The Rangers have gone 3-4-0 the past two weeks. Not exactly the
kind of production that's going to secure a playoff spot. The
Blueshirts are currently tied with Washington for eleventh in the
Eastern Conference with 53 points. They trail tenth place
Montreal by a single point, ninth place Boston by two points, and
are four points behind Florida for the eighth and final
invitation to the postseason. Every game is crucial from here on
out. Unless, you know, you've got something better to do, then
screw it.
HOWE MUCH LONGER?: Wayne Gretzky remains tied with Gordie
Howe with 1,071 total career goals, including the WHA and
playoffs. Many were hoping that he'd eclipse the mark on
February 21 when he returned to Edmonton, but it didn't happen.
Wayne had a shot to break the record two days earlier against
Pittsburgh, but elected to forego a quality chance in front in
order to one-touch a pass across to Adam Graves for an easy tap-
in. It was vintage Gretzky. It brought a tear to my eye. Just
talking about it now gets me kind of choked up.
On February 15 in Nashville, Gretzky didn't find the net but he
did put on a ghetto clinic in terms of passing. The Great One
recorded five assists on the night and paced the Rangers to a 7-4
triumph over the Predators. Five assists ain't no joke.
Yee-haw! I'm Wayne Gretzky! Yee-haw!
But before I get too giddy, I would like to ask one favor.
Wayne, buddy, would it bust your ass to be a plus once in a
while? C'mon, dude, help a brother out. How do you expect me to
play you in my hockey pool if you're a -2 every night? It's kind
of embarrassing to look to the right of your name and see a -20.
At least I know I'm embarrassed for you. See what you can do.
Thanks.
I think part of the problem is that Wayne needs more speed on his
line. I don't want to tell John Muckler how to do his job, lord
knows he's busy enough trying to look like Police Squad's Frank
Drebin and all, but I'd move Petr Nedved up to the right wing
with Gretzky and Graves.
Sure, this will leave the Rangers painfully weak up the middle,
but guess what? They're already painfully weak up the middle.
You might as well stack one line and hope for the best. As it is
now the only time Gretzky and Graves are a threat to score is on
the power play. They're both just too slow to score off the rush
with any consistency. They need someone on their line to stretch
the defense. And until Neil Smith works up the courage to go
after Theo Fleury, Nedved is the best man for the job.
HARVEY HURT: Todd Harvey is on the shelf again. The
scrappy center is being forced to sit out because of pain in his
fractured right thumb. You know, I recently had a broken right
thumb my damn self. Frankly, the pain was the best part. I have
no idea what Harvey's complaining about. I'm actually thinking
about having mine broken again just for the hell of it. Plus,
maybe it will heal straight this time instead of in the
freakishly crooked angle it is now. But really, it's no big
thing. You can hardly tell when I wear gloves... really thick
gloves.
TRADES: The Rangers added more grit by picking up Eric
Lacroix from Los Angeles in exchange for Sean Pronger, who came
over from Pittsburgh in the Nedved deal.
Lacroix is a tremendous competitor that gives it his all on every
shift. He never passes up a check and will hit relentlessly all
night long. As long as the Rangers don't expect too much from
him, like 15 to 20 goals to go along with his physical play,
Lacroix will be an excellent addition.
New York is Lacroix's third team this season. He started the
year in Colorado amidst some controversy regarding his father
being the Avalanche GM before his good ol' dad shipped him to Los
Angeles.
Lacroix certainly got off to a good start with his new teammates,
scoring the overtime game-winner to beat the Oilers in Edmonton
on February 21.
The Rangers also made another trade, sending defensemen Jeff
Finley and Geoff Smith to St. Louis for future considerations.
So basically what Neil Smith is saying is that if he could have
traded these guys for less, he would have.
WHAT GOALTENDING CONTROVERSY?: It seemed like the Rangers
might have a bit of a goaltending controversy on their hands, or
at least it did until the club went out West.
It all started with two horrendous starts by Mike Richter. The
first came on February 14 against Detroit. Richter yielded three
goals on 12 shots in the game's first 15 minutes before giving
way to backup Dan Cloutier, who stopped all 17 shots faced.
Cloutier was given the next start in Nashville and made 29 saves
in the 7-4 win.
Muckler came back with Richter on February 17 against Montreal.
Bad decision. Once again, Richter was victimized for three
first-period goals, this time in the first five minutes and 32
seconds of the game. Cloutier came in to mop up and turned away
34 of 37 shots the rest of the way.
Cloutier was given the nod on February 19 against Pittsburgh and
responded with a spectacular 32-save effort in a 6-1 win. The
youngster was being praised left and right for his play. Ulf
Samuelsson was especially impressed with how the kid battled,
even going so far as to say that Cloutier played more physical
than he did.
Most everyone expected Cloutier to be in net when the Rangers
arrived in Edmonton, but Muckler played a hunch and started
Richter. The former Stanley Cup winner came through like a
champ, making 39 saves in the 2-1 overtime win. All was right
with the world. Or was it?
The next night in Calgary, Cloutier got wrecked. He gave up two
goals on three shots in the game's first 5:09. Richter came in
and stopped 31 of 35, but it wasn't enough to prevent a 6-2
drubbing at the hands of the Flames.
So maybe Ranger fans shouldn't start calling for the trading of
Richter just yet. It would seem that Cloutier could still use
some seasoning. Paprika is always popular.
