2009-10 New York Rangers Season Preview

Today seemed to be the best day to get this up on the site with the pre-season concluding yesterday, and the Rangers having off for the Holiday. So without further ado, here is The Rangers Tribune's 2009-10 Season Preview:

2008-09 Season In Review
The Rangers opened up the 2008-09 season in the Czech Republic just a year ago, where they went 2-0 to start the season in two games against the Tampa Bay Lightning. The winning continued from there, as the Blueshirts improved their record to 10-3 in their first thirteen games. The deceiving start had fans overly enthusiastic about the team, but it all caught up with them when the lack of scoring began to haunt the Rangers for the second straight season. The Rangers were unable to score more than two goals in a game, and the defense was leaving goaltender Henrik Lundqvist out to dry night after night.

The struggle continued through the months of January and February, where the Rangers had only recorded two wins in twelve games, including a 10-2 debacle against the Dallas Stars. With the losses mounting, and the Rangers plunging in the standings, there was only one logical thing to do at that point, and that was to put an end to Tom Renney's coaching career in New York. The move was made in the early afternoon of February 23rd, and only a few hours later, Glen Sather changed the environment of the locker room by bringing in current head coach, John Tortorella.

With the addition of the hard-nosed John Tortorella, and several trade deadline acquisitions in Sean Avery, Nik Antropov, and Derek Morris, the team picked themselves up, and made a run to the playoffs. It took until game 81 for the Rangers to clinch a playoff berth on home ice, but despite all of the turmoil that they dealt with in the season, they accomplished their goal, and were set to face the second place Washington Capitals in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals.

The Rangers shocked the hockey world, jumping to a quick two game lead over the Caps in the series, lead by the magnificent play of Henrik Lundqvist in net. In game 3 at the Garden the Caps came in and cut the Rangers lead to only one game, but the Blueshirts responded with a win of their own in game 4. It all collapsed from there, as the Rangers blew two opportunities to close out the series, and eventually lost with several minutes to go in game seven. The team was not even suited to make the playoffs, let alone take the second place team to game seven, but none the less, there is no excuse not to close out a series that you lead 3-1, and that excuse for the Rangers seemed to be fatigue.

The Off-Season Additions
Glen Sather, once again, re-vamped the entire roster in the off-season, mostly to John Tortorella's liking. I will admit that it is not a good thing when you have to clean house every summer, but it seems like this will be the final time so many moves will have to be made for quite a while, as the team is now moving in the right direction.

It all started on June 30th, the eve of free agency, when Glen Sather made the well-needed cap dumping trade, sending former Ranger Scott Gomez and a few prospects to the Montreal Canadians for forward Christopher Higgins and prospect Ryan McDonagh.

The move had Blueshirt Faithful dancing in the streets, while the fans of Montreal wanted GM Bob Gainey fired at that point. With Gomez being sent off, and Higgins being the return, one had to imagine Sather was setting up for a huge signing the next day. That huge signing was enforcer Donald Brashear.........................just kidding. Well, technically, Brashear was the first free agent that Sather signed for two years at $1.4 million per. Many fans, including myself, disagreed with the signing at first, but with former enforcer Colton Orr heading to Toronto, Brashear was Sather's only option for a fighter.

Brashear is probably the second best fighter in the league, behind Georges Laraque, but the filthy hit he put on Blair Betts just a few months before in the playoffs still has fans irate, and you can hear the boos come from the crowd when Brash steps onto the ice. I feel that those boos will be diminished once Donald fights Colton Orr or hits Sidney Crosby, as that is what it will take to win this tough crowd over. Plus, Brashear is much more offensively capable than Orr, as we have seen in the pre-season, particularly on his goal in Washington.

The Blockbuster signing came towards the night hours on July 1st, when it was announced that Glen Sather had signed star winger Marian Gaborik for five years at $7.5 million per. Gaborik is a prolific goal scorer in this league, in my mind in the top ten, but his primary objective is to remain healthy, which has been a problem for Gabs throughout his career. Last season, Gaborik played in only 17 games due to hip surgery, but in those 17 games, recorded 13 goals, which is pretty remarkable. If Gaborik can stay healthy, the Rangers have their first 5o goal scorer since Jaromir Jagr.

Even before July 1st, the New York Rangers signed Hobey Baker award winner, Matt Gilroy out of Boston University. Gilroy, defensemen, has displayed his superior offensive-defensemen skills in the pre-season, and is believed to have already made the team. Matt's speed and puck movement is something to behold, and he is very responsible in his own zone. The signing sort of went under the radar, but from what he has shown, many believe that this kid has a shot at rookie of the year, and I wouldn't put it past him.

Now, just to touch on Higgins, who I mentioned earlier. Higgins registered 27 goals two years ago with the Montreal Canadians, but was restricted to how many games he could play least season due injury problems. It seems like those injuries are now a thing of the past and Chris is ready to reach that 30 goal plateau that he came just short of two years ago.

Later in July, Sather signed former Sabre Ales Kotalik for three years at $3 million per. Kotalik, winger, played many years in Buffalo with current Ranger Chris Drury, and they had great chemistry together. That is only half of the reason why Ales was brought here, as the other half is for his "cannon" of a shot at the point on the powerplay. Kotalik has been great while paired with defenseman Mike Del Zotto on the powerplay, and will surely help to improve the Rangers game with the man advantage this season.

In early August, the Blueshirts acquired speedy Enver Lisin of the Phoenix Coyotes, by trading away winger Lauri Korpikoski. There are two major benefits of this trade; 1) There is not a player with a girl's name on the roster anymore, and 2) Sather dumped a fourth line grinder in exchange for a lightning quick goal-scorer. As we have seen in the pre-season, Lisin is weak in his own zone, but is very capable of scoring goals, so if Torts can get him to be an all around player, Lisin will turn out to be an excellent acquisition.

Later in August, the Blueshirts signed Vinny Prospal to a one-year deal at $1.1 million, after he was bought out by the Lightning. Prospal played many years under John Tortorella in Tampa, and despite several conflicts, admitted to playing his best hockey when Torts was there to ride him. I am looking forward to Prospal here in New York because he has great vision while making passes, capable of putting the puck in the net, and can play both the center and wing positions. Depending on how Dubinsky plays with Gaborik, we may even see Prospal centering that first line, or even be a winger on it, but for right now, it is still up in the air.

The final acquisition that is worth mentioning came during the draft, when the Rangers exchanged a third round draft pick to acquire the 6-7 center Brain Boyle, who has a decent shot at the fourth line.

The Rookies
As far as rookies go, only three have a shot at making the Ranger lineup this season; Matt Gilroy, Artem Anisimov, and Mike Del Zotto. Gilroy, mentioned above, has basically already made the team, so the real question is Del Zotto and Anisimov. Del Zotto is NHL ready in my opinion, and has shown superior vision for such a young player. Torts wants his powerplay QB, well he has one in the making with Del Zotto, and I feel that it would be a mistake to send him back to the OHL.

Del Zotto is not yet eligible for the AHL, so it is either the OHL with the London Knights or with the Rangers in the NHL. If Del Zotto plays more than nine games in the NHL, he cannot be returned to the Knights, so a tough decision currently lies on the plate of John Tortorella.

Artem Anisimov has been one of the better players for the Rangers throughout the pre-season, and has done more than earn his roster spot, but the problem being that Torts cannot find a way to currently squeeze him into the lineup, unless he centers the fourth line. I am fine with this as long as Artem plays on he pk, and a few shifts on the third line each game, because he holds too much talent for Torts to restrict him to only fourth line minutes.

The Postives
My two positives, or strengths, for the Rangers heading into the season are Henrik Lundqvist, and the offense. Starting with Hank, we know what to expect from Lundqvist each and every night, as he is undoubtedly among the top three goaltenders in the league. Lundqvist has had his best pre-season this year, so I feel that this will be one of Hank's better regular seasons, and maybe we can finally see him win the Vezina trophy that he deserves. Expect to see Lundqvist playing a few less games this year with the Olympics and all, as he needs to have his energy when it matters most in the playoffs.

I list the offense as a positive because we are faster, bigger, and mentally stronger. Tortorella's game is offense first, and Sather has built the team to fit that form. The team's overall size and speed have amazingly improved when comparing to last season, and I do not see goal scoring as being such a problem this year.

The Negatives
My two negatives, or weaknesses, going into the season for the Rangers are the combo of Redden/Rozsival, and the penalty kill. Redden and Rozsival both had dismal seasons last year, and are on all Ranger Fan's dark sides. I will admit to seeing improvement in Redden's game this September, with him being much more aggressive and willing to shoot. As for Rozsival, he seems to be worse, and Tortorella knows it. If training camp was "truly" based on Darwin's theory, Rozsival would not last long in a survival of the fittest environment, and would be cut from this team, but because of contracts, it makes the chances of seeing that slim to none.

With the departure of Fred Sjostrom and Blair Betts, the penalty kill is a big question going into the season. Sjo and Bettsy were a dynamic duo up front on the PK, but with them gone, Torts must find replacements. Callahan, Drury, Dubinsky, Higgins, Anisimov, and Gaborik seem like the top candidates, and have been solid so far, but we will see if they can match the "top of the league" penalty kill from last year.

My Prediction
While I do feel we are at least two years away from making a legitimate run at the Stanley Cup, I believe that this team has been improved, and is capable of finishing fifth in the Eastern Conference. With that said, I would place the Blueshirts third in the Atlantic Division, behind Pittsburgh and Philly, but ahead of New Jersey and the Isles.

The Experts' Opinions
For more season preview coverage from the "experts", check out my Interviews with Stan Fischler of MSG, and Andrew Gross of Ranger Rants, as we take a look together at the 2009-10 New York Rangers. (Click Links for Interviews)

(Pictures courtesy of Getty Images and AP Photo)