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Penguins won also! And against the Flyers :devil:

4-2 Pens, with goals by Kennedy, Malkin, Jordan Staal and Cooke. I guess it was another big night for the Staal brothers, in general :)
 
I saw where Pittsburgh won last night and almost didn't believe it at first.
I'm happy that they have started getting out of their little losing slump.

That game also marked some important hockey milestones:
- Fleury played in his 200th career game and became only the fourth goalie in team history to reach that mark.
- Crosby’s first assist gave him 350 total assists in his career.
- Malkin is three away from the 100-goal milestone.

Also,
"The Winter Classic drew the biggest television audience for a regular-season NHL game in nearly 34 years.

The Detroit Red Wings' 6-4 win over the Chicago Blackhawks at Wrigley Field on New Year’s Day attracted an average of 4.4 million U.S. viewers on NBC, the network said Monday.

That’s the most since a Philadelphia-New York Rangers game on Feb. 23, 1975, according to Nielsen Media Research."

I was just happy I got to watch a game :)
 
Well, I'm happy! My Sens beat Carolina last night!

5 - 1 was the score. Heatley, McAmmond, Vermette, Fisher and Phillips scored for the Sens and the lone goal for Carolina came from Corvo. It was a great game. I saw all the Sens goals but missed the Carolina one as I was flipping back and forth from the game and American Idol (and later Law and Order SVU).
 
Bringing some hockey news............for anyone who cares...

Brendan Shanahan

Former Ranger agreed to play for Jersey Devils......In a recent hockey

show a few good points were brought up on this matter :


~ How many players missed camps/practice and did well?

~ How many players joined mid-season, and did well?

~ How many players are pushing 40, and are doing well? (Health issues

involved)

~ How many of them are able to get back on their feet?


Answer: Very Few........


Look at Mats Sundin, who is great hockey player. He's been off ice for a

while - and he's struggling to make a comeback. Mostly because he's been

off ice for a long period of time. No matter how much you work out/train

off ice -its the on ice stuff that needs to be rehearsed. And worst part is,

its affecting the team.


On the other hand.......

He would be really good for powerplay for Jersey because they are not doing too well in that department, he's a great shooter. And thats why they need a guy like Shanny to improve the powerplay.
 
Wait.. isn't Shanahan like... 100? :lol:

I just found out why older Koivu is missing games... damn injuries! Younger one is playing a kickass season! Yayay!
 
In "hockey years" Shanahan would be pretty close to 100 I'm sure ;)

I think Shanahan will do fine with the Devils.
Obviously he isn't the same player he was for them twenty years ago, but he could still be a big help for them. There's no denying, the man's a great shot.
And for a team that's in 10th place, an extra person that can be playing on the ice and make plays and goals is something New Jersey needs to move farther up the standings. Not that being number ten out of thirty is bad or anything.
And like it's been said, their power play, not doing so good this time.

I'd say a major concern for Shanhan would be that he doesn't think he's still that 21 year old player on the ice and get hurt. That's not a good thing for anyone involved.
 
Thinking about this for a moment - its a funny pattern first Mats Sundin,

then Jagr, and now Shanny..... I wonder who's next Mark Messier....???:guffaw::guffaw::guffaw:

Seriously, though.



I'm not sure if the fact that we are allowing these guys to comeback is a

sign of desperation.......Hockey has rules and limitations. If we allow one

guy to comeback - the rest will follow. And be long behold......


There are only so many places for hockey players, think of the youngsters

who are waiting to get their BIG shot. Plus, like its already been said, age

does seem to play a big role here, no matter how much we ignore it.



Quick Update:

Easter Conference standings:



1. Boston 43 Points

2. Washington 44

3. NY Rangers 45
 
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"If you build it, they will come" (I love Field of Dreams ;) )
Very true.

I guess all of the "old" players sitting at home see so-and-so came back to play in the NHL and figure "hey, I can do it too!"
But, in all fairness I suppose, Shanny has been waiting around for somebody to sign him and Jagr has been playing all this time, so it's not like the two of them have been out of the game for years or anything. However, their return will still be difficult.


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Luongo set to return on Thursday

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP)—The Vancouver Canucks will welcome back goalie Roberto Luongo on Thursday night.

With Luongo set to return from a Nov. 22 groin injury against Phoenix, the Canucks placed Curtis Sanford on waivers Wednesday.

Luongo returns to a team that is 9-12-3 since he hurt his groin, including five straight losses on home ice. The two-time Vezina Trophy finalist was forced to shut down a mid-December comeback attempt because of lingering pain, but said this week he’s back to 100 percent.

“I have no issues and I felt pretty good in practice as far as timing,” he said. “I m ready to go.”

Luongo is 11-5-2 and has a 2.17 GAA and .928 save percentage. Despite missing more than seven weeks, he is tied for second with five shutouts, just one behind Columbus rookie Steve Mason for the NHL lead.

Those numbers earned Luongo a spot in the All-Star game at the end of the month.
After missing last year’s game to be with his wife in Florida during a difficult pregnancy, Luongo said he’d like to play in this year’s game in his hometown of Montreal as long as he played for the Canucks first.

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I'm glad he's back and feeling better :)
Guess we'll just have to see how it all goes...
 
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^^ Speaking of Luongo ....

I think this is the funniest headline I've read.........

Luongo declares groin 100 per cent

:guffaw::guffaw::guffaw::guffaw::guffaw::guffaw::guffaw:

Honestly this is the funniest injury I've ever heard.


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In other NEWS:


Shanahan signs contract with Devils

SPORTSNET.CA


Veteran forward Brendan Shanahan will return to the club that drafted him nearly 22 years ago, signing a contract with the New Jersey Devils for the remainder of the season.

The two sides had agreed to a deal in principle on Saturday, but have now put pen to paper on an $800,000 contract that will see Shanahan earn a pro-rated salary of that amount.

Shanahan, who will turn 40 on Jan. 23, spent the last two seasons with the New York Rangers but wasn't offered a new deal after becoming an unrestricted free agent in the summer. While he did receive offers from teams out west, Shanahan wanted to remain in the Northeast to be close to his young family.

In 73 games last season, Shanahan finished with his lowest point total (46) in a full season since his rookie year of 1987-88. The left winger suffered a knee sprain in January, but played through it until the Rangers were knocked out of the playoffs in the first round.

A No. 2 pick of the Devils in the 1987 NHL draft, Shanahan has 1,340 points (650 goals, 640 assists) in 1,490 NHL games in 21 seasons. He sits 11th on the career goal list, 24th in points, and is a three-time Stanley Cup champion -- winning all three rings as a member of the Detroit Red Wings.
 
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So it's official. Shanny's a Devil again.
Well good luck to him and the team :)

And here's the New York Rangers' first half power ranking comments – "At 15-13-3 since a 10-2-1 start, the Rangers aren’t quite sure what to make of the first half. They had to cut ties with Jaromir Jagr and Brendan Shanahan, and fortunately, the team is doing fine overall in what could have been a difficult transition."

So, basically you win some you lose some.

And just because I though it was interesting:
The OHL has tightened its rules on helmet removal during brawls: "If a player should remove his helmet or undo his chinstrap prior to or during an altercation, such player shall receive a game misconduct in addition to any other penalties assessed and an automatic one-game suspension."

Maybe this is what we need to prevent tragic accidents like the one a few weeks ago. I'm not sure how effective it'll be, or how strictly it'll be enforced, but it will definitely be something to watch play out.
 
Evaluating the Local NHL All-Stars

Posted on Friday, January 9, 2009 at 11:00 AM
by: Stan Fischler



HENRIK LUNDQVIST:



Tom Renney suggests that his main man in goal someday will be regarded among the "greatest" of Blueshirts' blockers, and that very well may be the case.

This much we know about Henny. Since he arrived on Seventh Avenue, he deposed Kevin Weekes as the top banana between the pipes. He then emerged as a Vezina Trophy finalist for three straight years. He paced the Renney-gades into the playoffs each year he's been a New Yorker and he's virtually king of the shootout.
Lundqvist is far from perfect, as his deportment in losing to Montreal on Wednesday night demonstrated.

He occasionally mishandles the puck and sometimes drops into the "butterfly" position too soon. But he WINS, and that's what goaltending is all about.


His long-range greatness will be determined over the years. Right now, it can safely be said that he deserves the All-Star nomination.
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RANGERS HOPE TO IMPRESS DADs TONIGHT :

By Jim Cerny, newyorkrangers.com

The Rangers’ charter flight to Chicago for this evening’s match against the Blackhawks at the United Center was a bit more crowded than usual yesterday, but you couldn’t find one single person in the traveling party who was going to complain about that fact.

That is because the normal group of Rangers’ personnel -- which includes players, coaches, management, trainers, broadcasters, and equipment men -- were joined for the final two games of this five-game road trip by many of the players’ fathers. Invited as guests of the Rangers organization, 18 dads journeyed with their sons to Chicago for an important contest against the Blackhawks, and then will continue on to Pittsburgh for Sunday’s tilt vs. the Penguins.


Rangers forward Nigel Dawes, who scored the game-winner on Tuesday, said the Blueshirts are "very comfortable playing low-scoring, close hockey games." “It’s good for our guys,” explained Rangers head coach Tom Renney. “They would all suggest real quickly, I would think, that their parents had an awful lot to do with where they are. And as a coaching staff and an organization, we recognize that. So to have them along to enjoy the experience of an NHL trip, is exciting for everyone.”

With the fathers attending Thursday’s practice at the MSG Training Center prior to the flight to Chicago, center Scott Gomez was among several players who remarked that the scene reminded him of his days as a youth hockey player with his dad -- and the other players’ fathers -- watching intently from the sidelines.

Goaltender Stephen Valiquette said that old habits die hard in his family. Valiquette pointed out that his father was checking on him to make sure he was awake Thursday morning so that he wouldn’t be late for practice just like when he was a boy growing up in Ontario.

“Gomez said his father tried to wake him up in the morning, too, so we still have that father-son treatment,” said Valiquette. “But this trip is really an opportunity for our dads to live the dream, too, and get a feeling of what it’s like to be an NHL hockey player for a week. It’s like their opportunity to play in the NHL, the opportunity they never had.”

Many of the fathers trekked from afar to take part in this weekend’s festivities. Gomez’s dad, as well as Brandon Dubinsky’s, travelled from Alaska. And three fathers made the trip from Europe, with those of Henrik Lundqvist and Markus Naslund arriving from Sweden and Lauri Korpikoski’s dad coming in from Finland.

“It’s definitely a lot of fun to share this special event with the fathers and kind of give them an inside look on how great a lifestyle we have,” said Dubinsky. “With this we can share the fact that they are one of the main reasons for what we have. It’s quite special for us to have them here.”

Of course, as great as it is to have the fathers with them to close out this road trip, the bottom line for the Rangers is that they need to continue to win games and pick up points in the standings. Last year, the fathers traveled with the team to Boston only to see the Blueshirts drop a 4-3 shootout decision to the Bruins on Jan. 19. This season, the Rangers are seeking better results.

“Last year we didn’t come through with our dads there, but hopefully this year we can win and really make it a special weekend,” stated Gomez.

The Rangers have won two straight games, and have earned five of a possible six points in the first three games of this road swing. Playing with a strong commitment to team defense, the Rangers have surrendered only two goals over regulation on the road trip, so far, and have greatly lowered the amount of scoring chances against.

Tuesday’s 2-1 victory over the Islanders at the Nassau Coliseum, improved the Rangers road record to 12-7-2 on the season. It also upped the Blueshirts’ record in one-goal games to an impressive 16-8.

“We’re very comfortable playing low-scoring, close hockey games,” winger Nigel Dawes said. “It’s just the way our system is, and the way we trust our goaltending. We know we can win these types of games. We take pride in playing, and winning, low-scoring hockey games.”

Lundqvist, who is third in the league with 22 wins, has backstopped shutouts in two of his last four starts. Against the Islanders he was sensational stopping 18 of 19 shots he faced in the first period before finishing with 33 saves.

Although the Islanders battled hard on Tuesday, and played an excellent first 20 minutes, the Blackhawks will provide a much stiffer test for the Rangers this evening. Chicago, which last appeared in the playoffs back in the spring of 2002, currently sits in fourth place in the Western Conference with 55 points.

The Blackhawks feature a high-powered offense which is led by sophomore stars Patrick Kane (who has 42 points in 39 games) and Jonathan Toews (12-22-34), as well as veterans Patrick Sharp (a team-high 21 goals) and Martin Havlat (13-22-35). That foursome was held to only two points -- a goal by Kane and an assist by Sharp -- in the Rangers’ 4-2 victory during their home opener against the ‘Hawks on Oct. 10 at MSG.

“Outside of the skill they were able to exhibit back then, I think they will be pretty different (tonight),” Renney said of the Blackhawks. “I think there is a level of commitment and discipline to their game now.”

Joel Quenneville is now behind the bench for Chicago -- Denis Savard was the coach during the Oct. 10 meeting -- and he has helped make the Blackhawks a stronger defensive team. As a result, with Nikolai Khabibulin and Cristobal Huet splitting the workload in goal, the Blackhawks have surrendered the fourth-fewest goals in the National Hockey League this season.

That means the Rangers’ dads might be witnessing another very close, defensive-minded contest this evening at the United Center, though they surely wouldn’t mind as long as their boys came out on top with another critical two points in the standings.

Given Philadelphia’s loss at Tampa on Thursday night, the Rangers are assured of retaining first place in the Atlantic Division if they win tonight, regardless of what happens to the Flyers in Florida.

“This is a really big game (tonight) in Chicago and we want to put a show on for our dads, but we want it to be a win,” said Valiquette. “It doesn’t have to be pretty hockey. We want to go in there and just play a really tight game and get the win.”
 
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Good team, Ladyd. The Rangers play the Blackhawks tonight if I'm correct. I've been told that it should be an interesting game. I like saying "Khabibulin", and Kane is a very talented player :D


I think Lundqvist already is the best Rangers blocker.
However, I could be slightly biased ;)
I love the Dad's Trip idea too. I know Pittsburgh did it a few weeks ago and I really thought it was cute, so I'm glad the Rangers do something like that.
In the words of Scottie Gomez: "A Mom's Trip would be wild!"

---

Rangers, Zherdev reportedly negotiating new deal
by Larry Brooks, New York Post

Updated: January 13, 2009, 10:18 AM EST
The Rangers and the agent for Nikolai Zherdev are in the preliminary stages of negotiations aimed at extending the talented 24-year-old winger's contract and thus preventing him from reaching the Group II free-agent market, The New York Post has learned.

"This is where I want to be," Zherdev told The Post yesterday. "I don't want to play in Russia next year. I want to stay here and play in the NHL, in New York, with the Rangers.

"I'm very happy here. I like the team. I like the guys. I like living here. Everything is good."

Rolland Hedges, who represents Zherdev, told The Post that Rangers management has reached out to him. Zherdev is in the final season of the three-year, $7.5M contract he signed with Columbus prior to 2006-07.

"Nikky really likes New York," Hedges said. "It would be our preference to get something done so that he can be a Ranger for a long time."

Zherdev, whom the Blueshirts acquired on July 2 with Dan Fritsche in exchange for Fedor Tyutin and Christian Backman, leads the Blueshirts in scoring with 37 points (12-25) entering tonight's match at the Coliseum against the Islanders. Zherdev is also tied for the team lead with a plus-six rating.

"Nik is a driven player and a passionate player," said head coach Tom Renney. "He works hard at both ends and when the puck is on his stick, he's a threat."

Zherdev is clearly the Rangers' most talented player. Still, he's gone eight games since his last goal, a brilliant shorthanded score in San Jose on Dec. 20, and has just one goal in his last 10, three in his last 16 and five in his last 25. The modestly talented Blueshirts will need more production from Zherdev in order to have a chance of competing for more than just a playoff spot.

"The last few games I've been trying to get more speed before I shoot," said Zherdev, more visible the last week since being reunited with center Brandon Dubinsky. "The coaches have been telling me to shoot more. I'm more focused on going to the net.

"I don't worry about not scoring as long as I play well in different areas. I'm trying my best to score. I probably just need one goal, even if it's lucky, to get me going, but it doesn't matter who scores as long as we win."

The Rangers have serious cap issues to confront moving forward. They have already committed $39.159M to eight players — Scott Gomez, Chris Drury, Henrik Lundqvist, Wade Redden, Michal Rozsival, Markus Naslund, Dan Girardi and Marc Staal — toward the 2009-10 cap that should be between $53-$56M.

Locking up Zherdev — what's his number, $4M? — would eliminate the prospect of having to match an offer sheet from an NHL team or a lucrative bid from a Russian club. Zherdev has a history back home, established when he joined Columbus for his rookie 2003-04 season despite Russian protests that he had not completed his military obligations.

Not coincidentally, Zherdev, who played in the 2003 World Juniors, has not been selected for a Russian national team since joining the NHL.

"I don't understand why I'm not chosen," Zherdev said yesterday. "I would love to play in international competitions. Nobody talks to me to explain."
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I hope they resign Zherdev. I think he has been a marvelous addition to the Rangers :D
 
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Okay, Crosby is out and they took FInnish player in, Pesonen. NEver even knew he plays for Pens (or probably plays more in AHL) because in FInland he played in a team that I hate with passion :p

And even I don't like FLyers... they still have Niittymäki as goalie and he had kicked some ass last night *still has his former team's jersey with his name*

As for Rangers, just read article about Korpikoski and even Rangers is doing well, they haven't been making goals too many. Avg 2,49 which is 24th best. And even the first line doesn't have too many points Drury 45 games, 29 points.
 
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