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Rangers News: Comments from John Tortorella on Gilroy, Heikinnen, and the goaltending “mess”

Andrew Gross had some interesting comments from John Tortorella today: (click link for full story)

Some of the highlights:

On Ilkka Heikkinen:

“It’s not like the other guys are absolutely dead on with their game right now,” Tortorella said. “I see a player that has a little bit of jam to him and is willing to hit. We’ll take a chance with some of the mistakes because the guys that aren’t hitting are making mistakes, too.”

On Matt Gilroy:

“With Gilly, this is part of the process. Don’t confuse this that he was on the ice for the last goal. Honestly the last goal wasn’t really his fault. We had a horse(bleep) backcheck by one of our top players (Marian Gaborik). Even the tying goal, we’ve got Boyle and Reds picking their (butts), too, on that play.”

Finally, and maybe most interesting of all, on the backup goalkeeper situation:

“It’s a mess. Let’s call it what it is, it’s a mess. Honestly, I talked to Valley (Steve Valiquette) at the beginning of the year, we were looking to get him 15-17 games. That’s what I like to do, especially that Hank’s going to be there in the Olympics and all that. Would I still like to do that? I don’t know if I can. Johnson’s going to get a game here along the way, I think that’s going to determine how we go about this. Has it changed? It had to change. We sent a veteran backup down and he’s still struggling down there and we don’t even know what we have with Johnson as far as a backup. I’m not trying to paint a lousy picture but that’s the picture it is. It’s an ongoing thought in my head what we’re going to do. That’s the best I can do.”

I can’t help but think that last comment on the goalie situation is a thinly veiled criticism of the front office.

One last thing: Brandon Dubinsky skated again today, sounds like he is getting closer to returning.

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