The people that promote him, point to his winning the Cup in Tampa Bay.  Which was impressive.

It was also ten years ago.

The people that promote him, point to his curt attitude with the media, as a function of his intensity and focus.  And how that resonates with fans.

It doesn’t.

He bullies a writer.  What a winner.

You see, Bill Bellichick can be a complete dick to the media if he wanted to.  He could answer every question the Globe asks him with a smiling “Go Fuck Yourself” and he’d get away with it.  Because he won.

In New York, Tortorella’s team had a tendency to come up short.  And in New York if you ain’t won, you ain’t here.

And John Tortorella, you ain’t won.  So you ain’t here.

But who replaces him?

It’s a prestige job by nature of being in New York, at the Garden and with the media accolades that you can get for winning.

It’s high pressure.  High work volume.  High Anxiety.

It has to be a winner.  A winner with a pedigree.  A winner with a pedigree that can embrace the spotlight.

The rumors are swirling that the Captain himself is interested.

No, No.  Not This one.

Mark Messier.

The First One!

Though he has no head coaching experience, he is a special assistant to GM Glen Sather.  He is a star, in a star driven city.  He is fawned over by the media.  He cries at the drop of a hat.

He’s perfect.

Except he isn’t.

Mark Messier might be the worst pick for a head coach whose name doesn’t rhyme with Blaine Schmetsky.

Here is why:

He has no Head Coaching Experience:

For all of his greatness, Mark Messier has never worked inside the bench while wearing a suit.  He hasn’t been an assistant coach.  He may know hockey, he may be one of the great leaders in any sport, but New York is not the most polite place for on the job training.

The Honeymoon won’t last:

Messier is loved in New York.  He may even get a full season out of, “well, it’s Mess, let’s give him some time” from the media.  But eventually the results will have to be there.  The results have to be better than his predecessor.  Which means he has to take over a team that advanced to the second round and get them to the conference finals or beyond.  Otherwise, firing Tortorella was unnecessary.  So what happens after a season when the Rangers drop 6 straight and only come up with 2 points.  Think the media will just let it slide?  Think they’ll keep softballing him questions?  It’ll get ugly.

You cant teach what he knows:

What all time greats made great Head Coaches?  You can’t use Bill Russell because Bill Russell got to coach Bill Russell.  Beyond X’s and O’s, which he no doubt knows, what can he teach?  You can’t coach “Go be awesome like me” and “Why aren’t you over there, I’d be over there!”  That’s the issue with great players becoming coaches.  Very few players get to that level.  It’s rarefied air.  You have players that can’t reach the expectations placed on them.  A Head Coach who can’t lead with actions like he did as a player.  It’s a recipe for disaster.

It could hurt his legacy:

Messier is one of the greats to ever lace up skates.  Full disclosure, if I was starting a team, I would take him over Gretzky.  I understand Gretzky is “The Great One” and was the Jordan of the NHL.  But Messier won without him.  Twice.  I’m a fan.

If Messier gets the job there are a few scenarios that can play out.

1) He could lead them to a cup.  Which would cement his legacy and reputation and guarantee that he never pays for any meal in New York City for life.

2) He leads them to some playoffs appearances but nothing particularly special.  Becoming an ugly footnote to his career.  “Yeah Messier was great, but remember when he coached the Rangers and they weren’t any good.”

3) He misses the playoffs or exits the playoffs early to lower seeded teams a few years in a row.  He gets fired.  Publicly.  Think about that.  Because coaches rarely get to retire.  They get fired.  And when they get fired it’s because their team sucks.

So think about this, it’s almost guaranteed that Mark Messier will be publicly fired by the team he carried to a Stanley Cup victory because the team is bad.

I hope I’m wrong.

I hope that Messier gets the job and rolls off a string of success that the Rangers have never seen.

I hope he bucks the trend and becomes a legend as a coach and a player.

In other words, The Anti-Me

I just don’t think I will be.

Tell us what you think in the Comments below or Tweet at us: Tweet to @AFR_Sports

To Contact Carlo, or any AFRSports columnist, please E-Mail: Contact@AFRSports.com

Hey, they tried to overpay me, I just couldn’t pass the physical!

The trade deadline has approached and what moves were the Rangers and Glen Sather going to make. (He is in luck, there are no Devils we can overpay for)  They acquire Ryan Clowe from San Jose.  So, to help us with our scoring, we get a guy who hasn’t scored all season.  It doesn’t matter, he can score and he fits into the John Torterella system and will fill the whole Brandon Prust left from last year.  However, the anticipation of who was getting traded was enough to give me a Todd O’Connor style heart attack.

(EDITORS NOTE – It’s just too sensitive for us…)

Was it going to be Brian Boyle or Marion Gaborik?   I knew it would be Marion Gaborik.  He never fit into Torts’ defense-first philosophy.  Goal-scoreres go through droughts, but Gaborik was not producing on the backend defensively.  That’s why he was getting benched or moved to third or fourth lines.  Torterella has said what he was concerned with about Gabby was his legs.  He wasn’t using his speed. So, in a year when the Rangers are expected to win a Stanley Cup (and that is if you believe in power rankings, which I do not), and they’re going to get hit with the new salary cap, and your star has to prove to be re-signed, Marion Gaborik goes on an offensive drought; all the evidence points to a trade.  So, I’m elated, we’re trading the A-rod of the Rangers (minus the Steroids) (EDITORS NOTE – AND THE EVERYTHING ELSE HE DID) and we get a young defenseman in John Moore, a fast facilitator in Derick Brassard, and Derek Dorsett, who has no collarbone, so he is out for the next year.

A-Rod, seen here preparing to club baby seals

So now, our team is ready for the Pittsburgh Penguins, who are 15-1 in their last 16 games, and who we have lost to twice this season so far, but who are without Sid the kid (who currently looks like Cousin Eddie’s son in Vegas Vacation) and Kris Letang, their best defender.   And the New York Rangers showed up to play.  They went 3 for 4 on the power play.  That is 75% as opposed to their usual 14%.  They killed two penalties, which is great considering they’ve let up power play goals in our last six games.   The defense was strong.  Moore, our newest acquisition, fit in well to the Torts way, plus he scored.  Ryan Clowe had a huge game, getting 2 goals, his first and second of the season, and an assist.  Derick Brassard scored one goal and garnered two assists.  Brian Boyle scored four points, which proves he deserves to stay with the team.   They fore-checked and it paid off!  The defensemen pinched and it paid off!  Henrik Lundqvist let in one goal on the league’s leading scoring team and he even blocked a goal with his helmet (now according to Ilya Bryzgalov, you should duck when a puck comes toward your head).

The team played all around great hockey and it was a good win for a team lacking confidence.

They have some key games ahead including Toronto twice, Devils twice, and Pittsburgh on Friday.  It really doesn’t matter how well we played Wednesday night, accept to prove that we deserve to be among the best.  We are a threat with depth now.  As long as we keep up the pace and the fore-check , we should be able to secure a spot in the playoffs and in the playoffs, rankings mean nothing!
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To Contact Alan,or any AFRSports contributor, please E-mail: Contact@AFRSports.com

How can you identify the rare boring hockey game? Well I really don’t know specifically, but whatever the answer it happened during the Ranger game against the Buffalo Sabres Sunday afternoon. At least for the first 40 minutes, until a dirty hit sparked a powder keg of excitement that carried through to a shootout.

The first two periods passed pretty uneventfully, except a lone Sabres’ goal. At 8:04 into the second, Drew Stafford netted his second goal of the season. I predict Stafford to go a massive hot streak rivaling the temperature of Krypton’s red moon, because I dropped him from my fantasy team.

But the pivotal moment of the game was the Patrick Kaleta hit on Rangers’ forward Brad Richards at the beginning of the second period. Kaleta cross-checked Richards in the small of the back about 8 feet from the boarding sending Richards face first into the unforgiving wall.

The hit was so dirty it draws comparisons to sewage, or Lindsay Lohan’s snatch (probably a toss-up smell wise.) Kaleta received a much deserved 5-minute major and was ejected from the game.

The Rangers could respond in one of two ways. First option; get violent. You take out one of our stars; one of your first line forwards is going to take a few nasty shots in the corner.  This is fair revenge as long as it doesn’t lead to escalation, which it usually does. The Rangers don’t really have too many brawlers on this current roster to deal with that elevation. So, physically, New York bided their time until the overtime when Dan Girardi dished out a slightly more legal hit on Tyler Ennis.

Kaleta’s hit resulted in a 5-game suspension. Girardi’s was a simple boarding minor. Revenge is best served cold, though that may not be true in hockey because, well, everything is cold.

The second and really the better option was to make Buffalo pay on the scoreboard. Kaleta’s penalty gave the Rangers a 5 on 3 man advantage, as Buffalo’s Andrej Sekera was already in the box for hooking 19 year old J.T. Miller. But hey, if anyone can not capitalize on a 5 minute power play and enormous momentum shift it is New York.

Then something happened that the odds were so astronomical I pray for the day time machines are invented so I can go back in time and place money down for this forthcoming miracle. The Rangers power-play quickly netted not just one but two goals during the 5 minute man advantage. As a result, I literally fell out of my chair and had to be revived on my dining room floor. I’m not kidding, people were concerned. (ED. Note - they weren’t THAT concerned)  That brought the Rangers power-play to 4 for 25,478 on the season.

The first power play goal to tie the game was off the stick of Derek Stephan. Rangers possessed the puck off the faceoff and quickly move it to the left side. Before the Sabres can fully get into position Rick Nash threads the puck through the defense to the right side where a wide open Stephan finishes strong to the short side. That goal took less time than Gary Bettman on his prep school prom night.  (Ed. Note – We have no way of knowing how long a young Gary Bettman would last in a romantic setting.  Greg Is trying to give me an anuerysm)

Nash would put the puck in the net himself 43 seconds later, during the ensuing 5 on 4 power-play. Again the penalty unit moved the puck quickly and efficiently causing the defense to attempt to cover too much ice. Nash would find some space inside the left circle and put the puck underneath the blocker of Buffalo goalie Ryan Miller, giving New York the lead for the first time in the game.

Things were just going so well that it was inevitable that something would bring the Garden crowd down from this high. Not like the high you used to be able to achieve in the MSG stairwells, a metaphorical high.

With just nine second remaining in the Kaleta penalty Buffalo’s Steve Ott makes a great play chipping the puck past defenseman Ryan McDonagh and beats Michael Del Zotto creating a fast break going the other way. Ott makes Nash look like a belly flopping autistic baby seal when he attempts to block the shot. Instead Ott easily evades Nash, passes to Nathan Gerbe who beats Henrik Lundqvist glove side for a short-handed goal. That tied the game at two goals apiece and would lead to the eventual shootout.

I think the shootout should be the Rangers’ biggest strength. They have some of the most talented goal scorers and the most talented goalie in the league in King Henrik. They displayed this dominance with two beautiful goals by Nash and Callahan, both juking and jiving Miller out of his pads. Miller was in fact down to his jock after the Callahan strike. Henrik on the other end made child’s play out of Ennis and Jason Pomniville’s attempts and secure victory and two points for the New York.

The Rangers are climbing back into playoff contention and with a string of games this week need to capitalize. This season is already half over, and the Rangers seem to be finding their stride at the right time.
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The previous two seasons the New York Rangers have made significant runs into the playoffs. In 2011 they finished third in the Atlantic conference and were eliminated in the conference quarterfinals. Last season 2012, the Rangers won the Atlantic and were ousted from the playoffs by New Jersey in the conference finals. So naturally, this (elongated) off-season was filled with anxiety and excitement in hopes that the Rangers could make another serious and hopefully successful run at Lord Stanley’s Cup. On top of that they went out and got a top tier offensive threat in Rick Nash. And what has come from all these high hopes? Nothing but massive, massive bed shitting by New York.

Now one third into the season the Rangers are 11th in the eastern conference and are going through an exceptionally tough injury stretch. But even when Nash returns from his mystery injury, something just isn’t working. I have a two theories on why the Rangers have declined and how they can return to dominance.

First, they picked the wrong versatile forward. Allowing Brandon Prust to sign with the Montreal Canadiens was a mistake. Instead Brian Boyle is still under contract and producing about as much as a dead cow produces milk. Both forwards play a similar style. Both are willing to drop the gloves, both kill the penalties well, and both achieve a Mendoza line amount of offense. As stated Boyle has been a sack of crap this year having produced a mere one point and owning a -6 +/- rating. Prust on the other hand is flourishing in Montreal with five points and a +8 rating. Staggering numbers? No, but if you watched the Canadiens versus Rangers on 2/23 it was obvious to see which player is a turd on skates.

Boyle has lost whatever scoring touch he had and the lack of secondary scoring is holding us down like the man. My solution is two-fold. Firstly, spread the talent; Gabby, Richards, Callahan, Hagelin, and Stephan, across three lines early in the game. Later in the game and during offensive opportunities (home-ice line changes or opponent’s icings) stack your weapons and take your chances. Secondly, bury Boyle on the fourth line so he gets 7:13 ice time a game.

I have no logical reason for what has happened to Marion Gaborik this year. Gabby simply has not been a catalyst for the offense. Though he got an assist on the Anton Stralman’s goal in the third period against Winnipeg on Tuesday, it’s only because the puck literally just bounced off of him. My only explanation is that Marion Gaborik apparently can only score more than 30 goals in even years. Look at the stats in the 2006, ’08, ’10, ’12 seasons he had 38, 42, 42, and 41 goals respectively. In the odd year seasons of 2007, ’09, and ’11 he netted 30, 13, and 22 goals. (I am very aware it would be highly improbably to net more than 30 goals in the lockout shortened 48 game season, but you get the general concept, nit-pickers.)

Solution, can somebody please get this guy a different calendar; Jewish, Lunar, Mayan, Tunisian, Romanian, alien who fucking cares as long as it makes this year end in a 0,2,4,6, or 8. Snatch Gary Bettman and create some type of sundial, solar calendar using his rotting corpse on the steps on Stonehenge, I don’t really care, just make it happen.

These aren’t the Rangers only problems but they certainly are two of the more glaring flaws. With just 18 points New York really needs to get their shit together and turn it around. Disappointment like the way this season has started would usually and should maybe lead to a head coach being decapitated. But it doesn’t seem like the Rangers have given up on their coach or his self-sacrificing style of play. John Tortorella appears to still control the locker room and has the utmost respect of his players. The product on the ice had better change otherwise it’s going to be another elongated summer for Ranger’s fans.

To Contact Greg, or any AFRSports columnist, please E-Mail: Contact@AFRSports.com

After an embarrassing lost to the Washington Capitals on Saturday the New Jersey Devils had a chance to bounce back on Sunday hosting the Winnipeg Jets. Not just any Sunday, Oscar Sunday, this means… award themed jokes.

Everything seemed great as a packed Prudential Center looked forward to a Sunday afternoon hockey game. Until tragedy struck when all-timer, old-timer goaltender Martin Brodeur came up lame during warm up. Injuries like this can be expected of a 40 year old goalie on a back to back. The only problem being, Brodeur didn’t play the previous night in Washington.  Apparently, “Sitting on the bench the whole game” was too much for the big man to handle. So New Jersey would have to man up and try to get two points against Winnipeg with backup, backstop Johan Hedburg.

I may poke fun at Martin Brodeur from time to time for being fat, old, and washed up, (which he certainly is) but I’m certainly not stupid. I am very aware of how fantastic he was and for the most part still is. I’ve seen his brilliance firsthand probably more than 100 times. His glove hand was so fast, that a punch from that hand could decapitate a spineless Gary Bettman  easily. (ED. NOTE: The views expressed herein about the various forms of murder of Gary Bettman and all the joy that would lead to, are solely those of Greg Vitucci and not necessarily AFRSports.com)But a declining first ballot Hall of Famer is an exceptionally easy target (especially as a Rangers fan). Also, the guy’s marriage crumbled because of, what was it again… oh right he slept with his also married sister in law. For a guy who doesn’t have a cool nickname like, “The Dominator” or “The Great One” I’m really disappointed “Uncle Daddy” didn’t catch on.

The Jets were also was on the tail end of a back to back, coming off a very demoralizing lost to Philadelphia, Saturday afternoon.  Scoring 2:30 into the game the Jets were off to a solid start. Blake Wheeler starts the breakout on the left side and takes the puck virtually end to end. Wheeler pulls up just short of the icing line and finds a trailing Zach Bogosian coming through the slot, for an easy goal. Wheeler had drawn three defenders like moths to a flame leaving plenty of open ice for Bogosian to finish.  1-0 Jets.

New Jersey would tie the game and at one goal apiece at about the halfway point in the first period. Mark Fayne makes the underrated outlet pass from behind his own net that sets up the entire play. Fayne’s pass is merely tipped by David Clarkson and caroms off the boards, to Patrick Elias. Elias scooped up the puck coming through the neutral zone creating an odd man rush. He delivers a smooth backhand pass to Travis Zajac, who delivers a twisted wrister (wrist shot) past a sliding Ondrej Pavelec. Fayne puts the whole play together and stupid Clarkson gets the secondary assist.

The Devils would take the lead 2-1 at 17:10 into the game when their third line gets a blue collared goal that trickles past Pavelec. Steve Bernier cashes in with a tip in goal with assists earned by Andrei Loktionov and Alexie Ponikarovsky. They also earned the “Worst Pair of Names for Line-Mates Ever” award.

The second period starts slow and sloppy as the toll of both teams playing two games in about 28 hours begins to be noticeable.  Until 13:01 into the period when Winnipeg would tie the game with a power play goal by Grant Clitsome. Who wins the, “Best Name Ever” award.  Maybe if his name was “Grand Clitsome” but it isn’t, unfortunately.  Excuse me I have to go change my fantasy hockey team name.

The Devils penalty kill gets way too spread out and Clitsome is the forgotten man on the other side of the ice. He waltzes in untouched, on the left side, and delivers a wrist shot past Hedburg. Hedburg got a piece of the puck with his glove but obviously not enough. You have to wonder if Uncle Daddy Marty was in goal, would the puck have ended up in the net?

At 17:48 into the second period Evander Kane of Winnipeg would deflect a pass on the defensive end and then split the Devils defenseman in a footrace. Hedburg darts out of the goal mouth with a belly flop of a poke check 8 feet in front on the net. Kane easily evades the aging goalie, giving his team a 3-2 lead. I don’t think Brodeur would have chosen that particular tactic for defending the breakaway.

Hedburg again is the goat on the final Jets goal when he turns the puck over deep in his own end. Handling the puck in the trapezoid behind the net he makes a lazy pass to Marek Zidlicky who had two Jets surrounding him.  The Jets easily take the puck away and captain Andrew Ladd sticks a slap shot past the glove of Hedburg with just 13:14 remaining in the game. Again you have to wonder if Brodeur would have made that pass. Marty certainly deserves the award for, “Best Puck Handling as a Goalie, Ever.”

(I might beat up Johan Hedburg in this article but actually he deserves a lot of credit. The man is 39 years old in his own right. Also he probably hasn’t started two games in a row in years, let alone two days in a row. Look at me defending two Devils in one day.) (ED. NOTE: I am prepared for the end of days, which is certainly coming)

Time would expire with the score 4 to 2 in favor of the Jets. By the end of the game New Jersey looked exhausted. Fortunately for them they have a few days off until facing these same Jets Thursday in Winnipeg. The Jets will play the Rangers Tuesday night in New York, with both teams scrambling to stay relevant in the playoff hunt.

To contact Greg, or any AFRSports columnist, please e-mail: Contact@AFRSPorts.com

The Florida Panthers are not very good. Actually they are really, really abominable. They have only won five games, and have given up 23 more goals than they have scored. For those readers that may not understand the scoring in hockey; you do in fact need to score MORE goals than your opponent to win games.  The 65 goals they have given up this year are the most in the league. So the Boston Bruins did what good teams should do and smacked around the “struggling” Florida Panthers.

Milan Lucic of the Boston Bruins started the scoring in this pathetic contest at the 7:57 mark of the first period. Receiving the puck off of a faceoff at the right circle, Lucic buried a wrist shot over the catching glove of Panther’s goalie Jacob Markstrom. Markstrom looked like Mr. Magoo, having no idea where the puck was off the face-off. The puck was behind Magoo, ugh Markstrom, quicker than it would take to snap commissioner Bettman’s neck. (Ed. Note: It wasn’t that fast GodDamnit!)

Milan Lucic is another one of those guys of whom I am not a big fan. This rant isn’t nearly as irrational as my previous one about Sidney “Tissue Paper Brain” Crosby. Lucic is a dirty filthy player, who amassed 135 penalty minutes last season. In comparison the voted “Dirtiest player in the league” Matt Cooke of Pittsburgh only had 44 penalty minutes. He’s so dirty; a trail of filth follows him around the ice like Pig Pen, from Peanuts. One example of Lucic’s underhanded tactics was when he went high on a hit at Buffalo goalie Ryan Miller. Miller rose to great popularity after his success in the 2010 Winter Olympics, helping team USA win a silver medal.  Meanwhile Lucic was cut from team Canada. A petty move from a jealous athlete.

Lucic once sucker punched Freddy Meyer of the then Atlanta Thrashers after the referees already had the incident under control. He literally gave him the, “Bouncer punch.” Meyer is being restrained by the officials, like a bouncer breaking up a bar fight, when scum fuck Lucic cold cocks him in the side of the face.

In the game on Sunday, Lucic retaliates from a clean hit by Mike Weaver, with a violent cross -check followed by a mauling.

And the baby dinosaur looking bastard Lucic, receives the 10 minute misconduct he deserves. Really though, Lucic is physically hideous, and resembles a baby dinosaur. This affliction also affects Brook Lopez of the Brooklyn Nets. (Assumedly also the other Lopez brother, who plays for… Phoenix? New Orleans)

One of these four is a lizard, but darned if I can tell which one.

Zdeno Chara’s goal was by far the highlight of this game. At 13:52 into the game, the big man receives the puck in stride coming over the blue line. In one enormous spin move Chara is now at the top of the left circle and with a few stick moves nails a back-hander into the top corner of the net. At 6 foot, 9 inches you would expect Chara to be a stiff, pre-oil canned Tin Man. On this play though, the biggest man in the history of the NHL looked like a graceful dove swooping in to poop on Markstrom’s freshly washed car.

Tomas Kopecky of the Panthers made it 2-1 with about four and a half minutes remaining in the first. Picking up a piece of loose change in front of the net, Kopecky beats a sprawling Tuukka Rask to give Panthers fan’s something to cheer about. This was the pinnacle of offense for the Panthers. All 16 fans in attendance gave a thunderous round of applause for their home town team.

Boston’s Chris Kelly scores what might be the luckiest goal ever 2:30 into the second period to make it 3-1. On a power play rush Daniel Paille flubs a slap shot attempt and the puck dances through Weaver’s legs and finds Kelly with plenty of net to aim for. Paille would tack on a short-handed empty net goal making it 4-1 with 1:07 remaining in the game.

Boston hasn’t skipped a beat with the retirement/sabbatical/trade of ultra republican goalie Tim Thomas.  I think for sure the Bruins will overtake the surprisingly strong starting Montreal Canadiens and win the northeast conference. Florida however should probably stop being a hockey franchise altogether. The Tampa Bay Lightening is more than enough hockey for the state of Florida. I sincerely and regretfully do not anticipate, “Sunrise Florida” to be a hot bed of hockey activity anytime soon.

To Contact Greg, or any AFRSports columnists, please E-Mail: Contact@AFRSports.com

1. The influx of young players into the Ranger’s lineup recently has definitely stirred up the locker room.

The trade of Mike Rupp and the subsequent roster moves has obviously made a difference, just not on the power play. No change has been more obvious than the improvement in Carl Hagelin’s play. Going from being the baby in the locker room to a grown ass man, as compared to JT Miller, and the struggling Chris Kreider, Hags has tallied 4 goals this week so far. Hags has embraced the role of a mentor and his confidence is growing.

Also have you seen this kid’s hair? He takes his helmet off and somehow a constant gust of wind sweeps through the arena during his intermission interview. His perfect quaff flows in the magical breeze, like blood flows to my penis when I saw the Swimsuit edition cover. Seriously though, the dude has to be taking hair tips from Henrik.

2. What is Brian Boyles role?

He’s been a stalwart of the Rangers’ third line recently, and we know what to expect from number 22. He’s going to block shots, he’s going to win faceoffs, and he is a solid penalty killer. But is that enough? He was absent from the score sheet most of the playoffs last year and so far this season only has 1 point. Maybe a little less time on the goatee and a little more time working on the offense. Does he have a second offensive move behind dipping his shoulder, driving to the net with a defender on his back, and using his length to get off a one-handed backhand that has the speed equivalent of a queef? He needs to find the back of the net or he will find himself as a healthy scratch more often. The forwards on this team are too good for him to be the seventh best offensive minded forward. Sure Boyle will drop the gloves occasionally but should he really be relegated to fourth line duties, or is he better served being traded?

3. How adorable are the little kids dancing and making faces behind Al Trautwig during intermission.

Whenever I see kids loving every second of the live game experience, a little bit of the bitterness I have leftover from the lockout fades. Though more bitterness would fade if those same tykes beat Gary Bettman to death with their souvenir sticks on television behind Al (Ed. Note – HE DOESN’T MEAN THIS THE VIEWS CONTAINED ABOUT THE MURDER OF MR.BETTMAN DO NOT REFLECT THOSE OF AFRSports.  Just Greg.  He’s crazy.). I’ll personally reimburse the dad who spent $227 on those tiny sticks.

4. Does the rest of the league know how fucking good Ryan Callahan is?

We see him on daily basis and maybe his grinding brilliance isn’t as apparent as the goal scoring touch of Marion Gaborik, but The Captain, has got his shit together. He plays on every phase of the game. It was clear the Rangers really missed him on the penalty kill, when Cally was out briefly with a shoulder injury. His fore-check is ferocious; flying around to keep opponents deep in their own end and causing turnovers. His puck handling skills he doesn’t gets a chance to showcase enough, but certainly are on display during the shootout. He buried the game winner against the Boston Bruin’s Tukka Rask this week. He cleans up rebounds like Lindsey Lohan cleans a coke mirror. He blocks shots like he’s getting hit with marshmallow peeps not frozen rubber disks. More importantly he’s a leader in the clubhouse, and a calm collected presence on the ice when the momentum begins to shift.

5. Someone get John Tavaris off the Islanders.

Please? Not because I don’t want him in my conference or anything like that, it’s for his own good. Get him away from the catastrophe of a franchise from Nassau County. He is way too good to be hidden on the Islanders. He isn’t a free agent until 2018 but really it would probably be for the best if he was traded. Islanders get some top prospects; JT gets to play for a team with at least one other talented person around him, with a chance to win some trophies.

To Contact Greg or any AFRSports Columnist please E-Mail: Contact@AFRSports.com

Hey, Ranger fans, don’t be down about last year’s playoff loss to the Devils in the Eastern Conference Finals. It’s the new season. Henrik Lundqvist is coming off his Vezina trophy winning year; we acquired Rick Nash in the off season, and did I mention it’s a shorter season, so keep blocking away at shots because you have fewer games to get injured.

So, why are we only 7-5.  There are problems that the Rangers are working through; finally we see the importance to a pre-season. Implementing someone as talented and aggressive as Rick Nash takes time. Chicago, Boston, and dare I even say it, New Jersey are off to such good starts due to their team not changing much since last season. John Torterella and his blueshirts are still trying to figure out what lines are going to gel best. That takes time.

Now, I have never been a huge fan of John Torterella, mind you, but I believe he had a new plan of attack for this season. My prediction was that the Rangers would play aggressive hockey, taking way too many penalties (HOW MANY TIMES CAN THE RANGERS TAKE A “TOO MANY MEN ON THE ICE” PENALTY), and pinching in too often on defense, but I believe the results would pay off offensively.  We would be very similar to Boston.   However, that is not the case. I can only blame so much on a shortened season, but our defense is playing soft and tentative offensively.  Ryan McDonagh and Michael Del Zotto are young and fast.  Dan Girardi is solid, Anton Stralman is living up to his potential, and Marc Staal is playing like himself again, almost. If you want to play aggressive the plan of attack needs to be using the defensemen to take big shots from the point while the offense men deflect pucks in.  The Rangers should always look in control when they are in their opponent’s offensive zone.

Right now, the team is 7-5, they are losing battles to the puck, even in their own zone, and that is causing turnovers on their side of the ice and golden scoring opportunities for their opponents.  Boston just scored two goals in the last two minutes of regulation.  The Rangers can block shots all they want, but they need to find away to control the rebounds off of Lundqvist.  Boston scored twice off constant pressure, and getting “dreamy” rebounds.  Lundqvist can only do so much, and he did stop nearly 40 shots on net, while the Rangers blocked another 21 shots on net.  And have I mentioned that the team needs to stop playing with the puck in their zone.  They kill so much time skating around their own zone trying to set something up and often they cough up the puck to the other team because the other teams fore-check.  That is also the reason we are struggling in the neutral zone. Too many turnovers:  Brad Richards almost coughed up the puck in the first play of overtime against Boston.

Oh wait, have I not mentioned the power play, or lack of a power play.  The Rangers are ranked 29^th, second to the last in the league, scoring four goals for forty power plays, and that was before the Boston game.  That is abysmal!  This team is too good to be so casual on the power play.  The players are Rick Nash, Marion Gaborik, Brad Richards, Carl Hagelin, and nobody wants to shoot.  SHOOT THE PUCK! Or set up the point, and let Del Zotto or McDonagh or Staal fire one from the point, but shoot the puck.  They pass way too much.  Look what happens when they shoot the puck, they beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-1.  Sometimes, they are constantly looking for the perfect goal, the pretty goal.  Well, since the last lockout and immersion of Sidney Crosby and his lacrosse style of scoring goals and batting them into the net (when will everybody realize that Malkin is the best player on the Penguins: I shouldn’t hate on Sidney Crosby so much, he’s one concussion away from becoming a Ranger) and the new crease rule, goals aren’t going to look pretty.  They are going to bounce off three sticks and go in.  Garbage goals are in!  Finesse is out!  Save it for the shootout!  Set up the point, shoot, and let Ryan Callahan (thank God he is back in the lineup) or Brian Boyle (I’m not happy he’s out of the lineup) get rebounds. REBOUNDS! They get out-manned in front of the net every single time.  That’s why you have Nash and Taylor Pyatt and Boyle and Callahan.  They should be putting pressure on the goalie and getting pucks in the net.

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