Rangers News: Christensen's first day, Heikkenen, Dubinsky skates
by Jim Schmiedeberg on Dec 4, 2009 2:12 PM EST
in Rangers News
22 comments
Happy Friday Ranger fans. The weekend is upon us, we've got two Ranger games on the slate, and some big college and pro football on the slate. Send the family out Christmas shopping, and settle in for what will hopefully be a great sports weekend. Here are some of the headlines making news in the Rangers world:
Jim Cerny has reported on Twitter that Wade Redden will not play at all this weekend, Chad Johnson was not told how long he will be with the Rangers, and that Brandon Dubinsky skated before practice today with Mike Sullivan.
Jim Cerny at Rangers.com has a good story on one of the newest Rangers, Erik Christensen. While as fans we tend to look at new players as some kind of saviors, let's remember that Christensen is a guy who has never played a full NHL season, and has not showed the ability to score at the NHL level that he did in the minors.
But, he does give the Rangers another true center, and he looks to be a good face-off guy, something we know the Rangers desperately need right now.
Metro Hockey has a look at what lies ahead for the Rangers, funny stuff. My favorite:
March 2: Chris Higgins scores his third goal of the season.
Larry Brooks says the Rangers are hopeful the changes made this week will lead to some wins:
As far as Rangers shakeups go, this is not waiving Eddie Giacomin a week before trading Jean Ratelle and Brad Park in 1975.
Having said that, the personnel moves over the last two days, in which the Blueshirts acquired center Erik Christensen off waivers from Anaheim, exchanged goaltenders by waiving Steve Valiquette to the AHL while recalling Chad Johnson from the Wolf Pack, and promoted defenseman Ilkka Heikkinen from Hartford, are indications that management is not going to sit still while the club nosedives to the nether regions of the East.
Andrew Gross has the updates from practice today:
Donald Brashear is also out for the time being, having re-aggravated his right hand/wrist injury.
Tortorella on Dubinsky:
"For a while, we didn’t see the healing," Tortorella said. "There’s healing in there now. I don’t think we’re at risk to do any damage if he hits it. Of course, we don’t want him falling. Also, we need to get him on the ice. He’s been off for a while. So when we started seeing the healing, we’re going to slowly get him on just to get his skating legs."
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WTF with the defensive pairs??
OK – Giiroy Heikkinen I can understand. Gilroy has been pretty effective in his own end, and has the speed to recover if somebody gets past him. Plus putting Heik there allows Gilroy to stay in his comfort zone on the right side.
But Staal / Rozsival and MDZ / Girardi ? The latter doesn’t bother me as much – although Girardi needs to be hyper-aware of what’s going on when MDZ goes up ice….
I just hope Staal doesn’t get infected with a nasty case of “Rozsitis”….. bleah…
rozsitis... ha!
Yeah I really thought they’d put Staal with Gilly and then MDZ with Rozi and Heik and Danny G… that would be fairly balanced. No?
by fromthe51hate on Dec 4, 2009 3:01 PM EST up reply actions
Is there anyone that if they are paired with Rosival...makes it a good pair?
"It ain't over till its over"---
I think the ‘problem’ with Heikkinen/Girardi is that one of them is playing their ‘off’ side.
While the pairs make sense from that perspective, I just don’t want to see Staal regress further – he’s already having a tough year…
Danny G is a righty and Heik is a lefty… that would work.
by fromthe51hate on Dec 4, 2009 3:23 PM EST up reply actions
their putting staal with rozi because staal is the only one that can cover up his mistakes.
lets see what heikkenens got. at the very elast christensen will give us someone who can win a few defensive zone faceoffs on the pk etc.
LET'S GO RANGERS!!!
Moshe – my point exactly. The last thing Staalsie needs right now is to be playing in a shell worried about the next f*-up by his partner.
What you should be worried about
Is that since Staal logs the most minutes – being paired with Rozsival means it’s very likely that Rozsival is going to log MORE minutes.
Seriously…it’s like they’re trying to showcase him so they can unload him, except the more he plays, the more he looks completely useless. Damn double-edge swords that we keep falling on every game.
Camp Tortorella - Where Vomit is a Mainstay
by George E. Ays on Dec 4, 2009 3:22 PM EST up reply actions
hence
putting him with Gilly… put him and Gilly together. Staal won’t have to worry because Gilly can get his ass back quick.
by fromthe51hate on Dec 4, 2009 3:25 PM EST up reply actions
Great News...
that Dubi is skating. The recovery and healing process is beginning to move a bit faster than first planned. While he may not always contribute on the scoreboard, Dubi can sometimes be a spark with his attitude and approach. I am looking forward to him coming back.
My Rangers Blog: www.rangerstribune.com
I’m looking forward to seeing Christensen in the lineup.
No he’s not an elite scorer, but his career pace is about .4 points per game..which if he maintains would be ahead of the current paces of Higgins, Callahan, Drury, and Lisin. And he’s only 25.
If he can win some faceoffs and provide a little bit of scoring, I think he’ll be a good fit for the team.
Camp Tortorella - Where Vomit is a Mainstay
He had a rough start in Atlanta, and got pushed down the depth chart. Not playing with anything close to Malkin quality players, and seeing less ice time. Atlanta unloaded him to Anaheim – same scenario. Watching the video of his interview where he talked about this – the guy comes across as having a confidence problem. Hopefully DelZotto can spring him with one of those passes and he can pot one quickly – then get on a roll. Maybe he can then drag all the others along with him, starting with Higgins, Drury, Avery, Callahan, Kotalik….and the list goes on….
The pens are smart they showcased him with Malkin and traded lopsidedly with atl for Hossa, although the Armstrong kid is really coming into his own over there.
by louielounz1 on Dec 4, 2009 7:50 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
Thanks Jim!!
My car broke down today in the snow and I was having a really bad day until I read that Metro Hockey piece. Funny funny stuff. Great job!!
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