I don’t think they need something to spark the fire…they need material to set the fire.

I’m fairly certain that Torts can get angry….

How’s about they start sitting players again? Girardi…lookin at you.

only honest Ranger. never really hear the cliche stuff you wrote in the recap last night from Seanny

It’s about time someone other than Torts starts spitting some fire

things were all fine and dandy when they were 7-1.

Just remember I said “fire torts” first, when you all turn to the darkside.

Guys, don’t get excited about wins until they pull off 3 straight, full of effort, competing, wins. Every win in between lackluster efforts means nothing. In fact, it’s just like another loss in my opinion if they can’t move forward.

And yet Avery continues to get less ice time than Higgins.

lundqvist is the captain. c or not.

id like to ee avery get a tho

maybe drury is good with officials but i really dont think he can rally this team.

The idea of Avery for Captain is definitely entertaining, however the refs seem to call for his head just because he’s Avery. Not to mention I can hardly imagine how the general hockey fan base would like the idea of bad mouthed and immature Avery leading an underachieving team. It also takes more than blurting your opinion to the New York media to lead,

catching a rash of sh!t for speaking his mind and truth. A public comment like that should light a fire under drury’s ass to motivate this team like a real leader. For all the hypocritical bs people have given Avery,he’s the only real man stepping up and not afraid to say what needs to be said,all the nay sayers couldn’t carry his jock.

I’m already all for that. ;)

Avery is a stand-up guy, always has been, regardless of Gary Bettman’s daughter not understanding. I didn’t have a problem with what Avery said that got him sent back to us, Avery speaks his mind and is who he is. When he’s on the ice, Avery is a stand-up guy. That is what counts the most.

And while it wouldn’t be good for the team, it would be quite the event if Avery were to be named Captain, especially since the league’s refs are all so violently against him. Imagining the refs having to give Avery the respect as Captain would be a nice come-uppance to the worst and most petty-biased officials in professional sports.

The Rangers ogranization (like any Cablevision/Dolan Business) is not concerned with telling the truth, they are interested in “public image/perception”, which is why you see Drury answering questions but never really saying anything. The organization tries to control what their employees say publicly and don’t for a heartbeat think they don’t.

Drury isn’t a bad captain as it were, he’s just not a good one. On this team, i’m not sure they really have a good one yet. Maybe Staal in a year or two.

Avery?! Sean Avery? I can probably count the number of players in the NHL that respect him on one hand. He is an agitator, that’s his J-O-B. He talks trash, throws some punches, and maybe scores a goal or two every now and then. What would he wear the C from the penalty box? I think you guys should use your TVO and watch some games instead of screaming for Avery’s C by reading the NYC tabloids. Tell me Avery is strong on the puck? Tell me he’s in good defensive position? How many times does Avery lose the puck coming out of the zone, or give it away on the cycle instead of eating it and taking the hit? Joe, I’m surprised … Hank is the leader of this team. But I do agree that it takes a certain goalie personality to be the C. Terreri did it in BC, and the latest is Luongo in VAN. Basically you make 3 guys with A’s to deal with the zebras and the goalie is the leader in the locker-room. It’s putting a tremendous amount of pressure on an already psychological position to “tell others to step up and play”. Not saying Hank couldn’t do this, but he’s already shown that excess pressure has an affect on him. No, Drury in NY is fine. Cally is fine … both lead by example. The last A is waiting for someone. Prospal? Stall? Gabrik? The Rangers have bigger problems than leadership. They don’t have the horses to play tort’s style or most other for that matter. It’s a pretty sad day when the Hockey News says your team’s best defenseman of the decade is Rozi … Is Toronto ready to part with Komacerik? Should we push the BS banter deal for Kovalchuk (personally I would add Avery to that deal – he’s a liability from the NHL perspective)? I know this team needs to get cheaper, tougher and more balanced before Hank gets much older. But Avery for Captain? No way.

Joe, not sure which season you’ve been watching – but Chris Drury has not “been fine” as captain. Perhaps handing the C to Avery is akin to throwing a hand grenade at a propane tank – but there is no way possible to exempt Drury from this debacle, unless being captain means nothing nowadays.

All I can say is this team looks a helluva lot like the last team led by a good, gutsy but otherwise quiet leader. His name was Brian Leetch. And the teams he led into battle lacked any fire whatsoever, It was in fact the dark ages – and here we are, with yet another “quiet leader” and we’ve got much the same result.

Call me a simpleton – but this lead by example stuff doesn’t work in pro sports. Doesn’t mean he has to blast players in the media (Jeter never does this) but he has to be strong enough to hold fellow players accountable and confront those who don’t come to play every night. Perhaps Chris does this – I don’t know, I’m not in the locker room. But never have I heard anything of the sort, in any forum – official or otherwise.

There’s certainly a lot of people to blame for this sad season. This much is true. But handing a free pass to this “captain” is just beyond comprehension.

" “Once in a blue moon, sometimes it’s going to happen in sports,” Drury said of how the game snowballed on the Rangers. “But it’s happened to us a few times already this year.”