BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

HARTFORD, CT – The Tampa Bay Lightning won their second Stanley Cup in tema history this past week with three Connecticut connections earning Championship rings.

In 2010, Ryan McDonagh played half of a season with the Connecticut Whale before being promoted to New York to join the Rangers. He would spend 7-1/2 years in the Big Apple before being traded to Tampa Bay along with J.T. Miller, another CT Whale/Hartford Wolf Pack alum, two-and-a-half years ago.

McDonagh was originally a first round pick (12th overall) by the Montreal Canadiens and was a part of deal that sent Scott Gomez over the border when Pierre Gauthier, then the head of Montreal’s Player Development side, told, the now soon-to-be-retiring, Rangers Director of Pro Scouting, Gordie Clark, that McDonagh, ”Wouldn’t amount to anything.”

As time has shown, that was wildly wrong. Clark said he couldn’t call, then Rangers GM, Glen Sather, fast enough to make the deal.

Also getting a ring is Greenwich-born, and former Brunswick Bruins school grad, Kevin Shattenkirk. While in New York, he never lived up to the expectations that led to his free agent signing. He was brought out after two years of the deal and was given a contract and a second chance by Tampa Bay.

The off-ice champion is the Director of Hockey Administration for the Lightning, Liz Sylvia-Koharski, who got her start with the AHL’s Beast of New Haven and worked in the AHL’s league office for six years.

PLAYER MOVEMENT

Jordan Murray of the Belleville Senators is loaned to Dynamo Riga (Latvia-KHL).

Ex-Pack, Adam Cracknell, who signed an offseason, one-year, two-way deal with the Edmonton Oilers, is loaned out from the Bakersfield Condors to Esbjerg Energy (Norway-NEL).

After a missing a whole season because of a torn ACL, Juuso Valimaki is loaned by the Calgary Flames via the Stockton Heat to Ilves Tampere (Finland-FEL).

Rockford IceHog, Brandon Hagel, is loaned to HC Thurgau (Switzerland-LNB).

Mikhail Maltsev of the Binghamton Devils, Yakov Trenin of the Milwaukee Admirals, and prospect Dmitri Zavgorny, of the Calgary Flames, who was originally ticketed for Stockton, have all been loaned by their respective organization to SKA St. Petersburg (Russia-KHL).

Bobby Nardella, of the Hershey Bears, is sent to Djurgardens IF (Sweden-SHL) on a full season loan.

Ryan Olson of the San Antonio Rampage is loaned to the EC Kassel Huskies (Germany DEL-2). His teammate, Alexei Toropchenko, is being loaned to Kunlun (China-KHL) that is playing at the City of Mystichi just outside of Moscow for the 2020-21 season. His father played two pro seasons in North America, the first was with the Springfield Indians. The St. Louis Blues are the new affiliate of the Springfield Thunderbirds.

Antti Suomela is loaned by the San Jose Sharks to HIFK Helsinki (Finland-FEL).

Nick Wolff, who signed with the Boston Bruins and played in Providence in the American League following a career at the University of Minnesota-Duluth (NCHC), is loaned out to DVTK (Slovakia-SLEL).

Two more loans to SC Langnau (Switzerland-LNA). Erik Brunnström departs Belleville, and Joachim Blichfeld leaves the San Jose Barracuda.

155 AHL’ers have been loaned or signed in Europe.

Ex-Pack defenseman, Bobby Sanguinetti, and EHC Munich (Germany-DEL) have mutually agreed to end the last year of his contract.

Dominic Turgeon, of the Grand Rapids Griffins, and the nephew of former Hartford Whaler, Sylvain Turgeon, signs a one-year, two-way contract extension paying $750K if he plays in the NHL and $115K in the AHL.

David Drake, the former UCONN defenseman, signs a one-year deal with the Reading Royals (ECHL) for his third pro season.

Ryan Warsofsky (Sacred Heart University) departs the Charlotte Checkers and is heading to Chicago to be the new head coach of the Chicago Wolves, the top affiliate of the Carolina Hurricanes. Geordie Kinnear will be behind the Charlotte bench this year as Florida starts a new affiliation with the Checkers.

Former AHL goalie, Richard Bachman, has retired and has been named the goalie coach for the Iowa Wild.

COLLEGE

The Connecticut Ice Festival sponsor, the regional cable network SNY, has canceled the event. It was scheduled for January 30-31, but has been pushed off to the 2022 and 2023 seasons. The tournament, which features all four, Division I Connecticut college teams, and which the inaugural tournament winner was the Sacred Heart University Pioneers (AHA), from the ECACHL Quinnipiac University and Yale University plus the Hockey East UCONN Huskies.

A new college hockey rumor via a reliable source has the ECACHL discussing splitting the league into an Empire and New England divisions, just chatting.

Griffin Luce (Salisbury School) graduates from the University of Michigan (Big 10) and signs with the Rapid City Rush (ECHL). Luce’s grandfather is a former NHL player from the 1970s, Don Luce, who has a 12 game “cup-of-Coffee” with the Rangers for 12 games before enjoying a solid, ten-year span with the Buffalo Sabres. He, Craig Ramsay, and Danny Gare, were the first real checking line. They complemented the great, “French Connection” line and went to the 1975 Stanley Cup Final. Luce had a long post playing career as the Director of Player Development for 13 years with the Philadelphia Flyers, then four more as Pro Scout and his last season with Toronto as a pro scout before retiring. His great uncle, Mike Boland, had a long AHL career with the Rochester Americans and Hershey.

Colin Saccoman, of Lake Superior State (WCHA) signs, with Rapid City (ECHL).

The Poehling twins, Nick and Jack graduate from St. Cloud State (NCHC) and sign with the Ontario Reign. They will likely be assigned to the German team, Eisbaeren Berlin, which is owned by the LA Kings and its parent company SMG (formerly AEG) under its umbrella. The pair are both the younger brothers of Montreal’s Ryan Poehling, who split last year between the Laval Rocket and Les Habs.

Jackson Cressey of Princeton (ECACHL) signs with the Reading Royals (ECHL).

Goalie, Devin Cooley, leaves the University of Denver (NCHC) after his junior season and signs a standard two-year, two-way, entry-level deal ($925K-NHL/$70K-AHL) with the Nashville Predators and will likely be in Milwaukee whenever the AHL season starts.

Sean Giles departs from Robert Morris University (AHA) and signs with the Cincinnati Cyclones (ECHL).

Dante Hahn od Concordia (WI) College (WIAC) heads to Pyry (Finland Division-I), Kurt Sonne Northland College (NCHA) is off to Courchevel-Meribel-Pralognan (France Division-2) and Lucas Smith of Post University of Waterbury (Northeast-10) has signed with EHC Basel (Switzerland-LNB).

Hockey East has 35 players to have signed North American pro deals, tops in the country. The other conferences totals are NCHC has 30, the WCHA has 27, the Big 10 has 26, the ECACHL has 25, the AHA 20 and Division I independent Arizona State has four.

38 underclassmen who have left school early.

168 Division I and III players have signed North American pro deals. 296 is the number of college players to sign pro deals in the US. 77 players have signed now for Europe.

The NCAA Division III Championships Committee earlier this week proposed selection dates and bracket sizes for the 2021 NCAA winter championships, which include men’s and women’s hockey. It’s likely a trial balloon for Division I whose weighing an option in the hope that season will start after the New Year. All recommendations will move forward through their relative committees and oversee the final draft to be recommended and voted on, where they must be supported by the NCAA Division III Management Council in a scheduled meeting on October 19-20.

For men’s hockey, the selection announcement date and automatic qualification deadline is proposed to be March 14 with a nine-team bracket, down from its usual 12.

For women’s hockey, same deadline, but a bracket size of eight teams instead of 10 is proposed.

RANGERS NHL DRAFT

Tuesday night, the NHL will hold its virtual Entry Draft on Tuesday and Wednesday, when they will select rounds two through seven.

The Rangers have two first round picks. The number one overall will likely take Alexis Lafreniere of Rimouski (QMJHL). They will select again in the 22nd spot. The Blueshirts have no second round pick after trading it last week to the Detroit Red WIngs as part of the Marc Staal deal.

In the third round, the Rangers have picks at 72nd and 92nd (from Dallas) overall.

The 103rd overall pick will be selected by the Rangers in the fourth round. In the fifth round, the team will select 134th. In the sixth round, they will make their pick at 165th spot. In the seventh and final round, the team has three picks with back-to-back choices at the 196th and 197th positions from Nashville and their 206th pick will be from the Vancouver Canucks.

The Rangers announced they have brought out the last year of the contract of goalie Henrik Lundqvist who was a Wolf Pack…for one day. He came to Cromwell on an unannounced conditioning stint and brought the team lunch, then headed back to New York. He did practice in a Wolf Pack jersey.

Lundqvist’s departure sets the franchise’s goaltending for New York and Hartford.

Former Wolf Pack players Alexander Georgiev and Igor Shesterkin will be manning the nets in New York.

Adam Huska (UCONN), entering his second pro season, and rookie Tyler Wall from UMASS-Lowell, after an outstanding senior season, will compete for the starting position in Hartford.

GENERAL HOCKEY NEWS

The de-Whaler-ification of the Carolina Hurricanes is now complete with the announced retirement of the longest serving continuous employee in the franchise’s history dating back to 1972.

After 48 years, Equipment Manager, Skip Cunningham, will no longer be behind the bench working diligently tending to the various equipment needs of players. He started with the WHA New England Whalers and the announcement comes a week after the passing of Jack Kelley, the first head coach and GM in franchise’s history.

Cunningham was at both Boston buildings, the Boston Arena (nee Matthews Arena), the original Boston Garden, the Springfield Exposition Center (the Big E), the Hartford Civic Center, Greensboro Coliseum and the PNC Arena.

In the last three years, the Hurricanes have swept aside their first GM, Ron Francis, who is now Seattle’s first GM. The radio voice of Chuck Kaiton, and recently the TV voice, John Forslund, and now Cunningham. Read about it HERE.

In a side note, the Hurricanes signed a five-year extension with the PNC Bank Arena that will keep the team there with an out-clause in year four, effectively ending the rumors of the team moving to either to Quebec City or Houston.

The current Executive VP/GM of Operations for the building is the last Hartford connection as Pennsylvania native, Davin (Dave) Olson, who was the GM for Hartford Civic Center under Ogden Corporation.

Olson was also the GM for the New Haven Coliseum in the 1980s until the early-1990s. He then headed to Hartford and went with the Whalers to Carolina.

He studied in Danbury’s Western Connecticut State University and when he was living in CT he was a resident of West Haven.

USA hockey has invited 39 players to the initial World Junior Championship evaluation camp.

The only two players with direct CT connections. The first is Darien-native goalie, Spencer Knight, a Boston College (HE) sophomore and Florida Panther first round pick.

Jake Sanderson, the son of former Whaler, Geoff Sanderson, who’s likely to be drafted early in the first round next week. He will be an invitee.

Brett Berard has an indirect link. He is the son of one-time, UCONN assistant coach (AHA years), Dave Berard, who is currently the head boss at Holy Cross (AHA) is also an invitee.

The only other CT connected individual is assistant coach Ted Donato (Harvard ECACHL), who was an ex-Wolf Pack and Bridgeport Sound Tiger.

The QMJHL has adopted another anti-fighting penalty increase taking fighting from five to fifteen minutes and suspensions. Players were not consulted on these rule changes. Read about it HERE.

CONDOLENCES

This writer and Howlings extend our deepest condolences to the Connecticut Whale’s former VP of Operations, and long-time Hartford Whalers employee, Mark Willand on the passing of his mother, Marjorie, who passed away at the age of 93 last week in Worcester, MA.

The post CANTLON: HOCKEY OFF-SEASON NEWS & NOTES VOL 29 first appeared on Howlings.

Here’s what we’re looking for in this debate.

What is the best trade and the worst trade that Glen Sather has made in his tenure as President and General Manager of the New York Rangers?

Best trade?

We would have to put taking in the bounty that the team did for Scott Gomez as the best move he’s made.

Although the Jaromir Jagr for Anson Carter move would be right up there.

Worst move?

Trading a player who NEVER should have been traded, Brian Leetch, who was sent to Toronto for Maxim Kondratiev, Jarkko Immonen, a 1st round selection (later traded to Calgary – Calgary selected Kris Chucko) in 2004 and a 2nd round selection (Michael Sauer) in 2005.

That one is mostly emotional as I’m certain there were plenty of others that were worse.

What do you think?

The post SATHER: TRADER OR TRAITOR first appeared on Howlings.

     VERSUS    

NEW YORK RANGERS POST-GAME NOTES
January 15, 2012 (Game 43, Away Game 24)
Bell Centre – Montreal, Quebec

1st   2nd   3rd   OT   Final
New York Rangers            1        0          0          –          1
Montreal Canadiens        1        3          0          –          4

Team Notes:

–        The Rangers were defeated by the Montreal Canadiens, 4-1, tonight at Bell Centre to end their four-game road winning streak, and are now 10-3-0 in their last 13 games away from MSG.

–        New York is now 28-11-4 (60 pts) on the season, including a 15-7-2 mark on the road.  The Rangers are 11-3-0 in their last 14 games overall.

–        The Rangers have posted a record of 48-29-12 against Original Six opponents since the 2005-06 season, including a 12-12-3 mark vs. Montreal over the span.

–        Tonight’s loss in regulation was the Rangers’ first in a back-to-back game this season.  New York is now 11-1-2 in back-to-back games, including a 5-1-1 mark in the second game of back-to-backs.  Since 2009-10, the Rangers are 26-9-3 in the second game of back-to-back sets, with a 13-6-2 on the road over the span.

–        The Blueshirts’ penalty kill was 1-1 (2:00) against the Canadiens, and has now held opponents scoreless in nine of the last 10 games (20-21, 95.2% over the span).

Player Notes:

–        John Mitchell registered the Rangers’ lone goal at 12:49 of the first period.  He was also credited with four hits and logged a season-high, 16:43 of ice time.

–        Marian Gaborik tallied his 300th career NHL assist and logged 19:54 of ice time.  He leads the team in scoring with 35 points, and is tied for the team lead with 17 road points.

–        Derek Stepan recorded an assist and a game-high, five shots on goal in 19:40 of ice time.  He has now tallied 18 points (six goals, 12 assists) in the last 22 games, including five points (two goals, three assists) in the last six.

–        Henrik Lundqvist stopped 25 of 29 shots, and is now 19-9-4 overall with a 10-5-2 mark on the road.

Team Schedule:

–        The Rangers will return to action when they face-off against the Nashville Predators on Tuesday, January 17, at Madison Square Garden (7:30 p.m.), in their third game in four days.  The game will be televised live on NBC Sports Network and can be heard on 1050 ESPN Radio.

NewYorkRangers.com

The post RANGERS GET GOMEZ’S REVENGE NORTH OF THE BORDER first appeared on Howlings.

NY RANGERS at MONTREAL CANADIENS

• All information through NHL games on Jan. 14

TONIGHT’S GAME:

The Rangers will face-off against the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre (7:00 p.m.; TV: NBC Sports Network; Radio: 1050 ESPN Radio), to conclude a back-to-back weekend set against Original Six opponents. The Blueshirts currently sit atop the Eastern Conference standings, and rank first in the league overall, with a record of 28-10-4 (60 pts). The Rangers enter the contest having defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-0, last night at Air Canada Centre to extend their road winning streak to four games, and are now 11-2-0 in their last 13 games. New York has posted a record of 25-7-2 since Oct. 29, after beginning the season with a 3-3-2 mark. The Canadiens enter the contest with a 16-20-8 (40 pts) record to rank 12th in the Eastern Conference, and have lost their last three games. Following the contest, the Rangers will face-off against the Nashville Predators on Tuesday, Jan. 17, at Madison Square Garden (7:30 p.m.), in their third game in four days.

RANGERS vs. CANADIENS:

• All-Time: 190-319-95-3 overall (126-122-54-1 at home; 64-197-40-2 on the road)
• 2011-12: Tonight is the third of four meetings this season, and the second and final at Bell Centre. New York is 1-1-0 following a 4-0 loss on Nov. 19 at Bell Centre. The Rangers have out-scored the Canadiens, 3-1, in first periods this season. Artem Anisimov and Derek Stepan are tied for the team lead with two assists apiece in the season series.
• Last Season: New York was 1-3-0 overall, with a 0-2-0 mark on the road. Dan Girardi led the team in scoring with four points, including a team-high three assists, and Brian Boyle notched a team-leading two goals in four games. The Rangers out-scored the Canadiens, 7-4, in first periods during the season series.
• New York ranks third with a 15-6-2 (32 pts) record on the road; Montreal ranks 28th with a 7-8-7 (21 pts) mark at home
• The Rangers have posted a 4-4-1 record vs. Northeast Division opponents; the Canadiens are 4-6-1 vs. the Atlantic Division
• Henrik Lundqvist has posted a 12-8-2 record with a 2.95 GAA and one shutout in 23 career regular season contests vs. Montreal; Martin Biron is 14-12-0-1 with a 2.42 GAA and two shutouts in 29 career regular season games vs. the Canadiens
• Brad Richards leads the Rangers with eight goals, 11 assists and 19 points in 32 career regular season contests vs. Montreal; Anton Stralman has tallied six points (three goals, three assists) in seven career regular season games vs. the Canadiens
• New York lists no former Canadiens on their roster
• Montreal lists one former Rangers on their roster: Scott Gomez (2007-08 – 2008-09)

SPECIAL TEAMS:

The Rangers are tied for seventh in the NHL with a plus-six rating on special teams [(PPG+SHG)-(PPGA+SHGA)]. New York is 13-77 (16.9%) with the man advantage in the last 24 games. The Blueshirts penalty kill has held opponents scoreless in eight of the last nine games (19-20, 95.0% over the span), and is 44-49 (89.8%) with five shorthanded goals in the last 18 contests. The Rangers are tied for third in the NHL with six shorthanded goals. The Blueshirts have posted a record of 15-1-2 in games when tallying a power play goal, and are 20-4-2 when not allowing a power play goal.

• Power Play: The Rangers did not tally a goal in two power play attempts (4:00) last night at Toronto. New York ranks 23rd overall (22-151, 14.6%) and 29th on the road (7-73, 9.6%). The Rangers are 2-12 (8:51) in five-on-three situations (last – 12/23 vs. PHI), and 0-4 (3:46) when four-on-three (last – 11/3 vs. ANA). Shorthanded goals allowed (3): 12/5 vs. TOR (Steckel); 12/8 vs. TBL (Moore); 12/17 at PHX (Korpikoski).
• Penalty Killing: The Blueshirts held the Maple Leafs scoreless in two power play attempts (4:00) last night at Toronto. New York ranks sixth overall (121-140, 86.4%) and sixth on the road (72-83, 86.8%). The Rangers are 5-6 (3:26) in three-on-five situations (last – 12/17 at PHX), and 0-1 (1:17) when three-on-four (last – 10/7 at LAK). Shorthanded goals for (6): 10/20 at CGY (Prust); 12/8 vs. TBL (Anisimov); 12/10 at BUF (Hagelin); 12/10 at BUF (Callahan); 12/20 at NJD (Hagelin); 1/6 at PIT (Dubinsky).
• Four-on-Four: New York did not skate in a four-on-four situation last night at Toronto. The Rangers are plus-four in 42 four-on-four situations (77:59), and even in one three-on-three situation (0:01). Four-on-four goals for (4): 10/18 at VAN (Gaborik); 10/20 at CGY (McDonagh); 10/27 vs. TOR (Girardi); 1/2 vs. FLA (Gaborik). Four-on-four goals allowed (0).

BACK TO BACKS:

The Rangers opened their seventh of 14 back-to-back sets this season with a 3-0 win last night at Toronto. New York has posted a record of 6-0-1 (3-0-0 at home, 3-0-1 on the road) in the first game of the set, and are 5-0-1 (4-0-0 at home, 1-0-1 on the road) in the second game. Since 2009-10, New York is 26-8-3 in the second game of back-to-back sets, with a 13-3-1 mark at MSG and 13-5-2 on the road over the span. Henrik Lundqvist has started on consecutive days 56 times in his career, posting a record of 35-14-7 with a 1.82 GAA, .935 Sv% and six shutouts in the second game.

ORIGINAL SIX SINCE 2005-06:

New York has posted a record of 48-28-12 (108 pts) against Original Six opponents since the 2005-06 season, including a 12-11-3 mark vs. Montreal over the span. The Rangers’ .614 win% over the span ranks second, trailing Detroit (.691, 44-18-6) and ahead of Montreal (.602, 71-45-12), Boston (.519, 59-54-19), Toronto (.508, 56-54-18) and Chicago (.493, 29-30-11).

PLACE IN HISTORY:

The Rangers’ .714 win% through 42 games is the team’s best start in 40 years, when the 1971-72 Blueshirts began the season with a 28-7-7 record (.750 win%), and is the third best start in franchise history.

ROAD WARRIORS:

The Rangers enter the contest with a four-game winning streak on the road, and have won 10 of their last 12 games away from MSG.  The Blueshirts have out-scored their opponent, 13-4, during their current four-game road winning streak.

WINNING HABIT:

New York has posted four winning streaks of five games or longer this season, which is the most in the league, and marks the first time in franchise history the Rangers have done so through the team’s opening 40 games.

MEASURING UP:

The Rangers rank among the league leaders in several statistical categories, including…

• 1st in points (60)
• 1st in win% (.714)
• T-1st in wins (28)
• T-1st in regulation/overtime wins (26)
• 1st in fewest regulation losses (10)
• 2nd in fewest goals against (83)
• 2nd in GAA (1.98)
• 2nd in hits (1,219)
• 3rd in blocked shots (692)
• 3rd in +/- rating (plus-33)
• 4th in goal differential (plus-35)

ALL-STARS:

Three Rangers were selected for the 2012 NHL All-Star Game – Henrik Lundqvist, Marian Gaborik and Dan Girardi.  It is the first time since the 1996-97 season the Rangers had three players selected for the All-Star Game (Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier and Brian Leetch). Head Coach John Tortorella also clinched an All-Star berth, becoming the first Rangers coach in franchise history to coach in the All-Star Game.

QUICK HITS:

• This is the latest the Rangers have been in first place of the Eastern Conference standings since the 1995-96 season, when New York held the top position through games played on Mar. 15, 1996 (NYR game #68). *courtesy of the Elias Sports Bureau
• New York has registered at least one point in 27 of their last 34 games (25-7-2), dating back to Oct. 29, after beginning the season with a 3-3-2 mark; The Rangers have out-scored their opponent, 105-68, during the stretch
• New York is 7-1-1 when leading after the first period and 17-0-2 when leading after the second
• The Rangers rank third in the league with a .273 win% when trailing after two periods (3-7-1), and their three third period comeback victories are tied for seventh in the NHL; New York has trailed entering the third period in 11 games this season, the fewest in the league
• New York leads the NHL with a .778 win% when out-shooting their opponent (14-4-0)
• The Rangers lead the league when scoring first, posting a 20-1-1 mark (.909 win%) in those contests; Their 20 wins are tied for second in the NHL

INDIVIDUAL NOTES:

• Henrik Lundqvist posted a career-high, seven-game winning streak from Dec. 20 – Jan. 10 (1.13 GAA, .962 Sv% and one shutout over the span)
• Lundqvist has allowed one goal or less in seven of his last 11 games, and has held opponents to two or fewer goals in 21 games this season
• Martin Biron has held opponents to two or fewer goals in eight of his 11 starts this season
• Derek Stepan has tallied 17 points (six goals, 11 assists) in the last 21 games
• Carl Hagelin has tallied six points (three goals, three assists) in the last nine games
• Brian Boyle has tallied two points (one goal, one assist) in the last three games
• Ryan McDonagh has tallied four assists in the last seven games
• Ryan Callahan has tallied 20 points (six goals, 14 assists) in the last 24 games, with eight points (two goals, six assists) in the last 10

MILESTONES IN SIGHT:

• Marian Gaborik: 1 assist from 300th NHL career
• Dan Girardi: 1 assist from 100th NHL career

INJURIES:

• Michael Sauer (concussion, 12/5) – 18
• Steve Eminger (shoulder, 12/17) – 12
• Jeff Woywitka (foot, 12/30) – 6
• Brandon Dubinsky (shoulder, 1/10) – 2

Total Man-Games Lost: 137

The post NOW SAY THANK YOU TO MR. GOMEZ BOYS… first appeared on Howlings.

      VERSUS     

NEW YORK RANGERS POST-GAME NOTES
November 19, 2011 (Game 17, Away Game 10)
Bell Centre – Montreal, Quebec

                                                      1st   2nd   3rd   OT   Final
New York Rangers               0      0       0        –       0
Montreal Canadiens             1      1       2        –       4

Team Notes:

–        The Rangers were defeated by the Montreal Canadiens, 4-0, tonight at Bell Centre to end their seven-game winning streak.

–        The Blueshirts‘ last regulation loss was on Oct. 27 vs. Toronto (4-2).

–        New York is now 10-4-3 (23 pts) on the season, including a 5-3-2 record on the road.

–        The Blueshirts out-hit the Canadiens, 28-15, and were credited with 20 blocked shots in the contest.

Player Notes:

–        Martin Biron made 27 saves and is now 3-1-0 overall (1-1-0 on the road), along with a 1.68 goals against average, a .937 save percentage and one shutout on the season.

–        Ryan McDonagh led all skaters with five blocked shots, and logged 24:42 of ice time.  He ranks second on the team in average ice time (25:09) and blocked shots (36).

–        Brandon Dubinsky was credited with a game-high, five hits in 18:05 of ice time, and he now ranks third on the team with 40 hits on the season.

–        Dan Girardi registered three blocked shots and logged a game-high, 28:31 of ice time.  He leads the Rangers in average ice time (27:48) and blocked shots (45).

–        Ryan Callahan recorded four hits and logged 19:46 of ice time in the contest, and now leads the team with 43 hits on the season.

–        Brad Richards led all skaters with eight faceoff wins in 11 attempts (73%), and now leads the Rangers with a 53.2 faceoff winning percentage.

The post THE FAST AND THE NOT-SO-FURIOUS first appeared on Howlings.

BY: Bruce Berlet

A year ago, Ryan McDonagh was trying to find his way on the blue line of the then Hartford Wolf Pack, after leaving a highly successful University of Wisconsin program following his junior year.

While center Derek Stepan made the New York Rangers’ roster, after leaving the Badgers following a sophomore year that ended with a 5-0 loss to Boston College and top Blueshirts prospect Chris Kreider in the NCAA title game, McDonagh was among the final cuts on Broadway.

McDonagh struggled a bit early with the Wolf Pack before extensive work with assistant coach J.J. Daigneault helped him earn a call-up on Jan. 3, when he switched places with Michael Del Zotto, who had was experiencing a sophomore slump with the Rangers after being a member of the NHL All-Rookie team in 2009-10.

Now folks talk about how Rangers president and general manager Glen Sather fleeced then Montreal Canadiens GM Bob Gainey, when he got McDonagh as a virtual throw-in, as part of the June 30, 2009 trade that shed the final five years of center Scott Gomez’s annual salary cap hit of $7.357 million, so they had the space to sign free-agent right wing Marian Gaborik.

While Del Zotto showed some improvement before a broken finger in a game against Springfield on March 3 ended his season, McDonagh became a fixture on the Rangers’ blue line while paired with former Wolf Pack defenseman Michael Sauer. Then when All-Star defenseman Marc Staal was sidelined by post-concussion symptoms this season, McDonagh slid into his spot alongside former Wolf Pack defenseman Dan Girardi on the Rangers’ No. 1 pairing.

“Ryan has done about all that we could have expected,” Rangers coach John Tortorella said after a 3-0 victory over Winnipeg on Sunday night. “He’s playing minutes that he wasn’t expected to be playing (25:04, second on the Rangers to Girardi’s NHL-leading 27:58). We have Sauer playing more minutes, Del Zotto having more minutes, and Danny was going to play as much as he is. The experience Ryan is getting doing the things he’s doing, going against guys like (Ryan) Getzlaf, (Teemu) Selanne, (Bobby) Ryan, that’s great for him. For all the young guys, this is helping now and will help in the big picture, so it’s encouraging.

“And Danny Girardi, I think he’s so underrated in this league and in this area for what he does. It’s expected that no matter what happens, Danny is going to be the guy to make the play. So when you have those three (young) guys having to do as much as they are because of the injury we have on the back end, it puts them there to gain that experience right away. When we get healthy and Marc comes back, the big picture is very encouraging for those four defensemen.”

Hockey is quite encouraging now for the 6-foot-1, 216-pound McDonagh, after the so-so start to his pro career.

“It has been quite a journey and feels a lot longer than only a year and a month,” McDonagh said. “It’s been a pretty awesome ride so far and been really exciting with a lot happening fast. I’ve just been trying to take it day by day and get better every day.”

After being one of the key cogs at Wisconsin, McDonagh is delighted to have so much responsibility so soon at the highest level, especially when the Rangers were on a four-game winning streak entering a game at Ottawa on Wednesday night, after a sluggish start.

“I’m just glad to be here, playing a big role on this team helping them try to win,” said McDonagh, a bargain at $875,000 this season and next. “And winning like we are now makes it that much sweeter at the end of the day.”

McDonagh said he has been able to handle so much ice time because he learned in his rookie season what needs to be done in the offseason as far as training.

“Conditioning is probably what I focused on most in the summer, and it’s paying dividends,” he said.

McDonagh said being paired with Girardi, the Rangers’ MVP behind standout goalie Henrik Lundqvist, has been a godsend, including while often car-pooling to practice with his partner and other teammates.

“He has been a huge part of the team, by far the anchor on our back end,” McDonagh said. “It’s great to be playing with him, and I’m learning a lot. It’s great to have that experience and to start the season together has been awesome. We’re playing a lot of minutes and really jelling.”

McDonagh’s progress doesn’t surprise Stepan, the Rangers’ second-round pick in 2008, whose locker stall at Madison Square Garden is next to his former Wisconsin teammate. Stepan was named the No. 1 star Sunday night, after scoring the winner and assisting on the first of Gaborik’s two goals on a brilliant pass off a 2-on-1.

“I always knew Ryan was going to be where he’s at right now,” Stepan said. “I knew he was going to be in the NHL and have a long NHL career. He’s just such a big, strong guy who has a good sense for the game, really loves it. I knew he was going to end up here, but when he spent time in Hartford, I think it was good for him to kind of develop his game, and when he made the jump up, he took advantage of every opportunity.”

Stepan said he didn’t notice “a clear-cut difference” when McDonagh joined the Rangers, though his buddy did seem to better understand the different style of the game at the NHL level.

“It can be tough sometimes for rookies, especially on the back end,” said Stepan, who had a hat trick in his NHL debut before experiencing his own growing pains and then finishing with 21 goals and 24 assists while playing in all 82 games last season. “It’s more important to get some time on defense, and that’s what he definitely did.”

McDonagh had one goal and seven assists and was plus-1 in 38 games with the Whale before being called up and getting one goal and eight assists and being plus-16, second on the team to Sauer’s plus-20, in 40 games with the Rangers. His first NHL goal, against future Hall of Famer Martin Brodeur, was the winner in a season-ending, 5-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils that clinched the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs. After the Rangers were eliminated in the first round by the Washington Capitals, McDonagh and Stepan joined Kreider on Team USA in the World Championships.

With Staal out this season, McDonagh has stepped it up offensively and already has three goals, including an overtime winner, and three assists in 13 games and is plus-6, tied with Del Zotto for tops on the team.

That hardly seemed possible 13 months ago. Daigneault said McDonagh was physically mature when he arrived in Hartford, his strength enabling him to remain strong through three games in three nights or four in five. But the coach felt one of his newest pupils was “a little intimidated by the professional hockey surroundings.”

“He was coming to the rink playing with guys with kids and with guys like Wade Redden and Kris Newbury who were 33 and 28,” Daigneault said. “When you leave the junior and college ranks, it’s obviously a different game in that you’re playing against men. Being mature physically was a help for Ryan, but it was a matter of getting used to the pace of the AHL.”

Daigneault said he tried to put McDonagh in important situations, such as playing against the opposition’s best players and with the team holding a one-goal lead late in a game, but “it really didn’t work out.”

“I didn’t like what I saw,” Daigneault said, “so I stopped doing it until he got more comfortable, which was after about 20 games. Then it wasn’t a matter of putting him out there, crossing my fingers and saying, ‘Well, I hope he reacts well.’ ”

Daigneault often worked 15-20 minutes after practice with McDonagh on his passing, especially off the boards.

“I don’t think he had ever made an indirect pass; he had never used the boards,” Daigneault said. “I don’t know if it was the ice surface or what, but in the AHL, everybody protects the middle, everybody traps, everybody plays 1-3-1, and sometimes to reach a forward, the only availability is an indirect pass. So I told him, ‘You have to use geometry. I don’t have a college degree, but I know geometry, so use those angles, use those boards.’ ”

Daigneault also tried to rid McDonagh of leaving his feet when defending odd-man rushes.

“He had a tendency to go ‘swimming,’ and I really dislike guys being on their knees in front,” Daigneault said. “I teach my defensemen to stay on their feet as much as possible. If you look now, the Rangers play a little different in the defensive zone, but Ryan doesn’t go down as much as he used to. They block a lot of shots, but they do a lot of it standing up and are good with their sticks.”

Daigneault said his feelings about McDonagh really turned in Game 26, a 3-1 victory at Providence on Dec. 3. After the game, Daigneault broke down every McDonagh shift and met with him the next day.

“I said, ‘Ryan, I think you’re there,’ ” Daigneault recalled. “I told him to look at every shift and said, ‘Ryan, this is unbelievable. I think you figured out how to play your game within yourself, to make a play when there’s a play to be made and not to make a play when there’s none to be made.’ After everything that cramped his mind for the first 20 games, I think he did really well in that one. I told him, ‘I had goose bumps just watching that game because everything you did you did well.’ If you put everything that a coach wants into a capsule, that was the game that he did everything right.”

A few days later, Rangers assistant general manager/assistant coach/Whale GM Jim Schoenfeld called. The Rangers had had some injuries, and Daigneault distinctly recalls the start of the conversation.

“He said, ‘J.J., when is McDonagh going to be ready?’ ” Daigneault said. “I said, ‘What are you talking about?’ He said, ‘When is he going to be ready?’ I said, ‘Give me another two weeks.’ ”

Well, it was actually three weeks before McDonagh headed to Broadway for the first time.

“Ryan left, and he never came back,” Daigneault said. “I hope I never see him again.”

Redden reiterated Daigneault’s thoughts about McDonagh’s greatest assets being his strength and skating ability and that he has “a real good mind for the game and worked hard every day.”

“There was a stretch last season where we weren’t going well, and it just seemed that guys were in between all the time,” Redden said. “But now you can see he’s playing a lot with Girardi, and they play a good system together, which kind of helps you along. If you hit a bumpy road, you can rely on that structure.”

And to think the Rangers got McDonagh almost as an afterthought. Sather traded Gomez and former Wolf Pack forward Tom Pyatt and defenseman Mike Busto to the Canadiens for former Yale center Chris Higgins, defenseman Pavel Valentenko, former Springfield Pics defenseman Doug Janik and the rights to McDonagh, then a sophomore at Wisconsin, who had been the 12^th overall pick in the 2007 NHL entry draft.

McDonagh’s rapid development prompted former Wolf Pack center Brandon Dubinsky to ask, “What were they thinking?” as he walked past McDonagh’s locker at the morning skate before the Rangers’ 5-3 victory over the Canadiens on Saturday night.

Yes, a very legitimate question. Not only do the Rangers have a top emerging young defensemen in McDonagh, but they also signed Gaborik to a five-year, $37.5 million contract the day after the deal and acquired feisty left wing Brandon Prust, who won the Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award last season, from the Calgary Flames for Higgins on Feb. 2, 2010. Meanwhile, Gomez had a so-so first season in Montreal (12 goals, 47 assists), his worst season in 2010-11 (seven goals, 31 assists, minus-15) and has only one assist in six games this season and has been out since Oct. 20 with an upper-body injury.

McDonagh never signed with the Canadiens and said he and Les Habitants never talked contract during the season, and only did so three or four times afterwards. He had planned to have a face-to-face chat during summer camp about joining the organization, but it didn’t happen.

“I figured I’d find out what their thoughts were, but that’s when I was traded, so I never got there and I never asked the question,” McDonagh said. “It’s not like I played there and then was traded. The way I looked at it, the Rangers wanted me.”

Yes, they did. The Canadiens were not satisfied with McDonagh’s development as a two-way defenseman with offensive skills that might have been dormant. It proved to be bad judgment, as McDonagh’s offensive skills have certainly emerged this season.

“That’s a part of the game where I know I have more to add and that the coaches want all the defensemen to be aware of,” McDonagh said. “It’s something that I came into the season wanting to improve on.”

The lopsidedness of the trade caused Stepan to joke, “I called Montreal and said, ‘We’ll make a deal with you.’ ”

But Girardi wasn’t joking about the major development that McDonagh has made from being among the Rangers’ final cuts last October to today.

“He’s pretty much playing the same way as he did at the end of last season,” Girardi said. “He’s a very good skater who can beat people up the ice, and it maybe comes from more confidence. He makes good decisions with the puck now and is playing like he belongs here. We couldn’t send him back down last season because he was playing so well, and he still is. He was been great for us filling in for Marc.”

STAAL’S BROTHER TO PLAY RANGERS ON FRIDAY NIGHT

While Marc Staal is on injured reserve and out indefinitely, the Rangers will face the player who caused his problem, older brother Eric, on Friday night at MSG when the Carolina Hurricanes are in town.

“He’s a big part of their team, a big piece of their puzzle, and me being the one that put him in this position, I don’t know if there’s any anger or anxiety towards me. I’m not sure,” Eric told ESPN.com. “I’m going to play the game the same way I always play and that’s hard-nosed, honest, and we’ll see what happens Friday.”

The Hurricanes’ captain, who talks to his brother several times a week, has slumped lately but said it’s not because of a reaction to Marc still being sidelined from the hit in a game on Feb. 22. Eric caught Marc with his head down along the half-wall on the left side of the Hurricanes’ zone late in the first period. Marc’s stick was tied up by Joni Pitkanen, who got a hooking penalty on the play, and Eric knocked Marc off his skates with a shoulder-to-shoulder hit.

“I wouldn’t say it has kept me awake at night, but it’s tough,” Staal told NHL.com. “If I could take it back I probably wouldn’t hit him knowing where we’ve gone and what has gone on since then. But it was one of those plays, bang-bang, happens so quickly, and I hit him hard.”

Eric said Marc is not close to returning but “his career in hockey isn’t over.”

“It’s tough for him, it’s tough for me and it’s tough for everyone in the family, but this is hopefully just a small thing, a little blip and he’ll be back playing like he was before he got hurt,” said Eric, who didn’t know whom he hit until afterward. “I mean, if it was anyone else I would have done the same thing. That’s the hard part about it. It’s total hindsight, and it doesn’t change anything. He knows that, I know that. That’s the way it is.” … Rangers left wing Mike Rupp had successful surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his knee Wednesday and is expected to be out four-to-six weeks. Rupp, a free-agent signing in the offseason, had one goal and 14 penalty minutes in seven games before missing the last six games.

… Bruins forward Daniel Paille, a childhood buddy of Girardi and Rangers right wing Andre Deveaux as they grew up in Welland, Ontario, had facial surgery Wednesday after taking a slap shot in the face during a 6-2 victory over the New York Islanders on Monday night. Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli said Paille was diagnosed with a broken nose and facial lacerations and had surgery at Mass General Hospital in Boston. Paille was hit by a third-period shot from Islanders defenseman Steve Staios and remained down on the ice before leaving for the night under his own power. Much of the damage came from the puck hitting Paille’s visor, then cutting his face and nose. … The AHL will be announcing the 2012 inductees into the AHL Hall of Fame Thursday at 3 p.m. The Class of 2012 will be honored as part of the festivities at the AHL All-Star Classic in Atlantic City, N.J. The Hall of Fame induction and awards ceremony will be Jan. 30 at the Circus Maximus Theatre Caesars Atlantic City. The All-Star Game is Jan. 31.

The post SPOTLIGHT: RYAN McDONAGH first appeared on Howlings.

When the bell rings and negotiating can begin, the Rangers will be putting a full-court press on Dallas centerman Brad Richards and it’s a mistake.

Let’s be honest for a moment shall we?

Brad Richards is a talented center. Saying less than that is nothing short of foolish. In 772 games as a professional Richards has 220 goals and 496 helpers for a total of 716 points. That puts him for his career at .927 points per game. Impressive numbers for sure.

However, Richards is 31 years old and is certainly not on the upswing of his career.

Over the last three seasons, Richards has played 56 games in 2008 – 2009, 80 in 2009 – 2010 and then 72 last season.

While he is not injury prone, this past season he sustained a pretty substantial concussion and they are pretty tricky things concussions are.

Secondly, Richards is certainly going to command a premium price. He is NOT going to come to New York at any sort of a discount. He may adore John Tortorella as a coach, but the Rangers Bench Boss is not going to be paying Richard’s mortgage nor is he going to put his children through college.

Richards wants a final big payday. He is going to want minimally the kind of a contract that Chris Drury, Scott Gomez, Bobby Holik, Wade Redden and an endless list of other aging veterans have wanted to hang their skates in the World’s Most Famous Arena.  It’s the kind of deal that once again will tie the hands of the organization and take them away from their focus of going younger and deeper.

Why go after Richards and throw the youth plan out the window with it?

Why not consider an alternative?

Why not pursue a trade with Colorado for Paul Stastny?

It is believed that Stastny is available, but he would be costly in terms of the players the Blueshirts would have to give up to get the 25-year old center. But if you have to give up talent and you have a young man tied up with a more reasonable $6.6M for the next three years while he is still in the prime of his career.

That just makes more sense.

Statistically, Stastny isn’t as strong as Richards, but it isn’t off by much.

Stastny has potted 105 goals and chipped in 216 assists for 321 points over his 348 NHL games. That averages out to .922 points per game.

So Stastny is younger than Richards, still on the upswing in his career as opposed to the downside, is tied up for three more years for less money than Richards would cost the team and he’s merely potting .005 points per game less than Richards.

While Richards has a great deal of upside in terms of his talent and skill and familiarity with Tortorella, the Rangers have a long and ugly track record when it comes to signing players like this. It just never seems to make a difference or work out.

The example  used so often when applying a definition to the word insane is repeatedly doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result each time.

The Rangers have tried this move a whole lot of times and it continues to not work out.

When the 2011 – 2012 season starts it will be the 17th without a Banner raising celebration. The Rangers are on the right path building from youth and form within. It just makes sense to take some of the young prospects that they have and trade for a young player that stays in their plan to to once again veer off course.

Let’s hope we’re wrong.

The post BUY OR TRADE first appeared on Howlings.

BY: Bruce Berlet

Trumbull native Chris Drury’s time as New York Rangers center and captain is on the verge of ending.

Multiple sources have told the New York Post that Rangers president and general manager Glen Sather has informed Drury that he will be bought out of the final year of the five-year, $32.05 million contract he signed as a free agent on July 1, 2007. The same day the Rangers signed center Scott Gomez to a seven-year, $51.5 million contract, but he was traded to the Montreal Canadiens on June 30, 2009 in a deal that included defensemen Ryan McDonagh and Pavel Valentenko, who started last season with the Connecticut Whale.

The NHL’s contract window starts Wednesday and runs through June 30, and Drury has been on thin ice with the Rangers since April 25, when coach John Tortorella said, “Intangibles always come into evaluating. You just can’t let the intangibles override other things, too. Dru and I have a great relationship. We’ve been very honest with one another. Dru is getting older. That’s why he has a chronic knee (condition). We have to make decisions for what’s best for the organization moving on. It’s certainly not mine, my total decision, but I have my thoughts. These are all conversations we have to have.”

According to capgeek.com, Drury’s buyout ratio is at two-thirds because he will still be 34 in the buyout period, so it will be $3,333,333 over two years. The buyout hit would be $3,716,667 for next season and $1,666,667 for the 2012-13, assuming the rules will be the same under the next collective bargaining agreement. Drury’s cap hit under the final year of his contract would have been $7.05 million, so the Rangers are saving $3,333,333 this season, though they will take a $1,666,667 hit as dead space in 2012-13. Drury, who is owed $5 million under his contract for next season, will receive $3,335,000 over the next two years.

There would be a second buyout period in mid-August if the Rangers or any of their other Group II free agents file for salary arbitration. But the Rangers don’t intend to wait because keeping Drury on the cap at $7.05 through July limits the team’s options to make other roster moves, thereby defeating the purpose of the move.

Drury, who turns 35 on Aug. 20, had one goal and four assists last season while playing mostly on the fourth line and specializing in penalty killing and defensive zone face-offs. He sat out a career-high 58 games with finger and knee injuries, which was more games than he had missed in his previous 11 NHL seasons combined, the last four with the Rangers. After missing 31 of the first 32 games with a twice-broken finger, he returned Dec. 15 and played in 22 games before undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his left knee on Feb. 11.

Though expected to miss the rest of the season, Drury – as usual – worked overtime and rejoined the team for the regular-season finale, scoring his only goal to start a comeback in a 5-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils that kept the Rangers’ playoff hopes alive. When the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Carolina Hurricanes 6-2 that night, the Rangers were in the postseason.

Drury played all five games in a first-round loss to the Washington Capitals, but he got only 5:58 of ice time in the elimination game and didn’t play in the final 13:15. Two days later, Tortorella’s comments appeared to seal Drury’s fate.

Drury could retire or try to hook on with another team, but for now, his career is being put on hold about an hour from where he first gained international notoriety when he pitched a complete-game, five-hitter and drove in two runs for Trumbull in the 1989 Little League World Series championship game against Chinese Taipei. The man who became known as “Captain Clutch” won a national pee wee hockey title with his team from Bridgeport the same year and then excelled with brother Ted at Fairfield Prep and during four stellar years at Boston University that included winning a national championship as a freshman in 1995 and the Hobey Baker Award as a senior in 1998 and the capturing the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie in 1999 and winning a Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche in 2001.

Drury is the only player to win both the Hobey Baker Award and Calder Trophy, holds the record for most goals in B.U. history (113) and is the only Terriers player with at least 100 goals and 100 assists. He also played on one U.S. World Junior Championship team, three U.S. World Championship teams and three U.S. Olympic teams, winning silver in 2002 and 2010. His selection to last year’s team surprised many people, but U.S. general manager and former Hartford Whalers GB Brian Burke said, “I picked Chris Drury because he’s Chris Drury.”

That’s always a good reason to pick Drury, who has 255 goals and 360 assists in 892 NHL games with the Avalanche, Rangers, Atlanta Flames and Buffalo Sabres, where he also was captain of the team. He had 62 goals and 89 assists in 264 regular-season game in four seasons with the Rangers.

Here’s hoping Drury gets whatever he desires because he has certainly earned it with 25 years of excellence in all kinds of sports. Like Whale coach Ken Gernander in his playing days, Drury is the consummate professional, working overtime in and out of the locker room to try to make his team successful. Plus, if Drury wants to continue to play, which is likely, he deserves the best possible chance to hook on with another team because he certainly should have suitors. If healthy, he’s still a terrific penalty killer, a la former Rangers No. 1 pick Manny Malhotra, who has made a miraculous recovery from an eye injury to be within a win of the Stanley Cup as the Vancouver Canucks take a 3-2 lead into Game 6 against the Boston Bruins on Monday night in Beantown.

And Drury’s leadership qualities challenge those of the man generally considered the best leader ever, former Rangers captain and Hall of Famer Mark Messier.

“He goes above and beyond what a captain means,” Rangers center Brian Boyle told the New York Daily News during the playoffs. “He’s a leader in all areas. The way he works, he exudes leadership, and the way he is as a guy – all the hard hardships that he (went) through (last season), it revealed his character so much. He’s always been positive.”

Drury’s likely successor is former Hartford Wolf Pack wing Ryan Callahan, who had career highs with 23 goals and 25 assists last season despite missing 22 games with a broken hand and ankle and was described by Tortorella as a player who is “what we all went to be as a Ranger.” Callahan and other former Wolf Pack players Brandon Dubinsky and Artem Anisimov are three of the Rangers’ seven restricted free agents and a major reason they will – almost have to – buy out Drury to get cap space to upgrade a team that barely made the playoffs after missing the previous year.

The Post’s Larry Brooks also reported the Rangers don’t intend to buy out midseason acquisition Wojtek Wolski in the initial period, but the wing with a $3.8 million cap hit remains a consideration in August if the Rangers are above the limit because of other transactions.

Finally, Brooks reported the Rangers have been notified that top prospect, wing Chris Kreider, their first-round pick (19^th overall) in 2009, is definitely returning to Boston College for his junior year. He’s taking a full course load this summer to advance his commitment to earn his degree. But that might lend credence to The Prospect Park’s Jess Rubenstein, who said he thinks former close college buddies McDonagh and Derek Stepan, who led Wisconsin to the NCAA title game last year before leaving school early to sign with the Rangers, will try to convince Kreider to join them, possibly during the prospects camp after the draft on June 24-25.

I’ll give a thumbs-up to Brooks that the Hockey Hall of Fame selection committee, which will announce its 2011 choice in about 10 days, is long overdue in choosing former Rangers player and Philadelphia Flyers and Rangers coach Fred Shero. We also wonder how former Hartford Whalers defenseman Mark Howe is not in the Hall of Fame. Brooks said the best defensemen never to win the Norris Trophy were Scott Stevens, Brad Park and Howe. Hard to argue that, too.

DAILY NEWS’ SPECTOR HIGH ON ZUCCARELLO

In his periodic reviews of Rangers players last season, the Daily News’ Jess Spector had some notable praise for rookie wing Mats Zuccarello, who struggled early in Hartford adjusting to smaller rinks and a more physical style in North America before earning a trip to Broadway.

The Norwegian Hobbit finished the season with 13 goals and 16 assists in 36 games with the Wolf Pack and Whale and six goals and 17 assists and three winners in shootouts in 42 games with the Rangers. Zuccarello’s season ended in one of the freakiest accidents in history when he broke his hand when two fingers got caught in an opening in the plexiglass where photographers shoot during games. He had surgery and is expected to be ready for training camp in September.

Here’s Spector’s look at Zuccarello:

From the time he took the ice in training camp, it was clear that Mats Zuccarello could help the Rangers. With his lightning-quick hands guiding a stick nearly as big as he was, it was impossible to look away from the 5-7 winger as he glided around the ice because you would not want to miss what he might do with the puck.

In his rookie season, Zuccarello did help the Rangers, as three of his five shootout goals were game-winners, and his impossible-angle overtime winner against the Carolina Hurricanes on Jan. 5 – his first NHL goal – lifted the Blueshirts to extra points that were vital in making the playoffs.

Zuccarello has three strengths that should make him a successful NHL player – in addition to his supernatural hands, his vision of the ice and offensive creativity are well above average. This season, he had to adjust from a lifetime of hockey on European rinks to the smaller ice surfaces of North America. That is no easy thing for an offensive-minded player who thrives on open space. Nine of Zuccarello’s 17 assists in his maiden NHL campaign came on the power play, where there is more room to operate, and he was able to find and hit the open man. That overtime goal against Carolina came at 4-on-4 – again, less congestion on the ice.

The obvious question about Zuccarello is whether, with his small size, he will be able to avoid getting lost in the shuffle of big bodies on an NHL rink. While the 23-year-old winger is not afraid to throw his body around, that does not mean he is going to win any physical battles with Zdeno Chara. Zuccarello thrives on open ice, and the Rangers’ gritty, forechecking-intensive team concept this season was not tailored to his strength.

What seemed to work for Zuccarello was playing alongside his locker-room neighbor, fellow rookie Derek Stepan, who scored five of his goals off Zuccarello assists, while registering helpers on half of Zuccarello’s six goals. Zuccarello and Stepan showed a brief flash of brilliance in tandem with Wojtek Wolski in March, but the combination fizzled as quickly as it fired. Given more time together next season, they could pay dividends, or the Rangers could try to go in another direction, perhaps using Zuccarello on a line with a more defensively-minded winger.

With this year of experience on this side of Atlantic under his belt, both in the NHL and AHL, where he suffered a broken hand after getting sent down during the playoffs, Zuccarello should come back for his next training camp with a better understanding of what it takes to be successful here.

IS McNAUGHT THE WHALE’S NEXT ENFORCER?

If Whale fans want to know who the team’s next enforcer might be, read the “20 Prospects in 20 Days” story on Randy McNaught today on www.newrangers.com.

McNaught was the Rangers’ final pick in the seventh round last year, but the 6-foot-4, 217-pound wing who will be 21 on Aug. 5 has got noticed quickly. He got into two heavyweight bouts standing up for teammates in the Traverse City (Mich.) Prospects Tournament last year after having 163 penalty minutes to go with six goals and 12 assists in 65 games with the Chilliwack and Saskatoon in the 2009-10 season in the Western Hockey League.

McNaught started well last season but sustained a season-ending ankle injury in the eighth game on Oct. 11. But he’s expected to be fully recovered for training camp and should give the Whale some needed muscle if the Rangers don’t re-sign free agents Justin Soryal and Devin DiDiomete.

If you want to see McNaught in action, YouTube has a video of him more than holding his own against defenseman Dylan McIlrath, the Rangers’ first-round pick (10^th overall) in 2010 who played two games and spent about a month with the Whale at end of last season. McIlrath didn’t have a point while on an amateur tryout contract but did have seven penalty minutes and one fight. He has to make the Rangers or return to Moose Jaw of the WHL next season.

The post FROM THE CREASE with BRUCE BERLET first appeared on Howlings.

By: Bruce Berlet

Former Hartford Wolf Pack center Jarkko Immonen was at his best in the World Hockey Championships and a major reason that Finland won the gold medal for only the second time.

Immonen scored his tournament-leading ninth goal to start Finland’s rally to a 6-1 rout of archrival Sweden on Sunday in Bratislava, Slovakia.

“This is the highlight of my career,” said Finnish defenseman Sami Lepisto, who plays for the Columbus Blue Jackets. “Of course, the Olympic bronze last year was big, but this is the World Championships.”

The 26-year-old Immonen finished with nine goals and three assists, and the Finns scored five goals in the third period to win their first title in 16 years. An eighth-round pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2002, Immonen was sent to the Rangers just before the 2004 trade deadline as part of the deal for Hall of Fame defenseman and Cheshire native Brian Leetch. The Rangers also got defenseman Maxim Kondratiev, who was later traded to Anaheim with the return of a fourth-round pick from the Ducks for Petr Sykora; a first-round pick in 2004, which became forward Lauri Korpikoski, who was subsequently traded to the Phoenix Coyotes for wing Enver Lisen; and a second-round pick in 2005, which became defenseman Michael Sauer.

In two seasons in the Rangers organization, Immonen had 50 goals and 66 assists in 128 games with the Wolf Pack and three goals and six assists in 20 games with the Blueshirts, who didn’t re-sign him in 2007. Immonen returned home and played two seasons in Finland and then two in Russia and helped the Finns win the bronze medal in the 2010 Olympics.

The Rangers still retain Immonen’s rights, and they haven’t forgotten about him. When asked via email Monday if the Rangers might re-sign Immonen, assistant coach/assistant general manager/Connecticut Whale GM Jim Schoenfeld replied from the team’s organizational meetings that began Monday in La Quinta, CA: “He will be part of the discussion.”

Immonen lacked NHL speed and quickness when he previously played in North America, but he might have picked up his pace the last four years and could be the skilled center the Rangers are seeking who could be added cheaply compared to high-priced free agent Brad Richards of the Dallas Stars.

Other scorers for the Finns in the World Championship final were Petteri Nokelainen, Niko Kapanen, Janne Pesonen, Mika Pyoraja and Antti Pihlstrom. Sweden’s Magnus Paajarvi scored the game’s first goal at 7:20 of the second period, but it was all Finland after that.

“It’s easy to say now, but I knew after the semifinal win (over Russia) that we’d won the gold,” said forward Tuomo Ruutu of the Carolina Hurricanes. “We didn’t change a thing. We kept on playing our own game.”

Immonen’s power-play goal that beat Swedish goalie Viktor Fasth high to the glove side with seven seconds left in the second period was the tying tally and catalyst to Finland’s victory.

“If they didn’t get that goal, it’s a different game,” said Swedish left wing Mattias Tedenby of the New Jersey Devils.

Nokelainen scored the winner off a 2-on-1 with Pihlstrom at 2:35 of the third period, and the Finns could soon forget six losses in the finals from 1992 to 2007. Their only title came in 1995 in Stockholm with a 4-1 victory over the host country.

Finnish goalie Petri Vehanen earned the Best of Tournament MVP as Sweden had a 33-32 shot edge. Sweden won the bronze medal last year.

STRONG START FOR MCDONAGH BUT …

A year ago, Ryan McDonagh left the University of Wisconsin after his junior season, figuring he had accomplished about all there was to accomplish in college except a national championship.

The Badgers had lost 5-0 to Boston College and Chris Kreider, the Rangers’ first-round pick (19^th overall) in 2009, but McDonagh decided to join sophomore teammate Derek Stepan in foregoing their final years of college eligibility.

Stepan, a center, made the Rangers roster, while McDonagh, a defenseman, was among the final cuts sent to the Wolf Pack, who became the Connecticut Whale on Nov. 27. McDonagh struggled through about 20 games but then began to improve so much that when the Rangers wanted a call-up to allow Michael Del Zotto to try to regain his All-NHL rookie form with the Whale, he was summoned to Broadway on Jan. 3.

After a short period of adjustment, McDonagh formed a formidable No. 2 defensive pairing with Sauer behind two other Wolf Pack graduates, All-Star Marc Staal and Dan Girardi. But the 21-year-old McDonagh realized he still had plenty of maturing to do.

“I don’t think you ever want to be too confident in this sport because it can hurt you in so many ways,” said McDonagh, a first-round pick of the Montreal Canadiens (12^th overall) in 2009 traded to the Rangers as part of the Scott Gomez deal on June 30, 2009. “There’s a fine line between being confident and doing your job. I’m going to make sure I’m going to work harder than I ever have during the summer to make sure I get in shape and am ready for next season. There are no guarantees about who’s on the team, and what not. The same goes for me. I have to come in good shape, ready to compete and ready to be a player for the New York Rangers.”

McDonagh said he got more comfortable and confident as his rookie season progressed but thinks it was more because of the Rangers’ structure.

“We try to be pretty aggressive in the neutral zone and with our forecheck in holding the offensive zone,” he said. “And we want to take time and space in our zone, and I think that bodes well for me because I can use my skating ability and let the forwards have some space.”

McDonagh also thanked his teammates for their assistance.

“You guys (the media) don’t see it as much,” McDonagh said, “but I try to say it as much as I can that the defensive corps when I first started was so helpful. I watched Staal and Girardi like a hawk, and those guys are definitely a top defensive pairing in the league. To be a young player coming up and having them on your squad was huge. I can’t say enough.”

In 40 regular season games, McDonagh had one goal and eight assists and was plus-16, second to Sauer’s plus-20. Del Zotto returned Feb. 2 after the Rangers had more injuries but was reassigned to the Whale on March 3, only to sustain a season-ending broken finger in his first game when hit by a puck.

Meanwhile, McDonagh continued to improve and helped the Rangers clinch a playoff spot on the final day of the season, with help from the Tampa Bay Lightning, who beat the Hurricanes later in the day. But the Rangers were ousted in the first round in five games by the Washington Capitals, the top-seeded team in the Eastern Conference eliminated by the Lightning in the second round.

“It was a great stretch run with intense hockey to get us into the playoffs,” McDonagh said. “We grew so close as a team during that stretch. Everybody came together through the injuries. Guys had to step up, and they did. In the playoffs, I just don’t think we executed. The biggest thing is we had the lead twice in the third period, and we didn’t execute and finish. Then we had another game where we didn’t finish and score enough goals, so the bottom line was just execution. We put that on ourselves, first and foremost.”

So what did McDonagh learn most after being called up from the Whale?

“This is a pretty darn competitive sport, that’s for sure,” he said. “Everybody wants to win, and that’s why you play the game. You want to make the playoffs, want all your hard work in the regular season to be rewarded. But the biggest thing that veteran guys like (captain Chris) Drury and (Vinny) Prospal and (Ruslan) Fedotenko and (Marian) Gaborik and (Bryan) McCabe said is that you never know when you’re going to have that opportunity to be in the NHL playoffs, so you have to take it with full throttle.

“I was fortunate to make the playoffs my first season, but I’m always going to keep that in the back of my mind. You have to work hard for 82 games, and when you’re in the playoffs, you don’t want to regret anything. You want to try to make the best out of everything.”

After the Rangers were eliminated, McDonagh and Stepan joined a young Team USA for the World Hockey Championships in Slovakia. The roommates helped the Americans reach the quarterfinals before losing 4-0 to the defending champion Czech Republic, which got a hat trick from former Rangers captain Jaromir Jagr. Team USA also included Kreider, who played in his second straight World Championships.

TIME OF REFLECTION FOR DRURY

While McDonagh is just starting a promising pro career, Drury is winding down after a season in which he missed a personal-high 56 games because of a twice-broken finger and knee surgery. He missed 27 games before returning for the regular-season finale in which he scored his only goal in a 5-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils.

Drury, a 12-year veteran who will be 35 on Aug. 20, had one assist in the playoffs and now has one year at a $7.05 million cap hit remaining on the five-year, $35.5 million, free-agent contract that he signed on July 1, 2007. That’s a lot of money to pay a fourth-liner specializing in penalty killing and face-offs. He didn’t play for the final 13:15 of the elimination game against the Capitals in which he played a team-low 6:49.

A buyout would save the Rangers $3,333,333 of cap space but would cost them $1,667,667 in 2012-13 as the collective bargaining agreement is presently structured. But if Drury needs more knee surgery before the June 15-30 buyout period, the Rangers couldn’t buy him out.

The Rangers hierarchy will be making such decisions this week during organizational meetings that began Monday in La Quinta, Calif. But for now, Drury can only reflect on the most difficult season of a stellar sports career that started with pitching a complete-game, five-hitter and driving in two runs for Trumbull in the 1989 Little League World Series championship game against Chinese Taipei to winning a national pee wee hockey title with his team from Bridgeport the same year to excelling with brother Ted at Fairfield Prep to four stellar years at Boston University that included winning a national championship as a freshman in 1995 and the Hobey Baker Award as a senior in 1998 to winning the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie in 1999 to winning a Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche in 2001.

Drury is the only player to win both the Hobey Baker Award and Calder Trophy, holds the record for most goals in B.U. history (113) and is the only Terriers player with at least 100 goals and 100 assists. He also played on one U.S. World Junior Championship team, three U.S. World Championship teams and three U.S. Olympic teams, including in 2010 when the Americans won a silver medal.

But Drury wasn’t satisfied with the Rangers’ ouster in the first round last month.

“You never know when you’re going to be in the playoffs year to year and when you’re going to get back,” Drury said. “I was glad to make it back for the final game and playoffs, but it was a different kind of year because I’d never missed that many games in any sport in any season in my life, so it was a different challenge day to day.”

Still, Drury said he took some solace in how hard the Rangers battled to get in the playoffs and was happy that coach John Tortorella got a three-year contract extension.

“It was good to get in but certainly we would want to still be playing,” Drury said. “But (the nucleus of the team) is in pretty good hands. When you look around the (dressing) room, you see a lot of terrific young players and we have great goaltending. … I think (the commitment to Tortorella) is great. Obviously the plan was to draft well, and I think things are only going to get better.”

Most of the Rangers’ top young players were developed in Hartford under Wolf Pack/Whale coach Ken Gernander and assistants J.J. Daigneault and Pat Boller, and Henrik Lundqvist is one of the best goalies in the world. The Rangers’ major concern moving forward is adding some scoring punch, though that was hurt dramatically by the loss of former Wolf Pack wing and alternate captain Ryan Callahan with a broken leg late in the season. Despite missing 20 games, Callahan’s 23 goals were second on the team to former Wolf Pack linemate Brandon Dubinsky’s 24, and he tied Gaborik for second in team scoring (48 points).

“I think there’s more and more talent in the locker room, and as more guys play in big games and play in big situations, they’re only going to get better at it,” Drury said. “I think a lot of guys took huge strides this season, but losing Callahan was huge. We all know how huge he is for our team on and off the ice and certainly in a playoff series where he brings so much every night.”

SPECIAL TRIBUTE FOR BOOGAARD

Larry Brooks, the longtime Rangers beat writer for the New York Post, wrote a terrific column in Monday’s paper about how Derek Boogaard receiving counseling through the NHL/NHLPA Substance Abuse and Behavioral Health Program in the weeks before being found dead in his apartment in Minneapolis on Friday night added, not diminished, the legacy of the 6-foot-7, 280-pound gentle giant.

Neither will the results of the autopsy of the cause of the death of the Rangers’ 28-year-old left wing/enforcer that likely won’t be released by the Hennepin County (Minn.) medical examiner for at least two weeks.

Brooks wrote: “Boogaard lived his life as a friendly, generous, giving man who enriched the lives of those who knew him personally and those who only knew him by his uniform number, or maybe only by the number of fights in which he engaged during his six-year NHL career.

“He was – and it’s applying the past tense here that just makes no sense at all – an everyman with the size, ability and punching prowess to make it to the world’s greatest hockey league without ever forgetting his roots, without ever assuming a guise, without ever forgetting to smile.

“The knowledge Boogaard had problems for which he sought professional help does not change who he was or the positive impact he had on those who knew him and counted him as a friend.

“It does not detract from his generous nature that manifested itself through his charitable work in Minnesota and in New York, his connection with members of the military and their families, his rapport with his teammates and his fans.

“Instead, it reminds us that Boogaard was man enough to seek help when he needed it.

“That should only add to the appreciation of his 6-foot-7, 280-pound man, whose life was celebrated at a memorial service (Sunday) night at the Excel Arena in St. Paul arranged by fans, a service his family had planned to attend. Boogaard will be laid to rest on Saturday in Regina, Saskatchewan.

“It’s easy now to recognize form where and whom Boogaard inherited his generous nature given the decision of his parents, Joanne and Len, to donate their son’s brain to the team at the Boston University Medical School conducting research on brain disease in athletes.”

To read the entire column, visit www.nypost.com. I highly recommend it.

Schoenfeld, who skated with Boogaard after practice during his rehabilitation from the shoulder injury and concussion, added his thoughts, saying, “There have been many richly deserved accolades from a large group of men who had a deeper and more personal relationship with Derek than I. To me, his passing was a tragic shame, and my heart goes out to his family and the many friends who will greatly miss him.”

Several hundred fans attended the public memorial Sunday night, along with his parents, several Wild front office officials and team employees and former Wild teammates Nicklas Backstrom, Andrew Brunette, Brent Burns, Stephane Veilleux and Nick Schultz.

Boogaard played 255 games in five seasons with the Wild before signing a four-year, $6.5 million contract with the Rangers on July 1, 2010. But he appeared in only 22 games last season, getting one goal, one assist and 45 penalty minutes while participating in seven fights. One of hockey’s most feared brawlers, Boogaard sustained a concussion in a fight with Ottawa Senators’ defenseman Matt Carkner on Dec. 9 and missed the final 52 regular-season games.

Boogaard had a difficult time recovering as it took nearly three months before he could resume skating. He rarely left his West Side apartment in New York for weeks, had to wear sunglasses outdoors because he was bothered by sunlight and took solace in walks around Central Park. With about a week left in the season, the Rangers gave Boogaard permission to leave the team in order to receive counseling in the NHL/NHLPA Substance Abuse & Behavioral Health Program to help him deal with unspecified issues. Rangers president and general manager Glen Sather also remained loyal to Boogaard when he said his signing would become positive for the team.

Unfortunately, all those positive deeds and thoughts came to sudden and sad ending Friday night, again emphatically proving how fragile life can be.

The post FROM THE CREASE with BRUCE BERLET first appeared on Howlings.

“Vali,” is a 13-year pro who has played for several teams and at just about every level of professional hockey. Some might take all that moving around and become bitter. Not Valiquette. In his case it has made him a better and stronger person who appreciates the moment and just a delight to know.

One of the great things about him as a person is his desire to share what he knows and what he’s learned as a professional with young people.

He has a camp for young goaltenders that he’s been doing for several years that ‘s held at Wonderland of Ice in Bridgeport, CT.  This year for the High School age kids, the camp dates are June 27-30. For the real youngsters, they start at age seven and go up to age thirteen, the camp runs from July 5-8.

We caught up with “Vali” while driving to a game to catch up with ex-teammate Scott Gomez in Montreal on Friday afternoon.

For more information on Steve Valiquette, you can check out his website at SteveValiquette.com.

For a sign up sheet if you, or you have kids that you’d like to send to his camp, you can fill out the application by following this link.

If you need more information, Vali will respond personally to any inquiries about the camp at info@stevevaliquette.com.

Here are Steve Valiquette’s career stats as provided by hockeydb.com:

The post VALIQUETTE, A GIANT AMONG MEN AND NOT JUST IN GOAL first appeared on Howlings.