Out Of Center Field

The cigar chomping GM of the New York Rangers has made at lest three major moves since the Rangers lost to the Devils in the Eastern Conference Finals, and all of them initially head scratchers. After blowing up the core of the defensive juggernaut 2011-2012 Rangers for another scoring star in Rick Nash, Slats traded speedy Slovakian sniper Marian Gaborik back to Columbus for a streaky underperforming first round talent center, an undersized grinder, and a work-in-progress defenseman. He then fired the all-time winningest American head coach in John Tortorella for a head coach who has never won a Stanley Cup. 

Fast forward to tonight, where Rangers fans are watching their incredibly speedy, puck possession-oriented team handle their business against the red-hot Colorado Avalanche. Watching this team work, it is easy to see how Sather's many moves have paid off. While Gaborik hasn't played a game in God knows how long, Derrick Brassard centers both the first power play unit and the Rangers second most productive offensive line. John Moore has experienced a resurgence since shipping Del Zotto off to Nashville for Kevin Klein. Rick Nash, while leading the team in goals, has shown himself to be far more than a one dimensional, one trick pony as he has been playing on the penalty kill as well. At the end of the day, however, the most significant change Sather has made to his New York Rangers resides behind the bench. Enter Alain Vigneault, the architect of the Blueshirts' offensive renaissance. 

After weathering one of the most brutal starts to an NHL season in recent memory, The Rangers have scratched and clawed their way back into second place in the Metropolitan division, thanks to Vigneault, whose easygoing attitude, calm demeanor, and absolute faith in his players has been rewarded with a complete and total player commitment to his quick strike, overload. possession based system. Vancouver, his old team and current home of previous Rangers coach John Tortorella, has one regulation win in its last eleven games, and is barely holding on to a wild card spot. However, these comparisons mean nothing if Vigneault can't get it done in april.

As currently constituted, could this team be considered better than the team in 2011-2012? The Rangers of two seasons ago were a veritable brick wall defensively, but failed to put the puck in the net in the postseason and hung out a red hot Hank to dry against the Devils. This team, while recently displaying a vast amount of defensive responsibility, has an alarming tendency to give up the breakaway or the odd man rush which could be an achilles heel come playoff time. Vigneault had mixed playoff success with this run and gun style of play in Vancouver, but in New York, AV has the benefit of a goalie who isn't a complete and total basket case playing between the pipes in New York.

While many would consider me crazy for picking the Rangers to make it to the finals, there is not a single team in the East that scares me in a seven game series. I say this because in a season where Del Zaster was traded for a responsible right handed defenseman, maybe dreams really can come true.

I feel bad for all the Rangers fans who braved the polar vortex (saying that never stops being cool) to go watch their beloved blueshirts lay an egg. I have never seen the Rangers show up this flat against the Islanders before. Barring Rick Nash, Ryan Mcdonagh, and Derek Stepan, every player on that roster has at least one thing to be ashamed of tonight. Boneheaded penalties, a pedestrian forecheck, and a pourous defense defined the night for the Rangers, completely trivializing Rick Nash’s two latest works of art and Kreider’s power play goal. Instead of derailing the islanders, the rangers rolled over. I do not see this as a sign of more to come, however. The early rangers would go into a tailspin. This team is made of sterner stuff. That being said, I don’t think Colorado wants Del Zotto enough anymore to part with O’Reilly, receiving only Marek Hrivik and Ryan Borque in return to sweeten the deal.

After the dust has settled and the NHL has had their hearings, John Tortorella has been suspended for fifteen days, or six games, for his antics following the first period of Vancouver’s game against Calgary. Meanwhile, the Flames’ bench boss was fined $25,000 for nearly instigating the second riot to grace the streets of Vancouver since the Canuckleheads lost the cup to the Bruins in 2011. While I don’t condone Tortorella going after Flames’ coach Hartley, this latest league suspension is still grossly unfair. Why should a coach miss out on 8 games for getting in a shouting match in a hallway when players only get suspended one to five games for headhunting? The league is more concerned with its own image than with player safety. Perhaps they should spend their money on better helmets instead of bailing out failing franchises in markets that remain woefully incapable of supporting a hockey team. But I digress. All I can say is, Torts never attempted to go after an opposing team’s coach during an intermission on Broadway. Looks like Torts has adopted the temperament of his new home and is in full rioting spirit.

Come one, Come all to a sports blog that actually discusses hockey!

At some point in over the next week, I'll give a rundown of all thirty teams in the National Hockey League, but tonight's post is all about today.

For all you godless heathens out there who don't worship Lord Stanley and have no idea where playoff beards came from, today was Hockey Day in Canada, and this afternoon, 'Murrca came on strong. That's right, the Red White and Blueshirts waltzed right into Canada's capital and beat those syrup chugging moose riders at their own game. Now I could wax poetic over Ranger Rick being back to his usual Nashty self, or Zuccarello going "top cheese" to bury the final dagger in Anderson's fat face, but this afternoon wasn't about Nash OR the Norwegian Hobbit, or even Brad "ODB" Richards' thirteenth goal of the season. Today was about Derek Stepan. Despite quietly producing all season, Rangers fans have been down on the first line center. Although no rational human being expected Stepan to continue producing the way he did last year (burying 20% of your shots taken is impossible to maintain), he was expected to be more of a two way threat than he has been this year, especially playing with two behemoths with hands softer than a newborn's ass. Today, he displayed the vision, touch, poise, and offensive awareness he displayed all last season, and embarrassed the Senators in the process. Three of the Rangers' four goals had Stepan's fingerprints all over them, while the last one was all Zuccarello, making Craig Anderson look like a clown.

Speaking of feisty midget bastards undressing grown men, Marty St. Louis had a hat trick in the first period of Tampa's game against San Jose. His first period, combined with his fourth goal of the day in the second, was sadly not enough to overcome the San Jose Sharks as Joe Pavelski responded with a hatter of his own and Ben Bishop is apparently easier than Tara Reid, or whoever is between the pipes in Philly these days. 

Yeah. Philly is losing to the Islanders as we speak. What a bunch of jabronies. Looks like Crosby's inbred cousin is beating the league's most famous ginger. I wonder if there will be a brawl after the final whistle. 

Spoiler Alert: They'll brawl. It's Philly. They brawl during practice.

That's about it from your friendly neighborhood hockey writer tonight. Next time we'll be discussing why Toronto hates Kadri so much.

-Bluebeard

I know for most people, it’s all about the NFL Championship games this weekend. While I love myself some Tom Brady, I’m not interested. 

What I am interested in is how the next baseball season is gonna go. I’m ready to look at acquisitions, departures, and crazy spending by some teams could shift the landscape of the divisions. Starting this week, day by day, I’m going to go team by team, from the teams no one expects to win (the Astros) to teams that will win (the Cardinals) and the teams who are gonna be sorely disappointed (the Mariners).