He was assigned to the Springfield Falcons, where ironically he’ll also start this season after being reacquired by the Blue Jackets and will be playing with former Wolf Pack wing Alexandre Giroux, the AHL’s MVP in 2009 who won the Calder Cup with the Hershey Bears in 2009 and 2010 when he had 29 goals and 26 assists in 43 playoff games.
Gernander said he’s happy with the skill and work ethic of the team in the first few uptempo practices this week.
“You can’t really say the seven, now six, guys that we got from New York (this week) had a real good preseason and stacked up well against the rest of the AHL,” Gernander said. “We really aren’t tested yet because I don’t think any of the four (preseason) games we played was a full AHL complement on either side. We’ve evaluated some of the players that are new to us, we’ve evaluated some of the players reassigned to Greenville, but if we need them for recalls, we know where they fit into things.
“Right now, it’s hard to say what’s going to happen. One of the things I’m looking forward to is team speed, and I don’t think there’s a lot of disparity between the talent level from one line to another or one defensive pairing to another. I think everybody is pretty capable and on the same level.”
Continuity should be a benefit on defense, where the core of players are back, led by Redden, who has played 994 NHL games and resembled an extra coach in his first minor-league stint last season mentoring the Whale’s young defensive corps.
“You would hope that if you’re a veteran team or veteran in that position or experience that that would come through and be part of the equation,” Gernander said. “You have maybe a little bit higher expectation for them or feel they should be able to provide some stability.”
Redden and Newbury, two of the alternate captains and few holdovers from last season, said they like some of the team’s newcomers and have been impressed with the speed, skills and smarts of youngsters Bourque, Hagelin and Audy-Marchessault.
“I like some of the new guys we got like Thuresson and Deveaux, for sure. They’re real good guys and real good players,” Redden said. “And I think the young kids like Hagelin and Bourque are going to have a real big impact, so I like the way things are looking.”
Newbury acknowledged the increased speed could produce some offense and that the experience on the back end should be a plus.
“It’ll be nice to see what happens in the first weekend,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of defensemen battling for jobs, which is good because it keeps it competitive. And we’ve got Redden back there who’s a mentor a lot to the young guys, so he’ll teach the kids a lot of stuff about the position, the league and what it takes to get to the next level. So it’ll be nice to see how they develop over the season.”
Despite the shortage of holdovers up front, Redden and Newbury don’t think the Whale will have to rely heavily on defense and goaltending at the outset, though that would certainly help the team get off to a solid start, especially with their first three games on the road.
“The (new) guys have come from playing good hockey before, and I don’t think that’s going to change at all,” Redden said. “I think guys know how to play and are real intelligent players, and Bourque and Audy-Marchessault have played together some and are real smart players.
“I don’t see any issues as far as filling in. I think we want to be rolling right off the bat. Guys have been working hard and practices have been good, and it goes quick with the high-intensity drills, so it’s been a pretty good start.”
Still, the young newcomers will have to adjust from playing against 16-to-22-year-olds to much stronger ones, some of which have spent a lot of games in the NHL.
“I don’t really see a problem,” Newbury said. “A lot of guys come through college and have a lot of speed, so as long as we get our defensive game figured out in our own end and are able to get the puck and not run around like a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off, I think we’ll be fine.
“I don’t think it’s too long of a process, and so far practices have been at a high level with good tempo, so it seems like everyone is quick and in shape. That’s a good sign, so hopefully we’ll have an edge on teams in that department right from the start.”
After this weekend, the Whale’s third game is next Friday in Albany, N.Y., before their home opener next Saturday at 7 p.m. against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers in the first of 10 GEICO Connecticut Cup games. Five-thousand fans will receive a free Whale magnetic schedule, sponsored by Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over. Tickets for all games are on sale at the Public Power Ticket Office at the XL Center, on-line at www.ctwhale.com and through TicketMaster Charge-by-phone at 1-800-745-3000.
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